10 Small Living Room Ideas That Cost Under $100
Share
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase — at no extra cost to you. We only share products we'd actually buy ourselves. Thanks for supporting The Apt Edit! Read our full disclosure policy.
This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
When we moved into our first place together, the living room was the part we were most excited about, and the part that stressed us out the most. It's tiny. Like, "where is the couch even supposed to go" tiny. We spent the first month tripping over each other and a coffee table that was way too big, convinced you needed a real budget to make a small space feel like a home.
You don't. We've tried pretty much every small apartment decor idea on a budget we could find, and these are the ones that actually worked for us. Most of these cost us under $40. None tops $100 for a single item. And a couple we put off for months because we assumed they'd be expensive, and they weren't.
Here's what actually made our living room feel bigger, warmer, and like ours.
1. A mirror leaning against the wall
The single cheapest way we made the room feel twice its size. We didn't even hang it — we just leaned a tall mirror against the wall opposite the window and suddenly there was double the light and double the perceived depth. Renters, take note: leaning means no holes, no commitment, no lost deposit.
We were skeptical at first. It felt lazy rather than intentional. But it honestly looks like a deliberate design move, and we've never gone back to a wall-mounted version since. The gold frame ended up tying the whole room together in a way we didn't expect from a $40 purchase.
Around $40. BEAUTYPEAK 56"x21" Rounded Corner Full Length Mirror — Gold
2. Swap your lamp shades (or the whole lamp)
Overhead apartment lighting is brutal — it's designed to illuminate every inch of the room under the worst conditions, not to make the space feel like somewhere you actually want to be. The fix that changed everything for us was turning off the ceiling light at night and using two small warm-toned lamps instead. Pools of soft light make a small room feel cozy and settled instead of just... lit.
This sounds like a small change. It is not a small change. It is possibly the fastest $40 we've ever spent on making a space feel like home.
A pair of ceramic table lamps runs around $40 for the set. Reaketon 20" Ceramic Table Lamps, Set of 2
3. A washable rug to define the space
In a small or open living room, a rug tells your eye where the "room" starts and ends. Without one, seating areas float and the whole space reads smaller than it is. After learning our lesson the hard way with a rug that was way too small (more on that at the end), we sized up to a 4'x6' washable one, because we eat on the couch, life happens on it, and we'd very much like our security deposit back someday.
We went back and forth on whether machine-washable would look cheap up close. It doesn't. This one has a warm tan botanical print that looks genuinely nice in person, holds up wash after wash, and the non-slip backing means it stays put without a rug pad or anything adhesive you'd regret at move-out.
Around $35 for a 4'x6'. Lahome Boho Washable Area Rug, 4x6, Tan Botanical Print
4. Floating shelves instead of a bookcase
A bookcase ate floor space we didn't have. Two floating shelves on the wall gave us room for books, a trailing plant, and a few framed photos without giving up a single inch of floor.
Fair warning: if you're in a rental and worried about drilling, use proper anchors into studs and you'll be fine. Patch the holes with a $3 spackle pen when you move. The shelves will hold way more than you think, and the visual impact is massive for the footprint.
These solid wood ones look genuinely nice up close, which isn't always a given at this price point.
Around $35 for a set of two. BAOBAB WORKSHOP solid wood floating shelves, set of 2
5. Throw pillows that don't match (on purpose)
The fastest, lowest-commitment way to add personality. We mixed two textures and one loose pattern on the couch, and it went from "furnished apartment" to "someone actually lives here." Buying pillow covers rather than full pillows means you can swap the look seasonally without buying new inserts, cheaper and less wasteful.
If you're only going to do one thing on this list today, honestly, it's this one. Takes fifteen minutes and makes an embarrassingly big difference.
A set of four covers runs around $28. Fancy Homi neutral throw pillow covers, set of 4
6. A small-scale coffee table (or a tray on an ottoman)
Our first coffee table was a mistake. Too big, wrong scale, blocked the main walkway. We were literally turning sideways to get to the kitchen. We replaced it with a storage ottoman that has a flip-top tray, and suddenly we had a coffee table, somewhere to rest our feet, and hidden storage for blankets all in one piece. The scale finally matched the room and we gained about three feet of breathing space.
In a small living room, multifunctional furniture isn't just a nice-to-have. It's the whole strategy.
Around $45 for a storage ottoman with wooden tray top. Decent Home Storage Ottoman with Wooden Tray
7. Peel-and-stick anything
This is the renter cheat code that took us embarrassingly long to use. We did one accent wall with peel-and-stick grasscloth wallpaper and it's still the first thing anyone comments on when they come over. It went up in an afternoon, it looks genuinely like real wallpaper up close, and it peels off clean when it's time to move. No tools, no paste, no security deposit conversation we don't want to have.
One roll covers about 30 square feet and runs around $22. Look for NuWallpaper specifically. It's the most consistently renter-reviewed brand we've found, and the grasscloth texture hides imperfect walls better than flat designs do.
Around $22 per roll. NuWallpaper Neutral Grasscloth Peel & Stick Wallpaper
8. Plants (even fake ones, we won't tell)
Greenery softens hard corners and makes a space feel cared-for. We have two real low-maintenance ones in the bright spots near the window, and honestly, one very convincing fake in the dark corner behind the TV where real things go to die. Nobody has called us out on it in months.
The fake one has not moved. It is thriving. It requires nothing from us. It is our favorite plant.
Around $20. ROVALA faux pothos plant
9. A slim storage piece that hides the clutter
Small living rooms get messy faster because there's nowhere for anything to go. A set of woven baskets gave our random stuff an actual home: chargers in one, an extra blanket in another, the remote graveyard in the third. Less visible clutter immediately makes a room read as bigger and more intentional without buying any new furniture.
The difference between a cluttered small room and a cozy small room is usually just stuff having a place to live.
Around $32 for a set of three. Homepeaz woven storage baskets, set of 3
10. Warm string or curtain lights
This one sounds like a dorm room idea, and we resisted it for exactly that reason. We were wrong. A strand of warm 3000K string lights along the curtain rod or a shelf edge gives the whole room a soft evening glow that overhead lights simply can't replicate. It's the thing that finally made the space feel like somewhere we actually wanted to spend time, not just a place we happened to sleep.
Look for 3000K specifically. That's the warm amber tone. Anything higher (4000K, 5000K) goes cool and clinical and defeats the whole point.
Under $20 for a full strand. Brightown 300 LED warm white curtain lights
One thing that didn't work for us
We'll be straight with you: our first rug was too small. We bought something that fit neatly in front of the couch and it made the whole seating area look like a doormat in the middle of a room. The rule we learned the hard way: in a living room, the front legs of the sofa should sit on the rug, not float in front of it. We ended up donating the small one and sizing up, and the room changed overnight.
If you're buying a rug for a seating area, go bigger than feels obvious. You can always return it if it's too much, but in our experience, nobody has ever complained that their rug was too large.
That's the whole list. None of it required a homeowner's freedom, a real budget, or more than an afternoon to put in place. Start with the mirror and the lamps if you only do two things, those gave us the biggest return for the least effort and the least money.