DIY Home Décor: Simple and Creative Ideas for Personalizing Your Senior Apartment

Bravo! You’ve done the heavy lifting – both emotionally and physically. First, you made the important decision to jettison the family home and rightsize into a senior living apartment. Then you waded through the decades of accumulated flotsam and jetsam to prepare for the move.

Now you’re ready for the fun part: Transforming an apartment into a home that reflects your taste and personality.

Decorating a senior living apartment is all about simple math. Take less space and generate more warmth, charm and comfort. Start with efficient furniture placement that designates specific areas of function. Once you’ve got appropriately scaled furniture set up in strategic seating arrangements it’s time to get the DIY home décor party started.

With minimal investment you can create maximum impact and a very special place to call home.

Color Your World

The colors we choose for our surroundings can profoundly affect our moods and energy levels. For example, blues and greens echo the tones in nature and support relaxation and restoration. Paired with warmer grays and whites, these color families promote a feeling of peace. Before you head to the paint store, think about the colors that bring out the best in you. Once you’ve made your choices, invite family and friends over for a painting party.

Area Rugs

Area rugs are the apartment décor element that serves two masters. First, they anchor your furnishings and create spatial boundaries. But they also provide opportunities to tie your other room décor together. If your furniture has a lot of busy fabric, you might want to tone it down with a solid, more muted area rug. If your furniture is solid, you can easily add a fun colorful rug to the mix that will brighten up the ambiance. Area rugs come in all price points and are an easy way to completely redefine the mood of a room.

Smaller Space, Larger Art

A large piece of art can create the illusion of more space. It can be the focal point that ties together the room’s color scheme. How you fill that wall space is entirely up to you. It can be a painting, a map, a sign, or even a decorative hanging rug. You might choose to personalize the wall space with DIY wall art like photos or mementos that have particular sentimental significance to you. Whatever you choose, it will dominate your room, so be sure you love it.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

A valuable resource for DIY apartment décor, mirrors offer so much more than just a reflection. Whether you want to check yourself out as you leave the apartment or are looking to create the impression of more space, a mirror can be a wall sculpture that adds visual interest and perfectly finishes your room.

Bring the Outdoors In

Plants and flowers are your apartment’s best friend. They are inexpensive, they don’t take up a lot of space and they will add color, scent and texture to a room. Even a row of tiny pots on a windowsill filled with easily maintained succulents can make their presence felt.

Enhance the Boudoir

Nothing is simpler than changing the color or print of your duvet cover. And nothing can immediately change the tone of a room like new bedding. Pick a new color, pattern or style and you’re completely changing the design of the bedroom. Swap out an old lampshade and you’ll see your bedside lamp in a whole new light. 

Pillows Add Punch

Accent pillows are truly an apartment dweller’s secret weapon. As the quintessential portable décor element, they can easily alter the color scheme and overall look of any room. Instead of replacing a couch that may feel dated or out of sync with the rest of the room, switch out the accent pillows. Whether you change patterns or move to a whole new color family, your friends will be sure to ask if you got a new couch.