Space is limited in an apartment, but with a few simple additions, you can maximize what you have. Keep in mind that these additions can also act as décor pieces in your space. Find shelves, racks and hooks that are not only functional and space saving but also have character and serve a decorative purpose.
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Don’t forget to dress up your windows, as quality curtains can make a room shine.
You found the perfect place and can’t wait to set it up in a way that reflects your personal style. You know where to begin decorating, but do you know where to stop? Less is more when it comes to decorating your new apartment, so avoid the following decor mistakes for a place everyone will want to come visit.
Too many bathroom accessories
It was never stylish to have a fuzzy toilet lid cover, toilet mat and bath mat in your bathroom. The former two have no purpose, so stick with what works – a simple, comfortable, rectangular-shaped bath mat in all bathrooms that you and your guests will love to dry their feet on.
Photos of only yourself
Guests and visitors might be freaked out when they are surrounded by so much… you … in your own home. They want to see (and you should too) memories of friends and family, not just candids of yourself looking great. This also applies for wall-sized portraits, paintings or drawings of yourself. If they’re of your children, that’s fine.
Rooms that are too themey
At beach houses, tropical prints seem to invade every room, but don’t let that happen in your own home with any print or theme. Keep the prints to matching comforters, curtains and shams, but alternate with solid color pillowcases and similarly colored throw pillows. Choose a paint color in a complimentary, but not totally matching, shade.
Bulky furniture
Ideally, each room should have a purposeful flow, with mixtures of textures, a combination of light and dark colors and only one big piece of furniture per room. If you have a small living room, don’t decorate with a dark-colored sofa, an oversized television armoire and a chunky coffee table. Instead, lighten up with a glass-topped table or smaller television stand, and measure the room before you purchase anything new to make sure it will fit.
Uncomfortable furniture
Furniture is expensive, so make every piece count. Don’t purchase straight-backed, stiff dining room chairs or a loveseat with little padding just because it was cheaper. Surround yourself with soft, purposeful furniture that makes everyone feel welcome.
Collectible overload
There’s a big difference between a collector and a hoarder. Collectors select one item to collect and display it in one place; hoarders collect everything and display it everywhere. If you love miniature horse figurines and must display them, confine them to one glass-front cabinet, and realize when you’ve outgrown some collections – such as stuffed animals – and store them in bins in the attic or give them away. If you can’t bear to do that, regularly rotate your knick-knacks out with others.
Floating rugs
One of the basic rules of decorating with rugs is that the rug should be anchored by a piece of furniture. The bigger the room, the bigger the floor rug needs to be, so don’t put a runner in the largest room of the house. The ideal rug-to-room look is to put furniture feet on the edge of the rug.
Forgetting the windows
Quality window treatments can make a room, so do more with the windows than just relying on the plastic blinds that come with each apartment. Hang curtains two inches above the window to visually increase the room’s height, and here, quality really does count. If you have solid-color bedding, curtains in a complementary print work well.
Photo Credit: iStockphoto/robophobic
Save space in your pantry by placing bulk dried goods in clear, tall containers.
You may think your pantry is fine as-is, but organizing it could save you time and money. If you know where everything is, you save time by not having to look through shelf after shelf for a simple can of diced tomatoes, and you save money because you won’t accidentally buy food items multiple times. You’ll also get an idea of what your cooking habits are and where you can cut back or purchase more. Here’s an easy to-do list for how to organize your pantry and gain control of your kitchen.
Assess the mess
Remove everything from the pantry and place the contents on a dining room table or the kitchen counter so you can see everything. Place duplicate items next to each other. Then wipe out the shelves with an all-purpose cleaner, making sure you get rid of any cobwebs in the process.
Decide what goes and what stays
Chances are, you have multiple food gifts, such as jams, jellies, boxed mixes and drink mix powders. If you haven’t used them in a year, throw them away. There’s no sense in keeping food items, which have an expiration date, for sentimental reasons. The same reasoning should go with unusual items you “have been meaning” to use in a recipe. If it’s expired, you don’t use it or you don’t like it, throw it away. If you have too much of something to use in a reasonable amount of time, donate it to a food pantry.
