So I’ll be honest with you all. I started writing about this Sunday night and was going back and forth on what to write about. I could write about sooo much, but I thought it would be better to discuss a more general topic rather than something specific. By posting a photo onto my Instagram yesterday and seeing what you guys wanted me to talk about, I was able to frame my post appropriately. Thanks to all who made suggestions!

Moving into my studio apartment was a bit of a challenge due to its small, 498 sq. ft. layout. This caused me to have to start from scratch in terms of furniture. I also didn’t have a roommate, so decorating on a budget was a must. From all of this, I thought it would be nice to discuss the challenges I faced, in addition to providing some tips on what I have learned along the way from moving into my own place.

Before I begin, I do want to add that I am no interior designer nor do I know a lot about it, but I do know that everyone has an aesthetic and idea of what they want their place to look and feel like, and it all stems from there.

1. Choose your style. I knew I wanted my place to be chic. There had to be gold, white, and pops of color all over. If you are stuck on what colors and themes you want to go with, Pinterest can be a huge help! Feel free to check out my board for some inspiration!

2. Create a mood board. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself within the past year, it’s that I am a perfectionist. If you saw my post on Bookshelf Styling 101, you would have read that I had to know what was going into my apartment before I even moved in! I wanted everything to be perfect and look just how I dreamed it to be.

Creating a mood board will really help give you the idea of what your place will look like. Honestly, my mood board wasn’t even complete, but it was just enough to get my place going. I pulled in key elements that I wanted in my apartment and worked from there.

3. Design on a budget. As mentioned before, I live alone so NOT designing on a budget wasn’t an option for me. Your place can look just as good as you imagine it to be, even on a budget! Thanks to local antique shops, Etsy, Ikea, HomeGoods, Joss & Main, and One Kings Lane, I was able to pull my place together on a small budget. Once I had an idea of what I wanted my apartment to look like, I shopped around trying to find the right pieces that weren’t as expensive, but looked similar. I even went as far as painting some of my furniture to have it be a color that suited my style.

4. Don’t try and fill every empty space. You’ll come to realize once you start bringing furniture into your place that you may have some empty corners or walls. Sometimes this is a good thing as it allows the room to breathe a bit. What you can do on those empty walls is hang some shelves and showcase accent pieces. For instance, on one of my shelves I am showcasing all of my succulents that I have collected over the past year. You can also create a gallery wall and show off some of your favorite photos or art pieces that you love. For an empty corner, a house plant will work perfectly: they clean your air and bring life into your home! Lastly, mirrors! Mirrors are wonderful for all of my small-square-foot-living peeps! They make your space look larger all while looking quite lovely on your wall. I myself have a floor mirror and a sunburst mirror in my apartment, both of which really help make the space feel a little bit bigger.

For guys and those empty walls—showcasing your passion for movies, music albums, art, books, sports, etc. would look awesome while bringing in conversation starters.

5. Your place will be forever changing and rearranging, and that’s okay. I’m super impatient and wanted to have my apartment complete by the time I finished moving in, but that wasn’t the case. I actually am still not finished and am always changing and rearranging my studio. What is nice and helpful is that I have all of the key elements that I wanted in my apartment, helping me to decide what I want to take out and bring in next.

These were the challenges that I faced while moving into my apartment and how I solved them. I hope my tips were helpful to you all! Please let me know if there is anything else you would like me to talk about for future blog posts related to decorating!