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Apartment DecoratingIt may be your first time venturing out living away from your original family home and you’ve chosen to live in an apartment, townhouse, unit or loft. It’s also probably your first time decorating an apartment space into your “own home”. Or perhaps apartment living (or townhouse or condominium), is your choice, your preferred way of living – a cosmopolitan, stylish lifestyle, perhaps in the inner city area, without garden maintenance, and with added features of security, car parking and leisure facilities, and close to all other great local amenities. You also may prefer the views that an apartment can give you – whether it’s of a city skyline, overlooking surrounding parkland or river view, or a magnificent vista across the ocean.
You're either renting or you've just purchased your apartment - these are both very important considerations in how you proceed with home decorating your apartment. If you’re renting an apartment space, then there’s a limit to what you can do with the architectural “givens” – the walls, floors and fittings. You have to keep in mind a balance between the appropriateness of your current home location as well as future possibilities when making your major furniture and accessories selections. But that’s not to say that you can’t exercise great creative flexibility and dress up your space with colorful gorgeous cushions, comfy sofas and armchairs you love, home accents and accessories, great floor rugs, fabulous artwork, and other decorating details that give you heaps of leeway to incorporate your home decorating loves, favorite colors, textures, and “nic nacs”. And, always all transportable no matter where you go ...
If you’re an apartment owner, then there’s way more flexibility - you have “carte blanche” to do what you want – then let’s get going! ... Ideas and Tips to help you – • Apartment Decorating is all about simplicity and appropriateness. Make sure your home decorating choices suit your environment and your setting. You're in an environment where you're looking for simple, slick, clean lines. For example, the fussiness or busy-ness of the Country Home Decorating style will just not suit or look or feel right on the upper floor of a city high-rise apartment building. • There are some basics to follow to give your apartment, townhouse, condominium or loft a welcoming, homey and comfortable atmosphere. Bring your personality, preferences and style into your space with colorful accessories, cushions, throw rugs, floor rugs, vases, photo frames, candles and other items of your choice. • Apartments can also have the problem of limited or small space so you may need to follow some principles of decorating small spaces. • Keep things simple – an uncluttered look is the best to go for. • Keep the room light and open – don’t obstruct the natural light coming in to your room space. Make the most of open window spaces. • Go for delicate and neutral tones and avoid layered, busy and glaring patterns – they give a room a cramped, closed in, claustrophobic feeling. • Scale things up - small rooms look great with large sofas and bookcases. It gives the room the illusion of dimensions it doesn't actually have. • You could also select modular pieces of furniture that you can easily move around the room to give you the best use of space for whatever occasion. • Use a carefully chosen piece of artwork to establish a focus in your room space. • Use coffee tables, side tables or lamp tables with clear glass to give a transparent look, to keep eye movement free and moving, and free up visually blocked off spaces. You’re aiming to have a feeling of space and unobstructed visual movement around a room. • Simple window treatments are best in rooms of modest proportions. Go for colors that blend easily with the walls. • Screens or room dividers are fabulous and can be used to give definition to an area. • Mirrors when used in small rooms can help make your room appear larger. Position them where they can reflect the windows, the light coming in and outdoor views and scenery. • Attractive storage baskets placed in the corner of a room help to store your personal things and reduce clutter and also have the added bonus of looking really great if you’ve made your choice with attractive home decorating in mind. • Corner v-shape shelving units are also a wonderful way to display your collectibles, photos, plants and other nic nacs. • If you have a balcony – create an outdoor room and an extension to your apartment – it will make your area appear more spacious. Create a wonderful retreat with a small outdoor table and chairs, or even a recliner or hammock, with colorful potted plants in decorative pots. A wonderful place where you can have a late brunch or lunch afternoon and share times with a dear friend or partner, kick back and read a book, magazine or newspaper, and simply muse and take in the wonderful views. Great also for a romantic moonlit dinner for two.
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