Small Apartment, Big Personality: How to Make a Rental Space Feel Like YOUR Home
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What if I told you that your apartment could feel like a true home and actually tell your personal story—without you having to say a word?
For me personally, as an introvert, I use my personal style to communicate things about myself. So even when I'm quiet, my style has plenty to say.
Ultimately, this makes it so that my apartment feels more like a home that I own, even though I'm technically renting.
And treating your interior decor as your autobiography—an expression of who you are, where you've been, who you dream yourself to be—is a beautiful way to create that sense of ownership and belonging.
In this post, I'm giving you some apartment decorating ideas on how you can make your space feel personal to you and your unique story, so that your apartment can feel like the home you deserve!
And we're actually going to get truly personal here, because I asked you guys in a YouTube community post recently, "What are some things that you love?" And I'll be using the things you responded with as examples to show you that you can find a cute piece of decor for pretty much any interest.
So if you’ve been yearning to make your apartment feel like your own personal oasis that actually feels like YOU, here are my interior styling tips to personalize your space while keeping things pretty!
Would you rather watch than read? Here’s the video! ↓
Simply put, this is all about thinking about your interior styling as telling a story—specifically, your story. And in the story of your styling, you're the main character—decorate like it!
In your apartment, you're Frodo. You're Luke Skywalker. You're Buffy.
Decorating is one area where main character syndrome is actually a good thing! This is your chance to be self-absorbed, especially if you live alone. If you do live with someone, then there has to be two main characters in this story, which can be messy—trust me, I know. But I digress. 😉
As the main character (or one of the main characters) in your apartment, you are a fully developed and complex being that propels a story forward—in this case, a visual story. Who are you? What do you love? What are your hobbies? What have you experienced in life? And how can you translate those things about you into your space?
For example, some of the TV shows, movies, and books you guys love are The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Penny Dreadful, and Firefly. And these are some of the decor pieces I found that represent those fandoms:
See how these are actually pretty cute and stylish? That's really the trick here—to incorporate your interests in a stylish way.
Of course, style is subjective, but I recommend challenging yourself to find items that check both boxes of personality and style. This is how you can make your space your own while also keeping things aesthetically pleasing. The balance between the two is the sweet spot!
We want to go for stylish, creative, clever, and/or more thoughtful interpretations of the things you love, rather than tacky, plasticky, thumbtack-to-the-wall type stuff, you know?
Take these Star Wars glasses, for example. From far away, they just look like glasses with a cool geometric pattern and a little bit of a pretty sparkle. It's not until you really look that you realize they're even Star Wars designs, which creates a fun surprise-and-delight moment. Finding subtle, clever ways like this to incorporate the things you love is just kind of delightful—like you have a little secret with yourself until, say, one of your guests realizes they're drinking from a Star Wars glass, and it becomes a conversation starter!
Same thing with this Harry Potter jewelry box. At first glance, it just looks like a pretty jewelry box, but if you really look, you realize it's a piece of the Hogwarts Castle.
And then this candle is another example of a more subtle option. From far away, it looks like a nice candle. Up close, you realize there's an Elvish inscription on it—perfect for Lord of the Rings fans.
On the other hand, you can get more obvious with your personality decor pieces. Your fandom decor doesn't always have to be a cute little secret with yourself.
These Penny Dreadful and Firefly art pieces, as well as this Pride and Prejudice blanket, are definitely more obvious because they literally depict the things they're representing. They’re more straightforward, rather than abstract. Yet, if you picture them in a room, they'd still look stylish. They would add to the style of a room rather than detract from it. It's about finding elevated, visually interesting depictions of our fandoms.
Same thing with the music you guys are into. According to your responses to my YouTube Community post, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, The Doors, and Chopin were some of your favorites!
Music is probably the most forgiving when it comes to keeping things stylish while conveying fandom, because you really can't go wrong with a framed poster of a musician—that almost always looks good. Especially Janis Joplin posters. There are so many out there of her, and they all look cool.
But you can also try to find a different take on combining music with decor, like Beatles lyrics printed on a candle or a Doors record reshaped into a bowl. And sometimes, artists find interesting ways to incorporate music into their art, like this piece with Chopin sheet music integrated in an abstract art context.
These are ways of taking the fandom thing and reshaping it into something else, therefore making it feel less on-the-nose and straightforward, and instead more creative and elegant.
So basically, think about what you—the main character of your own story—love. How can you represent those things in stylish ways through your decor? These are the things to consider when you're decorating your space like a main character!
And as you're styling the story of your space, another thing to consider is genre. What kind of visual story do you, the main character, want to exist in?
Maybe you want to exist in a dramatic period piece full of vintage finds? Or a rom-com with a bunch of soft, feminine touches? Or maybe a gothic vampire story with dark, moody vibes?
In practical terms, we can simply think of this as establishing what interior style you’re going for.
Minimalism, for example, can tell a tranquil, feel-good story for a main character who wants to find serenity amidst the chaos of everyday life.
Dark academia can be a dark romance set in the halls of a 19th-century library for a main character who loves reading and uncovering mysteries using their sharp intellect.
Whimsigoth can tell a dark fairy tale for a main character who fantasizes about living a life of peaceful solitude as a swamp witch in an enchanted forest among the fairies and the frogs.
So, what overall aesthetic and atmosphere do you want to exist in?
Let's go with the Whimsigoth example. Certain personality decor pieces simply make sense within the genre of Whimsigoth. For example, one of you likes dragons. So here are some cute pieces of dragon decor that would be well-suited for the genre of Whimsigoth in particular:
Now, I'm not saying the overall interior style you're going for has to match your personality pieces. You could totally do dragons in a mid-century modern space if you wanted to. I'm saying you can allow these things to influence each other and help you carry out the vision you have for a room!
And then, one of you is into anatomy—which is a fun little challenge to find cute decor for, haha. But leave it to me—of course I found some cute anatomy-oriented decor pieces:
Going back to the dark academia example, don’t you think these anatomy-themed pieces would go well with the genre of dark academia? They would complement the style and help bolster it, while also conveying something you're into.
One of you is into board games, and here are some stylish ways to represent that interest in a room:
Something playful like this could be a great way to add some fun to a genre like minimalism—which, while beautiful when done well, is a style that can feel a bit sterile or boring if not done well. So adding some fun-spirited pieces like these can be a way to add personality to a minimalist room.
Then, one of you likes octopi, which would be another way to inject some playfulness into a room.
So you can use your personality pieces not just to enhance the good things about certain style genres, but also to combat their potential pitfalls.
Do you see how you can use the things you love—as the main character in your space—in harmony with the interior style genres you're going for? The two can inform each other, dance with each other, and help propel you through your interior styling choices, ultimately getting you to a place where your apartment not only looks stylish but also feels like you.
So those were my thoughts on the concept of decor as autobiography!
Trust me, if you are a fan of something, you can probably find a cute piece of decor that represents it.
And if you want to see some really good examples of people conveying their personalities through their decor, watch this video of mine next! It’s specifically about maximalism, but whether you're a maximalist or not, the Instagram accounts I feature in it are such perfect examples of people stylishly conveying the things they love through their decor. So give it a watch for more inspiration!
