Setting up a studio requires fitting places with different functions into one and the same room. It's not always easy to successfully combine aesthetics and practicality when you only have 20 or 30m2. Fortunately, many space-saving solutions exist.
Setting up a studio: tips and advice
Making a studio cozy and pleasant to live in is often a challenge, but there are many tips that allow you to feel less cramped and optimize the space to create a real welcoming and functional cocoon . Focus on functional furniture, a refined decor and cheat a little to visually enlarge the room.
Arrange a small studio: separate spaces and choose 2-in-1 furniture
When you move into a studio , the challenge is significant: you have to fit all the living spaces into a single room. Kitchen, living room, bedroom, office, dressing room... how can you arrange this small space to fit all these pieces? There is no question of losing a single square centimeter: obviously, the design of the furniture is important but above all, we will focus on the functional side and we will favor 2 in 1 furniture . Little furniture, but only useful: here is the golden rule for arranging your small studio .
To start, you should insulate your kitchen area . Ideally, it should be located as far away from your sleeping area as possible so that you are not bothered by odors or even the noise of the fridge. To easily create a small kitchen separate from the living room, opt for a removable partition such as the canopy with adjustable cylinders which allows you to close a room on a small budget and without work. Very practical, this type of partition can be installed in a snap and does not require drilling.
Sofa bed for sleeping every day
The sleeping area will be an important consideration in the layout of your studio . Several solutions will be available to you and you will have to choose the one that best suits your desires, your habits but also the configuration of your studio .
You can simply opt for a convertible sofa which will allow you to benefit from a fixed sofa during the day and a real living room space. At night, it will transform into a real bed . Practical and simple: in a few seconds, your living room becomes a bedroom and vice versa. However, you will need to carefully check that the place provided for installing your sofa bed is wide and long enough to accommodate the furniture folded as well as unfolded. Nothing is more unpleasant than having to climb over furniture to move around your apartment!
If your studio has an interesting ceiling height, you can choose the mezzanine . Ideal for leaving space on the floor, it is a perfect piece of furniture for small spaces . Under the mezzanine, you can install an office area or a sofa for a lounge area. This solution is, however, not recommended for ceilings that are too low: this installation could risk shrinking the space and making the room stuffy.
Finally, the foldaway bed is a very popular space-saving option. It can take the form of a desk or a sofa during the day and become a real bedroom at night.
In general, let yourself be tempted by versatile furniture to save space . You will appreciate the extendable consoles which can be transformed into a dining table, the wall shelf which can be folded against the wall, the coffee table trunk which offers ample storage space or even the foldable furniture (chairs, stools, etc.) . Divide the different spaces without overwhelming the room thanks to a low sideboard, a bottomless bookcase or a transparent curtain.
How to arrange a studio: storage and decoration
Creating a functional and stylish space is possible. It's not because you want to optimize a small surface area that you won't be able to enjoy yourself in terms of decoration, on the contrary! On the other hand, the lack of space will force you to limit yourself in your desires and not all decorative ideas will be good to apply.
To avoid cluttering the room , you will therefore avoid accumulating decorative objects and displaying them on your shelves, on your bookcase or on your sideboard. The watchword for a studio: é-pu-ré ! You absolutely must let the space breathe so as not to feel suffocated and not to create a feeling of disorder.
Also, you understand the importance of storage to leave a clean and orderly space. Preferably, your storage will be hidden in the walls through built-in cupboards, but also under the bed or sofa thanks to large drawers. Choose furniture that closes to store your belongings discreetly.
If your studio is attic or has crooked corners, take advantage of this space to create custom storage . Many brands offer modular storage systems that will allow you to choose different dimensions and different shapes of boxes to create a personalized shelf or bookcase.
Penelope Dining Bed Wardrobe
In terms of decoration, opt for light colors . White enlarges the space and has the advantage of being extremely calming when darker colors can be stifling and anxiety-inducing in a small room. For touches of color and fantasy, treat yourself with pretty cushions, curtains, throws or a pretty rug.
However, try to maintain a certain harmony of styles and colors when choosing your furniture, in order to create a coherent living room. Painting walls in warm or bright variations is a big trend but it is not recommended for studios because strong colors shrink the space . So choose white walls, which you can decorate with a few frames or paintings, without overloading them too much.
Arrange your studio: give the impression of space
Once you have carefully chosen your furniture and arranged your little cocoon, you can always come up with tips to visually give the impression of space . The great classic: playing with mirrors . You can place them on doors, on cupboards or even above your kitchen.
The mirror is ideal for extending the space and giving a feeling of grandeur but depending on the style chosen, it will also represent an excellent decorative element. Be careful, however, to place mirrors only in strategic locations: the primary purpose of a mirror being to reflect, if you install it above a cluttered or disordered area, it will reflect clutter and produce the opposite effect. the one sought.
To make a studio uncluttered , it is appropriate to hide all the elements that are not very aesthetic. So, the appliances in your kitchen can quickly become clutter: if you can, hide all your equipment in a cupboard or behind a partition. The same goes for your bathroom. Often very small in a studio, it can quickly find itself cluttered with a multitude of products. Choose pretty decorative boxes to store your belongings and avoid leaving bottles lying around on the edge of the shower or on the sink, it is visually not very aesthetic.
Do you want to add a decorative touch to your apartment to personalize it and really feel at home? Fall for a few green plants to energize the space and bring life and treat yourself with pretty lighting. Light is extremely important for opening up a room and providing a feeling of space : you can therefore decorate your studio with pretty bedside lamps and a designer floor lamp to create different light sources.
Equip a studio on a small budget
Setting up a small studio when you have a limited budget can quickly become a real obstacle course. The sleeping area represents the most important corner of your apartment: good sleep is essential to be in good shape throughout the day.
For this reason, it is advisable not to neglect the choice of your bed and to devote the majority of your budget to it. For all other furniture, you can always find other solutions . Indeed, for your table, your chair, your desk or even your shelves, you can save money by opting for recycling: flea market, garage sale, online site...
The big decor trend of the moment is " Do It Yourself " which consists of recycling old furniture to give it a second life or creating furniture easily with, for example, a few wooden pallets. Many blogs dedicated to DIY will represent real sources of inspiration for you and will give you ideas for furnishing your studio at low prices.
