5 Essential Decorating Tips for Your First Seattle Apartment
Are you moving into your first apartment? Congratulations! This is a major step as an adult. Whether it’s a place of your own, you’re sharing it with roommates or you’re part of a couple, the new level of independence is exciting – and probably a little scary.
Once you’ve bought some furniture and paid first and last month’s rent, you probably don’t have much money left for decorating. One advantage of having a small space is that you don’t need much to make it look lived-in. However, a big challenge can be not making it look too cramped or cluttered. Here are some decorating tips for first apartments to make them look roomier as well as stylish.
- Keep it uncluttered. Buy a few essential pieces like a sofa, dining set, bed and desk. This will help the space look more open and roomy.
- Decorate with light colors. Dark furniture and wood make the rooms seem smaller, whereas whites and pastels open them up.
- Get creative with storage. You likely don’t have tons of closet space, so use vertical storage systems like floor-to-ceiling shelving or room dividers that have space for storage.
- Use layers to decorate. If you have just a few basic pieces of furniture, you can use accent pillows, throws and other accessories to add patterns and colors without taking up more space.
- Finally, personalize your new home with framed photos, artwork and mementos. With the right frames and matting, your treasured pictures and art can be displayed with your own unique style throughout your home. If you’re living away from your family for the first time or missing your old friends, you’d be surprised at how comforting it is to have a corner or wall of photos of the special people in your life where you can see them any time you like and relive memories. Your choice of mat and frame colors can also accentuate the color scheme you’ve used throughout your apartment. With a variety of sizes and styles of frames, you can maximize the number of items you want to display.
Whether your first apartment is a studio that you have all to yourself or a multi-bedroom that you’re sharing with others, you’ll likely remember it for the rest of your life. It’s not a dorm room or your bedroom at your parents’ house — it’s your first home. Even on a limited budget, you can make it a place you want to come home to and bring others into to share fun, food, music and good conversation.