Make the Most of Your Studio Apartment

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Make the Most of Your Studio Apartment

Cole Nemeth · May 23, 2017

Studio Apartment - Interior

As more people choose to live in bigger cities on their own, studio apartments are becoming an increasingly viable option. Most studio apartments consist of a single room that’s used as the kitchen, dining area, living room, and bedroom. More often than not, people choose to live in these little homes for their affordability and location. While living in a studio can be quite challenging, especially if you own a lot of furniture, there are ways to transform it into a beautiful, functional space that you can feel comfortable in. To make the most of your small apartment space, try out a few of these useful tips:

Furniture Layout

Strategic furniture positioning is one of best ways to maximize space in any home, especially in studios. Depending on the shape your apartment, there should be a number of ways to smartly arrange your furniture. You can get some great spacing ideas just by looking up different studio layouts online. Alternatively, you can try drawing up an apartment plan to see how your decor will fit into the area before moving it all in. This can save you a lot of time and effort you might otherwise spend guessing and moving things around. However, some people do find it helpful to rearrange their furniture until its positioning feels just right. No matter how you choose to do it, you should be able to easily pass through each section of your apartment without tripping or having to squeeze past anything.

Separate Areas

When living in a studio apartment, you won’t have any walls to separate your bedroom from your kitchen or living room. For this reason, you’ll find it helpful to decide where each section will be when planning the layout. These areas include living room, dining room, kitchen, office, and bedroom.

Large pieces of furniture like bookcases make for great section dividers and can help create clear distinctions between each “room.” You can also try using curtains or other partitions as walls. Another way to create a sense of separation in your apartment is to incorporate area rugs and different kinds of lighting. Dedicating small spaces to different activities will make your studio feel larger and homier.

Wall Storage

When you don’t have a whole lot of square footage to work with, you’ll want to consider using your walls for storage purposes. For instance, there’s a slew of different of shelves to choose from in terms of style, function, and price. Floating shelves look great when installed just under the ceiling and can be used to store books, movies, mementos, and more. If you’re not allowed to put nails or screws into your walls, you can always invest in a good set of vertical shelves. You might even consider buying one large bookshelf to take up an entire wall. Put the things you know you’ll use within easy reach, and keep your less-used belongings on the upper shelves. This will give you a lot of storage without occupying much of your space. Hooks and rods are also a great option for creating wall storage, especially in the kitchen as a place for pans and cooking utensils or in the bathroom for towels.

Double-Duty Furniture

When dealing with studio apartments, it’s key to look into multifunctional furniture. Anything that doubles as storage or another piece of furniture is best. You might buy a bed frame that includes a set of built-in drawers or an ottoman that also serves as a container. You can also use your dining table as a desk. These are just a few of many available options to consider when shopping for double-duty furniture.

Stay Organized

Colorful Storage Baskets

In an apartment with a single room, there’s virtually nowhere to hide your clutter. Unless you make a commitment to superb organization, your junk will be out in the open for all of your guests to see! The best way to stay organized is to assign a proper storage place to every item in your home. That way, you’ll know where to put everything the moment you finish using it. This will save you a ton of cleanup time later on and prevent your studio from falling into chaos. Implementing shelving, dual furniture, and cabinets will make organizing your things significantly easier. Of course, it’s also important to make your storage look nice. Try keeping some small items in colorful baskets and boxes to spice up your apartment while saving space.

Decorate

No matter where you live, your goal should always be to create a comfortable space that reflects your personality. While throw pillows and paintings can take up a fair amount of space, they are the things that will truly make your apartment feel like home. When decorating a studio, be reasonable and do your best to keep it minimal. Earlier in the article, we mentioned creating distinct areas in place of rooms. While you should still follow that advice, you should also try to incorporate a consistent decorative theme throughout your apartment. Visual continuity can make an area seem larger than it actually is, whereas contrasting styles and colors just make a place feel chaotic.

Mirrors

Mirrors can add depth to any room. This trick has been used for decades, and it’s one that you should be using in your studio apartment. Mirrors make rooms feel twice as big as they really are because they reflect the space opposite them. With that in mind, try placing a mirror opposite one of your windows: this creates the illusion of a second window and shines more light throughout your home.

Keep it Bright

It’s best to keep small spaces well lit, as dark rooms can sometimes feel claustrophobic. For this reason, designers often use white walls to expand an area. Dark walls can make your studio apartment feel smaller than it already is. If you’re set on dark walls, however, you can still make your studio feel relatively large. In this case, your safest bets are navy blues, dark browns, blacks, and charcoals. Steer clear of dark greens, reds, and mid-tone blues. Since natural light will also help open your space up, you’ll want to avoid blocking windows with furniture or heavy curtains.

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