Studio Apartment Color Scheme: How to Create a Cohesive Color Palette
Trying to figure out your studio apartment color scheme? Choosing decor colors for a studio can be a challenge (just like all studio apartment decorating seems to be!), but I'm here to tell you that it can be soooo much simpler than you might think.
In this video, I'm giving you my exact formula for choosing colors for your home, aka your lovely - yet tiny - studio apartment!
Let's talk about how to use color to create cohesiveness in your studio apartment layout AND how to choose a color palette that is right for YOU. So if you want some studio apartment inspiration and some tips about choosing your small apartment color scheme, stick around!
Video Transcript ↓
So we can all agree that decorating a studio apartment is challenging in so many different ways, but when it comes to choosing a color palette for your studio and making it look cohesive, that can be extra challenging.
It can feel like… remember what it was like when you were a kid trying to shove the crayons back into the box, but they just wouldn't fit? And it was so frustrating because no new crayons magically appeared, so I don't understand why this box is suddenly too small for the exact same amount of crayons, but here we are!
…That's what color can feel like when decorating a studio apartment. 😐
I may be alone in getting flashbacks to my childhood neuroses, but I think you catch my drift. Either way, fitting a cohesive color palette into a small studio apartment is challenging!
So in this video, I'm going to share my very specific approach to making your color palette feel cohesive and aesthetically pleasing in a studio apartment!
And before we dive in, I wanted to let you know that you can now watch my free workshop, "Decorate Your Dream Apartment Without Spending Money on the Wrong Decor For You" whenever you want!
In this FREE, 1-hour workshop, I’ll teach you how to…
Discover your personal style so you can decorate a space that feels like YOU
Create mood boards to help you visualize what your apartment could look like before buying things
Shop for decor in a way that will save you money and allow you to buy things that actually fit your space and your personality
If all that sounds like exactly what you need to create the dreamy apartment you’ve been yearning for, click here to watch the workshop!
So before we dive in, a little disclaimer… Like I mentioned, this is a very specific approach to using color in a studio apartment. And it is definitely not the only way! As I like to say about my interior styling advice, these are tools, not rules.
This is basically my formula that I personally use to keep color simple!
So I'm gonna talk about how to:
Create cohesiveness with color
Choose your colors
Dive deeper into all this
1. Creating Color Cohesiveness
So first, let's talk about how to make your color palette cohesive. This is where what I lovingly refer to as my Color Code comes into play! And this is where things get very, very specific.
My Color Code is my formula for color cohesiveness. It's one base color + one accent color X repetition = color cohesiveness.
So here's how this works. You choose one base color for all of the larger items in your space. This can be your couch, your arm chair, your desk, your dining table, any sort of larger items in your space. These are the items that really anchor your space!
And I recommend that you choose one single base color for all of these items to be. For example, my base color in my studio is dark charcoal ranging into the black.
By the way, when I talk about color, I'm really talking about color families. You don't have to be super strict about this. So my color family for my base color is dark charcoal/black.
Your base color basically forms the backbone of your studio. It anchors everything and unites everything thing. Therefore, making things feel more cohesive!
I also recommend your base color be a neutral. So white, beige, brown, black, charcoal, gray. By making your base color a neutral, that makes the next part of the formula even easier to implement, and that is to choose an accent color.
My recommendation when it comes to accent color in your space is to choose one and repeat it. Repeat it a lot!
Now again, when I say choose one color, what I really mean is to choose one color family. For example, my color family in my space right now is in the greens and golds family. Anytime you see color in my studio, it is on the green to gold spectrum.
Now, of course, there are little details that deviate from this, like little touches is of amber glass, but my point is that my space sticks to a pretty uniform color palette. And then these are repeated over and over again throughout the space.
If you do this, it basically guarantees color cohesiveness in your space!
The “Matchy-Matchy” Myth
When it comes to repeating the same colors over and again don't be afraid of being matchy-matchy.
For some reason, this is a fear that I think has been instilled in a lot of us. Like, “don't be too matchy-matchy!”
But think about it. You live in a small space. Being matchy-matchy is honestly the least of our worries.
