Change Your College Furniture, Change Your Mood

By Francine Fluetsch on September 29, 2016

This article is brought to you by CORT Furniture Rental. We take the hassle out of furnishing your new place so you can do more important things like read this article. Learn more about why furniture rental is the best way to get a great looking apartment.

The things you surround yourself with in life can have a huge affect on your mood, and your college furniture is no exception. It may seem silly, but even simple things like how your furniture is placed can either create an inviting vibe for your guests or a very closed off, negative sensation.

Here are some tips to help create a great vibe in your apartment or house, so both you and your guests will feel relaxed and serene in your space.

Keep it clean and clutter-free.

First and foremost, you want to make sure your furniture is what is taking up your space, not piles of clothes, food, or random knick-knacks that don’t have a home and are randomly placed all over your space. A cluttered or messy environment can make people irritable and stressed, even if they don’t realize that is what the feeling is equated to.

I’ve personally noticed that I become more irritable when it’s my roommates’ clutter and not mine, since I feel like I can’t really do anything about it and feel trapped, causing me not to study on the couch in the living room as much as I’d like to because it makes me feel boxed in and annoyed.

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You don’t want to be feeling this, don’t want to subject your roommates to it, or your guests, so try and keep the space reasonably clean and pick up and pack away any clutter that doesn’t need to be there. The couch should have nothing more than a pillow or two and a throw rug, the coffee table can have some magazines but don’t go overboard, and a kitchen table looks nice and neat with just a candle or placemats.

Simple can still be cute, and it will give you and all the people who visit your place room to breathe.

It’s all about angles.

When placing your furniture, especially in the living room, make sure you place it so it doesn’t box itself in. Instead, keep spaces in between furniture so people don’t feel like they have to squeeze into your space, and it feels more inviting. Also, if your apartment is small, like most students’ places will be, don’t stuff too much junk in there. The less, the better.

Instead of packing a couch, two arm chairs, a big coffee table, and an end table crammed with books, why not go for a two seater couch and one arm chair, or to keep it fun, a bean bag chair? Coffee tables are great additions to your space, but make sure that they are reasonably small compared to the room itself.

Go with a theme.

What will help the zen and flow of your room is to keep things consistent. You don’t need a full-fledged theme if you don’t want one, but even picking a color scheme will help your room look its best and will help you and people who come over feel good. You want to go with calm colors like blues, especially for the living room, as that really does influence how calm you are.

Furniture, of course, is expensive, so I’m sure that you and your roommates are probably going for second-hand or rental furniture; but don’t worry, you can still make it match! You can use throws on the couches, and decorate with matching pillows, to make everything look like it fits in and flows in your space. My roommate from Santa Cruz and I picked the theme of blue for the living room, green for the kitchen, and coral for the bathroom, and then bought stuff to go with that so there weren’t any random bursts of color.

I’ve also learned that one of the best colors for the kitchen is yellow, because it is warm and inviting. A yellow tablecloth with light flower accents or something subtle can be a great addition to a cute, round table to accent your kitchen. You can also create a relaxing mood by accenting your kitchen chairs with nice, soft cushions to tie in your color theme and to also make the room more comfy and inviting.

Incorporate inviting accessories.

If you’ve put the essential furniture into your place and see that you still have some extra room that needs to be filled, consider getting things like a bookshelf or game console holder to show that your space is inclusive and inviting for people to hang out in.

Have you ever been in those places where there is nothing fun around, and it looks like you can’t touch anything? You definitely don’t want to fall into that. You want to keep your place clean, as said in the first point, but you also want to show that anyone can “feel at home” and can sit and use your stuff (as long as they aren’t abusing it, of course).

These are just a few points to keep in mind when buying or renting furniture for your place or figuring out how to arrange it and decorate your place. Keep calm, and decorate to keep calm!

Looking for an easy way to furnish your off-campus apartment? Renting furniture from CORT saves you time and money. See how easy it is to get great looking furniture without breaking the bank.

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