Stock your pantry with the basics
A home cook should always have certain items on hand to be able to throw together a meal in minutes with a few supplementary items from the refrigerator or freezer. Plus, you’ll be prepared to feed your family in case of an emergency, such as the electricity going out in a storm. According to “Real Simple,” you should always have olive oil, vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, spices, herbs, canned tuna, canned or dried beans, chicken broth or concentrate, tomato paste, jarred marinara sauce, red and white wine, pasta, rice, all-purpose flour, sugar, potatoes, garlic and onions.
Group like items together
To better find what you’re looking for, group the following items together:
Then label each area, using a label maker or just a piece of duct tape written over with a permanent marker, to make finding what you need a breeze.
Purchase pantry organizing tools
Measure your space (and write down the measurements) before you buy anything so you can be sure everything will fit. Then store bulk grains, dried beans, cereals and oatmeal in large see-through containers to best utilize space. Place tiered shelves with wire bottoms in the pantry to help you see the contents both above and below. Also, look for racks in varying heights that you can slide in food storage containers or spices and herbs side-by-side. Better yet, if you have an actual pantry door instead of a louvered door, purchase a back-of-door spice rack or even a shoe rack with clear pockets to store spices, herbs and extracts. If you have the space, hang a three-tier, wire basket from the ceiling to store potatoes, onions and fruit.
Vow to keep it up
Cleaning out and organizing your pantry won’t do much good if you or other family members don’t maintain it. When you purchase groceries each week, immediately place them where they belong. Once a month, declutter and regroup items in the pantry to ensure everything is in its place.
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Organize your kitchen cabinets so finding everything is a breeze.
Whether your cabinets are retro and strangely designed or modern and spaced too far apart, you can make your kitchen cabinets more efficient with a little (or a lot of) organization. Ridding your cabinets of what you don’t need is a good start, and it complements the handy organizational pieces described below. Max out the space you were given with these simple ways to become more organized in the kitchen.
Clean Out the Clutter
The first and most dreaded – but necessary – step in mastering the space in your cabinets is to clear out what you no longer use or is no longer good. Keep in mind that whole or ground spices and herbs lose their strength after a year, and seeds and ground roots last two years. If you haven’t used an item in a year – minus specialty foods that you know you will use in the future – throw it away. Check flour, sugar, pastas and dry goods for flour mill bugs, which show up during various times of the year, and throw away any items that have these tiny black bugs. Get rid of any expired products and jams or jellies which have crystallized.
Organize and Label Similar Items
Divide the remaining food items into the following groups: baking, canned food, pasta/grains, sauces, extracts, spices, sweeteners/syrups, boxed convenience food and other similar items. Place the like items together in the pantry or your cabinets in a way that makes sense; for example, if you rarely use your spices, place them higher on the shelf, and put things you use all the time on eye-level shelves or up front. Label them underneath so you’re encouraged to keep up the organization, using something as simple as a black marker on masking tape or as sophisticated as labels printed from your computer.
Simplify with Shelves
For canned foods and items you can stack, such as dinner plates and salad plates, choose tiered shelves with wire bottoms to help you see the contents both above and below. Also, look for racks that you can slide in lids for pots, pans and food storage containers side-by-side.
Befriend Slender Canisters
To better utilize height in the pantry, store flour, sugar, cereal, oats, coffee, dried beans, pastas and other loose items in tall, slim canisters. Either label them with what’s inside, or store them in clear containers that allow you to see their contents. These will utilize space better than the bulky, sometimes too-tall boxes these goods are originally packaged in.
Consider the Counter
If you need to replace some spices and herbs because they expired, purchase high-quality ones in small quantities next time, and put them in a spice rack on top of the counter. Is there anything else you can move to the counter, such as standing mixers, food processors, slow cookers, large pots that others can nestle into and more. You could even put a shelf on your counter to stack saucers, tea cups or juice glasses on.
Don’t Forget Underneath and Doors
Use every square inch of space by installing a paper towel rack or wine rack underneath cabinets, which frees up space inside cabinets or even on your countertop. Look for products that are specifically designed to hang on the back of a cabinet or pantry door. In the pantry, you can hang spices, sauce packets or canned goods, and on the back of a cabinet door, you can hang food storage lids, food processor blades or cleaning supplies.
