How to Improve Your Studio Apartment in 8 steps

There are some pretty obvious positives that come with living in a studio apartment.

I mean, they give a great location, are often extremely affordable, and offer a great entry point into city living. Although anyone living in one will tell you that there can be a couple of negatives too. Not having much space is something that comes to mind. As does the fact that they can easily feel small and cramped if you don’t decorate it appropriately. But fortunately for you, they don’t have to.

In fact, by using the eight steps outlined in this article, you can take your apartment to the next level and make the most of your studio.

1. Pick Some Plants

Our first design improvement is one of the easiest ways to bring a bit of life into your studio apartment. That’s right – I am talking about plants. Adding some indoor plants to your home immediately adds a touch of natural color that can’t be obtained any other way. With this in mind, they bring a sense of life into your home that really lifts the place in a very big way. House plant can also naturally filter the air for you. Check out this list of air filtering plants.

Some of my favorite indoor plants are the swiss cheese plant, devil’s ivy, and the peace lily. And obviously, if you don’t want the commitment of keeping a real plant alive, then adding a couple of fakes can be an amazing alternative!

2. Decorate Your Walls

One of the worst things you can do to your studio apartment is to load it full of furniture, and then leave the walls completely bare. This creates an area that feels extremely cramped and suffocating. It’s simply unpleasant.  However, choosing to upgrade your walls by adding some art (or even some clocks) is the perfect alternative. This draws the attention away from the floor by adding a splash of color to the walls while creating a larger feeling room. As an added bonus, you can be super creative here – you can literally hang anything you find attractive and call it art!

3. Ask a Friend for help – Friend with Interior Designer Skills

When I moved into my first studio apartment, I had no idea what I was doing. The place honestly looked like a cross between a brothel and bomb shelter. Needless to say, I didn’t host people all that often… Until I stumbled into a close friend’s studio apartment. It literally took my breath away. You see, our apartments were roughly the same size, and were built around the same time. The appliances were similar, as were the tiles, the bathroom fittings, and even the paint colors.

But for some reason, her place felt huge. So, I asked for some help. She spent two full days helping my reorganize and redecorate my apartment, and at the end of it, I was pretty damn happy I made the decision to ignore my ego and ask for some help.

Make sure you are happy to do the same.

4. Choose Your Layout (This is Super Important)

A very simple way to upgrade your studio is to make sure the layout is on point.  Now, just to clarify, I am not talking about undertaking a complete overhaul. I’m simply talking about altering the position of the furniture in your apartment to improve how it looks and feels.

One of my favorite layout changes is to make sure that all the chairs within the main room of your apartment face each other, rather than face the TV. This is the perfect way to make the whole place feel more inviting while facilitating conversation between your friends and family. Trust me when I say this single step can make a huge difference.

5. Create a Central Focus

One of my favorite ways to alter the perspective of a whole apartment is through the addition of a high-quality centerpiece – an object that not only draws your attention but something that you will never tire of staring at. And in my opinion, the perfect feature object is a wall clock.

You see, wall clocks offer a genuine focal point in most homes. As an added bonus, they also serve a very practical purpose. Now, the main thing to consider if you want to use a wall clock as your central focus is to make sure that it stands out above everything else in your studio. This means that it needs to be large, and needs to have a slightly different pattern and texture to the rest of your home. You’ll want to find a vendor that allows you to filter down by color, style, and size like these wall clocks. Manage this successfully, and you will not be able to take your eyes off it.

6. Measure Your Furniture Carefully

Studio apartments are small. Like, really small. This means that to get the feel right, you need to make sure your furniture fits perfectly. So before you go shopping for new furniture, make sure you measure your home perfectly and then take a measuring tape with you. You want to make sure that your furniture fits within your home, and doesn’t take over it. This may mean looking for more minimalistic options that not only look nice, but are also simple, sleek, and small.

7. Think About Countertops

Kitchen countertops are often forgotten about completely. Simply left with the same ugly theme everyone used in the 70s. But they shouldn’t be. Changing your countertops can be done very cheaply, and I can guarantee it will make your whole home feeler cleaner, and more importantly, newer. If you think you are going to go down this path then make sure you opt for neutral colors and then jazz it up with your appliances. This not only ensures that the resale value remains high, but also guarantees that they won’t clash with anything else in your home. Perfect!

8. Pick a Color Scheme

My final tip is arguably the most important.  Because studio apartments are so small, they can very easily become overcrowded with pieces of furniture and decorations that don’t match at all. As a result, even if you implement the seven steps above, your home will look like… well, trash. With this in mind, make sure you pick a color scheme before everything else and stick to it with near-religious intent because choosing the right color can make you happier.

This will make sure that the feel of your home flows from one room to the next, keeping the whole apartment feeling open and roomy. This is a massive game changer.

Take Home Message

Upgrading your studio shouldn’t be expensive or difficult – in fact, all you need is some simple approaches that work. Which is exactly where these eight steps enter the discussion. So please give them a go and get back to us – we would love to hear how they went for you!