10 ways to make your apartment feel like home

10 ways to make your small apartment feel 

like a Home

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Apartment living can be a nice more affordable lifestyle, however it can be difficult to make it feel like its YOUR lifestyle. Apartments are usually cold, barren, blank slates that have NO personality, and its usually that cookie cutter, lack of color and love that most people despise!
I for one find blank slates nice, because i can add my touch to it, but with apartments you are VERY limited on what you can do.
Here are 10 ways i have found that made my apartment and can make yours as well, feel like YOUR home!

#1- Change out light fixture covers!

My kitchen had a run of the mill glass cover on the pendant light hanging over the sink, it wasn't ugly but it really wasn't something i loved. Light fixture covers are super affordable solutions to changing up the look of your room. I went with a simple mason jar to add a little country to my kitchen; When i turn the light on, it feels so cozy and warm! 

If mason jars aren't your thing than check out Menards, Home Depot, or Lowes for their fixture cover selection! Most covers run from $4 to $10. You want to know how much mine cost? Well, get ready for this... it was FREE. Hows that for good DIY skills!

#2- Don't clutter the top 

 One thing that pretty much all apartments lack is STORAGE! It can be pretty irritating when you are trying to meal plan but you don't have the storage space for all the food you need to buy, but such is life when you live in a smaller space. I really don't know how people that live in tiny houses do it!

Anyways, because of the lack of storage we put our stuff wherever it can fit, and usually that is above the cabinets. If you don't care how your kitchen looks, then first of all you don't really need to finish reading this, and second go ahead and keep piling stuff up there! 

But if you DO care, then take this advice, either get rid of empty boxes, gadgets, or  anything you don't use! That alone will help get rid of some upper cabinet clutter. If you still have a lot of stuff that you use often then I'd recommend going through your cupboards and weeding out stuff in them so you can put things you actually use away. 

Now I like adding a few decor pieces to my upper cabinet space, you don't have to! It really adds that personal touch that apartments lack though. It also says "Hey i really have my kitchen game going strong here, and i'm organized" even if you secretly aren't really.

#3- Change out knobs

We had some pretty ugly GOLD knobs on our closet doors. I mean they shouldn't be sold in stores anymore.... Not that gold is bad, because i love gold; i just wouldn't go with 80's styled round gold knobs.... EVER! 

I changed them out to these pretty knobs i found at target! Make sure when you change ANYTHING in your apartment out, that you save it all in a box so that when you move out it is all in one place which makes it easier to put back where you took it from.

#4- Add wall decor and Furniture

 My living room is reasonably sized, all my furniture fits in it relatively well. If we were in a bigger space i would probably arrange it differently, but i'm working with what i have. 

Now my living room is completely open to my kitchen and dinning area, so one way i added a little segregation, is placing my sectional in a way that it helps diving the spaces nicely. 

TIP: furniture DOESN'T have to go right up against the wall.  If you have the space don't be afraid to put your couch more in the center of the room, and maybe add a sofa table behind it with some cute lamps and books on it. Its also ok for your bed to go in front of a window. 

So we added character to our plain living room by placing bookshelves and a fireplace as a feature wall.  I also added a homey touch to the space with a small gallery wall that has pictures and quotes that i love.

The bookshelves also added storage for books (obviously) and my sons toys that i placed in cute baskets. 

#5- Paint!

This is a tip you will have to check with your lease agreement or apartment manager about, a lot of apartments don't allow tenants to paint, and if they allow pain they usually have you pick a color from their list of allowed choices and hire a professional to pain ONE wall for you. Thankfully we are allowed to paint! The only stipulation is we have to paint it back when we move out, which is A- ok with me. 

So because i have to paint it back i only painted one wall in each bedroom. My sons room (on the left) was painted a nice warm denim blue color, and our room (on the right) was painted a cool tone grey color. I also painted the TINY little wall where our light switch is on, just to add a little bit more pizzazz to the room.

#6- Add curtains

 One way to make a room feel warmer, more homey is to add curtains to the windows. DO NOT place the curtain rod right above the window frame, but instead place it much higher because that will add height to your room whereas placing it right on the window frame cuts the room much lower and can look closed off.  I have curtains in pretty much every room of the house, but all of them are a nice neutral color, because i'm not really one for crazy patterns and colors. If you however like color, then this is one way to add it to your white apartment. You can also add color through throw pillows, accent chairs, rugs, or even towels you have hanging on the holders. 

#7- Find storage solutions

  My son's closet is one place i store all the extra blankets or pillows that we use when guests come over, so i wanted to make sure i made the most of the space with this 8 cube shelf. Since his clothes are so small everything fits in here nicely. I also used a three tiered basket thing, to hold his shoes, lotions, hats, and like items. The cloth drawers store toys, some of my craft items, and sheet sets, then he has all his books on top so he can pull them down and look at them when he wants to. 

This solution is pretty simple, and really helps organize things easily.

#8- Use command hooks

I've talked about command hooks before in other posts, so i wont go into much detail. Lets just say they are a renters friend. Our electrical panel is right behind the door, so i placed command hook on the top part of it, which helps hang my jackets, and hide the ugly panel at the same time!!

#9- Personalize kids rooms. 

A lot of times in apartments kids rooms are forgotten, usually because there is more than one child sharing that room. Instead of opting for a typical changing table that doesn't offer to much storage, use a dresser instead! it helps store your kids clothes out of reaching hands which keeps their room cleaner. Also add some sweet pictures to the walls, to make them feel like their room is a special little place for them!

#10- don't forget the bathroom

Bathrooms can be pretty too!! I added a cute picture with a nice quote on it (it says begin each day with a grateful heart) since we usually are in the bathroom before any other room at the beginning of the day. I went with simple colors, three different shades of grey and a few soft yellow hints here and there. If you had a house, your bathroom would look nicer than an apartment one, so don't be afraid to add a little of you to it! 

So there you have it! 10 pretty simple ways to personalize your apartment and make it feel like your home! I hope you enjoyed this read, and i can't wait to chat next time!

-hannah