The First 3 Steps to Apartment Decorating Success
Living Pretty Ep41 // Styling an Apartment: The First 3 Steps to Interior Style Success
So you’re ready to start styling an apartment for yourself, but what are you supposed to do first?? In this video, I’m breaking down the first 3 steps to interior style success with your small apartment decor!
These are the foundational steps that will set you on a path to figuring out your personal interior style and creating your dream cozy apartment decor. If you’re in need of small apartment tips, studio apartment inspiration, and a way to start your apartment styling on the right foot, watch this video for the first 3 steps you should take!
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.
So you know you want to decorate your apartment. You’re armed with a battalion of Pinterest pins, you’ve stormed Instagram and found a whole bunch of accounts that you love, and your apartment is basically… begging you to decorate her.
But where do you start? Like, what is actually the first, second, third thing you’re supposed to do decorate your apartment?
So in this video, I’m going to share the very first 3 steps to that you should take to decorate your apartment so you can finally get started and lead yourself to interior style victory!
And if you’re new to my channel, my name is Steffi and I’m the creator of the interior style blog Moda Misfit, and you’re watching Living Pretty, the place for apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration.
Just because you rent your space, doesn’t mean you can’t own your style! So if you want to get inspired every week, then be sure to subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when I post a new episode every week!
Also, if you live in a studio apartment and you want a free resource that will help you jumpstart your styling, I highly recommend you download my free Studio Styling 101 workbook!
Step 1: Look inward
So the first step that you want to take when you start decorating your apartment is to look inward.
I know it’s not the most tangible or concrete thing - and you might even be thinking “ugh just tell me what to buy for my apartment or give me a DIY project, or just tell me what’s pretty.”
But buying a piece of decor or doing a DIY project means nothing if you don’t do the inner work first.
You need to take the time to figure out what resonates with you as a person, what’s important to you, what your personal style is.
Good interior styling starts with the brilliant thing between your ears, not with the pretty things you can buy.
If you just mindlessly copy a look in a Pinterest pin because it’s pretty and “whatever, why not”, then you may end up with a nice looking apartment, but it won’t have any soul.
So what is the actual inner work you have to do in order to create a beautiful space that reflects you?
Well, it’s mainly knowing the right questions to ask yourself so that you can get some clarity on what will actually make you happy in your space.
In my online course, Small Apartment Styling School - which I’m launching in March - I have a whole lesson dedicated to finding your personal interior style confidence by coaching you through the questions that you should ask yourself before you even start decorating.
I’ll give you a little sneak peek into the workbook I created for the lesson about finding your interior styling confidence, and walk through some of the key questions to get you started!
And seriously, take the time to answer these for yourself. Dig deep. Turn it into a journaling exercise if that helps!
So let’s dive into a few of these questions.
Question 1: What are at least 5 words you would use to describe yourself?
Now, this may strike you as a little cheesy and job interview-y, but think about it in an interior styling sense.
If we’re trying to get to the bottom of how you can make sure your personality is present in your decor, then brainstorming a few things about your distinct personality makes sense to do.
So get these things down on paper and allow that list to resonate with your decorating decisions.
Question 2: What are at least 5 things you love to do, see, or experience?
Kind of the same idea as question one, only it’s about listing out the things you love.
Because later, when you’re shopping for decor, you can shop for decor pieces that directly reflect those things that you love.
And question 3: What do you want to feel the moment you get home?
Think about coming home to your apartment after a long day of work, or waking up in your apartment when you’re about to start a day working from home. What do you want to feel?
My point here is that instead of choosing an interior style based on looks alone, try starting with how you want your apartment to make you feel. And let that take the lead.
So those three questions right there already get you thinking on a deeper, more inward level when it comes to interior styling.
Start inward, and the outward result will not only look better, but it will have your soul behind it.
Step 2: Get inspired & establish your vision
This is the fun part. This is when you get to start sourcing your inspiration and seeking out the things that align with that inner work you did.
This can be creating a Pinterest board, a moodboard, or just simply gathering up links to the items you’re interested in buying.
However you decide to organize your inspiration, this is when you get to really hone in on what envision for your apartment.
Here’s what I'd do if I were in this step. I’d start a fresh Pinterest board and I’d only save a few select pins to that board.
I call this approach “Mindful Pinning”.
Pinterest is a great place to figure out your style, but it can also be so overwhelming!
It’s all too common for people to just haphazardly save pretty pins, and then you end up with this huge, disjointed Pinterest board filled with images that have nothing to do with each other. It’s like a hodgepodge of inspiration.
I call that “Chaotic Pinning”.
Now, if you haven’t chaotically pinned already, I actually recommend that you do. There’s actually value in gathering your inspiration with reckless abandon.
Loosely exploring what’s out there and just gathering things that you just simply like is a good way to get closer to your personal style.
But if you’ve already done the chaotic pinning thing and you’re ready to start drilling down on what you want your apartment to actually look and feel like, that’s when Mindful Pinning comes in.
So create a new Pinterest board for your Mindful Pins. These are the pins that you carefully select, the ones that truly align with your vision. Only the worthy pins make the cut.
What you end up with is a smaller, more focused Pinterest board filled with the images that actually truly resonate with you, rather than a huge visual hodgepodge.
Step 3: Ask for help!
Decorating any space can be overwhelming, frustrating, and stressful (financially and emotionally).
You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to wonder if it’s even worth it - watch this video for my answer to that question. You may even want to give up and resign yourself to just living in an undecorated apartment.
This is where the power of human to human interaction and community comes in. Ask people for advice!
Call your mom. Ask for her advice on whether it’s worth it to invest in a high quality - but expensive - couch.
Group text your friends and see what they think of your furniture layout. Ask if they have any suggestions!
Join a decor-focused Facebook group. There are a ton out there, filled with people who LOVE talking about decor and giving advice.
In my Facebook group that I run - the Living Pretty Facebook group - there are hundreds of kind-hearted, helpful members who are quick to jump in when someone asks for decor advice. It’s amazing.
Just reach out to other humans, whether it’s in real life or on the internet. You don’t have to do this alone.
That’s one of the reasons why I’m launching my online course, Small Apartment Styling School.
I want it to be a hub for apartment dwellers to get the advice and guidance they need in order to create the beautiful space they deserve.
And if that sounds like something you might enjoy when it comes out in March, you can join the Small Apartment Styling School waitlist here!
And in the meantime, you can also join the Living Pretty Facebook group for that sense of community that I’m talking about!
So those were the first three steps I recommend you take when you first start decorating your apartment!
All in all, it’s really about getting your head straight before you get your home straight.
I want to encourage you to think about what’s in your head before you decide what you want to see with your eyes.
That’s how you create a space that’s soulfully stylish!
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to this channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new episode goes up every week!