Decorating your apartment in this ever-fluctuating, ever-changing market of trends can be a difficult undertaking. Balancing your own personal style and trying to keep up with the latest and greatest style ideas can leave you stuck between a rock and a hard place. Between bright colors to vintage styles, it’s been quite a ride over the past couple of years in trying to decorate your home or apartment.
If you’re ready to look like the Saint Joe apartments to look like they fell right out of the mind of Joanna Gaines, here are some décor trends that you can incorporate into your apartment this spring:
1.) Find an open concept plan.
Before you even begin decorating your home, while you’re on the apartment hunt, look for a more open-concept plan as opposed to one that’s more closed-off. Open concept plans leave your apartment bright and airy, creating less of a need for dim lights and bulky lamps.
Open concept plans are also ideal lower, more squat furniture, because having taller furniture can disrupt the openness of the space. Even if you don’t have an open concept plan, not using unnecessarily tall and bulky furniture will lend to making the Saint Joe apartments feel more open than it is.
2.) Keep bright colors to a minimum.
While any room can benefit from having a bright pop of color, too much color can really detract from the overall design of your apartment. Keeping the tones in your apartment more earthy and neutral keeps the vibe in your apartment calm and soothing. If your apartment is brightly colored, see if your landlord will allow you to paint your walls a more neutral tone, or get removable wallpaper to help you change the major color scheme. Or, if your furniture is brightly colored and it isn’t feasible for you to purchase new furniture, try finding some neutral-toned furniture covers to help mute the tones.
3.) Make your space comfortable.
In these wild and unprecedented times, so many people are now working from home and spend more time in their office or their bedroom now more than ever before. The caveat to that is this: if you don’t like how your space is decorated and you aren’t comfortable in it, working from home can be the worst. If your space isn’t somewhere that you can relax, where you can be calm and happy but productive, then you aren’t going to enjoy being in your own home.
There are a few mistakes you can make when decorating. Aesthetics should not be valued over your own comfort. If you want to purchase some throw pillows for your couch that don’t quite fit in with the rest of your color scheme but are comfortable, then do it! Get cute chairs for the bar in the kitchen instead of stools. Make sure your office chair is comfortable over being cute. Having a nice, aesthetically pleasing apartment is one thing, but if you can’t fall asleep on your couch while you’re supposed to be getting ready for a Zoom meeting, are you actually comfortable in your apartment?
4.) Use more natural materials.
While plastic and laminate are easy to clean, sometimes having more natural materials can make it feel more homey. You don’t have to go so far as to have that dark wood paneling that so many houses in the 70s had, because that can be overbearing. (And feel a little bit like your grandma’s house, but that’s neither here nor there.) However, adding some of those accents can really bring out the warm feeling for the Saint Joe apartments.
Try choosing some furniture that has a natural wooden finish instead of getting something plastic, metal, or even painted wood. Or, if that’s not your taste, try getting curtains or throw pillows made from cotton or linen instead of a synthetic fabric. Pair it with some fresh flowers and a clean-smelling essential oil (like lemon/orange/citrus and bergamot scents), and walking into your apartment can feel like walking into a spa.
5.) Use as much natural light as possible.
Creating a larger, more open-feeling space is the most difficult thing to accomplish when you’re working with a small apartment. One way to better accomplish this is to utilize the natural light in your apartment as much as possible. Spending time in natural light without the harshness of fluorescent or LED lighting from bulbs can lead to a better mood and more productivity.
If you aren’t able to use as much natural light, like if your apartment doesn’t have good natural light or if you apartment is just dark in general, try using lamps instead of the large overhead bulb to give you apartment a more homey, bright feeling.
6.) Get high-tech in the bathroom.
Okay, this is going to sound a little weird, but: invest in some bathroom technology. Joanna Gaines might not have promoted the joys of a bidet on Fixer Upper, but they and many other pieces of bathroom tech can be a game-changer.
Apartment technology has really improved in the last few years, allowing “smart homes” to be more of a thing now than ever before. But have you thought about bringing that same energy into the bathroom? Consider having a seat warmer for your toilet during those chilly winter months. There are heated towel racks to give you that spa-like experience. You can get speakers for your shower, or even LEDs to change color depending on your water temperature or pressure. There are even mirrors for your bathroom that are not only fog-resistant and have lights, but can even tell you the weather. Why do you need Alexa when your mirror can do all the work for you?
So what trends should I use?
There is no one who needs to love your apartment as much as you. No matter what the latest aesthetic style or trend is, it’ll mean nothing if you aren’t comfortable in your own home. Choose what styles you like, and the best style trends for you will always be what makes you the happiest at home.
