How to Live Comfortably in a One-Bedroom Apartment

Making the choice to move into a smaller space can be a difficult one. You might be concerned about where you’ll fit your favorite furniture, that you might feel cramped or if living in a small apartment is the right choice for your retirement lifestyle.

If you’re concerned about downsizing your home, don’t be! With a little inspiration and helpful tips from the experts at Essex Meadows, you’ll see how a small space means big opportunities.

A Smaller Space Means More Time for Yourself

When you’re cleaning, organizing and maintaining a large home, you need a strategy. Maybe one weekend you focus on lawn maintenance, the next weekend you dust and tidy a guest bedroom and the one after that could be dedicated to organizing the garage. You also need to budget and prepare for expenses like HVAC repair, emergency maintenance repairs and property taxes.

Living in a small apartment means you don’t have to structure your free time by taking care of your house. Instead, you’re able to dedicate more time to relaxing, socializing and other activities you enjoy, while a professional maintenance team makes sure your residence is taken care of inside and out.

Senior living communities take it a step further by offering maintenance-free apartments that feature services and amenities to make life even easier. At Essex Meadows, services include paid utilities (except telephone), weekly housekeeping and flat linen services, and scheduled transportation.

Find Perks and Amenities Designed for Your Lifestyle

Just because you live in a smaller space, doesn’t mean you can’t have a grand lifestyle. Whether you choose a one-bedroom apartment in a senior living community or an apartment in your favorite part of town, you’ll likely find enjoyable perks and amenities.

Amenities can include pet-friendly policies, fitness rooms, gardening areas, swimming pools and even executive golf courses. Senior living communities provide a plethora of planned social, cultural and recreational activities for residents to enjoy every day. You could spend an entire day working on your wellness, chatting with your friends or pursuing your passion without ever leaving the community.

After a long day of doing whatever you want, you won’t have to worry about completing chores. Just put your feet up and leave your worries behind.

Have Room for the Essentials, but Also Find Opportunities to Update

Even though one-bedroom apartments have less space than other floor plans, you still have enough room for the essentials and a few extras. You probably won’t find room for a formal dining table, or large armoire in your bedroom, but you could make space for a recliner, loveseat and cozy bedroom set.

Though downsizing to move into a smaller space reduces the amount of items you own, it also gives you the opportunity to buy new ones that match your style and preferences. For instance, you can upgrade your filter coffee maker with one that uses disposable cups or you can buy a fitted cover to update your couch.

Moving into a senior living community could also mean the opportunity to get rid of your car and the payments that come with it. With scheduled transportation and on-site amenities like beauty and barber shops, multiple dining venues and libraries, owning a vehicle is no longer essential.

Tips on How to Maximize a Small Space

One of the biggest challenges many people face when moving from a larger home to a one-bedroom apartment is how to get the most out of their floor plan.

Here are tips from our experts at Essex Meadows on how to live comfortably in a smaller space:

Don’t overstock your kitchen. While you don’t want an empty kitchen, an overstocked kitchen can become cluttered quickly. This is especially true for residents in a senior living community, because you’ll be eating at least one meal daily at a dining venue.

Invest in multifunctional furniture. Ottomans that double as storage, extendable dining tables, convertible sleeper chairs, shelves with hooks, floor lamps with tables attached and platform bed frames with drawers are all great ways to save space and live comfortably.

Declutter your paperwork. No matter how big the space, paperwork adds clutter and stress. Limit the amount you keep and try to digitize as many records as possible.

Maximize lighting. Light has a way of making a space look and feel bigger. To maximize the amount of light in your apartment, you can opt for white decor, add mirrors that reflect natural light from your window or use lamps that match your style.

Stay organized. When living in a small apartment, it’s best there’s a place for everything and everything is in its place. Staying organized will make your life simple and tidying up a breeze. Consider investing in a set of small, decorative bins for items like cords, cosmetics, office supplies and pet toys.

Use a noodle board. Noodle boards have been a space-saving trick used by Italians for centuries. They fit over your kitchen sink or stovetop in order to give you more space to make pasta dough. Of course, you can use it to get extra counter space.

The best way to feel comfortable in any space is to display your personality. While a sleek and organized apartment looks great in a magazine, it might not feel like home. Don’t be afraid to add colorful rugs, unique dinnerware, artwork created by you or your loved ones, family portraits, small knickknacks or anything else that shows your vibrancy and spirit.

Discover One-Bedroom Floor Plans Perfect for Any Lifestyle at Essex Meadows

The one-bedroom apartments at our senior living community in Essex, CT, surround residents with comfort and elegance. Each of our 176 apartments features a full kitchen, ample closet space and stunning natural views. Contact our sales counselors online or join us for an event to learn more about our community.