How to Live Well In One Room

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By Terria Fleming
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Live Well In One Room

Studio apartments are a real challenge to live in, but you can find ways to make your space work well for you with just a few simple ideas and suggestions.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Studio apartment
furnishings

Step 1

Each studio apartment is unique, and will be used in different ways by each occupant, so no single idea will work for everyone. Take stock of what you want your room to be and do for you. Ask yourself some questions about how you want to use the room. For instance, do you work at home? Do you want to have guests over for parties, or to stay for a few days? Do you live alone in your studio, or do you share the space with someone else? Have you got a separate space for your kitchen, or is it part of the main room? Whatever your needs and wants for your space must be taken into account when you plan the layout and decoration of your studio apartment.
Step 2

A valuable suggestion from many decorators who specialize in small space living, is to choose your furnishings with multiple functions in mind. Your bed is likely to also be your couch for example, and coffee tables will often have storage underneath. Think about each piece of furniture you will need, and how to get the most use out of each item.
Step 3

Get rid of clutter, a small room isn't the place for a ton of knick-knacks. You need some empty space in a room, no matter how small the area.
Step 4

If you're lucky enough to have a deck or a hallway, or a kitchen as a separate room, in your studio, use each of these spaces as efficiently as possible to maximize your living area, and make it appear that your home is bigger than it really is.
Your deck can be treated as a virtual outdoor "room" for example.
A hallway, if it is wide enough, could hold a dresser or two, or even a desk, or a series of narrow bookshelves or cabinets. Whatever fits, and whatever furniture you have to use, can be placed in a hallway so that it visually appears to be another room.
And if you have a separate kitchen area in your studio, use every inch of the space in the kitchen to maximum advantage. Try to add a folding table and a couple of chairs so you can eat in the kitchen if it is big enough for that. That way you won't have to eat in the main room.
Step 5

In the main living area of your studio apartment, use color to add interest and warmth, but try to cover the bed in a neutral color if possible. That will help to make your bed look more like a couch and less like a place to sleep.
Any dressers or shelving systems should be not only useful, but placed so that the flow of traffic in the room is unobstructed which will make the room appear larger than it is.