• Home
  • ABOUT
  • WORK WITH ME
  • Paint Colors
  • Shop Our House
    • Guest Bedroom
    • Front Living Room
    • Living Room with Fireplace
    • Previous Second Living Room
    • Current Playroom
    • Prior Playroom
    • Dining Room
    • Laundry Room
    • Oliver’s Bedroom
    • Guest Bathroom
    • Covered Lanai
    • Patio
    • Master Bedroom
  • CONTACT
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

Within the Grove

Join the list to receive occasional news and special updates!

Making Over My Brother’s Small Apartment Living Room

March 22, 2022

A few weeks ago, my brother asked me if I would help him design his living room in the apartment he just moved into. I was thrilled that he asked me to help. Of course, I said yes but then asked him if I could take it on as one of my projects. He didn’t hesitate to say yes, and I started planning right away. I’m excited to show you how you can take a small rental space and make it feel cozy, like home, and most importantly your style.

Before

Here’s what I’m working with. It’s a total of 110 square feet for the living room area. And honestly a great blank canvas. The walls have been painted a light gray color so also taking that into consideration with my design plan.

The Plan

Phillip, my brother, has three must-haves for the living room space that he wants to see incorporated.

  1. Cow patterned rug
  2. Sofa bed
  3. Masculine yet sophisticated overall

Taking his list of must-have items, here’s the design plan with Phillip’s stamp of approval. This will create the main seating area of the living room, an area for his TV, and the counter/kitchen island as his main dining area.

After

I was able to fit everything in my truck, minus the couch, to drive to his apartment for a one-day living room makeover. I have to say, I was pretty impressed that everything fit in the truck. And by the end of the day here’s the living room I revealed to my brother.

The transformation has given this space a whole new vibe, look, and feel. It goes to show that even a small space in a rental can feel like home and show off your personal style. Yes, even when you can’t paint the walls! The best part was seeing how shocked my brother was and the pure look of joy on his face when he saw it all come together.

Small Space Rental Tips and Trick

There are a few things that incorporated and designed for this space to make the best use of the 110 square feet while giving it the ultimate cozy feeling.

Hang Curtains Near the Ceiling

By hanging the curtains near the ceiling, it makes the apartment feel larger by making the wall appear taller. Something great for a 110 square foot area. You also don’t want to block any of the natural light from the window. To maximize the sunlight, hang the curtain panels just past the edge of the window. This will also make it look like you have a larger window.

Utilize Nesting Tables

For the side tables beside the couch and the coffee table, I picked out nesting tables for both. They can become compact for small spaces like this but also provide additional surface area when needed. It’s also great that the tables can be moved around to other parts of the apartment if needed.

I also went with a round coffee table so when walking in the front door, it easily flows throughout the main living area of the apartment getting from one side to the other. This allowed for a more organic flow versus a rectangular table that would stagger the flow of the room.

Small Entertainment Center that Doubles as Storage

With already working with just a little bit of space, I knew my brother would need additional storage and a place to put his keys when he walks in the front door. I found this entertainment cabinet on Amazon at an amazing price and painted it black to go with the overall design of the space.

Not only does it offer plenty of storage inside and on top of the cabinet, but it is the perfect size for this small space. Knowing that the kitchen island/countertop space meets up to this area, I couldn’t do anything too big. By going with this smaller cabinet, the spaces don’t overlap and they function as their own spaces. For example, I didn’t want the stools sliding out in front of the cabinet every time someone goes to sit down.

Layered Rugs

Remember how my brother wanted a cow print rug? Rather than making it the only one in the space, I decided to layer it on top of an 8 x 10 rug. Doing this, it helps to define the space, added a cozy factor, and added texture to the overall design of the living room. I honestly think the cow rug makes the room and can’t imagine it without it. And a little detail on the 8 x 10 rug, it’s a jute and cotton rug. It’s what creates the subtle pattern on it, making it a softer jute rug and one that isn’t as stiff.

Scale of Furniture

One main thing you need to keep in mind when designing the space, is the size of the furniture and the size of the room it’s going in. Even with this small living room space, my design includes as sofa bed and two side chairs. I was anxious to see how it would all fit and flow but it was all the perfect fit.

With the couch being the largest furniture piece, I knew the chairs would have to be smaller and not bulky. These two side chairs help to ground the space with the black leather and allow your eyes to still flow through the room since there aren’t upholstered. In other words, underneath and along the arms, it’s open space.

Bonus: Give it some Personal Style

Giving a space some personal style is really what makes it your own. For my brother, he’s studying to become a sommelier (a trained wine professional) and found ways to incorporate that throughout the design.

For example, the artwork in the frames on the wall is of wine barrels. They’re really stunning and add to the masculine look of the space. The book on the coffee table is one of Phillip’s that is all about wine so I made sure to incorporate that as well. You’ll also notice the decanter and whiskey glasses on the entertainment cabinet. And lastly, the cow rug was the first thing he said he wanted to be incorporated into the space.

This has become one of my favorite projects to date! It has made my heart so happy doing this for my brother and seeing him fall in love with his new apartment space. He was so excited about it, he had friends over the same night I revealed it to him. Gosh, that will make you smile! I loved taking on this challenge of not only decorating and designing a 110 square foot space but also making it someone else’s style while also making it masculine and sophisticated. How do you think it turned out?

