Living in a studio apartment may limit you physically, but it doesn't have to cramp your imagination. What you can or cannot do with your living room design is entirely in your hands. In fact, if you want to turn your living room into beach front property, that is entirely possible.

A potted palm tree is surprisingly affordable and looks great inside. If you lay down a large section of artificial turf, the effect of the tree is enhanced ten-fold. A huge backdrop in the form of a beach painting will turn your studio apartment into a tropical hideaway. By the way, you don't have to spend a thousand dollars at an art store for the painting. A search of the local thrift stores will usually turn up wonderful paintings, photos or prints for no more than twenty dollars. If you want to go all out on this beach theme, you may add a child's tiny wading pool. Fill it a quarter-full with water and put play sand in the middle for a sandbar. Place a colorful pail of sand on top for an added touch.

Paint three of the walls and the ceiling eggshell white. Apply a seal brown, or taupe-pattern of wallpaper to the fourth wall. Add curtains with a design similar to that of the wallpaper. A circular straw matt in the middle of the floor, and set off by a large floor vase of dried flowers will complete the look. By the way, this is an excellent design to use with a room divider.

In most cases, simple elegance is what gives an apartment studio a feeling of both charm and space. You can paint your central room old lace, and lay down a white sheepskin throw rug. A small, stately dining room set works well. You don't have to buy a Hans Wegner set. A simple, well-polished oak table with matching chairs works just fine, especially if you top it with tall, white candles. A clock with Roman numerals works great in this setting, as does a stand with wildflowers.

The number one thing that many people often don't realize when decorating and designing their living space is that they are doing it so that it matches their focal feature in their home. For many people, this focal point in the living room will be either the fireplace or the big screen flat panel television. This is a mistake that you should absolutely try to avoid. Try taking a different outlook and think of your entire living room as the main focal point.

A thing that most living rooms and family rooms have is a large floor rug. Sometimes, people just simply slap a large rug dead in the center of their living room and leave it at that, but you shouldn't do that because it seems very sloppy and makes it look like you didn't put any thought into the placement of the rug. Good design practices entails that you should always place your rug in such a way that allows some pieces of furniture such as a part of your couch, coffee table, or small table to sit on top of the rug. This will give the impression that everything is connected to one another is all coherent.