Northpoint's Guide To Damage-Free Decoration

Whether you are embracing your new space at NorthPoint or feeling a little homesick, adding some personality and making your apartment your own can help. Here are our tips for damage-free decoration to personalize your space, without the worry of penalties or hassle of tools.

1. Indoor Plants

Indoor plants are hugely popular and with good reason: they’re a low-maintenance, low-budget living décor item. Indoor plants bring literal life into your space by promoting cleaner air and even higher productivity.

Popular, hard-to-kill varieties include snake plants, fiddle-leaf figs, and of course, anything in the succulent family. These varieties hardly need attention or sunlight, making them perfect for busy class schedules and dark desks. When you water your new additions, remember to bring them outside to avoid water damage forming from underneath their pot

2. Walls

By focusing on large areas of blank walls, your minimal decoration can have a huge impact. While we suggest avoiding repainting or nailing into your walls, hanging large tapestries can add personal flair. Simply hang with adhesive utility hooks, like these Command Sticky Hooks. You avoid the hassle of measurement and hammering, while protecting the walls from damage you would need to repair before moving out.

Washi tape, a type of Japanese masking tape, is another easy solution to avoid wall damage. It comes in a variety of colors and doesn’t leave behind any sticky residue after removal. Use it to hang pictures, posters, or simply use the tape as decoration itself by creating designs directly on the walls. Check out this blog for washi tape design and organizational ideas.

3. Lighting

The lighting of your apartment may be easy to overlook but can have a huge impact on the mood and feel of your space. Lighting should be a priority for your study area to ensure you’ve properly illuminated your work area. But when it comes to larger light fixtures, like lamps and ceiling fans, there are a few tricks you need to know:

• The color of your lamp shade can starkly affect the direction of your lighting. Lighter colors tend to fill your room with a soft glow, while darker colors direct light in a parallel manner. If you’d rather a brighter light that floods the room, do away with the shade altogether.
• Compared to a traditional overhead ceiling light, string lights are a great way to add personality and softer mood lighting for a little more ambiance. Pro tip: hang string lights with the sticky wall hooks from tip #2!
• If you want your apartment to seem bigger and brighter, place mirrors strategically. A single large vertical mirror adjacent to a desk lamp can reflect light all over your room, opening your space and making it appear larger.

4. Focus on Fabrics

Throw pillows and area rugs are an excellent blend of functionality and décor. You’re most likely going to use them anyway, so why not splurge for an eye catching pattern or interesting fabric to break up the monotony of your space? Rugs and throw pillows are easily interchanged for holidays or seasons and can add a splash of color when needed most.

Transitioning from your home environment to a new apartment can be exciting and challenging. NorthPoint wants to make sure you feel at home in your new space, especially if this is your first experience on your own. If you have any questions about what décor is allowed for your floor plan, contact us at (208) 681-9542.