The best curtains for a pint sized apartment

If you are a city dweller, a studio apartment may be the only affordable option if you are looking to live in a prized neighborhood on a budget. Whether you're squeezing into a small space on New York's Upper East Side or cramming into a petit flat in London's West End, you can reside in the priciest neighborhoods in the world if you don't mind condensing your life into a one room studio.

However, what your apartment may lack in size you can more than make up for in charm. By choosing decor that plays into the size of your space, you can make even the tiniest apartment feel roomy.

When choosing window treatments for your studio, don't look into curtains that will overwhelm the area. Since you won't have a lot of space to work with, using large heavy drapes will dictate the entire look of your room, take up valuable space and make the atmosphere in an already cramped apartment feel heavy.

Sheers are one exception to the drape rule in that they are lighter and airier than heavy velvet blackout drapes but can be used to make a room feel tallers. If you hang a sheer high above the top of the window, you will accentuate the height of your ceilings and make the space feel even taller.

However, the best bet for smaller apartments are window treatments that don't reach the floor at all. A roman shade will be perfectly functional in blocking natural right and maintaining privacy while also feeding into the room's aesthetic. Because these shades invoke fine quality clothes as opposed to slatted or venetian blinds which can appear industrial.

In other parts of the studio, choose simpler furniture that doesn't overwhelm the room but instead exposes as much bare wall and flooring as possible.