How to Maximize Your Studio Apartment Space

By Allie Caton on September 27, 2017

Studio apartments are perfect first-time apartments for college students or recent grads. Especially if you want to live on your own, studio apartments have all the necessary offerings without the outrageous rent. However, what you gain in privacy and lower rent, you lose in space.

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Studio apartments are notorious for being small and lacking in sufficient storage space. However, this problem can be fixed with a little creativity and DIY!

Check out these seven ways to maximize your space in a studio apartment.

1. Multi-functional furniture

Furniture can be tricky. It can either make your studio apartment look cluttered and disorganized, or it can help to divide space and create a homier feel. It’s important to pick the right furniture when it comes to studio apartment decorating for this reason.

The best furniture for a studio apartment is furniture that has multiple uses. A good example of this is getting bookshelves with no backing so that they can be used on both sides. This is a good way to divide up your space into “rooms” that have shelving space on both sides. You could even go so far as to get a pullout couch to save a bunch of space!

2. Up not out

Creating vertical space is a great way to make more storage area in your apartment. Depending on how good you are with a hammer, you can create elevated platforms in your apartment that can elevate your bed off of the floor, creating space underneath it to do what you want with.

A less labor-intensive technique to create more vertical space is to install lots and lots of shelves. Shelves are your best friend in a studio apartment. They keep things from getting cluttered on the floor, and you can put them basically anywhere to hold almost anything. Good shelving is a key player in keeping your studio apartment organized and livable.

3. Zoning

Think about the separate spaces that you want your studio apartment to have: a bedroom, a kitchen, a living area, etc. Draw out a map of where you want each area to live and come up with creative ways to divide up the space so that the areas can feel more separated. This can be done with bookcases/shelving as mentioned above or even just a well-placed couch.

4. Mirrors

Having a lot of mirrors in your studio apartment won’t actually give you more space, but it will trick all your friends into believing you do! Placing small mirrors in clever places around the apartment will give off the illusion that the apartment is more spacious than it actually is. This illusion can also be created with see-through furniture pieces.

5. Less is more!

It might seem counterintuitive, but bigger furniture can actually help you maximize your space more than smaller furniture. Fill your space with fewer bigger pieces of furniture rather than a lot of smaller pieces. This will keep the space from getting too cluttered with furnishings and will create more empty walking space. Larger furniture can also make your studio apartment seem bigger than it is.

6. Color

Avoid an excess of strong patterns around the apartment. Instead, choose to paint your walls one solid color, or pick wallpaper with a larger, more spacious pattern. Small-patterned wallpaper can make the apartment seem cluttered and claustrophobic. It is, however, a good idea to put up some artwork or decorations on your walls to make the apartment feel homier. Putting up similarly themed artwork in each of your zones can help in making them feel like different rooms.

Additionally, use the color of your furniture to your advantage. Choose a few pieces that really pop. By drawing the eye to a few chosen pieces of furniture, you can add more excitement to your apartment without feeling cluttered with strong color.

7. Hidden shelving

Hidden shelving is a great way to store things that don’t necessarily add any decorative value to the apartment. Take advantage of drawers that can fit under the big furniture, organizers that hang over doors, and organizers for closets. You can also incorporate hidden storage into your decorative furniture if you shop well. A coffee table that has cabinets underneath or chairs that have storage area underneath them are a great way to free up some space that would otherwise be taken up by less decorative necessities.

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