7 Easy Ways to Make Your Small Apartment Homey

More and more people have started living in apartment spaces than ever before.

This growth can be attributed to many different reasons such as delayed homeownership among young adults, high population density in cities, and the convenience of maintaining a small living space.

If you have moved into an apartment recently, you may miss some of the comforts of your old home.

Adapting to smaller living spaces does take time, but you can always work to make your new apartment feel homey by making a few changes.

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Here are some ways to make your new apartment more comfortable and homey to live in.

Get Better Lighting

Lighting is an important part of any living space. Many modern apartment buildings feature large windows that offer plenty of natural light, making the inside feel brighter and more welcoming.

If you live in an older apartment building, your windows may be smaller and provide less natural lighting than required.

This can also be a problem in condominium units whose windows face an adjacent building and are not in direct view of the sun.

To get around these issues and make your small apartment feel homey, you should set up additional lighting inside your home.

If the ceiling and wall lighting fixtures do not provide as much light as you’d like, you can swap out their bulbs for more powerful ones such as LEDs.

You can also purchase table lamps and floor lamps to brighten up the corners of each room.

However, you should make sure the lampshades accompanying them allow enough light to be transmitted into the surrounding area.

Well-lit rooms can make a really huge difference in your interior decor and the overall look and feel of your apartment.

Add Rugs in Rooms (Living Room)

Rugs are another important addition that should be in every home. The saying “a rug ties the room together” holds true for most living spaces.

Add Rugs to Make Your Small Apartment Homey

Whether your apartment has marble flooring, wooden flooring, or carpeted flooring, you should be able to find space for a stylish and comfortable rug somewhere.

These fabric-based fittings come in various shapes and sizes and offer a comfortable area to walk and stand on.

People usually add rugs to their living rooms and bedrooms, as they will be well-appreciated in these locations. However, you can also add a rug to your kitchen to make the area around your sink more comfortable to stand on.

In addition to offering physical comfort for your feet, rugs can literally brighten up the appearance of your room.

When choosing a rug for a carpeted room, you should ensure that its color compliments the color of the carpet it is on top of.

For other types of floors, a good rule of thumb is to choose a bright color that works well with the other furniture in the room.

Rugs come in many different materials such as wool, cotton, silk, nylon, and polyester. Each of these materials differs on the basis of durability, ease of cleaning, and softness.

Also read: How Big is a 500 Square Feet Apartment?

Swap Out Blinds for Curtains

The windows in apartment units are usually fitted with plain-looking blinds.

These do a good job of blocking out unwanted sunlight at different times of the day and providing privacy at night.

However, the stock blinds in your unit can be dull to look at and may not offer much outside of being functional.

Many apartment owners set up custom curtains to spruce up the appearance of their window spaces. The addition of stylish curtains can make your living look more modern and exciting, as long as you choose the right type.

You can go with a simple minimalist design such as white sheer curtains that allow some natural through while giving your window space a bright and airy appearance.

Bright colored curtains can make the room appear larger and more welcoming. Darker-colored curtains should be avoided as they can make a sizable living space appear cramped.

Curtains are usually hung from curtain rods affixed to the wall around the window panel. However, some landlords do not allow tenants to drill holes into walls and make such modifications.

In this situation, you may need to use alternative methods for hanging your curtains (such as coat hooks or 3M command hooks).

Many curtain brackets can be attached to your window frame without drilling into them. You can also set up tension rods that are suspended between vertical sections of your window frame for this purpose.

In case you are living away from home and need to make your apartment feel homey, it’s a good idea to get the kind of curtains you’re used to seeing in your home.

Get a Bookshelf

Adding a bookshelf to your apartment is another great way to make it feel cozier. Bookshelves are both functional storage spaces and furniture pieces for decorating an otherwise boring room.

Residents often add bookshelves as a way to show off their book collection and any decorative ornaments they hold dear.

The trick to making one of these furniture pieces an attractive addition to your apartment is to set them up in the right places.

Some apartment residents set up bookshelves along the entrance hallway to give it a more intriguing appearance.

Others build custom bookshelves that follow the exterior of a door frame. You may also be able to find tables with bookshelf slots built into them.

If you prefer a traditional bookshelf that rests against the wall of your living room or bedroom, you can still spruce it up with special lighting.

Some people like to decorate their bookshelves with fairy lights around the edges and in-between the shelf slots.

Alternatively, you could place unique lightings such as salt lamps or lava lamps in empty spaces to break up the monotony of the rows of books.

Repaint the Walls

The color of your apartment’s walls also has a significant effect on how each room is perceived.

If your apartment came with simple white walls, you should consider painting them another shade that feels warmer and comforting.

As a rule of thumb, bright colors make a room feel more open and airy, while darker colors can give it a more cramped, but intimate appearance.

If your apartment’s walls are grey, you can repaint them to something lighter to open up the look of the room.

While some people are satisfied with safe and neutral color choices, choosing a bold and vibrant color for one wall can also make a room appear stylish.

These “accent” walls are usually chosen around architectural details, such as a bookshelf. Others prefer accent walls to be opposite to the room’s entrance so that it is the first thing visitors see.

You should choose your accent colors wisely as they can affect the mood of your room.

Red conveys an intense energetic atmosphere, so it may be used for dining rooms. Blue is a more calming color and can be used for bedrooms.

Yellow shades are uplifting and convey joy and happiness. These should be used for kitchens and bathrooms.

Add Some Plants to the Decor

Living in a concrete space in the city can get boring after a while. The nicest furniture can still convey a life-less inanimate look. For this reason, many people purchase plants for their apartments.

These additions help purify the air in your living space and also add some living color to your home.

Some apartment residents like to rotate between different types of potted plants during different seasons. Others like growing herbs for cooking by their window sills.

There is an infinite number of plant varieties to choose from; however, apartment residents should go with varieties that don’t take up a lot of space as they grow.

Snake plants are a good fit for small spaces as they tend to grow vertically. Other plants such as cacti and succulents also make great additions due to their exotic appearance and compact size.

You should ideally place these plants in well-lit areas by your window. However, they can also survive in more recessed spaces that receive several hours of natural light each day.

Bookshelves can also be decorated with plants that hang from the side of their pots and cascade down the shelves they are on.

Alternatively, some owners suspend plants from the bottom shelf to avoid taking up extra space.

Hang Some Artwork

Another addition that can add some character to your apartment is the artwork. Paintings and posters come in many different sizes and can break up the monotony of a plain wall or an empty space.

Whether you are into films, music, paintings, or simply want something colorful to add to your wall, there is an infinite number of framed wall additions you can add to your living space.

If you’re into quotes, you can simply print your favorite quotes, frame these, and hang these in your work area or even the living area.

When selecting wall art for your apartment, it is important to choose pieces that are an appropriate size. For example, if you intend to hang a painting on the wall behind a couch, it should be roughly half or two-thirds the size of the couch itself.

Similarly, wall art should take up between half and three-fourths of the empty space on a blank wall.

Choosing multiple small pieces can be tempting, but they are unlikely to have the same visual effect as a large piece that sprawls across the surface of your walls.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to make your new apartment feel homey and cozier. Making just a few changes can go a long way in revamping the look of your living space.

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