Moving into your new apartment is a significant milestone in life and, as such, comes with plenty of excitement. Finally moving out of your parents home will feel liberating, but also mean that you’re finally independent enough to take care of yourself, pay the bills, and run a household. However, before you feel at home, you’ll need to make some arrangements and adjustments to your new apartment. Whether you’re moving into a place that you’ve bought or one that you’re renting, a little bit of touch up will be in order before it will feel like your own. 

Clear out the clutter

First and foremost, there must not be any clutter anywhere. Moving comes with a myriad of boxes, bags, and a variety of storage items, that you’ll be carrying with you when you move in. Only after you’ve gotten rid of all those piled-up boxes will you be able to feel like you’re in your home. Clutter is not only unsightly, but it also creates a very unpleasant ambience making you feel like you’re living in a storage room rather than in an apartment. So, once you’re done unloading all the boxes and moving all the furniture where it belongs, throw the boxes in the storage room and slowly unpack the contents day by day, without having them in plain sight.

Invest in real furniture

Having hand-me-down chairs and tables for a week or so is manageable until you’re unpacked and semi-settled in. But after you’ve unloaded the boxes and all of your stuff, you need to start looking for real furniture. Sofas, armchair, a coffee table, and a real bed will be of great necessity if you want to make your apartment feel like home. You don’t have to shop for a full set of living room furniture at once. But the more pieces you can get, the better. 

Introduce your favourite colours

If you’re renting an apartment and your landlord allows you to paint the walls, do so with your favourite colour. Adding personal touches will make you feel at home, and there’s no better way to personalize your space than with colour. Make sure you choose ones that won’t clash with your furniture, by picking a colour scheme that best reflects your character. Wall decals and removable wallpapers can be a fabulous alternative if you’re not allowed to paint the walls. You should feel like you’ve been living in that apartment for years the minute you enter the room. 

Fill the place with your signature scents

Scents are very powerful, allowing us to go back in time in our minds instantly after smelling a familiar note. They may seem small and insignificant and because of that, scents are an easily overlooked change that can make a lot of difference in your apartment. Have you noticed how the second you enter your grandma’s house it makes you feel like you’re three years old again? That’s precisely the effect you want to achieve in your home. Make it smell familiar and inviting. Whether you decide to bring in a variety of flowers, or you want to have a diffuser with your favourite scents, as long as the aromas are pleasant and inviting, you’re going to feel like you’ve been living in that apartment for as long as you can remember. Scented candles, essential oils and air fresheners will all do the trick, as long as you have them in every room to create cohesiveness in your new apartment. 

Customize every area

Adding personal touches is crucial when you want to make a new apartment feel like home. That’s why you should customize every area of your living space. Hang your family photos on the walls, and display picture frames on the shelves and the tv stand. If you’ve brought all those souvenirs from various trips with you, find a place to exhibit them too. Don’t forget about your favourite mirror and all those retro posters you kept in your room. Invest in a durable outdoor mat and put it in front of the outside door to let everyone know that’s where you live. Do you have a favourite apron or a mug? Display them in the kitchen together with your family heirloom and signature kitchenware in recognizable colours.

Add curtains

Curtains add character to a room, so make sure yours makes a statement. If you’ve chosen a neutral colour palette for the room, you should consider curtains in a statement colour to add contrast to the entire colour scheme. To make the room visually bigger, consider adding floor-to-ceiling curtains. Not only will they make the room look bigger, but they’ll add style to the room too. Another benefit of having curtains is that they’ll tie the entire décor together and make the interior feel done. With curtains, you’ll feel like your decorating is complete and that you’re ready for your new independent life.

Bring in flowers and plants

Nothing makes the room look more like home than flowers. Remember how much your mum cared about her plants in the garden, and those standing on the window sill or in the corners of the rooms? Watering the plants regularly will give you a sense of home because you’ll have something to look after and come home to. Besides, with a vase of fresh flowers, the room will shine brightly and add freshness to your décor. Make sure you invest in a vase that will fit in so that the whole interior design looks well connected.

Make it cosy

When we say cosy, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Is it you wrapped in a warm fluffy blanket with a cup of cocoa in your hands? Or is it you snuggling on a sofa with your favourite plush throw pillows and a fireplace on? Whichever image came to mind, that’s what you need to add to your interior to make it feel cosy. Only after you feel comfortable and cosy enough, will you feel like you’re finally home. So, from fluffy blankets to colourful soft accent pillows and warm area rugs on the floor — there’s a full spectrum of items just waiting for you to pick them up and warm up your new apartment. 

Decorate walls

Walls add to your apartment’s character incredibly much. Therefore, think of several creative ways in which you can make your apartment look and feel more like home. Do you like paintings and random street art that you can frame and display on your walls? If that’s what feels like home to you, do it. Maybe you want to create a focal point with a dark coloured wall and a gold statement mirror in the middle. How about hanging a tv on the wall, and surrounding it with a myriad of your favourite photographs and paintings? These are just some of the ideas that can make any apartment look and feel like home. 

Final thoughts

Making an apartment feel like home will not happen overnight. However, there’s plenty you can do to make your new place feel familiar, inviting, and cosy enough to resemble a home. After several months of settling in and bringing in furniture, you won’t even notice the moment that your new place started to feel like home. Make sure you fill it in with familiar objects, scents and colours little by little and before you know it, you’ll feel like that’s exactly where you’ve spent all the previous years of your life.