How to Decorate Your Apartment

[Melba Douglas]

Limited space is clearly one of the major concerns when it comes to
decorating an apartment. Ideally, when it comes to decorating,
maximizing the amount of space available would need to be one of the
first priorities, with adequate storage solutions running a close
second. Apartment decorating ideas which are able to incorporate both
space saving and storage solutions would clearly be worth their weight
in gold. Part of the problem, when it comes to the majority of
apartment complexes, is the number of units that are packed in as
close together as possible in order to maximize rental potential.
This is fine for the landlords, but inevitably less acceptable for
those people who call an apartment complex 'home'. As successful
apartment living is a completely different concept to living in an
average sized family home, apartment decorating ideas also need to be
tackled in a completely unique way. There is absolutely no point in
taking ideas that have always worked well in a single family home and
applying those same concepts to decorating an apartment - then hoping
against hope that the end result will be just as successful. Through
better luck than judgment those ideas may work - but then, what if
they don't? You will have wasted a lot of time, effort and money, only
to end up with a less than perfect result.
So, when it comes to apartment decorating ideas, space is paramount -
even down to the size of the furniture and any patterns used when
decorating: it all matters and nothing should be left to chance. One
way of making every inch count is to combine furniture with multiple
utilities: buy a desk which, when you need to sleep, easily converts
itself into a bed. This isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. The 2009
Ideal Home Exhibition at Earl's Court, London is currently advertising
a piece of furniture which does exactly that. At face value, it
certainly isn't a cheap option but, when you consider how effective
and efficient it is, it is actually an economic solution. This
particular piece of furniture is manufactured in a wood composite for
durability, cleverly veneered for a lovely finish.
When the bed is folded away, the piece of furniture looks exactly as a
desk. When the function needs to change and the bed needs to be used,
you simply pull down the bed which folds down, and the desk slots back
into the recess previously occupied by the bed. The charm of this
system is that the bed is packed away readily made up for use and,
when the desk needs to be put away, it glides backwards so that any
items currently in use on the desk can stay exactly where they are:
they will not be disturbed. The whole system runs on a cleverly hidden
hydraulic unit so that you only need to use one hand to pull the bed
down or push the desk backwards. For apartment decorating ideas, this
piece of furniture, and others like it, is absolutely ingenious.
Apartments that need decorating may be limited in size but never
forget they also have height and this is something that can be very
successfully utilized when it comes to furnishings such as an
entertainment centre, or a desk for your home office equipment. Drop
leaf tables, or tables which have additional leaves that drop into the
middle of a dining table, have been around for generations. There are
now many dining tables on the market which can be fitted against a
wall, with a drop-down leaf that can be released when not in use.
Conversely, another innovation is the dining table into which two
chairs can be slotted when not in use - certainly my choice if I was
in the position where I needed to conserve space.
Colors always give an illusion of space or lack of it and, in order to
make the most of apartment decorating ideas, the last thing you want
is to choose the wrong color or wrong shade, with the result that your
lovely, newly-decorated apartment appears to be much smaller than
before you started. Stick with pastels, or pales hues, which will
catch any available light and give the space you do have a lift.
Carrying on with this theme, place mirrors around the apartment to
reflect as much light as possible. Use mirrors as accent pieces and
you will be pleasantly surprised at the success of your apartment
decorating ideas and the warm vibrancy of the resultant finish.