11 Small Apartment Aesthetic Tips for Creating a Stylish Space
Want to enhance your small apartment aesthetic and make your tiny apartment feel like a home? You’re in the right place!
In this video, I’m giving you 11 small apartment decor tips that will immediately level up the interior style of your space and transform your apartment into your aesthetically pleasing happy place.
If you’re wondering how to decorate a small apartment, want some small apartment hacks, or need some studio apartment tips, watch this video for some feel-good small apartment inspiration!
Video Transcript ↓
I’ve made some slight edits in the transcript below so that everything makes more sense in text form. But overall, this is almost a word-for-word dictation of what I say in the video. I’m a much better writer than this, I swear, haha.
Do you ever wish a magical fairy would materialize in front of you and tell you how to decorate your apartment?
…Just wave her wand and make pretty things happen while you sit back and marvel over the fact that fairies exist and apparently they’re very into home decor?
So in this video, I’m going to give you the next best thing. I’m going to share 11 small apartment styling tips that are basically like fairy dust for your space!
Sprinkle these styling tips around your space, and trust me, you’ll notice a difference in your apartment’s overall aesthetic.
And if you’re new to my channel, my name is Steffi and I’m the creator of the interior style blog Moda Misfit as well as the online course Small Apartment Styling School.
And you’re watching Living Pretty, the place for apartment styling tips! So if you want to get inspired with me every week, be sure to subscribe!
Also, have you downloaded my free Apartment Styling Handbook yet?
It's a bite-sized roadmap for decorating your apartment so that you can create a space you love - without feeling like you're stumbling alone in the dark. Because sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do to decorate your apartment, right?
So download the FREE Apartment Styling Handbook for some extra help!
1. Figuring out your color palette
I have a very specific way that I approach color when it comes to a small apartment, and it’s pretty fool-proof. I call it my Color Code, and it’s basically a formula for creating cohesiveness with color, which can be pretty tricky to do in a small space.
My Color Code goes like this:
1 base color + 1 accent color x repetition = color cohesiveness
I have an entire lesson on this in my online course Small Apartment Styling School, but I’ll give you the gist of it here. The idea is to choose one base color and one accent color family and repeat them throughout the space.
For example, if you look at my apartment, my base color is dark gray and my accent color is in the greens and golds family. And I really don’t deviate from that for the most part!
My Color Code makes the color palette in my studio apartment feel cohesive and pleasing to the eye.
Now, if you want to use color more liberally, that’s totally fine! This is just an easy way to approach color that comes in handy for small spaces, especially studio apartments.
So try thinking about what your Color Code colors could be and start thinking about the ways you can repeat them in your space to create that cohesive look you want!
2. Repetition
Speaking of repeating things, this leads me to my next apartment styling tip: repetition.
Now, I’ve talked about repetition before in my videos, and I really want to drive it home here. Repetition is such a useful tool for not only creating cohesiveness in your space, but to also tell a story in your apartment.
You can repeat colors (like we just talked about), patterns, materials, subject matter. You can even repeat a vibe - something that isn’t tangible but evokes a certain feeling.
For example, I love anything that gives my space a dark, witchy, magical vibe, so I find ways to repeat that in my apartment. It’s not a specific visual I’m repeating - it’s just, well, a vibe.
I also repeat visuals like black and white photography in here, music is a type of subject matter I repeat, I repeat raw wood and iron materials, and I repeat patterns that are a bit ornate and vintage looking.
All of this makes my space more cohesive, more stylish, and most importantly, more ME.
Think about colors, patterns, subject matter, materials, and vibes that you could repeat in your space. Make a list if that helps. And start shopping for decor that suits what you list out!
3. Ask for help!
This one doesn’t really seem to get talked about on decorating tip lists like this, probably because it’s not as sexy as other decor tips, but it’s effective. Seriously, ask for help!
You don’t have to go it alone when decorating your apartment. Reach out to other people. Text your friends a picture of an area rug you’re thinking about buying or Facetime your mom and ask her if your new coffee table is too big.
Whatever you need advice on, reach out. Don’t isolate yourself, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
There’s also my Living Pretty Facebook group, which is filled with hundreds of decor lovers who are eager to help when someone asks for interior style advice!
Feel free to join and post about what you’re struggling with in the group!
Everyone in there is super nice and helpful. Actually, I don’t think one mean thing has happened in the group’s year-long existence, which is weird. Because it’s the internet… Very weird.
