College student apartments are notorious for being small. Still, you can create a practical, cute, and cozy home for yourself in a small apartment. With a few small changes, you can make the most of the little space you have. In this article, we’ll discuss decorating tips to make your apartment seem bigger.
Use mirrors and light colors
One way to make an apartment look bigger is to make it brighter. You can make your apartment brighter by using mirrors and lighter colors, such as white. Mirrors and light colors are excellent reflectors of light, making your apartment appear brighter and bigger. Instead of putting a piece of art on your wall, consider putting a mirror, and consider using light furniture pieces instead of dark. If you’re allowed to paint the walls of your apartment, paint them white or a very light neutral color. These are easy ways to make your apartment seem bigger.
Take advantage of vertical space
When you have a small apartment, you will not have much wall space for furniture and decorations. For this reason, you should take advantage of the vertical space your apartment has to offer. After all, you likely have a lot of unused space from the floor to the ceiling of your apartment that you could use. For example, opt for a taller, narrower bookshelf instead of a shorter, wider one to maximize the available space in your apartment. You can make your apartment look bigger if you take advantage of the vertical space you have.
Use furniture that fits in your apartment
Most furniture is not made for a small apartment. If you use big, bulky pieces of furniture, your apartment will look cluttered. You won’t have much space to even walk around! If you have a smaller apartment, you should go for smaller decorations and pieces of decor. Instead of a big dining table, consider going for a smaller table. Choose a loveseat instead of a big couch. Buy a small desk, not a full size one. When you use smaller furniture, you will have more space in your apartment, and it will make it look bigger.
Use a simple color scheme
Using many colors in a small space makes the space look even smaller. Instead, use a simple color scheme to make your apartment look bigger. Don’t use decorations and furniture of many different colors. Rather, choose only a specific set of colors. It would be a good idea to choose mainly neutral colors (like white, black, gray, tan, silver, or gold) with one or two other colors as accents. Use the accent colors sparingly, since they are meant to make a statement and contrast the neutral colors. (For example, you could buy a throw pillow in one of your accent colors, but use a neutral color for larger pieces of furniture, like a couch or table.) When you use many loud colors, your apartment will look cluttered and busy. On the other hand, when you use a simple color scheme, your apartment will look neat, clean, and big. In other words, use a simple color scheme to make your apartment seem bigger.
Upgrade the lighting
As we said before, lighting plays an important part in making an apartment look bigger. You can use this to your advantage. To make your apartment look bigger, you should upgrade the lighting in your apartment. First, you can upgrade the lights on the ceiling to brighter, more energy-efficient lightbulbs. Then, you can buy some additional lighting for the apartment. For example, a desk lamp or a tall floor lamp. These lighting fixtures will make your apartment brighter, and when your apartment is better lit, it looks bigger. Clearly, upgrading the lighting in your apartment will make it seem bigger.
Choose multipurpose furniture
In a small apartment, you don’t have space for many different pieces of furniture. To maximize the little space you do have, consider choosing multipurpose furniture. For example, you can go for an entertainment center that has storage drawers, or you can use a storage ottoman for extra storage and seating space. This way, you won’t need more pieces of furniture for storage. Especially in a small apartment, you will need as much storage as you can get! For those reasons, if you want to make your apartment seem bigger, choose multipurpose furniture.
Declutter, declutter, declutter!
A cluttered apartment is one that looks much smaller than it actually is. On the other hand, a decluttered apartment looks bigger. If you want to make your apartment seem bigger, declutter it! Go around your apartment and decide what you actually need and use, versus what you don’t need. Decluttering your apartment will not only simplify your life, but it will also make your apartment seem bigger.
If you follow these decorating tips, you can maximize the space you have in your small apartment.
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