Working to make your small apartment feel like home can be daunting. Expensive décor, renter limitations, and a small budget can make it seem like you’ll never feel at home in your new place, but there are inexpensive ways to add that extra oomph to your small apartment with little effort.

How To Make A Small Apartment Feel Like Home:

Create Dedicated Spaces

Take what you love to do and work it into the functionality of your apartment. Are you a work-out fiend? Tailor a space for you to do your at-home fitness routine. Are you a food lover who likes to try out new recipes on the daily? Dedicate some money and time to your kitchen to ensure you can create your culinary masterpieces with ease. Make your apartment work for you, and it will soon become a place where you can pursue your passions.

Add Some Life To Your Space

Adorn your apartment with beautiful flowers to easily brighten up your space and make it feel more like yours. A vase filled with classic flowers, like lilies, will give your apartment the touch of elegance it needs and serve as the perfect complement to your décor — not to mention the gorgeous fragrance that will greet you as you walk in the door. To make life even easier, order some online through a company like ProFlowers. For those of us that deal with the frustrating traffic of a big city, the convenience of flowers delivered straight to your door is invaluable.

Lighting

Lighting can affect the look of your entire apartment. Look for bulbs that cast warm lighting—none of that unflattering changing-room light in your home. Multiple light sources make it easier to provide the exact range of light needed for a given time—bright for family visits, low for a night in on the couch. Overhead lighting can often be harsh, so invest in some lamps that can provide both style and practicality.

Adding Your Spin Without Paint

If you’re renting, redecorating can be even harder because of painting restrictions. There are easy ways to add color to an otherwise drab room and inject some of your personality into your new space without reaching for the paintbrush. Add pops of color through canvas art, decorative throw pillows, and statement curtains without worrying about dipping into your apartment deposit.

Live In Luxury

No, this doesn’t mean you should break the bank. Making your place feel like your own means being completely comfortable. Simple but effective techniques of making yourself more at home could be as simple as a new showerhead or a small splurge on a plush mattress topper. Feeling comfy in your own home means creating a place that’s exactly what it should be—a refuge. Indulge a bit, love a lot.

Revamp Old Furniture

Tight budgets and small spaces often result in a hodge-podge of furniture. The addition of a sleek couch cover on the hideously patterned sofa you inherited from your great aunt can change the entire look of a room, and make you feel less like you’re living in an old folk’s home. A paint job on your oddly-colored coffee table can help it easily mesh with your walls. It’s the little details that make all the difference. Search the free section on Craigslist. Sometimes you can score cool, even vintage, furniture pieces—but be prepared to give them a good cleaning and some TLC.

Put Some Work Into It

Looking around at your own handiwork instills a sense of pride and a sensation that the space is truly yours. Install those new shelves you bought on your own, and put together that bookshelf even if you feel like the directions are written in another language. Grab a tool kit from your local hardware store and get your hands dirty to make your apartment feel like home. The end result of an apartment you love is worth the work.

Pieces From The Past

Decorate your home with pieces that hold sentimental meaning. Hang up a map of your home city, use a blanket from your childhood days as your couch throw, or frame the key from your former apartment. These pieces of home can make you feel at ease while mixing in easily with your new pad.

Throw A Fancy Shindig

Feeling at home in your own space means making it into a space where you and your friends love to hang out. What better way to break in your apartment than to throw a little party? Make some delicious cocktails, turn up the stereo, and laugh the night away while making new memories.

If your apartment doesn’t quite yet feel like home, spruce it up with these suggestions. Given a little time and effort, you’ll forget what it was like to live anywhere else.