How to Quickly and Budget-Friendly Transform Your Apartment: Tips from a Home Stager

Home staging (from English 'home staging') is the optimal preparation of real estate for sale or rental, taking into account psychological, aesthetic and marketing principles.

The principles of home staging are useful not only for those who plan to sell or rent property, but also for those who simply want to transform their interior. Home stager Olesya Ivashkina shared tips that will help you improve your space quickly and without extra costs.

Studio 'Staging with Love' - Home Stagers Ivashkina Olesya and Kulikova Irina

Abandoning Full Renovation

You don't always need a full renovation; sometimes a cosmetic one is enough: it's important to only check the condition of electricity and pipes. For example, you can replace baseboards or repaint walls in a lighter shade, decorate one accent wall behind the headboard of a bed or a niche in the living room.

Design: Daria Maksimova

Wall Finishing

Choose basic, inexpensive main wallpaper collections, and interesting accents can be provided by wallpapers from expensive collections on a small area. This will allow you to not spend money on finishing materials but still create an attractive design.

The same approach works with tiles: in the bathroom, you can make several inserts of expensive patterned tiles to liven up the space.

If you are working with paint, there is also a hack here: buy inexpensive paint from well-known manufacturers but tinted according to the bases of world leaders.

Design: Tatiana Zinoveva

Working with Tiles

Painting the kitchen backsplash will help save on tile work: you'll need paint, primer, degreaser, finish lacquer, solvent and cleaner - don't forget to remove dirt from the surface.

Another useful tip that many people forget: instead of tiling all the way to the ceiling, partially tile only in wet areas.

Design: Alexandra Yakusheva

Furniture from Mass Market and Restoration

You can use furniture from mass markets, but properly planned to avoid it looking awkward - for example, a wardrobe or niche for a built-in cabinet. In some apartments updating furniture is not even necessary: to make the space more appealing, it's enough to rearrange properly. Create zones in the room: for example, set up a relaxation area with TV and reading zone with shelving in the living room.

Restoration and a new perspective on functionality will also help instead of buying new furniture: old chairs can become flower stands, stools can be turned into bedside shelves, and a Soviet buffet or armchair after restoration will blend well with modern design.

Design: Daria Maksimova

Play with Light

Lighting in an apartment also deserves attention. Today, table lamps and light fixtures that serve not only a direct function but become art objects are very popular. Not everyone has the opportunity to install such models only in an apartment, so a small trick helps.

Try using technical, inexpensive lighting in your apartment, and place interesting models only where they are visible: this way you'll create a wow effect without big investments.

Design: Vera Nikolaenko

Photo on cover: project by Anna Suvorova and Pavel Mikhin.