An Apartment Decorated for You by YOU
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You just signed your first apartment lease; how exciting! Now comes the hard part — decorating. While seemingly superficial, apartment decorations are crucial to defining your new home. But how do you know what you want?
Here are some tips to find out your style.
1. First and foremost, figure out what purpose you want your new home to serve. Is it just a place for you to chill after a long day? Or is it the ultimate hangout spot for all of your friends on the weekend? Maybe somewhere in between? Or are you just using it as a place to crash, and you don’t plan on really being there?
Deciding these factors will significantly narrow your furniture shopping right from the start.
2. Now that you have the purpose in place, it’s time to stalk. Go through pictures of apartments posted on Facebook, tour your friends’ apartments, watch hours of HGTV and spend the commercials scrolling through Pinterest. Looking through the photos will make you say yay! or nay to certain styles, and it will help you to figure out what you are looking for.
Just take a look here at all that comes up with one “apartment decorations” search.
3. Think about your personality. What are you like, and what does that say about your home? Some people are super zen and want a hippie vibe, while others are quiet and calm and want their house to be that way too. You wouldn’t throw bright colored tapestries all over the walls if you were hoping for peace! But maybe you are high energy, and you want bright all the time.
Here are a few things the Huffington Post says about decorating and personality:
•Extra seating= love to entertain and be social
•Throw pillows= comfort is key (for you and your guests)
•Bare counters= Type A
•Neutral palette= peacemaker
•Orange and yellow hues= optimistic and adventurous
•Blues and greens= cautious and laid back (yet depends on shade)
•Open floor plan= all about family
•Eclectic accessories= storyteller
•Vintage= sophisticated
Cameron Rabideau goes on to explain the concept of the acronym OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) in her article for Martha Stewart.
4. Think even more about what you are like. What are your hobbies? Do you love to cook and be in the kitchen? Or is it more fun for you to soak up in bath bubbles all afternoon? Maybe you like to craft and need space for that, or a strong bookshelf for all of your good reads. Your decorations should be an extension of you.
5. Are you into history? Check out some antiques for your place! Are you always on the move and following the latest trends? Follow furniture social media accounts to see what is in. Do you think other decades are cooler than this one? Go vintage! Or do you absolutely love the 21st century? Then it’s all modern all the time for you.
6. Now look at yourself in the mirror. Think about what you wear. Are you a patterns person? Or black and white only? It’s thinking outside the box on things like this that will lead to apartment greatness.
7. Location. Where is this apartment located? You want to set the scene. Are you urban, suburban, near the water? Match what is around you. Chances are, you picked that location because you liked it, so you probably like the style that comes along with it.
The moral of the story is you have to take the time to read and to think. It’s your first apartment, which is so exciting! You have the freedom to design more than just your bedroom now. Read books, flip through magazines, search the web. No one can tell you what your style is, that is entirely up to you. While the freedom can be intimidating, take it and run with it! And for those who find they have champagne taste on a soda can budget, don’t forget that DIY is always an option.
And if you are still stuck on what to do with your first apartment, go back to the world wide web. It’s full of quizzes that are both fun to take and informative. Here are a few to get you started:
•If you want to find out both your home style of choice and your cocktail of choice, HGTV has you covered: http://www.hgtv.com
•Laurel & Wolf keep it to the basics: https://www.laurelandwolf.com
•Apartment Therapy brings it back to kids-style quizzes: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com
•HGTV strikes again (with a little plug to themselves, of course) in this quiz that mixes questions of furniture with lifestyle choices: http://www.hgtv.com
•Coastal Living also mixes lifestyle and furniture questions because let’s face it, you live a lot in your home (or maybe you don’t, think about this while you’re decorating):http://www.coastalliving.com
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