Deep-Dive with Drawers
For cabinets too deep to fully make use of the space within them, add sliding drawers, which are mounted to a shelf and rest on gliders. Then, you can pull out the drawer and see items stored way in the back.
Photo Credit: iStockphoto/klosfoto
Decluttering can help make your move easier and your new apartment set-up simpler, as well.
It’s time to move, but you don’t necessarily want to move every last bit of the clutter you’ve had hanging around your soon-to-be-former residence for years. Decluttering can help make your move easier and your new apartment set-up simpler, as well.
Here are some tips for decluttering in advance of a move.
Start with the bathroom.
Why the bathroom? Because if you start with your bedroom or office, you may end up looking at old photographs, souvenirs, or documents and deciding you just can’t afford to part with them right now. Your bathroom is less likely to have treasured photographs and more likely to have expired medicines, seven-eighths-empty bottles of shampoo, and washcloths worn to shreds — in short, stuff you won’t want to spend time moving. (The FDA offers advice on how to toss unwanted medicines, by the way.)
Get some supplies ready.
You’ll want a few trash bags, a shredder or scissors for old papers, and a permanent marker for labeling. If you plan on donating, rather than trashing, some of your old clothes or other belongings, have some cardboard boxes handy, as well.
Don’t try to declutter every room at once.
If you don’t have a lot of time, getting rid of excess stuff in even one room will make your move a little shorter and less expensive. Try blocking out a short period of time to tackle, say, one closet or bedroom drawer, and work from there. Start small as you get a handle on how long the decluttering task will take.
Take pictures.
This can be especially useful for clothes you no longer wear but which still have sentimental value. A photograph of that ragged T-shirt will remind you how you bought it on the boardwalk during that fantastic week at the beach… but the photograph will take up a lot less space in your closet!
Keep the move in mind.
If you’re wavering on an item, picture yourself pulling it out of a moving truck at the end of the day and trying to find the right place to put it. Is it worth it?
When in real doubt, put it aside.
If you really can’t bring yourself to throw something away, but don’t know when you’ll next use it, put it in a box, seal the box, and give yourself a future date to open it — any time from two weeks to a year after your move. If the deadline comes and you haven’t opened the box yet, throw out or donate its contents.
Expect your new life to be much like your old one.
If you didn’t use that blender in your old apartment, you probably won’t do much blending in your new home!
Allow for a little anguish.
Decluttering won’t automatically make you feel free and easy; it can be stressful. Give yourself a little reward after a decluttering session, such as listening to music you enjoy or going out for ice cream.
Photo credit: Shutterstock / StockLite
What can you do to make your new apartment really feel like home?
So you’ve done it — found a new apartment, signed the lease, and moved in. Problem is, your new apartment doesn’t quite feel like home yet. Fortunately, with a little effort, you can get comfortable and minimize those foreign feelings fast.
Here are some steps you can take to settle into your new apartment so that you feel at home more quickly.
Make the bed.
Odds are that at the end of moving day, you’ll feel exhausted. Get your bed set up with your favorite sheets and your pillow in its proper place. If it makes you more comfortable, add your night table, reading lamp, and any books or photographs. You may also want to make sure the bedroom is free of boxes before you go to bed, so you don’t have the obvious reminder of more unpacking to do as you’re drifting off to sleep or waking up the next day.
Set up your bathroom and kitchen.
After you sleep, you’ll probably want to shower and make yourself a decent breakfast or cup of coffee. If you have a priority box, go ahead and unpack it. If not, concentrate on the bathroom and kitchen until you’ve unpacked enough boxes to do what you need to do to feel like yourself.
Clear pathways.
Having to step over boxes can make moving even more stressful and irritating. If you weren’t able to leave space when you were unloading boxes, concentrate on unpacking so that you can clear paths and begin to move freely from room to room.
Don’t pack away precious items.
Do you have anything that functions as the adult equivalent of a security blanket? This may be photographs of loved ones, your personal bulletin board or a folder full of souvenirs. Whatever it is, don’t put it in a box on the moving truck. Keep it with you so it can be one of the first things you lovingly feature in your new home.
Use familiar, comforting smells.
