First Apartment Decorating Strategy: Take Your Time

Have you ever heard the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? The same thing goes for your apartment. Instead of rushing through the process, take a different decorating strategy and take your time filling your apartment and making it your own. There are pros and cons of choosing a decorating strategy, depending on your needs and your goals for your first apartment. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to find all of the perfect pieces right away, read this!

Why not decorate all at once?

• It’s expensive. Purchasing multiple items of furniture, plus bedding and linens, plus other decor adds up very quickly, even when you shop at discount stores or take hand-me-downs.
• It’s tricky. Logistically, moving all new items into your apartment at one time is difficult. Without time in your new apartment, you can’t have a true idea of where you’d like furniture and decor to go, plus you’ll have too many deliveries to coordinate between furniture arrival times and movers.
• It adds pressure. Moving is already stressful enough! Why spend precious time stressing about finding the perfect nightstand or coffee table when you should be packing to move or saving money for the move?! Be thoughtful and only purchase the new things you need immediately.
• It’s hard! Trying to find coordinating, beautiful pieces of furniture, art, and decor at one time can be time consuming and feet like drudgery instead of a fun experience.

Why take your time?

• More options. Instead of buying everything at once, you can buy things slowly over time and look for bargains. Plus, if you go into your move knowing that you aren’t buying a new version of everything, you’ll be more likely to upcycle free furniture or items you already have. After you invest time in any free or cheap furniture to make it your own, you’ll love it even more!
• You gain time to plan. If you plan to do all of your decorating at once, you’ll find that you’ll miss out on small things that you’d end up really needing. Perhaps during the original walk-through, you didn’t think a small hutch could fit in your entry space. If you spend all your cash on other pieces, you won’t have anything left to buy pieces that truly fit in the space.
• Easier to avoid costly mistakes. Take your time, and you’ll avoid the most common first apartment furnishing mistakes. Your apartment will thank you and so will your bank account!
• You’ll love your space! Taking your time decorating you space gives you the chance to select only items you really love and that make you happy, instead of filling it with items you bought in a rush. Plus, decorating over time gives you the flexibility to purchase furniture or pieces on a spur of the moment when you find something that you really, truly love at a local store.