Turning a New Apartment Into a Home
I have recently moved into a temporary summer apartment that
I sublet from my friend’s boyfriend. Moving is such a hassle because finding a
place to live is more than just putting a roof over your head; it is about
creating a home out of four walls and memories that aren’t your own. This can
be especially difficult if you are a college student like me who is constantly moving
apartments or don’t have the funds to really decorate a space nicely. From two years
of moving around like crazy and turning each new room into my cozy room, I have
been able to pick up a few good tricks for turning a space into a home on a budget
and in a pinch! Is my room out of a magazine? Absolutely not! But is it cozy to
me? Yes! I LOVE my room :). So even if we have different styles or you are an
adult with a job perfectly capable of purchasing your own fancy furniture, read
on because each tip can be tailored to your personal style and circumstance!
Go All Out!
I think that the most important tip is to not skimp of
effort no matter how long you are staying in a space. I am only going to be in
this apartment for 3 months, so it may seem silly to put all of that effort
into moving my entire life into this little room, but environmental wellness is
really important! We need to feel at home in our environment if we are going to
be truly happy. If I had left this room blank and bland, I would never feel
fully at home here.
Create Multiple Living Spaces in Each Room
Try and give yourself multiple different hang out spaces in
the same room. The entirety of this apartment is furnished by the people that
live here during the school year, so I have a lot of living spaces throughout
the house, but my room is the only space that is completely mine, and it is the
space where I will spend the most time. It is important that I am not
constantly sitting on my bed when I am in here, holed up in a single corner, so
I have set up my room so that I will be living all around it. The first area I
set up was obviously my bed, I knew that I wanted it to be a cozy place to sit
and work on my computer or watch a movie. Next, I enjoy morning coffee dates
with my boyfriend, so I decided that I needed a coffee nook. Finally, I set up
a full-length mirror and space to hold all of my jewelry and makeup supplies. I
like to sit on the floor and do my makeup, so I just put a little desk to hold
my brushes and things next to the mirror. This is the space I will be living in
when I am getting ready in the morning. If you are in your long-term house,
invest in living spaces in multiple rooms! It is so important that we as human
beings are not restrained to one teeny area.
Make Sure All Furniture Items Are Functional
How do I get all of this furniture to make all of these
spaces come together? I definitely do not have the money or car space to be
hauling around an entire room’s worth of furniture to each apartment that I
move to. My #1 apartment furniture tip is to try and make sure that all of the
furniture items I keep double as storage. Even if you own your own permanent
home, this is a really good idea to keep in mind. One can never have too much
storage! You may notice that the “side table” in my coffee nook is a silver plastic
bin… The ottoman is also a storage space for my blankets. Obviously, class it
up if you have the means and the car space! Anything that I need besides those
storage/furniture items must be collapsible! One of my chairs in the coffee
nook is a folding chair, so that checks that box. I try to have as little full-sized
furniture as possible because I just cannot haul it around. Not to mention,
every space is different, so what furniture items work in this space, probably
won’t work in my next space.
Take Advantage of Your Local Thrift Stores
This brings me to my next tip: take advantage of Goodwill and
other thrift stores. My makeup drawers, ottoman, and full-length mirror are all
$5 Goodwill finds. If I am not in love with them by the end of my stay in this
apartment, they are heading back to Goodwill! I used to feel bad shopping at
Goodwill for things because I have the means to get the same stuff at Walmart.
However, shopping at Goodwill benefits the community because of their mission,
and if you re-donate things you aren’t in love with you are providing them with
more merchandise to sell for the cause. When I move out of a space, I like to
go through everything that I own, and anything I didn’t use throughout the
duration of my stay, I donate to Goodwill. It is my way of simplifying my move
and giving back to a place that provided furniture for me which functioned for the
moment. Another great tip is to shop at Goodwill with the idea to upcycle in
mind. If you can buy a chest of drawers for $15 from Goodwill, stain it, maybe
re-screw a few pieces that were loose, and sell it for $40 you just made a
small profit on something that could have been a money pit! Honestly, if you
are creative, upcycling can become quite lucrative and pay for a few textbooks
or utility bills each semester!
Create a Picture Wall
I love to create a picture wall in every room I live in. It
is definitely the most time-consuming part, but I adore seeing the faces of
those I love or pictures of the places I love on my wall every day. Honestly,
it is the best reminder of why I work so hard here at school. The people I love
push me to follow my dream of being a doctor. They push me not to give up when
the work is hard. I like to put up a mix of framed and unframed pictures because
who can afford to frame all of their pictures at once?? I like to pick up a
cheap frame whenever I go to Goodwill because nothing looks better than a
framed picture, but I am not going to wait until I have enough frames for all
of my pictures to make a picture wall! I like to print out my favorite pictures
from the year every August. Do not forget to write a little note on the back
that explains where each picture was taken and who is in each picture—odds are
they will be passed down through your family, and you want that history to live
on :).
Light It Up!
Make sure you have plenty of light! I achieve this through aromatherapy
candles and Christmas lights strung all over. If you are into more classy
solutions, go find some cool artisan lamps! Most apartments do not have the
best lighting, and bad lighting affects our mood much more than we realize. It
is a really important part of environmental wellness to assure that your room
is appropriately lit during the hours when you are awake. If it is not, you may
notice depression or tiredness associated with lack of light. My room is a
basement room, so I created this weird, kind of ghetto Christmas light
headboard using a painting I made at a Bob Ross painting party. It is not the
most classy solution, but I honestly love how weird and random it is :).
Don't Stop Improving!
This brings me to my final tip: each week try to improve on
something that was bothering you. If the place you stashed all of your teas is
really annoying, invest in a fancy tea box or just move them! If you do not
like all of your shirts crumpled up in a drawer because there isn’t enough space,
buy a cheap rod and make a cute open closet! Those are so on trend right now!
If your room is freezing but you do not want to turn up the heat, go buy a
fuzzy blanket or socks or Goodwill sweatshirt! It is not a bad thing to invest
some money into your place; that is not a waste of money! It is so important to
remember that environmental wellness is just as important as physical or
emotional wellness. Nurture yourself and your health by giving yourself a
healthy place to live.
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| Cue cheesy picture of me thoroughly enjoying my odd hodgepodge room |
Comment below what you do to make your house a home :)
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