When deciding how to make your house, condo or apartment a home, it's always best to start with a plan. In my former apartment, I chose a wall color and went from there. Every few months I changed my mind on the style. This time I spent nearly a year in advance deciding color schemes, layouts, and decorative details. Combine is somewhere where you can see it all at once. This could be on a bulletin board, or in a notebook. I taped sheets of printer paper together for each room and taped photos to these pages. Any little detail I saw that I liked I printed and circled. It has made decorating so much easier. I have been able to go out and buy exactly what I wanted with no regrets.
No matter your style, if you like to socialize at all, your living area should be set up in a way to condone this. This is why I have a big, comfortable sofa, and several comfortable chairs facing a center point.
To save money it is also important to use as much of your furniture as possible. If you look closely, the chairs covered in white "slipcovers" are my former dining room chairs
- To do this I bought a bag of non-fusible queen sized batting, and roughly cut sections to go over the chair. If you plan on using the chairs again later, but tight slip covers in a light color to put on under the batting to avoid damage to the chairs. I then put white slipcovers on top of the batting. I couldn't find what I wanted in time for my gathering, so I used my white drapes. I folded and hot glued them in the back and I plan on sewing and neatening up the bottom. If space is an issue for you, it is better to keep them short to show more space between the legs.
Bright colors also set a brighter mood. This is just the beginning of where every home differs, every person has a different opinion on color. I chose a preppy, bright and happy pink and green for my color scheme, with light yellow walls (that is the actual paint name). Everything around my apartment is bright pink and green, it looks bright and happy no matter my mood.
In my opinion, it is important not to leave your personal items laying around. Your home should look lived in, but guests should be able to sit down comfortably without worried they may see something too personal.
I keep magazines on my table for myself and guests. I also keep my coat, keys, purse and a place to put mail by the door. For everything else I use drawers and baskets. In the far right corner you see my mail basket. In the drawers in the console I keep daily necessary items, the second console is also a make shift desk. The drawer holds stationary items, the basket contains more stationary and I'm going to get a file folder to place beside it that will match the over all decor.
My coffee table has baskets in it, I use these for blankets while watching tv, without causing clutter. I will also use them to clear my coffee table in the event of a last minute guest.
If you look closely in my photos you will also see some moving boxes. I plan to put white bookshelves on either side of my tv. The chairs will go in front of them to hide personal items I will store in baskets on the bottom shelves, on the middle shelves I will put things I may want, such as books and DVDs, and more decor on the top shelves. I would like to paint the back of them the color of the walls, and add a connecting shelf between the two to create the look of built ins. These will make them appear more flush to the walls, less invasive into my small living room.
Lots of lights are also important I have five us far, all easy to turn on using high efficiency bulbs. Even if you have a ceiling fixture, it is important to have lights at all different levels for all different uses. People will be in every inch of your living room if there is a chair available or something to look at. So think about where people sit and what you want to show off, place lighting especially near these places.
The most important thing to remember is that your home represents you when you have guests. Make sure you keep it in a manner in which you would be proud to show. Use color that you love, but I would suggest looking into color meanings, and look at photos to see what you like. Also decorate with items that mean something to you. It could be an item you hold special to your heart, or just something you thought looked nice. Seeing things that make you happy will make you more comfortable where you live, and will make your living arrangements a home!
Good luck!
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