Add character and warmth with budget-friendly décor upgrades such as new lighting fixtures, cozy throw pillows, accent rugs, or string lights. These affordable touches instantly elevate your apartment’s aesthetic and help create a welcoming atmosphere.

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Make your apartment truly your own with DIY décor, houseplants, and personal accents that reflect your unique style. Creating a warm, inviting home not only enhances your daily life but can also demonstrate responsibility and pride of residency - qualities that often stand out during tenant screening for future rentals.

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Update Lighting Fixtures for Instant Impact

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Outdated and old light fixtures can quickly and easily be changed for something new and you won’t have to spend a ton of money and you also won’t have to do a full renovations of the room. If you have old dull light fixtures, try something new like a modern pendant light, a stylish chandelier, or a sleek flush light. These can easily become the focal pieces in your entry way, living room or dining room.

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When changing your light fixtures make sure to think about the style of the light, and the function of the light as well. Most of the time lights are meant to be functional, but it is also nice for them to be stylish. If you want a modern and clean look in your kitchen or hallway, try putting in some recessed lighting. If you want flexible light, try putting in track lighting. If you are trying to highlight a specific area of the room, pendant lights are a good option to have hanging from the track lighting to highlight your favorite artwork.

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Also an additional modification you might consider is to add dimmer switches to your lighting. Being able to control and set the lighting to different brightness levels is helpful to control the vibe of the room and make it look more cozy and inviting. Putting dimmer switches in is pretty easy to do in a day and you just need to make sure to shut off the electric power for the room at the circuit panel to ensure your safety when doing any electrical work.

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A great easy to do positive change is swapping out old style warm fluorescent lighting and replacing them with energy efficient LED bulbs. They use a lot less energy and also have a warm color light tone that brings in a more inviting and cozy feel to the room. Additionally warm light helps to enrich the color and texture of any decor you have in the apartment and adds a lot of positive energy to the room.

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If you wish to bring in sophistication and style to the building, you may want to consider adding a ceiling medallion to the new fixture as you install it, too. Ceiling medallions are decorative features that add a higher level to the charm and elegance of the lighting installation. They are really, easy to add features of any style you want since they come in plenty of different styles, designs, and sizes to match the decor of the apartment.

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Upgrade Cabinet Hardware

One of the simplest ways to give your kitchen or bathroom a facelift without doing a full renovation is to upgrade cabinet facings to more modern, diverse, or fitting selections. Minor custom selections available through custom hardware fittings can add to the overall aesthetic of the kitchen or bathroom you already have, offering a relatively modern, refined, maintained, or polished look without the effort and renovation costs or without full effort.

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For new fittings, mixed metal color and material selections, i.e. nickel and brass, can add a sophisticated, custom, and modern decorative touch. Matched fittings also look tailored and sophisticated. Inside the modern and farmhouse styles, contemporary looks have favored framed cabinet fronts and hardware matte black selections, offering a timeless, opposed look.

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Different typologies of hardware fittings can be chosen, knobs can be matched to drawer pulls to modernize and upgrade functionality. As to the ease of opening of drawers and cabinets, tapered handle pulls to the upper and lower edges of cabinets are suggested so as to align to the opening of the cabinet. Do make sure you also line drill the fittings so as to make a more symmetrical look overall; custom fittings like suggested to take the cabinet face to fitting ways.

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Happily, for those low on funds or needing a simple change, spray painting your knobs and pulls is a low cost, creative, and timely solution. With spray paint suited for metal surfaces, you have the ability to update those old, ugly knobs and make them stylish to match your decor. 

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Hang New Curtains or Window Treatments

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In any room, the right curtains or shades can have a positive effect on the mood and vibe, plus the look and feel of the room. Many people like roman shades because of the privacy and posh elegance they bring to the decor, sheers match a light, airy ambiance, plus allow a glow of softly diffused light in the room and brightness to the the overall feel while keeping a visual openness. These curtains allow a portion of light to softly diffused through, keeping a visual brightness while openness while keeping a visual brightness in the room while maintaining a visual openness. 

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Effective window treatments can also give the illusion that otherwise standard windows are larger and more grand, adding to the overall design of the room. Folks who want more privacy and better quality sleep would also benefit from blackout shades. These are ideal for keeping out light to create a dark room that allows for better sleep, perfect for people who are light sensitive or have unique sleeping hours.

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In addition to their main function, the right window covering gives you the option to control the amount of light and ambiance of your space and make it comfier and cozier. They do serve a dual role within the space as window decor that can be matched with the color scheme and overall style of the room on top of providing utility. Also, window treatments which almost always guarantee a hassle free upgrade to your your space without a time consuming DIY remodel, make it one of the best cost efficient upgrades for your apartment over the weekend.

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From a decor standpoint, you should think about the color, pattern, and overall design of the curtains and blinds to ensure that they suit your existing decor and style. Versatility of light control and added decor to the window goes a long way when window covering options are combined. For instance, a sheer curtain can be paired with heavier curtains and gives you the option to control the ambiance, for instance when you need light during the day you can shut the heavier ones and draw the sheer.