Young adults are notorious for having living spaces that resemble dorm rooms, even after they graduate from college. This is fair, as they haven’t had time to accumulate all the items that help make up a home.
If you’re looking to help a young person feel more comfortable in their apartment, try gifting them some of the following items to spruce up their space.
1. A Dependable Mattress
Owning a mattress from IKEA is fine for young and spry bodies, but as a person ages, they’ll quickly realize they need a little more support throughout the night. Gifting your loved one a quality mattress can help them eliminate any back pain, as well as sleep better and feel more awake during the day — all things they need if they’re going to make their mark on the world.
2. Throw Pillows
It’s common knowledge that throw pillows can do wonders for transforming a room, with little to no effort. And since they’re not really a necessity, there’s a good chance the young adult in your life doesn’t have any. Help them decorate by getting them a wide variety of pillows. Experts recommend an odd number of pillows in both large and small sizes to create the homiest effect.
3. Decorative Lamps
Again, that floor lamp from Kmart likely served the young adults in your life well in college. But, now that they’re living in the real world, they deserve a light source with a little more pizazz. Getting them a couple of decorative lamps to place on end tables can brighten their living room. Or, if they’re lucky enough to have an office, try an elegant floor lamp that casts a warm glow.
4. Pots and Pans
Chances are your son, daughter, niece or nephew has a set of well-worn pots and pans that carried them through many late nights of making ramen during college. However, it’s time to scrap these shoddy cooking devices and upgrade to pots and pans that won’t shed their Teflon coating with every meal. Try gifting them a set that includes a couple of different sizes, so they can experiment with cooking various dishes.
5. Curtains
Not only are curtains a happy, decorative touch to an otherwise forlorn room, but they also provide a functional purpose: blocking out peeping Toms. Plus, if you grab a blackout curtain for your loved one’s bedroom, they may sleep better through the night without street lights or car headlights flashing through every couple of minutes.
6. Area Rugs
Many young people avoid buying area rugs for one simple reason: they’re expensive for what you’re getting and that money could be better spent elsewhere. So why not treat them to a decorative feast for their feet and eyes? To achieve a more traditional look, measure the size of the living area and then choose a rug the next size up to ensure proper floor coverage.
Build the Pieces of a Real Home
There’s no need for young adults to invest in fancy or expensive home décor and kitchenware while in college; after all, they’ll just be living in these spaces for four years. But after they graduate and move out on their own, it’s time to start assembling the building blocks of a real home. Help them achieve that goal with one or more of these thoughtful gifts.
