How to Make Your Apartment Student-Friendly

By Kaitlin Hurtado on April 19, 2017

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.

When it comes to living spaces in college, the freedom you have in designing it varies year-to-year depending on where you are living. In the dorms, you will typically have no say in the furniture you get to have — you personalize through decorations you bring from home.

However, once you end up moving off campus and into your own apartments, you get more freedom to decorate your living space, from big furniture pieces to smaller wall decor. When designing your space, keep your life habits in mind and find the balance of creating a space that you can both relax in and study in as a young adult and college student by keeping the following steps in mind.

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1) Personalize any space you can

The reason for personalizing space is obvious — the more personalized a space is, the more comfortable and at home you will feel in your space. If you pick furniture and decor you don’t like or let all your roommates dictate what goes into the living space, you won’t be wanting to spend a lot of time in the space, whether it’s to hang out with friends or study.

At the same time, be cautious of how much you are decorating and how comfortable your roommates are with your decorations. While you should be able to have full power in decorating your personal space, you need to keep in mind that your roommates also want to personalize shared spaces just as you do, if not more.

Be open to making compromises when it comes to decorating; your roommates won’t always necessarily agree with all of your decor choices and you won’t always agree with theirs. Find decor you agree on or be prepared to give up something you want to decorate the space with for something they want to decorate with, or vice versa.

2) Make an actual study space

If you plan on spending any time at your apartment, you should dedicate a small space to studying. Don’t depend on keeping books laying around the apartment, keeping them on the dining table for later studying only to have them be used as coasters by you and your roommates. Have a desk to call your own, preferably keeping it in your own bedroom, but if you lack space, there’s always the living room if your roommates are okay with keeping a desk in shared space. Keep your desk well equipped with everything you need – from a printer to back-up school supplies — so that you don’t have an excuse to get up and get distracted elsewhere.

If you don’t have a study space to call your own, you’ll find yourself trying to finish your readings on the couch in your living room, vulnerable to any and all distractions that your roommates and apartment can offer. Having a dedicated study space is also convenient — as you don’t have to make the trek to campus or the closest coffee shop to try and be sufficient, you can just as easily stay in your pajamas, brew your own coffee, and knock out an assignment or two in the comfort of your own home.

3) Keep your bed as a place for sleeping … just for sleeping

The comfort that the nest of blankets and pillows brings is tempting at all hours of the day. Even in broad daylight, your bed may call out to you as a great place to accomplish some class readings or to binge on a Netflix series. However, spending more time in bed doing things other than sleeping is actually counterproductive.

The more time you spend in bed doing other things, regardless of their level of productivity, the more your body will learn to associate your bed as a place for activities other than sleeping, which can eventually give you trouble falling asleep as your body struggles to fully relax when you want to sleep.

Learn how to give the different spaces of your apartment different functions. Keep the food in the kitchen and designated dining area. Keep the studying to your desk. Keep the sleeping to your bed (and occasionally the couch if you are desperate to sneak in a few minutes of rest).

4) Keep your apartment as clean as possible

“Clean” is a term that has a different meaning for everyone. You can clean your space once a month and consider it clean, or only consider your apartment clean if you are cleaning it daily. While you can fall behind on cleaning your apartment thoroughly when academics and extracurriculars keep your schedule busy, try to keep your living space relatively organized.

Keep your living space organized to the point where you know where your belongings are so that you know which designated areas to go to when you are in a rush and actually need them. Keep your school supplies and work in your study space, your clothes in your own closet/storage, etc. The more organized you are, the less stressful life will be when you are juggling different responsibilities and don’t have to worry about where you last left a textbook when you need to return it when the end of the quarter or semester comes.

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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