The Furnishing Fix: A Guide to Apartment Furniture

Apartment life is a good life, as there usually is a plethora of great amenities and services at your doorstep, as well as the shared spaces you can enjoy as part of your complex. What can be a challenge is a small space you are working with, and how to fit the furniture of your dreams into those four walls. Today we are going to outline a foolproof guide to furnishing your apartment, and what considerations you need to make to avoid an unbalanced space.

Consider recliner chairs and seating

Furnishing an apartment doesn’t have to be a trade off, it just means that you have to be more selective of the furniture (particularly seating) you choose to introduce. Populating the space with one or two recliner chairs gives you more freedom and space than a couch, even if they are the same collective area space. Additionally, it might not make sense to have a 10-seater dining table in the middle of your apartment with 10 chairs, but it could be an idea to move the table against the wall and have a long bench seat that can tuck under the table when unused.

Know your specifications

You can’t possibly find the right furniture or give into spontaneous decor buys if you do not have the correct specifications on hand to calculate if it will work. You might also want to record the specifications of your existing furniture and even the distance to the door, kitchen and bedroom on your phone so that you never have to make a guess and risk something too big coming home with you. You can store the specifications on your phone or on some paper in your wallet, and you might want to also have some detailed photos on your phone too. This might feel like overkill, but a perfectly curated apartment does happen by accident, it is calculated.

Storage solutions

Modern apartments are now being built with smart storage in mind, but what does that mean for the rest of the apartments on the market that might not be engineered that way? Fortunately storage solutions has been an enormous growth area for furniture makers, made even more famous by shows like Home Edit, Marie Kondo and an endless supply of social media accounts dedicated to this very topic. If you are considering an ottoman - ensure that it doubles as a storage box. Choose a blanket box as a television unit, and look at beds that have drawers underneath. The sky's the limit for smart storage solutions, so start asking a little more from your furniture. Once you get in this mindset, you will start to look for more opportunities in your space.

Put function first

When you live in an apartment, you don’t always have the luxury of creating special spaces that serve other needs outside of your core functions. Instead, you will need to start with your core functions first - bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living. These are the functions your apartment serves and the domains in which you look for apartment furniture. By keeping accountable to these four home zones, you won’t put yourself in a position where you over-extend on the kitchen and shortchange yourself a complete living space. If you are planning a refresh or moving into a new apartment, at every decision ask yourself - what function does this piece of furniture serve?

Moodboarding

Finding and arranging apartment furniture can be such an exciting way to spend a weekend - provided you keep your styling on track and work within the space available. Spend some time assessing your apartment space and thinking about what furniture you need to make this space a home and the right formation to achieve it.