Making Your College Apartment Feel Like Home with Cozy Apartment Decor & More!
Making your college apartment feel like home is one of the best things you can do for yourself when starting your off-campus living journey. If you’re living with roommates, coming together to create a calming environment that matches the style of everyone really allows for each person living in the space to feel at home. Additionally, if you’re living alone, your college apartment may be the first time you’re ever getting to reflect your true style in a living space, without the influence of other roommates or parents. From cozy apartment decor to tips on cleaning, I’ll be discussing how you can make your college apartment feel like home, no matter how far you are away from your permanent address.
Planning Your Space To Make Room for Cozy Apartment Decor
Being able to make a house into a home is a learning experience. Being able to understand what your style is for the first time is difficult; decorating a space that’s completely empty can definitely be very overwhelming at first. The best thing to do before you even move in is get the dimensions of each room and understand how you can optimize your space while curating a vibe that will make you feel comfortable. For example, while moving into my first college house I got chosen to live in the attic, a room that is only accessible through two very narrow staircases. While strategically planning my storage, as the room has no closet, and finding furniture that fits up, I was able to map out exactly what decor I wanted. Even something as simple as a throw blanket, my personal favorite one being from Town & Throw Company, can transform the space into a cozy one. The blanket reminds me of my college town, Oxford, Ohio.
Keeping Your College Apartment Clean and Cozy
Additionally, keeping your apartment clean will do wonders for your mental health and ability to focus. While living with seven other girls in my first off-campus house, we realized very quickly that cleaning regularly was the only way we could all maintain focus. Every Wednesday and Sunday, two days we typically didn’t have people over, we would put on some music and clean the house top to bottom. This honestly produced some of my favorite memories in my college house, and we were able to turn ‘doing dishes’ into ‘dish parties’ while blasting music throughout the house. After cleaning, we could do our homework, watch a show, and relax without looking at left-out dishes or misplaced items. Although it is really difficult to keep your apartment tidy, especially if it’s pretty small, that’s where optimizing storage, creating a cleaning schedule, and picking up after yourself comes into play. A clean space is a comfortable one, and that contributes to a ‘homey’ vibe just as much as anything else.
Finding Cozy Apartment Decor on a College Budget
But, we still need to talk about cozy apartment decor. Now, as a college student, finding home decor that is cheap is no easy task. For this reason, I recommend finally downloading Facebook and looking at the Marketplace feature for free or cheaper furniture. Due to the app, I was able to find an entire sectional, coffee table, armoire, and side table for less than $400. Additionally, there are usually group chats you can join where people will give away old furniture, decor, and random items when they’re moving out. I’ve been able to find everything from concert tickets to a rare Dolly Parton sign on these platforms, so look there before spending money on new furniture.
Adding Personal Touches to Make Your Space Feel Like Home
Another aspect of making sure your apartment feels like a home is deeply personalizing your space. A cheap way to do this is by purchasing a cheap frame from Micheal’s and putting in your favorite photos, or copying a collage off of Pinterest. It’s one of the best ways to create new decor without having to buy a brand new piece of art. Recently in my college house, one of my roommates has started a photo wall that has a ton of cute (and extremely unflattering) photos placed on the doorway leading into our kitchen. It’s one of the first things you see as guests walk into the home and it really sets the tone for our space. Along with that, we’ve all been able to bring in old photos, tapestries, flags, and string lights from our dorm rooms to fill the space in our living room. At first, I was worried that I wouldn’t feel as comfortable in spaces that I had no say in decorating, but as time has gone on, we’ve been able to all put our personal touches on the rooms that we share. Making sure that my room is decked out in all of my favorite colors, decor, and of course the most comfortable bed, has been the best way for me to turn the fresh walls of my off-campus house into a home.
Bringing It All Together: Creating Your Home Away From Home With Cozy Apartment Decor And More!
Overall, there are so many ways you can make an apartment feel special, personal, and homey. Making cozy apartment decor yourself, or repurposing furniture from past college living spaces, is the best way to make you feel at home. Thoughtful spatial planning and optimizing storage allows for your space to feel less cluttered, while still having character in your room. Using a good mix of all your roommates' decor allows the space to feel at home and comfortable for everyone. Also, it’s the best way to first bond with your roommates over shared photos, crafts, and a cozy living space. Lastly, make sure to create the cleaning schedule! Even if you don’t want to do it, you will only feel at home when sitting in an area that is decluttered, clean, and with all of the unnecessary items out of the way.
Doing all of these things in my first college apartment has made my overall experience being away from home feel a whole lot easier. Now my new college apartment feels like my own; cozy, warm, and inviting. Definitely try out these tips and look for cozy apartment decor to feel at home, at your home away from home.