If you’ve just moved, you may not be quite ready to put pictures or artwork on the walls. A faster way to make yourself comfortable is to introduce a favorite smell into your new apartment, whether it’s coffee, pastries from your favorite bakery, or a candle, fragrance diffuser, or incense blend.
Get ready to have friends over.
One frequent recommendation is to go ahead and decide on the date of your housewarming party before you even move. That way, you won’t be tempted to put it — and the unpacking it requires — off. You’ll feel much more at home after you’ve been able to host a gathering of your favorite people in your new space.
Think about what makes your new apartment special.
Once you’ve gotten over the mental hurdle of accepting that your new apartment is now home, start thinking about what you can do that you might not have taken the time to do at your old place. Could the apartment use some nice curtains? Can you put your TV or home office in a different place? Does the kitchen give you enough room to experiment with cooking? With these activities, you start to claim ownership of your new space.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Subbotina Anna
With a few steps, your bathroom can get organized in no time.
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Your bathroom is one of the smaller spaces in your apartment, but it also is home to many items. From toiletries to shower supplies to cleaning supplies and medicine, your bathroom holds it all. A bathroom can become disorganized quickly, but with a few steps, you can get your bathroom organized in no time. Here’s how.
Start with your drawers. Take everything out of your drawers. Separate the items you want to keep from the items you want to toss. If some of the items have been collecting dust, it’s time to throw those items away. Use a cosmetic organizer ($25) or small boxes for your cosmetics. Place the organizer or boxes into your drawers.
Next, check your cabinets. Similar to the last step, take everything out from under your bathroom sinks. Throw away anything you do not use. Add storage shelves ($13) to this area of your bathroom to maximize the space. Use this for small items such as soaps, perfume/cologne, shampoos, etc. Add hooks to this to hang brushes, sponges or towels. If you have a hairdryer that seems to get in the way, use an over-the-door cabinet organizer ($20) to organize your styling tools and products. Another idea for this space is to add a lazy Susan under the sink for easy access to your products.
Shower/tub. There are several options to organize your shower. There are shower caddies ($20) that fit over the door of your shower or ones that fit over the shower head. Place items such as shampoo, wash cloths and body wash on the caddy. This will clear up shower space and give off the appearance of organization.
Another option to organize your shower/tub is to use a shower dispenser ($25). This will remove the clutter of your shampoo, conditioner and body wash bottles. It fits flat on the wall and it dispenses your shampoo with a push of a button.
Add extra shelving for more space. Often times, the space over your toilet is wasted space. Adding a shelving unit or shelves on the walls will add much needed additional storage space in your bathroom. If towel space is needed in your bathroom, install a two-tier shelf ($18) with towel bars. It has shelves for extra towels for your guests, and it has a shelf for miscellaneous products such as cotton swabs, cotton balls, lotions, hair brushes, etc. There is also an extra towel rack.
Countertops. Now that you’re done organizing the rest of your bathroom, it’s time to focus on your counters. When possible, keep your counters clear to reduce the potential for clutter. Use this 5-in-1 toothbrush holder ($19) for your toothbrush, toothpaste and hand soap/lotion. If you keep your jewelry on your counter, use a clear organizer tower ($25) to jeep your jewelry organized and in one place.
Miscellaneous. Keep your cotton swabs together with a holder. For your rolls of toilet paper, use a hanging over-the-toilet tank holder ($15). Be sure to keep extra basic toiletries such as soap, shampoo, lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. for your guests. Keep these items in a clear, plastic storage bin ($7) for easy access. This can be placed in your cabinet or in a drawer. Use plastic hooks in your bathroom for bath robes, towels, etc.
A simple task to keep your bathroom organized and clean is to clean up and pick up after yourself daily. This will prevent clutter from forming and will be less stressful for you.
A modern feng shui interior includes plants, lots of light and natural elements.
Maybe you’re familiar with feng shui, or maybe you’ve just heard the term and are wondering what it means. An ancient Chinese practice involving the aesthetics, shape and symmetry of objects, rooms and buildings, feng shui is used to promote harmony and balance in everyday life. No matter how small your apartment in, you can make just a few small, inexpensive changes to improve the feng shui in your apartment without spending a lot of time. Read on to find out more.
