Just moved into a studio loft apartment? Getting started with making it into a home is hard. But not with this guide! Here are 11 simple tips to make your tiny studio loft apartment liveable!
Living in a tiny studio loft apartment can be very challenging both physically and mentally. Not only its small size, but its excessive openness and tall ceiling height can cause problems with your design that you’ll have to solve all alone!
Getting creative with organizing & decorating such a unique space is hard. And making it into a real home you’ll feel good in is even harder!
But with these 11 insanely simple tips on how to make your studio loft apartment more liveable, you’re guaranteed to fall in love with your special home!
Work with light neutrals
Not only do light neutral colors make your small studio loft apartment feel a lot bigger, but they also have that calming effect.
When hasn’t a tiny living space caused any frustration? If you incorporate mostly light paint colors, light materials and furniture into your design, you’ll feel much better.
Light neutrals go hand in hand with a scandinavian style. So definitely go and check out this post on how to transform your studio loft into your dream nordic home!
Proper maintenance
One thing about studio loft apartments that is not emphasized enough is proper maintenance! How could you feel alive in an apartment that doesn’t get enough ventilation, is cluttered and smells bad?
You’ll have to put a lot of effort into keeping your loft in its best shape! This means daily decluttering, organizing and cleaning. But since a loft comes with special limitations, that’s just the beginning of your work here!
You’ll have to learn how to ventilate properly, how to avoid big temperature fluctuations, how to prevent mold and how to manage humidity.
Don’t know how to take care of your studio loft properly? Here’s the ultimate guide for you!
Utilize every nook
Loft apartments don’t come with too much space. And if you have a studio loft apartment, things are even worse. You barely have any place to store your belongings.
That’s exactly why you’ll have to take matters into your own hands! By utilizing any space that you have at hand, you can create more for yourself -even if it sounds contradictory.
The most unuseful empty spaces include the under the stairs area, as well as the long area along the rails. For the latter one, a super suitable purpose would be your home office setup!
And regarding the under the stairs area, you have quite the selection! You can revive the space by transforming it either into a storage unit, your home office, a reading nook, an enteirtainment unit, a small pantry or even a closet!
Natural room dividers
Your studio loft apartment is a huge open space without inner walls to divide the space. This causes multiple problems, like the inability to differentiate between the purpose of each area, making you unable to create a clear work-relax boundary within your home.
This is what room dividers seek to avoid! They’re super trendy nowadays, so they’ll not only provide each area its own purpose, but they’re also going to elevate your design as well!
There are tons of room divider options, but the easiest and most natural one is to create a layout that has obvious boundaries! For example, your loft living area has to be located on a statement area rug. This will provide clean lines for your living “room”. Place your furniture along the lines of the rug to give it a more obvious effect. This will close down the space very nicely.
Although rugs and a well-thought out layout are the most effective ways of creating a room divider, there are tons of other options to choose from.
If you have an industrial design, consider a steel partition room divider for your living area! For a scandinavian or japandi style, a wooden slat divider would be more suitable. If you want to bring some functionality into your divider, definitely go with cubbies or bookshelves!
Create a strong focal point
If you have a banger focal point, everything else will fall into place! A focal point is an area in your loft apartment that has an emphasized role. Whether due to its central location or its super nice decor, a focal point will be the one area in your studio that the eyes are naturally attracted to.
So make sure you go all out on your focal point to make all the attention focus on it! This will blur minor decor mistakes in all your other areas, making you perceive your apartment much more tasteful & liveable.
Leave no signs of functionality
Okay, this one might be controversial. But if you want a clean look you feel super calm in, you’ll definitely want to hide any sign of functionality.
We’re thinking messy wires, cleaning supplies, stationary, kitchen utensils. If these are not hidden -or at least partially hidden and well organized-, they can really have a toll on how you feel in your studio.
See, with the huge ceiling height that makes the eyes focus more on the details, any sign of that aesthetically displeasing functionality of a home will be emphasized. And who wants that?
Don’t let the areas lose their purpose
To keep your natural day-to-day cycle functioning uninterruptedly even in the smalles spaces, you must not forget to assign each area its own purpose. There needs to be a clear and obvious line between your working and relaxing spaces for you to differentiate between them properly.
Keeping the functionality of each area in your studio loft apartment is extremely important! Since regular apartments have inner walls to close up the space and keep its purpose obvious, you’ll have no problem acting accordingly!
But this privilege simply doesn’t come with a small, open place. You’ll need to do it all yourself!
In tip #4, we’ve pegged down the importance of room dividers. Of course, these help a lot with creating boundaries between each area. But such a big investment doesn’t have to be the only way!
First, you’ll have to determine where you want to create your working and relaxing areas. If done, furnish accordingly. Have a few items that remind you of their purpose! Even if they are in a shared area, never mix your working items with your relaxing items! This will avoid unproductivity.
For example, of your home office is in your living area, where your sofa is also at, never do your work on it! If you try to accomplish your responsibilities somewhere that’s associated with relaxation, you’ll get absolutely no work done!
Say no to overcrowding your space!
To solve all of your problems by the root, you’ll never want to overcrowd your space! This means no clutter laying around, no unnecessary decor items, no shopping on a whim!
When you have strikingly too many items in your small studio, everything’s going to look super out-of-place. This will ruin your whole design!
So try to only have essentials and crucial decor items for your chosen style to keep your space as clean as possible!
If you’re thinking of developing a minimalistic design, check out these 13 easy steps that are guaranteed to achieve the cleanest look ever!
Keep it simple
Since your studio loft apartment doesn’t boast much space, but is rather open, you’ll need to keep everything simple & sophisticated.
Since the openness and huge ceiling height expose and enlarge every tiny detail in your home, it’s important to thoroughly plan what you want! There’s no room for clashing colors, too many patterns, materials or textures!
Decide in which style you’re going to decorate and stick to it, like your life depends on it!
When it comes to colors, you’ll need to decide on one or two main colors that suit your design. Most of the time, they are just enough to make your studio loft aesthetically pleasing, but you can always include one more complementary color as well! This will create a more eventful & exciting, but still coherent outcome!
Regarding materials, your best option is to always be aware of what material goes with what interior design style, so that you can choose the one that provides the most harmony. For example, metallic materials are mostly associated with an industrial design. Wood fits scandinavian and japandi apartments the most. And marble is super coherent with a luxury design!
Storage in the most unexpected places & items
Since a studio loft doesn’t provide an abundance of storage solutions, you’ll have to get super creative to be able to make more! Apart from utilizing all crevices & nooks to creating more storage options, you can also find lots of decorative furniture with built-in storage!
For example, ottomans and foot rests nowadays also come with a built-in storage compartment! Headboards and bed frames do include tiny storage nooks as well. And there are basically endless more possibilities!
This tip is important to create an organized place. A little bit of order always makes one feel better, right?
Want to have more storage ideas? Here are 14 insanely good storage solutions for a loft apartment!
Keep it in its best shape
We’ve touched on this one in tip #3, but we’re going to elaborate it! Proper maintenance automatically implies keeping your loft in order. But keeping it clean is rarely mentioned!
Yes, clutter laying around your apartment is super noticable and ruins your whole design. But so do a thick layer of dust, signs of frequent use, dirty furniture and stains! Not to mention the negative effect an unclean home can have on your mind or productivity, which is multiplied in a small studio loft!
So get used to cleaning and decluttering daily, or you’ll ruin your decor and your mood.
If you want to get serious about cleaning, then you’ll have to develop a proper loft cleaning schedule. But we’ve already done it for you! Read this post and download a FREE loft cleaning schedule!
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