How To Make Your First Apartment Feel Like Home

Your first apartment is typically a bittersweet experience. You have the sense of freedom and independence that comes from having your own space, but it often doesn’t feel like it’s actually your space. Fortunately, there are ways to make your first apartment feel like home, and you can do it all on a budget.

Finding Your Scent

Scent is the sense with the strongest ties to memory, so a great way to start making fond memories in your new place is by controlling the smell. There are several ways to adjust the scent in your apartment, from potpourri to scented candles to incense, if your apartment complex allows it.

One of the main reasons a new apartment feels so unsettling is partially due to unfamiliar scents, so it’s best to take control of it as soon as possible to attach your signature scent to your apartment. For example, consider pleasant scents like sandalwood.

Custom Décor

Sometimes it can be hard to make your first apartment feel like home. You often can’t change much with pre-furnished places, and you can rarely make any significant renovations to the floors or walls. However, customizing the décor you use in your living space does wonders. Hanging artwork that you painted or wiping your feet on a customized doormat with your name on it establishes that this is your home.

Bringing In Your Friends and Family

A common practice of moving into a new place is to hold a housewarming party. The original meaning of this party was for guests to bring firewood to warm their house before the days of central heating. Now people use the term to mean warming up to a place by associating it with friends, family, and other loved ones.

However, once the party ends, that doesn’t mean your family and friends don’t have a spot in your place. Hanging photos of loved ones on walls or shelves serves a valuable purpose in making you feel comfortable and at ease.

Start Cooking

Remember that scene in Ratatouille where the critic takes a bit of the food and has an immediate flashback to when his mom made him that same dish as a kid? That same effect works surprisingly well when you want to turn your apartment into a home. Digging out the pots and pans to recreate a dish that causes nostalgic feelings and making new memories with it in your new place helps create a sense of home.

And if you don’t know how to cook, you can always grab some takeout that brings back some good memories. How about that extra-large New York-style pizza?

One of the biggest things about making your apartment feel like home is using your senses to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable. Scents, tastes, and sights all play a pivotal role in helping you settle into your new place.

Image Credit: How To Make Your First Apartment Feel Like Home by Adobe Stock #247577114