First Apartment? How to Avoid the 5 Worst Interior Design Mistakes

AFTER 16 MONTHS cooped up with roommates or parents, young (and not-so-young) people have had enough. Those who can afford it are increasingly moving into their own first places when their leases end this summer and fall, said a spokesman for real-estate rental site StreetEasy. Searches that specified studio apartments are up 69% year-over-year.

When it comes to decorating these solo nests, however, designers say first timers’ greenness leads to errors: from cramming oafish sofas through doors they failed to measure to living sans civilities like curtains and rugs. As New York City designer Phillip Thomas said, “Just because it’s your first apartment doesn’t mean it can’t have a sense of sophistication.”

Here, design pros highlight the five flubs that novice renters most frequently make on their way to, as millennials call it, “adulting.” Plus: chic alternatives.

1. The Unconquered Divide

Generations of squished people have passed down various methods to separate a studio apartment into living and sleeping spaces: curtains, free-standing screens, bookshelves, even a delineating row of jungle-y plants. They all can make a space feel smaller, said Francesca Bucci, founder of BG Studio in Manhattan. Mr. Thomas noted that such barriers frequently cut off window light, creating a murky cave. “There is nothing more awful than living in a space without light,” he said.

Instead: Rather than placing your bed’s headboard against a wall, Ms. Bucci directed, “float” the bed, with the foot facing a window and leaving at least two feet of circulation at the bottom. A medium-height headboard will act as a divider without depriving the rest of the studio of natural light. Arrange your seating area on the other side of it, backing your couch against it. This way you won’t subject guests to your rumpled pillows or that stuffed animal from which you haven’t managed to brutally sever ties just yet.