10 Steps to Designing a Small Studio on a Tight Budget

I’m so excited to share with you one of my latest projects. My very sweet niece recently moved to the Bay Area and is renting a one bedroom studio apartment that she would like to redecorate. Of course, I’m so happy to be helping her restyle her place. She is doing her doctoral residency, and that means money is tight. We made it a priority to find most of her furniture on Craigslist or on the free classifieds. Decorating on a small budget is doable, and I’m so comfortable with it since I’m always thrift shopping for treasures. So far it is amazing how many things we did find. All they require is a couple coats of paint and the transformation is amazing. She has been a good sport about this project and she has been busy painting her studio walls and furniture with every free moment. Most of the black furniture we found needed more layers of white chalk paint to lighten them up. I’m thinking that after this remodel, she won’t want to paint every again!

~ A Note About the Nester ~

The first time I met my niece was at our wedding! We propped her up on pillows while we got the decorations done for the wedding! She was a newborn and was adorable, I was smitten by her and we have been close ever since!

Ok, let’s get started on the design. I will walk you through my 10 step process and maybe this will help you on your next project!

1. Wall Color

So, the first thing I do is determine the wall color. Her walls before were a green/aqua medium color, and it was pretty but a little too dark and foreboding. Originally, I wanted to have three white walls and one black accent wall, but my family and niece quickly boycotted this choice. I gave in and decided all the walls needed to be a crisp white and the standard builder’s white, Swiss Coffee by Kelly Moore.

And as much as she wanted to get out of painting all the walls and keep one walls the original color, I made her paint it all white. That way we weren’t obligated to stay in a color scheme, we now have the freedom to use any accent color we want. It is a nice to have a blank slate and change things up with the seasons.

This cute temporary wallpaper by Chasing Paper will go in her white kitchen. As much as we both liked another design, this one had a crisp and sleek look rather than rustic. I get a sense that she wanted more the clean lines in the rest of her studio. I try to keep everything all in the same style especially the main items. It’s alright to break this rule with the smaller accents which can add some fun surprises!

2. Style

I start with the walls and ask the essential question of what style the client wants; modern, rustic, classic, colorful, feminine, masculine, etc.. It helps to design a Pinterest board for them and let them choose the images they prefer. Next, I design a room working from the outside and move in and also from big to small.

So my niece wanted a feminine, clean, light and fresh look.