And if you need more in-depth help than all that, and want to be walked through your apartment decorating process step-by-step and get my direct feedback and help, that’s where something like Small Apartment Styling School comes in.
Small Apartment Styling School is my online course that will help you decorate your apartment so you can live happily in your space every day!
It’s a self-paced course that you get lifetime access to, so you can take it at your own pace, you can binge it all at once or take it over time, and you can even retake it when you move into a new apartment that you're decorating.
I have students who are raving about how helpful the course has been for their apartment styling, and you can join them when enrollment reopens this fall!
So if you think Small Apartment Styling School could be a good fit for you, join the waitlist so you don’t miss out when the doors are open again!
4. Draw your eyes upward
Drawing your eyes upward will make your small space feel bigger, and you can do it in a number of ways.
I think a good ol’ statement wall does the trick, which is what I have in my workspace area. My wall panels above my desk go up to the ceiling, which draws your eyes upward. That makes the eye aware that, although horizontal space is limited in your apartment, there’s more space vertically.
You can also draw your eye upward with anything from floor to ceiling curtains, shelving, paint, ceiling tiles, etc.
Just think of ways in which you can visually make use of your vertical space and it’ll trick you into feeling like your apartment is more spacious!
5. Avoid hanging art too high
This next apartment styling tip kind of contradicts the last one, in a way. But here it is: don’t hang your art too high.
This is one of the most common mistakes I see people make. When you hang your art too high it creates a feeling of imbalance. You leave this gaping void of blank wall underneath and it just doesn’t feel balanced.
Now, one thing to keep in mind is when you’re hanging art above something that reaches higher than, say, a couch. Then the height at which you hang your art will be in relation to that item, rather than to the floor. But you still don’t want to hang the wall art too high above the item!
All in all, just think about balance when hanging your art. Think about how it looks in relation to the things around it.
For more wall art tips, you can watch this video of mine! ↓
6. Hide your wires!
Wires can really bring the overall style of a space down, and I know this from experience…
My wire game is not at its best at the moment, mainly because for the past few months I’ve been playing games on my Wii - my Nintendo Wii - and it has a pretty ridiculous wire situation.
I’m just kind of living with it as-is for now because once I’ve played the games I want to play on it, I’ll be storing it away. So I’m just not really… caring at the moment. 🙃
Overall, I'm here for interior styling tips but I'm also not here to tell you to be totally perfect with your interior styling. I'm just going to give you the tips, I'll point out the ways in which I am a hypocrite about them…
Accept that you're not going to be perfect. Take in the interior styling tips that I give you and you can choose to take them or leave them!
But in general, you want to keep your wires as hidden as possible. Using something like velcro strips to bind your wires to parts of your TV stand or desk can keep them under control and less visible.
7. It’s all about the little details
In line with that tip, my next tip is that tiny details make a big difference.
Good interior styling really is just the culmination of a bunch of tiny details. Like a bunch of little notes that aren’t much on their own, but when added together, compose a symphony.
For example, instead of letting a tissue box sit out, spend a few bucks on a tissue box cover. It immediately elevates something that’s not really much to look at.
You can also replace your switchplates throughout your apartment, which is something I wish I would have done in here when I first moved in a few years ago.
The switchplates in my apartment are this ugly, ugly beige - why building management didn’t choose white to at least match the walls is kind of beyond me, but I’ve just kind of accepted them as this small unattractive thing in my studio.
But I could have done something about it, and you can too! If you have ugly switchplates like I do, you can replace them with something much, much better.
Just type into Google, “switchplates” and see what comes up. There are some pretty cool results out there!
Soap dispensers are another tiny detail that make a big difference aesthetically!
Instead of having the grocery store soap dispenser like Dawn or Dial sitting out next to your kitchen or bathroom sink, try getting soap dispensers you don’t throw away. It makes a big difference in terms of style, and it’s more environmentally friendly too!
8. Lighting
This styling tip is a big one! In fact it can make or break your entire styling situation.
If you're in your apartment right now, I want you to look around. What is the light source that's being used? Is it natural light? Is it a lamp? Or is it your overhead lighting?
If you're using your overhead lighting, let me tell you… that is not doing your apartment decor any favors!
More often than not, overhead lighting - meaning the lighting that’a attached to your ceiling and that came with your apartment - is harsh, it usually has a yellowish or orange-y tone to it, and it's just not very pretty. It can take the entire mood and aesthetic value of your apartment down several notches.
It can even make beautiful decor look downright unattractive! It's just... the worst.
