Avoid Apartment Fever

"DSC08785-Yoga Time" by Gary is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Whether or not we have winter weather, spending too much time in your apartment around your roommate or significant other can make you go a little crazy. So while you may not literally be snowed into your apartment, you can still get “apartment fever.” How can you create little spaces for yourself or times for yourself to take at least a mental break? Apartment Therapy offers these tips for when you need some alone time.

Stagger when you're home

Even crazy-in-love couples may need a few minutes (or hours) apart every day and it's okay to talk about it. Try staggering your schedules to carve out some time when each of you gets to be alone in your apartment. Maybe your mate goes to the gym before work but he could switch to after work to give you a free hour at night. Maybe you can start going into the office early instead of getting a head start at home. There are always little tweaks that can give you some alone time.

Create a physical barrier

Just because you're both home doesn't mean you have to be interacting. It's totally acceptable to close a door, close a curtain or unfurl a screen to give yourself the illusion that you're alone while you think, meditate or just chill.

Create a mental barrier

If you really are squished in and need a minute to reflect, something as simple as putting on headphones with your favorite music may be enough to give you a little mental break. Or simply say to your partner that you need some quiet time sans interruptions and go sit in your favorite chair with your nose buried in a book. Works every time.

What tips do you have for keeping your sanity in a tiny apartment?

Budget-Friendly Art

"DIY Animal Silhouette Art" by Emily May is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Artwork is a great way to put a finishing touch on a room’s decor, but filling your apartment with art can quickly get expensive and not all of us have an inner Picasso. However, there are plenty of options for affordable artwork, besides flea markets and thrift stores. Style at Home has these suggestions:

1 Get 'em while they're young

The most affordable artwork comes from emerging artists, often for three figures or less. If you want your collection to include "name”"artists, expect to pay more -- a lot more -- due to supply and demand, and because costs must recoup expenses like a dealer’s cut, studio maintenance, assistant salaries etc.

If you're keen to buy art you love, which is the approach you should take because your chances of making a future killing on "investment" pieces aren’t great, truth be told, browse the local gallery circuit to see what’s on display at the independent galleries.

Check the websites of galleries in your city and subscribe to their e-newsletters so you’ll know whenever a group show is coming up. Bring your cash or checkbook and strike if you see something you love: it may go fast.

2 Buy art books

Art books are another option. If you love browsing, keep your books in an accessible spot on the coffee table. Or if you're not averse to a bit of slicing, cut out a page and frame it so you can enjoy it all the time. Carte Blanche, V.2: Painting came out in 2008 and features a juried selection of work from Canada’s top emerging, mid-career and established painters. (Volume 1 focuses on photographers.)

3 Turn your vacation shots into wall art

Print your digital vacation snapshots onto photo transfer paper and transfer them onto a canvas. Mount the canvases onto the wall, unframed.

4 Enlist the kids

Frame your kids' paintings. Or give them a canvas or board and glue gun (if they're old enough), and let them go nuts on a mixed media project. Who knows, maybe Jr.'s the next Marla Olmstead, a child prodigy artist featured in the doc My Kid Could Paint That. Olmstead's abstract canvases, compared by The New York Times and BBC to Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky, have sold for thousands of dollars!

5 Skip the canvas and button up

Toronto's Gallery TPW offers a set of 10 buttons featuring the photo-, text- or found-art based designs of 10 up-and-coming artists in Button Glutton 2006. Mount them inside a shadow box, or take a more creative approach by pinning them onto cushions or upholstery. The cost? A mere $50 plus $5 shipping.

6 Make like Andy Warhol

The Pop Art provocateur was right: commercial packaging design can be beautiful. The next time you find yourself admiring some packaging, mount it. Or take a cool can (Chinese water chestnuts, Italian pasta sauce, artisanal coffee) and use it as a cool, recycled flower pot.

7 Buy student work

Many art and design colleges and universities have end-of-the-year studio sales. They're a great way to pick up paintings, prints, mixed-media and textile pieces from the next generation of emerging artists at cut-rate prices. Search your local institution’s website for details.

8 Frame your old LPs

CDs and digital music files are convenient. But the golden age of album-cover art definitely was during vinyl’s heyday. (This may be one of the reasons why vinyl's currently undergoing a resurgence among music fans these days.) Got some great album covers kicking around? Display them in custom frames.

