How to Decorate a Studio Apartment

There's an old joke about studio apartments:

"How do you like your new studio?"

"I have no room for complaint!"

Decorating a studio apartment seems challenging until you get a few tips. Then you realize how great a tiny home can be! Here are seven tips for decorating a small space.

It's best to create separate zones for dining, sleeping, working and lounging or entertaining. It's fairly logical to place your bed in one corner, your desk in another, and a couch against another wall. You can make each section more defined with area rugs and different yet complementary color schemes.

The ancient art of feng shui can help you define different areas. Even if you think feng shui notions of chi and such are ridiculous, check out the way in which feng shui designers partition space. For whatever reason, it works! Feng shui designers divide every space into nine areas and decorate accordingly.

In the photo above, a natural barrier is created with the staircase. With other studio layouts, you might need to create your own barriers.

To set off a bedroom or kitchen space, use beaded curtains or airy drapes that can be pinned back. These are easy to make at home. You can also find sheer white drapes for just $9.99 on Amazon.

You can create a homey office cubicle with one of the following:

• a Japanese room divider
• a wall you build of glass bricks
• a wall you build of plywood

Each of these has the advantage of letting light through, especially if you choose a translucent rice paper screen or glass bricks.

If you make a plywood divider, cut a window to let natural light in. About ten years ago the decorator Christopher Lowell shared this idea on his TV show. He made a simple plywood headboard for a bed and added a circular window. The circle was unexpected and looked great! You could line the window with flexible bamboo.

When you have a studio apartment, it's especially important to keep clutter at bay. Here are some ways to make the most of space:

• Use furniture that doubles as storage. Use ottomans and wooden benches that simultaneously provide seating and hidden storage. Put a decorative storage trunk at the foot of your bed or use one as a coffee table.
• Store your out-of-season clothes in compressed plastic bags. That is: 1) Put your clothes in a bag. 2) Roll the bag to force air out. 3) Use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the rest of the air. Then store your compressed clothes bags in a big Tupperware bin under your bed. This storage solution has the added advantage of giving your cat fewer places to hide.

• Store stuff in solid stacked boxes. If you do it right, your box arrangement will look artsy. You could copy the style of a Japanese tansu chest like that in the picture. To get that look, use at least six boxes. Make side-by-side stacks of one, two and three square storage areas.
• Decorate with items you're trying to store away. Examples: 1) Maybe some of your best books or a tapestry would look nice on display. 2) Frame certain mismatched placemats as wall art. 3) Bath towels can look pretty on display if you go Martha Stewart on them. Roll them up tight and stack them in a pyramid like firewood.
• Get rid of stuff. You can just give the stuff away or make money off it. Here are some ways to get rid of things you don't need: 1) Put stuff in a free pile outside. 2) Sell your clothes, musical instruments or sporting equipment through a consignment shop. 3) Donate to Goodwill or another charitable organization. You'll get a tax deduction. 4) Hold a yard sale.

Mirrors add light without adding to electricity bills. They also create an illusion of more space. You can cover a full wall with one giant mirror or hang a few small mirrors here and there. You can also set a mirror on a table and use it to hold candles or a flower vase.

Very cheap mirrors are available at Ikea and at dollar stores. If you feel creative, decorate these basic finds with mosaic tiles. You can also find some good deals on decorative mirrors on Amazon.

A large landscape painting can create an illusion of depth, pulling the viewer beyond the small walls of your apartment. You can achieve this effect with a small vertical painting placed in a kitchen nook or a large horizontal piece placed above a sofa.

Is fine art outside your budget? Even if you can barely draw, you can make "modern art" yourself -- you know, like when people barely do anything and it sells for thousands. You could get a blank canvas and make an abstract ocean sunset scene in twenty minutes with blue and orange paints. Another easy option is grassy green against sky blue.

To conserve space, choose armless chairs and sofas. Armless chairs are easy to come by. To get matching chairs for cheap, score at yard scales and paint your chairs if needed. Of course, you can also spend more and buy new from naked furniture stores, Ikea or Pottery Barn. Some people contract local carpenters to get gorgeous craftsmanship at a good price.

As for armless or otherwise space-saving sofas, you can go the ultra-cheap route with a $200 futon couch/bed. For just a bit more, you can get a faux leather or microsuede futon that's sized just for apartments.

Painting your walls with light colors will make the most of light and make your studio appear larger than it would otherwise. Choose a not-quite-white. For example, robin egg blue and celery green are light colors that enhance a space.

You can add style and brightness by painting one wall a different color, as in the photo here.

Happy decorating!