You're spending time, money, and energy on your decorating - why wouldn't you want to show it in the best light possible?
So what I tell people is to never touch their light switches again and instead get some nice, soft, moody lamp lighting.
Even if your apartment decor is nowhere near being done, if you just get the lighting down you'll notice a huge, huge, significant change in the overall aesthetic of your apartment.
You don't have to spend very much money - just go to Target. Get thee to Target! And purchase a lamp that emits a nice, soft, moody glow. Then come home, plug that baby in, turn off your overhead lamp, and you'll see that your apartment already feels, like, 10 times more stylish than before.
9. De-clutter
This one might be a little bit of a tough pill to swallow, but I'm here for you and we'll get through this together.
My next tip is to completely eliminate clutter in your apartment. I know, I know, I sound like a clean freak - I swear I'm not. It's just that... I like to say it this way:
If interior styling were a game of rock-paper-scissors, then style would be scissors and clutter would be rock. And clutter always beats style.
You can have the most stylish apartment in the world, but if there's a bunch of clutter lying around, then that clutter is basically winning over your style. It’s defeating it like a siege upon your style!
So take a look around your apartment. Where are some moments that you could kind of start refining your clutter situation? How can you minimize the clutter?
If you're someone who maybe leaves clothes around, or leaves hair products out in the bathroom, or leaves your makeup out on your desk - or wherever you do your makeup (I do my makeup at my desk), just take a look around.
Identify your clutter zones and try to think of some ways you could store that stuff. I know storage is tough in small apartments - you can watch this video for my storage tips.
But if you really want to up your interior styling game you have to conquer your clutter. So try to manage the clutter and that will make it so that your decor can actually shine!
10. Think about the big picture
One very common mistake that people make is when they shop for decor, they just buy individual pieces. They're not thinking about the big picture of a room.
So what happens is they buy individual pieces here and there without thinking about the big picture, they bring them together, and then they wonder, “why does this feel like a hodgepodge?”
I touched on this in last week's video, which is all about some reasons why your decor might not be working the way you wanted it to, so I definitely recommend you check that out!
But basically what I'm saying is instead of buying individual pieces, think about the greater story that you're trying to tell in your space.
It's best to establish some sort of a vision for your apartment before you even start shopping.
Small Apartment Styling School walks you through the full process for establishing this vision, but even if you don't join Small Apartment Styling School, that doesn't mean that you're not capable of creating that styling vision for yourself.
Honestly, if you just binge all of the Moda Misfit YouTube videos, that's pretty much what my whole channel is about: discovering your personal style and creating a vision for yourself.
Small Apartment Styling School is more of a refined lesson plan with access to me and my advice and coaching and feedback, but if you're not in a place to purchase Small Apartment Styling School right now, all my YouTube videos will set you on the right path. I'm here for you either way!
So going forward, instead of buying individual pieces and then trying to smash them together - and then wondering why it feels like a hodgepodge - take a step back and actually think, “What is the overall picture I'm trying to create?”
11. Incorporate your personality
My final apartment styling tip is one that I talk about over and over and over again on my YouTube channel. It's basically the basis of Moda Misfit, which is why I would be remiss if I didn’t include it on an apartment tip list, and that is to incorporate your personality in your decor!
Always keep your personality, your interests, your passions, at the forefront of when you're shopping for decor.
If you keep up with my videos, I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but this is important. This is what Moda Misfit is all about.
My entire approach to interior styling hinges on the idea that every single person has style. Every single person has it within them to style their apartment beautifully.
Because every single person has their own unique point of view, their own unique story, and their own unique thoughts, passions, and interests. And that's where your personal style lives.
So if you ignore your personality, if you ignore the things that make you unique, then you are ignoring the inherent personal style that you have within you.
A pretty space means nothing if it doesn't have you present within it, so instead of blindly following trends, instead of just buying things because you're in a rush or you just think you have to get something in your apartment just to make it feel livable, just take a step back, think about YOU and how YOU factor into your decor.
My apartment looks the way it does because it's a reflection of me. And that's what makes it not only look stylish, but feel like my home.
And that's what I am here to teach other people to do!
I want your apartment to not only be pretty, but I want you to feel like you are in a home that you own, even though you're technically renting.
So find ways to incorporate your personality, your interests, your passions into your decor. This video of mine walks you through exactly how to do that, so after this video I definitely recommend you check that out!
Alright, those were my 11 apartments styling tips that will enhance the aesthetic value of your apartment!
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new video goes up every week.