With a big house where there is simply more room for matchy-matchy-ness - there are simply more items to be matchy-matchy together - I can see how that's maybe a bit more of a concern.
But in a small space, we don't really have room for matchy-matchy-ness. There physically aren’t enough items for us to be truly matchy-matchy.
What should be top of mind is cohesiveness. My studio apartment is matchy-matchy AF and frankly, I love it. It's cohesive!
So if you're someone who's struggling with color in your studio apartment, and your apartment is feeling more like a hodgepodge, try my Color Code. Try limiting the colors in your space and see what that does for the cohesiveness of your space!
And if you're not someone who struggles with color in your space, and you like to have a more liberal approach to color, then have at it! Again, this is a tool, not a rule.
Choosing Your Colors
Now let's talk about how to go about choosing these colors - choosing your base color, choosing your accent color.
You're probably like, “I love a lot of different colors and I'm not really sure which one I want to land on!” And this is very, very normal.
So if you are struggling with choosing which colors you want in your space, I recommend you watch this video of mine to start with!
That video is all about choosing the right decor for you, and it takes you through the exact step by step thought process that I go through in order to choose the right decor. And you can apply this exact same process to choosing color!
So in addition to following the steps in that video, think about this. This is important:
How do you want your space to make you feel? And how can you use color to make you feel that?
Different colors bring out different emotions, and they also bring out different emotions depending on the person.
For example, a few months ago, my boyfriend Kobee and I changed out our comforter on the bed to a burnt red kind of spice color. It was a really pretty comforter, nothing against it, but I personally did not click emotionally with the red.
Red is a very active color. It's very passionate and dramatic. And for a lot of people, it can be anxiety inducing. For me, it put me on edge. It was a really fun experiment, I’m so glad we did it. But overall, I personally need a calming green-ish color palette.
So think about how you can use color to serve your emotional needs!
Which colors do you already have?
Here's another thing to consider when trying to choose the colors in your space. This one's really simple. What do you already have in your apartment?
All things being equal when it comes to choosing your colors, go the path of least resistance, at least at first.
If you already have a certain color in your space, lean into that. There's a reason why you bought it in the first place!
Not only does it tell you about your personal taste and color, but really it's more budget friendly. If you already have a certain color present in your space, it simply means you won't have to buy as many new things.
You can always change things up later. This, by the way, is where choosing a neutral base color really comes in handy. Because if you do want to change up your accent color later, it's so much easier to match a new accent color with a neutral base color, because a neutral will match with pretty much anything.
What colors are you attracted to when you’re out in the world?
Here's one more tip for how to choose which colors to use in your space. Simply pay attention to what you're attracted to when you're out in the world!
When you're out for a walk, what colors stand out to you? Actually pay attention to what you pass in your real life and be mindful of that. Allow that to give you insight.
You're giving yourself little clues every day of your life! Just slow down and actually notice these clues. Notice when certain colors jump out at you and allow that to impact what your color palette with your decor.
How to dive deeper
So we've covered how to create cohesiveness with color, and we've covered how to choose your color palette. Now here's how to dive deeper into all this!
After watching this video, if you want a more comprehensive, deep dive into not only choosing your color palette, but also choosing the right decor for you, then I definitely recommend you check out my free one-hour workshop!
The workshop is called Decorate Your Dream Apartment Without Spending Money on the Wrong Decor For You. And it is so much fun, if I do say so myself!
In my free apartment styling workshop, I walk you through some tangible steps that you can take to:
Discover your personal style
Visualize how various decor and furniture could look together by making moodboards
Avoid spending your hard-earned money on decor that you ultimately don’t really like once you see it in your space
As educational as I try to make my videos, there's only so much that can be done in a 10-15 minute YouTube video. So I created this workshop to really dive deep into my whole approach to styling. It's a great place to start if you want to create your dream apartment!
Let me know in the comments below, what is your approach to color? Are you like me and you like to have a very coordinated, “matchy-matchy'' approach to color? Or do you like to just let loose and unleash the rainbow on your space?
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new video goes up every week.