Studio Apartment Planner Tool With Examples and Tips

Planning an apartment layout — or even a tiny house — with the right studio apartment design ideas can be a fun, self-revelatory experience. An intuitive and complete interior design suite will have you living large in your small space, especially when using a studio apartment planner tool.

A Plan for Your Studio Apartment

There is an upside to owning a small space. Though your apartment may be one room, those same tiny proportions can make your project planning easier and more time efficient. Studio and one-bedroom apartments are on the rise, especially in popular cities like New York. NYC one-bedroom and studio spaces saw a 100% increase in rental inquiries, and the Big Apple isn’t alone in that stat. 

You heard it here, folks: studio, one-bedroom, and micro apartments are hotter than ever. Let’s get into planner tools that can maximize your studio apartment floor plan and help you create your dream space.

Be an Adult and Set a Budget … Sigh

Like it or not, you do need a budget when it comes to planning your space: It rules out additions you can’t afford and brings the features you truly want into focus. Spoak’s budgeting tool keeps a tally of the costs (compared to your total budget) as you add products to your shopping list and layout, leaving you to focus on the fun sourcing part. 

Don’t Forget to Take Measurements

While you’re being fiscally responsible and coming up with a realistic budget, take the time to measure everything — rooms, appliances, and furnishings. There’s a reason we have all heard the phrase “Measure twice, cut once.” Dropping these dimensions into Spoak’s floor planner tool will make decisions about your layout easier and save you the headache of returning a heavy sofa that doesn’t fit. 

Get in the Mood

Now we’re getting into the fun interior design stuff. Your mood board is where you collect all of the inspiration photos, textiles, and colors that speak to you and see how they work together. You can move from your mood board to floor plan view to room-by-room designing with Spoak’s interior design suite. 

Keep your palette simple and consistent throughout your small studio apartment for a cohesive style. Think monochromatic color scheme and light reflective paint colors to keep your tiny home feeling big. Try extending your wall color over the trim to draw the eye upward and create a feeling of more vertical space. 

Play Up Existing Features 

What features does your home already have that you can play up for a spacious studio feel? High ceilings can make low square footage feel more spacious. If the ceilings are high enough to accommodate a loft bed or extra workspace, you could increase usable square feet and privacy with one small DIY project. 

Accentuate the vertical space by hanging curtains higher than the windows and letting them hang down to the floor, creating an illusion of height. Opting for sheer window treatments and neutral walls will add to the airiness of your room. 

Loads of natural light pouring through those windows is another trick to making a small room feel larger. When doors are necessary, use sliding glass doors or shoji screens that allow diffused light to pass between rooms. Open up any dark corner of your living area by hanging large mirrors to catch and bounce light. A tall mirror creates the illusion of a higher ceiling and double space.

Tip: go big when your space is small. A larger sofa, mirror, or piece of art can actually make a living space feel less cluttered and more expansive. 

A Floor Plan That Fits You

Choose furniture that will prioritize the living areas you use most in your studio apartment layout. Is a full dining table a must-have for dinner parties, or would you prefer a full sectional sofa for movie nights and natural room division? 

Be Flexible With Modular Furniture

When space is at a premium, it may be tempting to push all of your furniture against the walls to “make space” in the center of the apartment. However, edge-of-the-room layouts box you in and make the room feel smaller. Try floating your couch or a long credenza between the living and dining areas to create a softer boundary that won’t disrupt the natural flow of movement between the two. 

Traditionally, living room furniture is placed in conversational groupings, but when your living room may double as your dining room or workspace, choosing moveable pieces is a game changer. A sofa that can be divided or quickly rolled out of the way to accommodate a large work project makes your space more livable. Then you can push it back together for an overnight visitor.

Work with — not against — low square footage by installing a Murphy bed. Flanking it with storage cabinets on either side elevates the bedroom area from a budget-conscious compromise to a custom room with built-ins. 

Hide Some Features

The easiest way to make a small home feel grand is to hide the clutter of everyday life as much as possible. You don’t have to be a minimalist to have a visually neat space with the “invisible kitchen” trend.

Appliances are camouflaged behind doors that seamlessly match the kitchen cabinetry for a sleek, accessible studio kitchen. You can adopt this philosophy with a more traditional kitchen layout by opting for hardware-free cabinetry and choosing appliances that match your cupboards. 

Tuck a few stools under the kitchen bar to use at mealtimes for an effortless dining space that sacrifices no square footage. Fold-down or pull-out tables and cabinet extensions can also perform double duty as dining or work spaces. 

The same is true for lift-top coffee tables that rise to create a desk, transforming a comfy couch into a cozy home office. Add an ottoman or flip-top sofa with hidden compartments, and keeping your living space neat is a breeze.

But Don’t Hide Your Legs

Whenever possible, choose furniture pieces with slim legs that allow light to flood your space. The more of your floor that shows, the more surface area the room will appear to have. 

A “floating” buffet or entertainment unit that attaches to the wall and hovers above the floor also creates the illusion of more floor space without losing any extra storage. Take advantage of the transparent nature of lucite and glass end tables to accomplish the same roomy feel.

Suggest Privacy With Room Dividers

Though the goal is to have a space that flows from zone to zone, sometimes you need a little more than the suggestion of privacy for your bedroom sanctuary. If your budget allows for a built-in floor-to-ceiling shelving unit, this is a great way to get some space-saving, vertical storage while giving you a sense of seclusion. 

If custom cabinetry isn’t an option, use Spoak’s room layout tool to experiment by placing a large bookcase or desk with an attached hutch between the two spaces. For more privacy, you can add backing to the shelf in coordinating wallpaper or wood panels. Backing will mesh well with your room design to mimic a built-in look. 

Another temporary option is tension rod panels that extend from floor to ceiling to shield your sleeping area. Panels can be made with light-filtering materials like fabric, rattan, or even a mid-century breeze block screen. 

If all of this seems a bit much, don’t sweat it. Creating privacy doesn’t get any easier than a folding screen that can be tucked away when not in use — no contractors necessary.

Define You and Your Space

Your studio apartment planner is your personal workspace to explore home design. You can experiment with all of the things you love and want in your home and how they will come together to best reflect you.

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^{Photo Credit: (Left) Nordroom}

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^Sources:

^{Tiny rooms with high ceilings | Courier-Journal}

^{10 ways to make a small room feel bigger | Yahoo Finance}

^{13 Ways To Make A Room Seem Taller | Forbes}

^{Why the tiny house is perfect for now | BBC Culture}

^{Demand for studio and one-bedroom apartments soars, despite rent increases | Spectrum News NY 1}