How to design in style for a rental apartment

January 31, 2025 Janet Lorusso

Designing in a rental apartment is a slightly different animal than designing a house you own. Apartments have some advantages - for one thing, maintenance and repairs are someone else’s problem.

But they also have some disadvantages - they usually mean you are stuck with whatever choices the builder made, and generally those are pretty bland…if you are lucky!

One of my son’s longtime friends just moved back to the area and rented an apartment. It’s a nice one bedroom unit in a multi-story building and has a generous living space.

My son helped him move in and went back to visit recently to discover he still wasn’t exactly ‘settled in’.

My insistence on avoiding the overhead lights and using lamps in their college dorm room years ago had converted my son and pretty much all his friends to the importance of creating a pleasant environment and they all still refer to fluorescent lighting as “the spawn of Satan” the same way that I do, which I find hilarious. I have great hope for the next generation…

Back to the apartment in question. He had a smattering of IKEA furniture from a previous apartment across the country and had purchased the essentials…an 8’ sofa and a gigantic TV (insert eye roll), but little else.

Since he has a genuine interest in making it feel more pulled together and homey, My son took a video of the main living space to share with me, confident I could help him know what would work.

The first step in ANY design is a space plan.

He texted me the real estate plan with it’s sketchy measurements and I made some guesstimates based on the video and the plan and knowing the size of the TV and the sofa.

The plan also does not reflect the enclosed kitchen which has walls and a doorway from the dining area, and is not just open to the great room. Here are a couple of stills from the video;

Things to consider

He has a great many unpacked books, so storage for those would be important, as well as TV gathering space that works for relaxing, TV, and game nights. A flexible dining area is also needed as there is no place to eat in the kitchen. .

When the main entrance opens directly into a living space like it does here, it is always nice, if possible, to carve out a little entry space to create a foyer-like transition.

The end of the room contains a sliding glass door which opens to a small patio according to the realtor plan. So we need to leave enough space to access that. I’m still not sure which side it opens from so we can tweak the arrangement accordingly.

Creating zones

Defining zones for different activities in a great room space is important and one of the ways to help do that, is with area rugs. Another tool is furniture dividers…these might be console tables backed up to a floating sofa, or bookcases or a screen to form a wall partition.

For this space we’ve allocated the end by the kitchen to double as an office/library and dining area marked by a bookcase wall and an area rug.

A second zone is the entertainment/living space defined by upholstered seating, the TV and an area rug.

And the third zone is a small entrance, set apart with a folding screen and entry table or chest - the perfect place to drop you keys and mail as you come home.

My first draft was this one - a 7’ x 9’ dining rug, the table I thought was square from the quick video, and a 9 x 12 rug for the living area.

You MUST actually measure the space before any purchasing - real estate plans are notoriously off - sometimes by feet and not just inches.

I had him do some key measurement for me and discovered a 2’ discrepancy in the length of the room and a few inches in the width. The basic plan still worked, but the larger rug size needed to change so it would not be half way into an opening creating an awkward half-on-half-off-the-rug walking path.

I also learned I had guessed the dimensions of the coffee table and sofa correctly, but the dining table was actually a small rectangle - even better for a desk/dining dual purpose piece, though a bit small if you actually want more than one other dining guest.

Here is the corrected layout and an alternative with the whole LR flipped so the TV is not the first thing you see. I’m guessing he’ll prefer first way since that is where the TV is currently.

Here is the updated plan with furniture and rugs sized for the selections below.

Colors and finishes

For the case goods, we’ve gone with white and bleached oak furnishings with some black accents (because every room needs a touch of black!)

If possible, I would also paint the back walls of the white bookcase units in one of the medium blue shades.

Blue is the accent color with a bit of aqua and teal. The most important piece to anchor the space, color-wise, is the LR rug and I’ve selected a modern graphic rug with a variety of shades of blue and a touch of aqua in it alongside some neutrals that look to be close to the wall and sofa colors.

A contemporary organic patterned blue/teal rug in the quite-hard-to-find right size anchors the dining area.

I’ve selected some large format generic art for over the sofa, but art is very personal and very important.

The wall to the right of the kitchen is one of the first things you see on entering the apartment and this wall should have either a large vertical piece or 2 or 3 stacked pieces. I’d encourage him to use either blown up photos or art with some personal meaning here.

Throws and pillows on the soft seating alongside a garden stool and a new swivel chair will also repeat the accent colors. Throw pillow covers should always be filled with feather/down fillers that are at least 2” larger than the cover size for nice plump pillows.

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Furnishings

For seating, I’ve added a small swivel chair and a pair of ottomans to facilitate game night and TV watching with friends. He owns black dining chairs already and they’ll do for the moment, but eventually I’d replace them with softer upholstered blue ones.

For something like a swivel chair, I’d recommend going with a better quality. This one is from Circle Furniture and there are a ton of fabrics to choose from if you order at the store. I’d go with a texture that has the same blue as the rug. Pro tip: order the rug first and then check the colors of other fabrics under consideration with it to make sure they don’t clash.

My biggest takeaway from the video was that the current TV cabinet is waaaaay too small for the gigantic TV. The furniture should be at least as wide as or wider than the TV - otherwise it’s giving clown car vibes. I’ve selected a piece that works (it’s actually 3 units pushed together), but he could also buy a second one of the one he has and push them together.

I’ve included a link to a faux tree because every room should have something organic and if you can’t keep a real tree alive and looking good, faux is a reasonable alternative.

Tables include an entry table with storage drawers - great to stash sunglasses or gloves near the door, a skinny console table behind the sofa - this one has outlets in it which is super useful for recharging electronics, a round table between the sofa and chair, and a ceramic garden stool that can double as a seat or a side table for the swivel chair. Garden stools are super versatile and add some color.

Lighting

Currently, there is a combo fan/light fixture over the dining area. If he’s going to stay here long term, I’d probably swap that out for a hanging lantern or drum fixture and stash the fan in storage to reinstall when he moves.

I’ve also designated several locations for table and/or floor lamps in the living area, but I haven’t selected any fixtures for those yet until I see what furniture ends up where.

Can’t wait to see this all put together!