Making Your Apartment Feel Like Home

Apartment Complex Life

So you’re all moved in to your new apartment and just starting to get to know the neighbors and the feel for your commute to work or school and all seems to be neat and new. Your apartment still feels like a stranger’s home, sometimes when you walk in the door yet, and you’re not quite familiar with the surroundings, even though all of the stuff is yours. Sometimes you wake up at night and wonder where you are and if you fell asleep at a friend’s house or if you got drunk at a party and are in some stranger’s home, but no, it’s your own bedroom and there are your own things. What is the best way to go about making your new apartment feel like home?

Hit the Walls

The first thing people see when they walk into an apartment are the walls. Bare and white or covered with paintings, drawings, or even with a little color thrown in? Most people believe that living in an apartment precludes their being able to paint the walls a color that they like but this usually is not the case. Most apartment managers don’t care what you do with an apartment while you’re living there - including painting the walls - as long as the apartment either gains value from what you do or is back in the same condition when you leave as it was when you signed the lease and moved in. This means that - with their permission - you can go ahead and paint the walls if that’s your thing…you may be asked to paint them white again before you move out, however. This could be a small price to pay for that personal, homey touch if you are going to be living somewhere for a long time.

If you aren’t inclined to paint, cover bare walls with posters and pictures that say “you”. Whether they be images from your favorite movies, pictures that you’ve taken of places that you’ve been, or store-bought inspirational pieces, just don’t leave plain white if you are trying to feel at home unless you’ve recently been released from an institution.

Hit the Floors

That’s right, decorate the floors. If your entire apartment is carpeted, consider a strategic placement of rugs that can add great color to any decor. If the floors are bare, rugs are an even nicer option that will also add warmth. Or you might consider installing wood flooring for an artsy, personal feel that would make your visitors feel more like they are in a nice house than an apartment on the third floor.

Use Music

These days you are more likely to be listening to music through your IPod headphones than you are out of a stereo system in your home, but music can have an extraordinary effect on setting atmosphere and mood in an apartment. We’re not talking about blasting Megadeth through the walls 24/7, but having a system playing a nice playlist of music pieces on loop when you are doing nothing, or sleeping or even out of the apartment and still playing quietly for you when you return will have the psychological effect of filling out a space and making it feel more “you.”