Safeload Coverage
Living in a new, shared space with roommates can be an exciting time in your life. This exciting chapter also brings about opportunities. One opportunity is to decorate your apartment. Apartment decorations allow your personality to shine in your living space.
The challenge is learning how to decorate with your roommates. You’ll need to learn how to compromise with decorating shared spaces in your home with your roommates. You’ll need to create a space that blends varied tastes and styles while still looking unified. This Moving Help® guide will give you tips on how to infuse different styles, costs, and functionality.
Discovering Common Ground in Roommate Decorations
The first task is to communicate with your roommate. Clear communication goes a long way. You should never start decorating shared spaces without their consent because that’s rude.
Vision Board: Styles and Preferences
The first thing you’ll want to discuss about apartment decorations is each other’s styles and preferences. It’s important to know whether you have the same or different tastes. You also might have roommates who are super passionate or could care less about apartment decorations.
A good place to start is to create a vision board together. You can use Pinterest, TikTok, magazines, Instagram, or blogs for inspiration.
You should figure out all the shared spaces you want to decorate together. Some roommates might not care about every single shared space.
With a vision board, you can figure out how to mesh your styles and preferences together. This means you can compromise on color schemes and themes. Some roommates might prefer vibrant hues or neutral colors while you might prefer accent-colored walls.
This vision board approach allows you to work on your individual personalities while maintaining a shared look with your roommates.
Budget-Friendly Roommate Decor Ideas
The next step is to figure out your budget. You might have a huge roommates decor budget, but your other roommates might have a small budget for roommate decorations.
For some decor projects, it might be helpful to share costs. For other projects, it might be helpful to pay your own way if you want to buy something specifically for your apartment.
Thrift Store Finds
You don’t have to go to expensive high-end stores to find nice, decorative pieces that fit your new home. Thrift stores and antique stores can be the perfect treasure spot for you.
You can find unique, vintage, and quirky items from there that’ll fit your space nicely.
Even a little bit of DIY-ing a vintage item can help elevate it, which will then fit into your apartment.
Sharing Expenses
It’s smart and economical to share expenses when it comes to decorating your apartment. Larger pieces can be easier to purchase when you share the costs.
Of course, if you and your roommates love a picture frame, but your roommates don’t want to pay the amount for the frame, you can purchase it yourself — just let your roommates know. This also works vice versa with your roommates.
Utilize Existing Furniture
Don’t knock on your existing furniture. If you and your roommate have previous furniture, you might not have to buy new apartment decorations.
You can mix and match your furniture. For example, maybe you keep your couch, but you use your roommate’s living room pillows as accent pieces for your couch. Refreshing your apartment doesn’t mean buying new things, and you can save money this way as well.
Personal Touches in Shared Spaces
It’s important to balance your personal touches in your shared space. Picture frames, coasters, mugs, and plates are a great way to let your unique personality and style come through that also isn’t overwhelming to your other roommates.
You and your roommates should discuss where specific personal items can go in different designated spaces. Maybe your roommate can place bookcase in the living room while you use some shelving in the dining room.
To help create a unified look, you should choose a common theme or a common color palette. That way, the room will come together looking like one piece.
Collaborative Strategies for Roommate Decor
Effective apartment decorations with roommates require effective communication and collaboration. To solve the question of, “How to decorate with roommates?,” you must first discuss it with your roommates.
You should make sure everyone’s voice is heard by discussing:
- Personal preferences
- Themes and color palettes
- Budget
- Defined shared spaces
This will help everyone understand what’s happening, which will ultimately lead to an apartment feeling like home for everyone — whether it’s your first apartment or not.
If you need help loading or unloading your belongings to your new apartment, or you need help rearranging your furniture while you use your roommate’s decor, Moving Help is here to assist you. Our local, labor-only movers know how to get the job done safely and efficiently.
