How to Make Your Studio Apartment Layout Cohesive
Living Pretty Ep8: Studio Apartment Layout Ideas - How to Make Your Studio Cohesive
Are you stumped when it comes to studio apartment layout ideas for your space? Wondering how to make your studio cohesive while avoiding making it look like a hodgepodge of stuff?
Deciding on your studio apartment furniture layout is one of the trickiest parts of studio apartment life. But it can be simpler than you think! In this video, I walk you through 3 studio interior styling rules you can implement in your studio apartment decor that will help you make your studio cohesive.
If you’re looking for studio apartment inspo, wondering if you even need studio apartment dividers to create separation in your space, and you’re dying to make your studio apartment feel like home, watch this video along with the rest of my Living Pretty episodes for studio apartment inspiration and more!
Watch the video now!
↓ Wanna read the episode? ↓
I’ve made some slight edits in the transcript below so that everything makes more sense in text form. But overall, this is almost a word-for-word dictation of what I say in the episode. I’m a much better writer than this, I swear, haha.
Deciding where to put your furniture and decor in your studio apartment is like being handed an empty box and then being told to make a perfect dollhouse out of it. You expect me to be able to make an effing home out of this?
That’s what it can feel like to decorate a studio apartment.
But guess what? Deciding how to configure your furniture and your decor in your studio apartment is actually easier than you think.
There are 3 interior styling concepts I use that, when deployed, basically guarantee that your studio will feel more inviting and spacious, and less cluttered and cave-like.
One of the main questions I get asked about styling a studio is, “How do I lay out my studio? Where should my furniture go? How do I make it flow?”
In my experience in figuring out the furniture layout of my own studio apartment, I have boiled it down to these three concepts that you can use for virtually any studio shape or size.
And before we dive into those three concepts, if you haven’t watched my full studio apartment tour yet, click here for a more thorough view of my studio apartment layout.
If you have any friends who live in a studio apartment, share this video with them! Tell them to come on over. I have coffee, tea, wine, and brandy - which is my drink of choice. Because deep down I have the soul of an 85 year old gentleman.
And if you have any questions about styling a studio apartment, tell me in the comments below and I will give you my two cents!
1. Triangles
Let me start off by telling you about my Big 3 concept. I talk about my Big 3 concept in my Studio Styling 101 workbook. It comes in handy if you want a resource that’ll help you through the beginning stages of styling your studio.
Your Big 3 are your three main pieces of furniture in your apartment.
And I challenge you to limit yourself to only three big pieces of furniture, and that’s it. Hence, “the Big 3”.
Select three pieces of furniture that will serve as the ONLY big pieces of furniture in your studio.
Why three? Because the human eye likes triangles. So any time you can create a triangle in your space, it will be visually appealing.
And since you have limited space in a studio apartment, and there’s only so much room for large pieces of furniture, I think choosing three pieces - three large pieces - and limiting yourself to that is a way to not only budget the amount of space your taking up, but also to make it visually appealing because of the triangle theory.
My Big 3 in my studio are my couch, my bed, and my desk. They form a triangle that unifies the whole studio, making it feel more balanced and harmonious.
The Rule of Three is hardly a new concept when it comes to design - it’s kind of a basic rule that professional designers have in their toolbelt at all times. But it’s especially effective when you think about it in the context of a studio apartment specifically.
Because the most challenging thing about styling a studio - because you’re basically working with one lump of space with no walls - is making it visually cohesive and not chaotic.
Triangles are this magical shape that basically act as an antidote to visual chaos.
2. Separation.
This is another one of the big questions I get asked about styling a studio: how do I create separation in my studio?
First of all, I want to tell you that I think that the idea of separation in a studio is emphasized a little too much.
Like, I think we can all collectively chill out a little bit on the idea of separation in our studios, and think of it more as cohesion. And flow.
Yes, creating separate zones in your studio apartment is a good thing, but creating literal separation - like with a faux wall or a bookcase or a curtain - can actually make your studio apartment look smaller and more closed off, depending on your studio.
If a faux wall or a bookcase or something like that actually serves to make your studio apartment more cohesive, then great!
But separation for separation’s sake runs the risk of making your studio look smaller and more disjointed.
A single piece of furniture can provide all the separation you need, which is what my couch does.
My couch is a very clear separator that separates the living room zone from the bedroom zone. And for this studio, that’s all that’s needed. So it really can be much simpler than you think. You don’t have to go over the top.
Another easy way to create separation - or cohesion - in your studio is to pay close attention to where you hang your artwork.
Pretend the zones of your studio are divided by invisible walls that would prevent you from hanging art in between zones. Say, in between your living room and your bedroom.
Let me show you. See how my living room artwork doesn’t overlap into my bedroom area? And then same thing with my bedroom area artwork - it doesn’t overlap into the living room area, which is distinguished by my couch. My couch is basically my invisible wall that makes is so that art cannot overlap on either side.
This makes it so the eye doesn’t get confused. Even if your studio is laid out perfectly into separate zones, if your artwork straddles two of those zones simultaneously, it instantly destroys the illusion of separation.
3. Repetition.
One of the biggest complaints people have about studio apartment living is that their space doesn’t feel cohesive and it just feels kind of like a hodgepodge. Well, repetition is a great cure for that.
When it comes to studio apartment styling, repetition is a powerful tool that will give you instant cohesion.
To get started, I recommend brainstorming some ideas on colors, visual themes, subject matter that you would like to see repeated throughout your studio.
To demonstrate what I mean, let me walk you through the ways I use repetition in my studio to create visual appeal.
One way is I repeat the same colors throughout the space and I don’t really deviate from them.
Will some people think that’s boring? Maybe. But we’re talking about a studio apartment here, and consistent, repetitive colors create cohesion and unify the space.
I also repeat visual themes throughout the space, like black and white photography, typography, raw wood with iron.
I utilize repetition with my sound wave art over here. Imagine if only one of these were hanging above my bed right here. It would look puny and out of place. But if you repeat it three times, suddenly it has visual impact.
I also repeat subject matter over and over again in my space. Some of the subject matter that I repeat throughout my space is music, anime, and the Legend of Zelda.
So I’m not talking about just repeating things that are visually attractive - I’m also talking about choosing specific interests and passions of yours, and repeating those throughout the space.
So, in summary, the three concepts that you can use when you’re deciding where to put your furniture and your decor in your studio apartment are triangles, separation, and repetition.
Every studio has its own limitations and spatial quirks, but if you think about these concepts as you’re decorating your studio, you can make better decisions for your studio regardless of its shape and size.
Which will lead to a more harmonious, well laid out apartment, rather than a dungeon of chaos.
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.
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