Having your own living space is a liberating and exciting experience, no matter what its size. A large space is excellent, but a small space can be just as wonderful. Studio apartments, especially, may appear unassuming but have a ton of potential to look amazingly spacious. You just need to know how to work with what you’ve got and manipulate the space to get the maximum benefit.
Read on to discover the neatest tricks, tips and solutions for optimizing your studio apartment!
Zone Your Home
If you want to make your living space feel larger and, simultaneously, more organized, zoning is the way to go. You may live in a studio apartment, but that doesn’t mean you have to sleep where you eat and work where you sleep. Subtly sectioning off different areas will create the illusion of a larger and more compartmentalized space. Curtain off your bed to create a sleeping space, place a desk and chair in another corner of the room to create an office space, or set a chair by the window for a calming hangout spot. There are a ton of possibilities when it comes to zoning, and each one will make your space feel more spacious, organized and varied.
The Magic of Mirrors
Strategically placed mirrors can work wonders when it comes to expanding a smaller living space. The mirrored reflections can trick the eye into seeing a space as bigger than it actually is. Place a mirror on the wall directly across from your window; this will create the illusion of a second window and also bounce the natural light from the real window all around the room.
To make your space feel taller, decorate your walls with a few full-length mirrors. This will draw the eye up to the ceiling, evoking the feeling of a bigger space. Full-length mirrors also serve to bounce light around, making the room feel brighter. Another trick is to layer an entire wall with mirrors by placing small mirrors on top. This adds a ton of light to the room while creating the illusion of expansion and depth.
Clever Curtains
Curtains can make a huge difference in a small space as well. To make your space look much bigger, place your curtain rod at the top of the ceiling instead of the actual sill, and hang floor-length curtains. This will stretch out your space immensely, creating the illusion of a more expansive area.
When purchasing curtains, aim for lightweight material with patterns, especially vertical stripes. Breezy material will make the room airier, and vertical stripes add a lot of height. Be sure to steer clear of heavy material and solid, domineering colors.
Go Big With Paint
Some suggest painting each wall a different color. It’s the trendy thing to do and gives your apartment a bit of flare. But when dealing with a smaller living space, this can only serve to make your space appear even smaller. To maintain the opposite effect, paint your walls the same color and opt for light, pale tones. White is probably your best bet, but you can go with something like light green, mint, cream or pink as well. The light color will brighten up your living space and also create the illusion of the walls being farther apart from each other than they really are, thus making the room seem larger. Be sure to check with your property manager first before you start to paint.
Declutter
This might seem like an obvious tip, but it’s the most important one. We can trick our eyes into making our space look bigger all we want, but the best actual way to make your space bigger is to get rid of all the stuff you don’t need! That means saying goodbye to the pair of jeans you’ve held onto since high school, the stack of magazines from the ‘90s and all the other clutter you’ve got laying around. Tossing it out and keeping only what’s absolutely necessary will free up valuable amounts of space and make your living area more spacious and organized than ever.