De-Clutter
Perhaps the most important step in introducing feng shui but often the most overlooked, clearing out clutter in your home is an exhaustive yet cleansing process necessary to promote a harmonious home. Rid your space of anything that does not serve a purpose.
Let There Be Light
Proper lighting is essential to improving apartment feng shui. In fact, it is one of the elements necessary to producing good feng shui energy, called “Chi.” Choose sources of light that are soft, comforting and relaxing, instead of harsh, fluorescent lighting. Color is also considered a source of light, so keep that in mind when choosing paint colors and accompanying accent pieces. Fill your space with vibrant art pieces or nostalgic photographs to increase good energy. Open windows to let natural light in as often as possible.
Water, Water, Everywhere
According to ancient feng shui tradition, water is believed to be an auspicious element, bringing wealth and prosperity. If your apartment is located near a lake, ocean or other natural body of water, consider yourself extremely fortunate. Pools, ponds or fountains are also considered bodies of water that bring good luck. Consider bringing in a fish tank or aquarium to bring an element of water into your home and promote greater fortune.
Plant Power
Part of feng shui involves bringing elements of the outside into your inside space to promote balance and harmony of the elements. Choose low-maintenance plants that also provide an element of air purification, such as the Bamboo Palm or Rubber Plant.
The Trinity
Overall, be mindful of how the feel of your home contributes to your health and well-being. Do you feel comfortable and relaxed? Is there just a bit too much clutter? Do I feel a positive or negative energy? Focus on the three elements of the feng shui trinity when asking yourself these questions—the bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen. Your bed should always be placed with a solid wall at the head. A solid wall provides an element of strength and security, which leads to deeper sleep and more restfulness. Place a big mirror in the bathroom to increase energy and give the illusion of a bigger space. The kitchen should always be filled with plants or flowers to create an uplifting energy. Paint or decorate the kitchen with accent pieces of yellow, as this color promotes digestion.
Make sense of your attic storage space by following the tips below.
Photo Credit: iStockphoto/jeangill
An attic is the perfect spot to store items you don’t need throughout the year, such as out-of-season clothes, suitcases, holiday décor, sentimental keepsakes or furniture. But it’s easy to keep stuffing boxes and bags in the doorway of the attic, pushing the lesser-used items into the abyss of unexplored attic space. Make the most of the storage above your home with a thorough attic organization.
First – and no one said this was going to be fun – empty everything from the attic. It will help you realize your attic’s potential space, sweep/wipe down any open spaces and determine what you do and don’t need.
Go through every box, trunk and bin. Make a decision about each item in the attic – keep, throw away or give away. If your children are grown but some stuff is theirs, set it aside for them to go through but give them a reasonable deadline for going through it. For instance, if you only see your children during the holidays, give them at least until the end of their last holiday to sort their own items.
Next, get rid of as much clutter as you can. It’s okay to keep some children’s items for sentimental value (their bronzed first booties, baby books and a few drawings), but it’s not necessary to keep every greeting card they’ve given you or piece of clothing they’ve ever worn. Decide what items you’ll really treasure in years to come and which ones someone else would benefit from – such as baby furniture, clothing or strollers. If you can’t bear to get rid of all of your children’s clothes, pick out five pieces and give the rest away.
Then decide what needs to be professionally stored. Photographs, home video, electronics and wedding gowns do not fare well when stored in an attic, where temperatures can soar into the 120s and the humidity varies. Instead, have your photographs and videos digitally archived by a professional (search for “professional photo archiving” to find businesses in your area) or purchase the software to do it yourself, and have your wedding dress and quilts preserved from a company that specializes in garment storage.
Purchase the right storage containers. If most of your boxes are falling apart, invest in plastic storage bins in varying sizes that you can stack on top of each other; the plastic will protect your belongings from potential attic vermin. Group like items together, and don’t feel obligated to fill each one to the top, as you may want some to handle future growth. Label boxes largely and clearly with phrases like “Halloween decorations” and “John’s baby clothes.”
After you’ve finished sorting and tossing, begin placing items back in your attic, grouping similar items together and placing the boxes and objects you least use, such as personal memorabilia or furniture, at the back of the attic, and the items you’ll reach for more often, such as wrapping paper, holiday décor and luggage, toward the front. Remember to leave a walkway to get to the items in the back. Don’t block air vents or disturb the insulation.
