Design Inspiration
Luxury Apartment Interior Design: The Complete Guide
The principles that make any apartment read as luxury, from layout and lighting layers to materials and editing, plus room-by-room ideas and a splurge vs. save guide.
Interior design for apartments, condos & rentals
Luxury Apartment Design, Made Practical
Luxury Apartment Design is your guide to making any apartment look high-end. We turn designer rules into clear measurements, renter-friendly upgrades and free tools, so your studio, one-bedroom or penthouse looks considered, calm and expensive without a renovation budget.
- 36 in-depth guides
- 9 free design tools
- 100% renter-aware advice
Designer ruleHang curtains 4–6 in. below the ceiling to make rooms feel taller
Start here
The essential Luxury Apartment Design guides
Small Spaces & Storage
Small Apartment Ideas: Layout, Storage & Decor Tips
Layout clearances, vertical storage, and designer tricks that make a small apartment feel bigger, calmer, and more expensive.
Design Inspiration
30 Apartment Decorating Ideas for Every Room and Budget
Thirty renter-friendly apartment decorating ideas grouped by room, each tagged by budget, plus a step-by-step plan for decorating an apartment from scratch.
Design Inspiration
How to Make Your Apartment Look Expensive on a Budget
Curtains hung high, warm layered light, bigger rugs and fewer, better objects: the designer moves that make any apartment look luxurious without a big budget.
Free interactive tools
Design tools that do the math for you
Every Luxury Apartment Design tool turns a designer rule of thumb into an instant answer. No sign-up, no downloads.
Interior Design Style QuizFind your style in 8 questionsOpen tool Room Color Palette Generator60-30-10 palettes with hex codesOpen tool Rug Size CalculatorThe right rug size for any roomOpen tool Art Hanging CalculatorExact nail height and spacingOpen tool Room Layout PlannerDrag-and-drop furniture plannerOpen tool Paint CalculatorGallons, primer and costOpen tool Room Lighting CalculatorLumens and a layered lighting planOpen tool Curtain Size CalculatorRod, panel width and lengthOpen tool Decorating Budget PlannerSplit your budget like a designerOpen tool
Quick check
How luxurious does your apartment look?
Tick everything that is true of your main living space. The Luxury Apartment Design score shows where you are already winning and the single change that will make the biggest difference next.
Browse by topic
Explore Luxury Apartment Design by room and topic
Our method
The five principles of luxury apartment design
After studying hundreds of beautiful small homes, we keep coming back to the same five ideas. Every Luxury Apartment Design guide is built on them, and none of them requires a bigger apartment or a bigger budget.
Scale
Fewer, larger pieces look calmer and more expensive than many small ones. Size rugs so furniture sits on them, choose art that fills about two-thirds of the wall space above a sofa, and hang curtains high and wide. Our rug size calculator and curtain size calculator get the proportions right.
Light
Luxury is lit in layers. Combine ambient, task and accent light, keep bulbs warm, and put everything you can on dimmers. Work out how many lumens each room needs with the room lighting calculator.
Texture
A tonal room comes alive with contrast in touch: bouclé next to leather, linen against plaster, oak beside marble. Texture is what makes a quiet luxury interior feel rich instead of flat.
Restraint
Edit ruthlessly. Clear surfaces, closed storage and a focused palette signal calm and quality. Our room-by-room declutter checklist is the fastest place to start.
Detail
Heavy hardware, tailored window treatments, framed art and well-chosen trim are the finishing touches that separate a high-end apartment from an ordinary one. See how to make your apartment look expensive for the full list.
Fresh from the journal
Latest from Luxury Apartment Design
Design Inspiration
Apartment Bedroom Ideas: Layout, Storage & Cozy Decor
Bed sizing, layouts, hidden storage, warm lighting and hotel-style bedding to make a small apartment bedroom feel calm, cozy and luxurious.
Renovations & Makeovers
Apartment Kitchen Ideas: Small, Rental & Galley Upgrades
Make a small rental kitchen look high-end with reversible upgrades, better lighting, smarter storage and layout-specific ideas for galleys, L-shapes and studios.
