Decorating Studio Apartments

A studio apartment can be a major challenge to decorate and still maintain enough storage space. Here are a few tips to help you decorate your studio apartment:

Ways to Make the Space Look Bigger

• Mirrors are a cheap and simple way to make any space look bigger. Inexpensive door mirrors or even larger framed mirrors hung on walls or doors will do the trick.

• Keep accessories and decorative items to a minimum. The more you have out the smaller and more cluttered the space will look. Instead try to decorate with artwork or items that are hung on the wall. You will also want to keep clutter hidden as much as possible instead of having a desk covered with bills, mail and other items get baskets or boxes with lids and keep these items hidden. You can also use a divider or screen to cover a computer or hobby area.

• Using small throw rugs in different parts of the apartment can help define a space. Using the same color in all of the rugs makes the space seem larger.

• Paint just one wall in the apartment as a focal point. Greens and blues seem to make rooms much bigger than reds and yellows.

Have Furniture That Can be Used Multiple Ways

Smaller bookshelves can double as end tables or even be the "legs" for a desk or coffee table. This can be done by painting a piece of wood the same color as the bookshelves and putting the wood on top of them. A bed can double as a place to sit by pushing it against the wall and using throw pillows for a back and armrests. Get a bed that has storage drawers underneath it and a headboard that doubles as a bookcase.

Create New Places to Store Things

• Use hooks-hang hooks above the washer and dryer for laundry, in closets to hold shoes, hats, coats and other items, on the underside of kitchen cabinets for hanging mugs or pots and pans and so on.

• Use rolling carts to store hobby items in out of the way places but that can still be rolled to the kitchen table or a desk when needed.