Links

Green Velvet Curtains
Curtain Rod
Curtain Ring Clips
Picture Frames
Wine Barrel Artwork #1
Wine Barrel Artwork #2
Canyon Artwork
Sofa Bed
Side Chairs
8 x 10 Jute and Cotton Rug
Cow Rug
Lamp
Nesting Coffee Tables
Nesting Side Tables
Entertainment Cabinet (Painted Black Magic by Sherwin-Williams)
Candle
Decanter
Whiskey Glasses
Leather Pillows
Stools (stained provincial by Minwax)
Throw/Blanket
Bookends

Want more living room inspiration? Check out the living room makeover we did in our own home.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Home Inspiration, Home Project, Living Room

« Narrow Wall Space Design for Extra Storage
Create Extra Storage on a Small Wall Space »

Comments

  1. cemre says

    April 1, 2022 at 3:27 am

    What a cozy design. It is good that you share the every level of design. With that way we can change for our visual pleasure

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Looking for something?

withinthegrove

This pretty much sums up the progress of making 25 This pretty much sums up the progress of making 250 cement tiles. But I’m halfway through! The moment I finish the last tile is the moment I knock out the old tile. Let’s do this!
Time to bet on my DIY skills! I’m attempting to Time to bet on my DIY skills! I’m attempting to make my own cement tiles for our outdoor front door area. Mainly because of what I’m saving vs buying them. Won’t be saving much on time but I’M MAKING TILES! Never thought I’d hear myself say that. Make sure to follow along because if this works out, I have a feeling a lot of you are already eyeing a spot in your home to try your own DIY cement tiles. 
 
Thank you @vintagerevivals and @abby_roadhome for showing it’s possible with your gorgeous bathroom tiles! 

#CementTiles #DiyCementTiles #DiyProject #DIYonABudget #DIYProjects
We got the call that the pool build is starting! W We got the call that the pool build is starting! Which had me scrambling to dig up all the plants that were in the way in an effort to save them. Literally down to the last second before the crew showed up. Exciting day but you know what’s even more exciting? Knowing the next crew will officially be breaking ground with the excavation phase of the build.
This time of year is full of organizing and purgin This time of year is full of organizing and purging to bring spaces back to life. But sometimes all a space needs to feel refreshed is, well, a refresh and a little attention. Your number one requested space was the living room. So I gave mine a refresh with some unique and gorgeous finds from @homesense_us . I found a few fun pots for my houseplants, a gorgeous magnifying glass, and a few other items for our coffee table and couch.

I never know what I’m going to find when I walk into Homesense since it’s always rotating with amazing finds. But I do know I’ll walk out with a few new favorites for my home at affordable prices. If you haven’t yet, I urge you to check and see if you have a Homesense near you! #DiscoverHomesense #HomesensePartner
2022, you were awesome. But I’m determined to ma 2022, you were awesome. But I’m determined to make 2023 even better! And I hope you join me! We can be one of our biggest cheerleaders, but together we’re going to do big things. Go ahead and write down a big, small and a few in-between projects you want to get done this year in your home. Kicking it off with intention and that reminder that we can do this. Ready to get started?! Let me know in the comments the first project you want to tackle!
We finally got the Christmas/winter edition of the We finally got the Christmas/winter edition of the window projection up and running! It was a hit for Halloween and just as fun for this time of year as well. I built frames wrapped with a plastic drop cloth but you can also secure the drop cloth over the windows using command strips. The videos are from @atmosfx and we use a mini projector to play them on the screen. Place a Bluetooth speaker outside and you’re in business! Such a fun addition this time of year for the exterior of your home.
It’s the last little bit of the demo we needed t It’s the last little bit of the demo we needed to do in order to give the green light for the pool to start. And 2,456 pavers later, it’s done! This was exhausting but worth the money we saved doing it ourselves. And why remove them? We’re using a different stone around the pool and we want it to be cohesive up to the house. Don’t worry, someone got one heck of a deal on these pavers, we made a little money, and someone else got them out of our driveway. I’d say that’s a win-win. Stayed tuned for the entire pool process as we enter 2023. It’s going to be pretty exciting to watch!
Our patio space has served us so well over the yea Our patio space has served us so well over the years and now it’s time for a change because we’re getting a POOL!! Sharing this with you makes it even more real because just a year ago I would have told you it isn’t in the cards for us. We’ll be breaking ground soon but first we have to remove the screen enclosure. Spoiler: we won’t be putting one back up around the pool. It has already made the biggest difference visually and SO much natural light pours into our home now with it gone. It’s going to be so exciting seeing this all unfold so stay tuned! Up next: removing the pavers.
This holiday season we were able to travel to my h This holiday season we were able to travel to my hometown for the first time in awhile. We were greeted by the most beautiful sunset on the beach. Fast forward to this week as I headed to @homesense_us for some holiday shopping, and I ended up finding a few pieces for our home that remind me of that core memory on the beach. The beautiful wicker bench caught my eye first followed by the comforter and toss pillows. Everything at amazing price points while not sacrificing style and quality. #HomesensePartner

Mixing a thrill of a find with a core memory, I guarantee you'll fall in love with your home even more as you go to decorate. Decorating your home isn't grasping on to the newest trend or what you think others would do. It's what YOU want to do. And sometimes that's based on an emotional connection. Oh, the stories your spaces will be able to tell as you decorate each one. Start with seeing if there’s a @homesense_us near you! #DiscoverHomesense #HomesenseSarasota
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Sign up here to have our fresh posts delivered to your inbox!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Copyright © 2023 Within The Grove • Customized by Brave Creative Design · Log in

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Disclosures + Photo Usage
 

Loading Comments...