Apartment living, whether by choice or necessity, certainly comes with its own set of opportunities and challenges. One of the most challenging aspects of apartment living is in trying to make your apartment feel more homey. When your front yard is, literally, a parking lot, and you can hear your neighbor snoring through paper-thin walls, it’s not the easiest thing to accomplish. However, there are changes you can make to your space to help it feel more like the home of your dreams. When you’re done, you’ll prove that home is where the style, not just the heart, is.

Make It Personal

One of the most important ways you can transform a house, or in this case an apartment, into a home, is to fill it with pictures of those you love. If your landlord will allow you to hang pictures, arrange them in unique designs, using varying styles and shapes of frames. Even if you can’t hang pictures, it’s still important to have them displayed on various pieces of furniture throughout your apartment, to keep those you hold most dear always on the top of your mind. Without pictures, any space, no matter how comfortable, will still feel cold and sterile.

Make It Unique

Along with including intimately personal touches in your apartment decor, it’s also helpful to customize your space as much as your landlord allows. If you can paint the walls, don’t leave a wall unpainted. If you are lucky enough to be able to change fixtures, change out standard builder-grade faucets for beautiful, high-end models. Finally, if you are lucky enough to be able to change your cabinets, update the look of your kitchen cabinets by painting the doors, or spruce up your bathroom with the use of custom bathroom vanities. Granted, not many landlords will give you that much freedom, but if they do, take full advantage of it to make the space your own, especially if you plan on sticking around a while.

Make It Inviting

Better than having pictures of the people you care about the most is having the people themselves inhabiting your apartment. Make your space a warm and inviting one by having comfy couches, soft rugs, and laid-back furniture that’s suitable for everyday use. By incorporating these elements, you will ensure your guests feel comfortable while they visit, and leave them wanting to visit you again. An apartment filled with friends and family will quickly feel like the home of your dreams, no matter what the challenges of your particular complex might be.

Make It Livable

Unless you’re living in a penthouse apartment, you’re probably dealing with limited space. Excessive furniture and clutter can quickly overwhelm an apartment, and make it feel more like a boxy prison than a comfortable retreat. By utilizing clever storage techniques, and minimizing your personal possessions as much as you’re comfortable with, you’ll end up with a spacious, livable area that makes you want to live your life within its walls.

Make It Relaxing

Along the same lines of making your apartment livable for your everyday life, you want to make sure that your apartment is a relaxing oasis that allows you to release the stresses of the life you live outside its walls. Though your bedroom might be a convenient place to store your bicycle or set up your home office, try to keep it reserved exclusively for relaxing and sleeping.

In the same vein, while your kitchen counters might make a great holder for all your important paperwork, utilize a filing system instead so that you’re able to use your kitchen to create gourmet masterpieces instead of fast food fiascos. A home is our safe space, our retreat from the world and all its problems. If you don’t work to keep it set apart and relaxing, though, you’ll end up with just as much stress and worry when you come home as when you’re out and about.

Outside the Apartment Box(iness)

An apartment can be pretty utilitarian if you allow it to be. After all, most apartments are designed with the simple intention of safely and comfortably housing as many people as possible so the landlord can earn as much money while having as little expense as possible. The amount of enjoyment you get out of your space, though, is directly connected to the amount of effort you put toward making it into a space that is uniquely yours, a welcoming space where you can enjoy your life and share that life with others.