Design Inspiration
Apartment Living Room Ideas: Layouts, Decor & Sizing
Layouts, clearances, rug sizes, lighting and renter-friendly decor to make an apartment living room of any size feel calm, finished and high-end.
Design Inspiration
Quiet Luxury Interior Design: How to Get the Look
How to create the quiet luxury aesthetic at home: warm tonal neutrals, natural materials, substantial furniture and soft lighting, with a room-by-room plan for apartments.
Renovations & Makeovers
Renter Friendly Upgrades That Won't Cost Your Deposit
Lighting, hardware, removable wallpaper and smarter ways to hang art: renter friendly upgrades rated by cost, difficulty and how easily you can undo them.
Decor & Styling
Easy Home Decor Ideas: No-Skill Styling Moves
Clear surfaces, rearrange, restyle shelves and fix the lighting: simple home decor ideas that need no tools and can transform a room in a single weekend.
Why Luxury Apartment Design is different
Most interior design inspiration is shot in houses with high ceilings, huge windows and no landlord. Luxury Apartment Design starts from the opposite brief: the 600-square-foot one-bedroom, the studio with one window, the rental with builder-grade cabinets and a lease that says no nails. We show you how to get a high-end result inside those limits.
That is why every Luxury Apartment Design article includes real numbers. Instead of “choose a large rug,” we tell you to leave 12 to 18 inches of floor around it. Instead of “hang art at eye level,” we give you the formula for the exact nail height. When an idea needs a drill or a paintbrush, we flag it and offer a renter-friendly version.
Luxury apartment design for every room
Start with the apartment living room, where layout, rug size and lighting do most of the work. Move on to apartment bedroom ideas for a calm, hotel-style retreat, then tackle the kitchen and small bathroom with upgrades that come out when you move. If you live in one room, our studio apartment ideas show how to zone a single space into distinct areas.
Color, styling and small-space storage
Color is the cheapest way to change how a room feels. Explore pastel interior design, find out what color goes with lavender, or generate your own 60-30-10 scheme with the palette generator. For smaller homes, the small apartment ideas guide and our storage articles help every square foot work harder.
Whether you are furnishing a first apartment or refining a long-time home, Luxury Apartment Design gives you a clear next step, the right measurements and the confidence to get it right the first time.
Luxury Apartment Design FAQ
What is luxury apartment design?
Luxury apartment design is the practice of making an apartment look and feel high-end through proportion, layered lighting, quality materials, a restrained color palette and careful details such as hardware and window treatments. It is less about expensive furniture and more about scale, editing and finish, which is why it works in rentals and small spaces too.
How can I make my rental apartment look luxurious without renovating?
Focus on reversible changes with a big visual impact: hang curtains high and wide, buy a rug large enough for the furniture to sit on, swap harsh overhead light for warm lamps, replace cabinet hardware, add large-scale art and edit accessories. Our renter-friendly upgrades guide lists dozens of ideas that come out when you move.
What colors make an apartment look expensive?
Warm neutrals (greige, cream, mushroom, soft taupe), deep accents (navy, olive, oxblood, charcoal) and tonal schemes built from one hue in several shades tend to look most expensive. Use the 60-30-10 rule and natural materials such as wood, linen, wool and stone so the palette feels layered rather than flat.
Are the Luxury Apartment Design tools free?
Yes. Every tool on Luxury Apartment Design, including the style quiz, color palette generator, room layout planner and rug, curtain, paint, lighting and art calculators, is free to use with no sign-up, and works on phones, tablets and desktops.
How big should a rug be in an apartment living room?
In most apartment living rooms an 8x10 ft rug works best, with at least the front legs of the sofa and chairs resting on it and 12 to 18 inches of bare floor around the edges. In smaller rooms a 6x9 or 5x8 can work if the furniture is compact. Our rug size calculator gives an exact recommendation for your room.