9 Rent before you buy

Ultimately, the best way to support living artists is to buy their work. But if you're not sure you can live with an expenditure in the up-to thousands of dollars, consider "testing" the goods by renting them first. The Art Gallery of Ontario, for instance, rents pieces for as little as $20/month. A portion of rent can usually be applied towards the purchase of a piece if you realize you can't live without it. And if you're commitment-phobic, renting lets you enjoy art while supporting your local gallery.

10 Give some, get some

And now for something a bit different: If you're thinking now's the time to bust some taboos or confront your body-image issues, consider signing up to be a nude figure model. (Journalist Emily Yoffe of Slate.com did it to humourous effect here). For safety's sake, only work in a studio setting at an established art college or school. See a sketch of yourself that you like? Speak up: chances are you can either buy it cheap or get it for free from the student artist. Bonus: getting paid to hold those poses!

Tiny Decor Updates

"MINT GREEN COLORBLOCK CHEVRON Throw Pillow by nataliesales | Society6" by Wicker Paradise
is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

After the holidays can be a very “blah” time of the year. Chances are you’re itching to be outdoors more, you’re working full work weeks again and, overall, you’re bored. Take this time to make some decor updates to your apartment! No matter what your expendable income is, you can update each room in your apartment for less than $50. Apartment Guide offers these suggestions for each room:

The Living Room

Dress up your windows: Bright curtains can liven up a space in no time, and they don’t have to cost a lot of money either. Look online or at discount department stores for some pretty patterned curtains that will jazz up the windows and add some color to the white walls.

Switch out your throw pillows: A couple of throw pillows won’t break the bank, and your plain couch will look super spiffy. Make the room look even more put together by matching the colors in your pillows to those in your curtains.

Prettify your coffee table: Use a pretty tray to keep your coffee table organized and stylish. Place some magazines or a coffee table book on the tray next to a small vase or scented candle.

The Bedroom

Change your lamp shades: New lamp shades can completely alter the look of a room in an instant. Not only will they add a new style to your bedside tables, but they can also change the quality of light in the room – use them to make the bright light in your bedroom a little softer.

Stack some baskets: Tackle clutter and add some decor at the same time by picking up a couple of stackable baskets to keep in one corner of the room. Throw in some blankets or clothes you don’t wear often, or anything cluttering up your shelves.

Make your own headboard: A quick search on Pinterest will show you just how many DIY headboard ideas there are out there, and some of them can be created pretty cheaply. Even simply hanging a curtain on the wall at the head of your bed can pull the room together.

The Kitchen

Change the hardware: As long as your landlord gives the OK, a great way to change the look of a small apartment kitchen is to switch out the cabinet hardware. For apartments that don’t have very many cabinets and drawers, this can be a super cheap and easy project.

Add a rug: Replace your old rug by the sink with something new, colorful and fun. Over time kitchen rugs can become dirty and discolored. You can feel free to clean it thoroughly, but splurging on a new one shouldn’t break the bank either.

The Bathroom

Add a coat rack: If you have some extra wall space, hang up a decorative coat rack for your robes and extra towels. The colorful array of towels will add some brightness to your walls.

Frame some photos: Almost anything looks great in a beautiful frame, so you don’t have to be a professional photographer to make some hangable artwork. Spend an afternoon walking around a park or neighborhood and take some colorful pictures. Print them out at a drugstore, frame them, and hang them on your bathroom wall.

Choose a fun shower curtain: The most obvious big change you can make in a bathroom for $50 or less is replacing the shower curtain. Something new and colorful will update the room’s overall style immediately.

Create Happy at-Home Habits

"Wine" by Emiliano DeLaurentiis is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The new year is a great time for a fresh start and creating new habits. While many people are focused on losing weight or working out more, think about focusing your energy on creating daily, positive moments at home in your apartment! Yes, there’s almost always some chore that needs to be done, but balance it out with doing something enjoyable for YOU! Apartment Therapy offers these tips for creating those happy moments:

1. Have one daily ritual that is just for you. For me, a mom to two young kids, I like to drink my coffee in peace in the morning. Even if it means getting up earlier, that quiet time before the family routine kicks in helps me ease into the day and do something for myself before I start doing things for everyone else. Your ritual could be anything that brings you pleasure or peace, even if just for a few minutes. My mom, for instance, took a hot bath almost every night of my childhood.

