Moving into a new place can be sort of a bitter sweet deal. Bitterly, you are forced to pack up, reorganize all of your personal belongings, get to know the new space, and design a layout for your new place. On the sweet side, however, moving into a new place is the perfect opportunity to being fresh—to create a new personality for the life within a crisp environment. This fall, I will be moving into a new apartment downtown, where I will be living by myself (hopefully with a cat!) for the first time.
First off, I encourage all renters to talk to their landlord before they decide to make any altercations to their new place. It’s better to know what you can and can’t do, then to be surprised by a fine or scolding later on for the hard work.
I am known as a very independent person—I LOVE to be by myself. It is the time when I can really think for myself, I can get things done that I want to be done, and most importantly, that is the time that I can be most creative. I have always loved to rearrange my room and belongings, just to have a new feel once in a while so that I can experiment with different “room personalities”. Room personalities are what I call the characteristics of a room. The features and traits that define the space to be what it appears to be by the naked eye. I came up with this concept and it has been a personal trademark that I have learned to live by. “What will my room personality be this time?”
In preparation for my new place, (yes I know it’s very far in advance) I have come up with a color scheme for various parts of the apartment, what kind of theme I want in the overall space, and what types of larger, attention-grabbing features do I want?
For color schemes, I decided to stick to a basic palette. I went with light and dark browns, blacks, light yellows, and deep reds. This way, I have a safe base of colors so that the small space won’t be too overwhelming with color or pattern. I also tend to stay away from patterns and stick to simple solid colors. Another way to capitalize on a color scheme choice is to accent your rooms with your stronger color choices. For example, I have a dark brown papasan chair and a cream/light brown futon. To accent with this furniture, I bought yellow, red and brown decorative pillows that contrast against the solid colors on the furniture.
Also, don’t get too crazy about different color schemes, especially in a small place. For an apartment, especially, I would typically go with only one color scheme. Because my apartment is rather small, I will relatively the same color scheme for my bedroom and bathroom as well.
According to a theme, there are many different options. By a “theme” I mean perhaps an African-outback theme with animal prints and dark wooden furniture. Or maybe an Asian styled theme with bamboo, budah statues, and chopsticks. I chose to do a very simple, urban look tied in with a woodsy feel.
Finally, because it is a relatively small apartment, my larger features probably won’t be that large. Based on a scale, however, I am planning to have maybe one larger piece of art, a clock, or painted wall with accents. I am also thinking about having some kind of larger plant, that of course won’t be harmful to my new kitty. 
Like I said before, I believe that moving into a new place, apartment or not, has a lot of opportunity to withhold true character. With your room personalities, you will not only feel great about being in your own environment based upon the things that you love, but your guests will also feel that personality effect when they walk in.
Good luck on finding your personalities!