5 Simple Ways to Make Your Tiny Apartment Classier without Purchasing Anything

1. Put a fitted sheet on your box-spring. As a graduate student, it's unlikely that you have a real piece of bedroom furniture. Cover up the naked box-spring with a spare fitted sheet, and it's like you have an instant bed!
2. Make the bed, kind of. I know you're not going to believe me on this one. My boyfriend thinks making the bed is a big fat waste of 1.5 minutes of time. But I'm not talking about hospital corners here. Just re-spreading the duvet when you get up in the morning can make a HUGE difference in how your room looks, especially if you live in a studio like I do. This bed is the first thing you see when you walk into my apartment. Also, it provides sitting space. Nobody wants to sit on your crumply sheets.
   
   
   
3. Organize the cables at your desk. I will probably do a post entirely on this subject, because it thrills me to no end. A cluttered work space is not conducive to good graduate work, and it makes your space look like an undergraduate dorm room. You are a graduate student, so you don't have to live in a dorm anymore. No need to buy anything fancy, masking tape or those little ties from bread bags will do. My personal favorite re-use cable organizer is the binder clip.
   
   
   
4. Take the posters down. Leave them for the undergrads. Frames are great, if you've got them, but if not, get creative. If you aren't allowed to hammer and nail, go with little postcards artfully arranged, like Glitter-and-Spandex has in her apartment. Or hang a string clothesline across the room and clip photos or postcards to it. The possibilities are endless.
5. Use throw pillows and blankets on boring furniture. I made most of my pillows in one of my random fits of craftiness, but my family also had a closet full of them. Check out how classy my six dollar flea market chair looks with the addition of a spare pillow.