To maintain your newly cleaned attic space, put new moth balls out in your attic to repel vermin and regularly re-evaluate your attic space to control the clutter before it starts again.
Organizing your kitchen cabinets will make your life easier.
Your kitchen can often be viewed as the heart of your home, as it’s one of the most used rooms in your house. Your family gathers here while a roast is in the oven, and your kids raid the pantry for snacks after school. It’s easy to see why it can get become unorganized quickly, which then causes a lot of stress to clean it. It’s not always easy to keep your kitchen tidy and organized, but with a few simple tasks and organizational pieces, you’ll have this popular room neat and tidy in no time.
Empty out cabinets. Starting with a clean slate is the best way to organize your kitchen cabinets. Put all of the items on the counters and kitchen table. You may want to clean the inside of your cabinets while they’re empty.
Divide your kitchen into activity zones. Kitchen zones could be defined by activity. For example, you can divide your kitchen into the food preparation zone, baking zone, serving zone, food storage zone and cleaning zone. If it’s easier, try drawing your kitchen layout on a sheet of paper with labels for each of these zones.
Think about your space and plan accordingly. You will want to keep your pots and pans in a cabinet by your stove, and keep the food storage by the fridge and pantry. The cleaning products and dishwashing supplies should be kept near the sink.
Sort and purge. Go through the items on your counters and kitchen table. If there are items that you no longer need, feel free to throw away or put in a box to give away. For example, if your kids are grown, you no longer need sippy cups. Throw away items that are broken, chipped or are missing parts. Now, sort your items into categories that make sense to you. If you have glasses and cups that are used every day, put those together. The glasses that are for guests can go in a separate area.
Souvenir items can pile up quickly and take up crucial kitchen space. If these items aren’t being used, put them in a box and save them or use them in a different room. Display only a few of your favorites.
Sort through the pantry and fridge as well. Use this guide to clean out your fridge. Throw away old items.
Clear the counters. Having too many items on your kitchen counters will make it seem cluttered and unorganized. Items that are not used often should be stored under the counters in your cabinets. These items could include your popcorn maker, stand mixer and/or food processor.
Buy clear storage. Using clear, plastic storage bins in your kitchen is an easy way to keep like items together while being able to do a quick inventory before heading out to the grocery store. For your pantry, have bins for snacks, bread and produce. Use over-the-door organizers for canned goods, spices, dry pastas and sauces. For your freezer, use multi-purpose file bins to organize frozen foods. Place frozen fruits and veggies in one and potato sides (tater tots, french fries, etc.) in another, and use another bin for breakfast items like waffles and pancakes. Label shelves in your fridge (condiments, dressings, dairy, etc.) to keep it organized.
Tupperware. Finding the matching lid for your Tupperware can be tricky. The solution shouldn’t be a complicated one. When you’re through cleaning your Tupperware, place them in the cabinet. Keep the lids in a plastic storage bin to make it easier to find the next time.
Things that work together should be stored together. Pots, pans and cooking utensils should be kept near the stove. This gives you easy access to the tools you’ll need while cooking. Keep bowls, mixers, measuring cups, spoons and other baking items in the baking zone. Plates, dishes, cups and eating utensils should be stored close together. Items that are seldom used should go on top shelves. Mugs, coffee creamers and coffee supplies should be stored near the coffee maker for easy access.
Miscellaneous tips. Keep a clipboard with a sheet of paper hung in your pantry. When you run out of an item, you can quickly add it to the shopping list.
Lining your drawers with pretty paper and using clear dividers will remind you to keep the contents of the drawers to a minimum. Your goal is to see the pretty paper.
Use an organizer for your bakeware and cutting boards. This way, you won’t have to dig and pull items out to find the loaf pan that is stuck in the back of the cabinet.
Purchase magnetic hooks to attach to your refrigerator to hang aprons and towels.
After you have organized your kitchen and cleaned it, walk your family through the kitchen and give them the tour. Remind them that it’s their kitchen, too, and encourage them to keep it organized.
Photo Credit: iStockphoto/YinYang