2. Set aside time in the week to listen to music. For some people, music is always playing at home. I envy these people. I live in a small apartment with three others and more often than not, the sounds filtering through our home come from the tv, iPad games and noisy toys. On Sunday mornings I like to very intentionally put on music that we can all enjoy and keep other sounds to a minimum. Set aside time in your home when music is all that you can hear. If you live with others, perhaps rotate playlists.

3. Use what you have. Go ahead - use the "nice" soap, light those spendy candles, break out the fabric napkins. Treat yourself well at home. Too often we squirrel away little luxuries at home and only bring them out for company. Let your home provide you with small pleasures; you deserve them.

4. Cook or prepare something, for pleasure, for yourself once a week.Cooking, even for people who love to do it, can be a grind when it's a daily obligation and particularly when it's on you to feed your family. If you can, make something for yourself as often as you can that is not completely utilitarian, even something simple like salted avocado spread on toast. It may help you reconnect with the parts of cooking you do like and, of course, the eating of it will bring you enjoyment in the short term.

5. Choose one weekend day when you don't do any housework.Wouldn't it be great if you did a little bit of housework each weekday so you could just relax and enjoy your home on the weekends? Yeah, that doesn't really happen. Try to condense your household chores to one part of the weekend and have one day, Saturday or Sunday, that is reserved for being home, not cleaning home.

Illuminate Your Space

"test" by jinkazamah is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A new year signals a new, fresh perspective on things - like your apartment style! If you’re not in the mood to complete big projects like moving around furniture or painting, there’s something simple you can do that will make all the difference in your apartment’s atmosphere - let the light in! Your apartment will feel bigger and happier by brightening it up with these tips from Apartment Guide:

Keep Shades Light

Since you probably want to avoid drilling into the ceiling of your rental, much of your lighting is bound to be in the form of floor lamps or end table lamps. The good news is that lamp shades offer an opportunity to really show off your style, so you can handle the whole daylight savings time issue with grandeur.

To keep your apartment as bright as possible, stick to light-colored lamps shades. Think white, cream, light gray, or similar hues when selecting a lamp shade. Darker lamp shades will filter out a considerable amount of light and may leave you sitting in the dark.

String Additional Lighting

If you still need more light once you have lamps set up, consider buying string lights, also known as fairy lights. While you may associate this type of lighting with the twinkle lights around a Christmas tree, there are other options available.

Designers now offer string lights with large bulbs, black or silver string, and a sleek modern look. Buy a decorative wooden ladder and string lights around it; set up your pyramid shelves in the corner and adorn the piece with string lights; or simply string them around a window.

Accessorize with Wireless Lights

Some rentals have a limited number of electrical outlets, and rewiring your home is not an option as a renter. Turn to wireless lighting that operates on battery power and is extremely mobile. Wireless LED candles, for instance, offer ambiance and go on with the flip of a switch.

Best of all, faux candles don’t pose the same fire hazard as an actual candle. Tap lights are also wireless and a good way to illuminate shelves or other small spaces. These lights are typically small and round, activated when you apply a small amount of pressure to the top of the light.

Use Mirrors to Maximize Lighting

Add a few mirrors to your rental space if you don’t have a lot of room or money for new lighting. Mirrors propped up against your walls won’t damage the drywall, and can reflect light from your lamps and other home lighting.

Mirrors create the illusion of more lighting sources, and doubles the amount of light that bounces around your apartment. Place larger mirrors next to a floor lamp and small wall mirrors adjacent to end tables with a lighting fixture.

Space Out Your Lighting

Now that your space is outfitted with several floor lamps, a few strands of string lights, and a handful of large mirrors–take a moment to consider the placement of each piece. Don’t put all the lighting in your living room, for instance, while neglecting to consider your dining nook.

Instead, space out your lighting fixtures. Put at least one light source near each corner of larger rooms. Place your mirrors within a few feet of a lighting fixture; this allows them to better reflect the light out into the rest of your space.

Lighting your new apartment should be at the top of your daylight savings to-do list. If you neglect to properly light your apartment, you will soon realize that it’s not possible to enjoy all of your lovely decor in the dark.