How to Make Your Off-Campus Apartment Feel Like Home

By Francine Fluetsch on February 19, 2017

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When you first move off campus into your own apartment, the thrill of it just takes you into another world; you finally feel like a real adult. Dorms are one thing since it’s like sharing a place with a bunch of siblings that you may or may not want to be living around, but your off-campus space is finally something that you can call your own.

So how exactly can you make it feel fully like home instead of just somewhere that you crash after a long day of classes?

Personalize it

When you walk into your apartment, you want to be able to see touches of you everywhere you go. Of course, you want to coordinate with your roommates to make sure that each of you is represented in your shared spaces, so get everyone together and figure out the aesthetic you are going for. You could opt for a fun wall decal that represents all of you in some way, add your favorite colors to the living room pillows to give the room a pop of color, or each go hunting for décor pieces and place them around the house to give it a persona.

My personal touch to any apartment that I live in always comes in some form of a chicken item. I love chickens, and stores like Pier 1 and World Market always seem to be popping with products to suit my chicken vibe. In my apartment in Santa Cruz, I brought chicken plates, cups, and towels, and even got my roommates to get more into chicken stuff. By the end, we were repping chicken water bottles and even chicken silverware! It really made the place feel like home for me because it was personal and the details were thought out and wouldn’t fit just anybody.

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Hang up pictures

Pictures of great memories can really make your place go from an apartment to a home. If you don’t want personal pictures out in your shared space, that’s totally fine, but have some in your room to make sure it screams you. Having pictures around can also help you when you are feeling homesick for your parents’ house, which happens from time to time, so the more memories you have surrounding you, the better.

You can hang up frames, make a photo collage, or mix and match photos of you and your friends/family with pictures of nature or landmarks that you like to vary the content on your walls.

Smells like home

We often associate smells with good memories, so why not bring in some candles that smell like home to you, whatever that may be, and have them in your apartment? If you don’t yet have a scent that makes you think of home, this could be a great time to find one. Find a candle that isn’t too overpowering or too mild, one that makes you relax when you smell it and just feel at peace. It’s great to get in the habit of this anyway, because then when you have guests over, you never have to worry about the place smelling like last night’s dinner. They too will begin to associate the smell with your home.

Be social with your roomies

Considering you trusted the people you live with enough to move off campus with them, odds are you have some sort of relationship, so why not let that blossom by having some “family” dinners together? My housemates and I would sometimes (when our schedules allowed) make dinners together and just talk about what was going on in all of our lives at the moment.

It might seem like a small thing, but taking the time to sit with other people and share a meal can really help bring about that “feels like home” aspect. And while I totally sympathize that it is hard to find time to cook and all eat together, it is always worth the extra effort when you can finally make it happen.

Decorate for the holidays

No matter what holidays you celebrate, it never hurts to get a little bit festive for them to really make your off-campus apartment feel like a home. Of course, being a college student on a budget, you probably won’t be able to go all out for every holiday, but you don’t need to go big to get the feeling across. You can put up some hearts for Valentine’s Day, hide some eggs for Easter, get a pumpkin or two for Halloween, and make cookies before winter break for the winter holidays. Getting in the spirit of the holidays and letting your home encompass those feelings and help make those memories will make it feel like your one true place faster.

These are just a few tips to truly feel one with your environment and to really make the most out of your off-campus apartment. Have fun with it and make sure that your personality shines through your place.

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