How to Refresh Your Small Apartment Decor for Under $200

Living Pretty Ep4: Stylish Studio Apartment Refresh | Redecorating Under $200

So you’re starting to feel that itch to start redecorating on a budget, but you’re feeling like it’s impossible to update your small apartment decor without spending a ton of money or doing a complete decor makeover. But trust me, redecorating a small apartment on a budget doesn’t have to be a big deal! 

In this video, I show you my stylish studio apartment refresh and how I went about redecorating for under $200. All I did was switch out a few accessories, and that’s all it took to make my studio apartment decor feel new! 

If you want to do a small apartment makeover on a budget, and you need some small apartment tips and simple interior style inspiration, this video will walk you through how to decorate a studio apartment on a budget with some very simple style choices.

Watch the video now!

↓ Wanna read the episode? Here’s the transcript! ↓

So is it actually possible to redecorate your space for under $200?

Um, yes! You can give your apartment a quick refresh for under $200 just by switching out a few accessories. I’m talking no heavy lifting, no big furniture purchases, no wall smashing. I’m talking about the power of simple styling. 

If you’re starting to get that little itch to make some changes in your interior styling, don’t get intimidated! It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You can make big changes just with small adjustments.

That’s exactly what I did in my studio apartment recently.

In this video, I’m going to show you how I gave my studio apartment a simple style refresh just by changing out some accessories for under $200.

My name is Steffi and I'm the creator of the style blog Moda Misfit. You're watching my YouTube channel Living Pretty, the place for apartment styling tips and inspiration. Just because you rent your space doesn’t mean you can’t own your style, so let’s find the power in the pretty. Because your style is pretty powerful.

For stylish apartment living tricks and tips, subscribe to my channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new episode goes up every Thursday!

I’ll admit something to you: up until a couple weeks ago, I hadn’t changed anything in my studio apartment after living here for a couple years. 

I’m a creature of habit with a borderline debilitating fear of change, so the idea of redecorating of any kind in here made me a little nervous, even when I was getting that itch to change things up a bit.

And you know what I decided? My apartment isn’t a museum! It’s not a precious little piece of glass that I should be afraid of breaking. It’s a place of self expression and experimentation, and yours is too.

So here are the small things I did to give my studio apartment a refresh for under $200.

It all started with this quilt and then spiraled from there. I saw this quilt and that’s when I started getting the itch to change up the color palette in here.

And this shows that you can use one piece of decor as a means of inspiration that acts as a jumping off point for the rest of your styling. So when you find that one item spawns a whole bunch of ideas for your interior decor, listen to that inspiration.

That’s one of the key things I talk about in Studio Styling 101, which is a free workbook that I’ll link to in the description below. Getting inspired is a huge part of the process, and actually listening to that inspiration. 

Don’t let things pass you by. Really listen to what your gut tells you when you fall in love with something.

And you can actually see the process of my shopping for my new accessories in a previous video that I did - it’s actually a mood board tutorial. I walk you through how to use a program called Canva to plan mood boards and basically get an idea as to how my styling will look together. So I will link to that in the description below, and you can see exactly how I planned all of this ahead of time.

So it all started with this quilt, which I found on sale at Target for $45, and that led me to find these pillows back here. I initially bought these pillows for my couch, but decided I liked them better for the bed.

And they are the softest pillows I’ve ever felt in my life. They were only $30 each, so $45 quilt, $30 pillow, $30 pillow. 

One thing I want to note here is when you’re styling your place, be open to changing your mind about something. 

Comment below and tell me: have you ever bought a piece of decor that didn’t really end up looking the way you wanted it? Tell me how you adjusted - did you return it to the store or did you try it in another place? Comment below!

After I switched the soft orange pillows to my bed, I knew that I still needed an element of orange on my couch because one of the big things about living in a studio is keeping everything cohesive.

So I ended up getting this orange textured pillow for the center of my couch, and I found that that married the bedroom area with the living room area and made it cohesive.

The next thing I got was this super soft and cozy throw, which I found lightened up the space a little bit and the sort of creamy color paired nicely with the burnt orange. There was a darker throw there initially, and honestly I might switch it back.

Tell me below, which do you like better? The lighter throw or the darker throw? Tell me below in the comments.

That’s another thing - when you make a change, you’re not signing a contract to stick with that change. If you switch something out and you kind of like the previous thing that you had there better, don’t be afraid to switch. And then switch back, and then switch back again. 

You have freedom here. Give yourself permission to experiment.

Once I changed out these accessories, I started to realize that the yellow flowers that I had up here before weren’t really going well with the orange look that I was switching to.

So I found these really pretty faux copper eucalyptus at Anthropologie and I thought they would look perfect next to my bed.

As you can see, those aren’t copper eucalyptus up there. I actually didn’t like them. I have them over on my desk now and they look really pretty there, but they kind of disappeared when they were over here. They didn’t really make an impact.

I’m actually a fan of being matchy-matchy in decor, but sometimes being matchy-matchy can cause things to kind of disappear. And that’s what I found when I had the copper eucalyptus up there. They matched so well, that they just kind of stopped existing.

So that’s another thing to keep in mind - when you put a piece of decor up and it’s not really exciting you and it’s not really making an impact, then it should go somewhere else. You should feel that, like, really good feeling when you put something up.

See how simple that was? I honestly didn’t even do much, but it was just enough to give my apartment a nice refreshing feeling.

There’s something about walking into a space filled with new details and things to look at. It keeps things interesting. And I’m hoping I’ll be able to continue to shed my creature-of-habit ways and be open to change - in decorating and life.

There’s always a life lesson to be learned through decorating. 

That’s the thing about any act of creative self expression - it’s always bigger than the act itself. Think about that the next time you wonder if all of your interior decor efforts are pointless. This stuff can be really fulfilling and really wonderful, if you let it.

If you want to see daily posts from my studio apartment here in Seattle, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.

And if you liked this video, please let me know by liking it below and sharing it with your friends. And if you want to stay up to date on all the Living Pretty episodes, then subscribe below and hit the bell to be notified whenever a new episode goes up every Thursday. 

And remember, your apartment is destined to be pretty, and you’re pretty powerful. Happy styling, my friend!

_________

NOTE: This article contains affiliate links that allow you to find the items mentioned in the video and this blog post, and support the channel at no cost to you. While this channel may earn minimal sums when the viewer uses the links, the viewer is in NO WAY obligated to use these links. Thank you for your support!