Post # 1
Member
146 posts
Blushing bee
My SO and I are moving into our first apartment within a few weeks and am looking for some decorating ideas for an apartment. Show me what you did to your apartment or condo! Also if you can include what kind of look you were going for, if you live with your SO (because we’re having a hard time finding things that aren’t too girly or too manly LOL), and what part of the country (or different country) you live in! (because I’m curious to see how styles differ in regions!) Pictures would be greatly appreciated!
Post # 3
Member
10366 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
Apartmenttherapy.com is a great website/blog to peruse to get ideas. They have a “small cool” contest every year with different size categories that would probably be really helpful for you! They also regularly have posts on design solutions for renters where you can’t usually change things permanently (everything from how to hide ugly bathroom tiles to change the look of a rental kitchen).
Post # 4
Member
2532 posts
Sugar bee
We decorated with the help of… Ikea.
There was no look we were going for, because right after we moved in our downstairs neighbor put up a fuss and we needed to buy hundreds of dollars worth of area rugs. Ugh.
There were some things I did but it’s all DIY and nothing particularly stunning…
We’re saving major furniture purchases for our someday home! Boring I know, but we’re saving money now.
Post # 5
Member
6355 posts
Bee Keeper
Keep it minimalist at first, and wait for a random fit of inspiration.
This works for me (except it’s harder and harder to keep the clutter down as more stuff accumulates and doesn’t leave as fast as it comes in).
It’s no fun having yet another Pinterest apartment (in my opinion). If you want soemthing that’s really unique, makes you deeply happy, and really reflects you, you have to find it in yourself. But, you also can’t force creativity, and you probably won’t feel super-creative right after the stress of moving in. So just keep it minimalist at first, and patiently wait for the creativity to strike. It will.
And in the meanwhile, I think you’ll find that the minimalist aesthetic itself is a really nice vibe for a living space, too.
Post # 6
Member
9139 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
- Wedding: November 2013 - St. Augustine Beach, FL
@Ittybittymonster: We collected stuff from Ikea and family moves (our family lets us pick over decor they are trying to get rid of before moving.) I supplement it with classics from Walmart and Target like Black or silver picture frames and mirrors along with lots of candles.
Post # 7
Member
3507 posts
Sugar bee
@Ittybittymonster: Here are some photos of our apartment in PA.
Post # 8
Member
146 posts
Blushing bee
Omg! Thanks everyone for your advice! Right now the complex we’ve moved into is really modern looking, so the minimalist look already should look cohesive with the apartment already, I just want something modern but cozy too, because sometimes modern can feel cold and uninviting. We’re definitely hitting up Ikea and my family for furniture advice too!
@eecuadrado: That color scheme is aaaamazing! I love what you did! I don’t think we’ll be able to paint our apartment unfortunately though. 🙁
Post # 9
Member
2780 posts
Sugar bee
@Ittybittymonster: I’d say stick to modern pieces and fun accessories. Like colorful pillows and rugs, those things can be switched out more easily and inexpensively then say…a couch. That’s what we did.
Post # 10
Member
1309 posts
Bumble bee
The look we’re going for is minimal, modern, Scandinavian style. So Ikea is our go-to place for most things. We try to keep the bigger furniture items neutral in colour and then use smaller decorative items to bring in pops of colour.
Family photos also do a lot to make a house cozy.
Post # 11
Member
358 posts
Helper bee
We have very similar styles- we love cool vintage furniture items, world maps, photographs and vintage cameras, cultural items (Buddhist inspired etc) and in generall just things that have a bit of a hippie feel. We thrifted or craigslisted almost all our furniture and everything we needed for cheap. Some of his bachelor posters didn’t make it up, okay all of his maxim posters lol) and I got rid of a few candles and other feminine fluff
Post # 12
Member
1284 posts
Bumble bee
@Ittybittymonster: I get complimented on my apartment all the time! I kind of just went with the classics? Black leather and dark wood furniture. Idk. I do all the decor myself (all the signs and the canvases pictured are my own crafts!)
I’ve since added a new addition to that room (ignore the messy table and bad lighting)
Here’s the sign in better light:
My kitchen is super ugly but not much we can do about it since it’s mostly the counters and the low ceiling and ugly cabinets that are the problems:
Also yes I am a bacon model (no I am not, I was cooking for a champagne brunch we had that day which is also why my kitchen is a total sty in this pic)
And here is the wall above my bed:
Post # 13
Member
3507 posts
Sugar bee
@Ittybittymonster: Thanks doll! And aww that sucks hopefully you can hang stuff on the walls if so let me know I have tons of things you can do you jazz up your place.
Post # 14
Member
146 posts
Blushing bee
Everyone has been SO helpful, this is why I love the bee!!!! This is great! we’ve invested in a new couch/futon (college kid style hey-ooo!) But its really nice (leather and sleek) from craiglist for a killer deal! Right now everything we’ve gotten is black, and I am really needing some color in my life (my SO is being such a boy about it, and is loving that the all black makes it look a little bachelor-y -.- ) we’re (I’m) thinking accent pillows and wall decor for that. Keep the pictures coming bees, the inspiration and ideas are so much fun to look at! 😀
@208bride: Your apartment is so nice! and big! I love your signs, and am a little obsessed with your table!
Post # 15
Member
730 posts
Busy bee
Here’s our old apartment! We’re in a house now, but I loved our apartment. I’d say the look we were going for was “anything we can agree on and afford.” Haha! Our decorating tastes are a lot more similar now, and we’ve been able to purchase some things we really love, but this apartment was a lot of hand-me-downs and IKEA and Overstock.com stuff, and we were constantly disagreeing on things! He loved those fake plants on the entertainment center for some reason (ugh).
The room with the red accent wall was our guest room… we had to paint it and our bedroom back to boring beige when we moved out, but it was really nice to have some color while we were there. My favorite part was the wall of square mirrors in the living room. We bought them in natural wood at IKEA and painted them.
Post # 16
Member
679 posts
Busy bee
@Ittybittymonster:
Nice to know that some other Bees rent as well. It seems that most Bees can afford to buy lovely homes. Our city is too expensive and we are just too poor to become homeowners. 
Our apartment is decorated in browns and beiges. We use all cherry or mahogany wood and our couches are dark brown. I have a mirror and console set in the front hall and our bedroom set is also dark cherry wood. All of the curtains and rods match.
We initially lived in my husband’s one bedroom which was way too small for the two of us and it was in a crummy low rise. The neighbourhood was very racist as well. Glad we don’t live there anymore. It feels more like a home here.
We still have some painting and changing light fixtures to do. A new company has bought our building and they are modernizing the common areas and changing the balconies. It will look like a condo building once they are done. I find the condos far too small in this city; the average two bedroom condo is under 800 sq feet! The best thing about older buildings is the spacious apartments.
