Walking into junior Emily Orman’s studio apartment is like stepping into a Parisian dream. Like a modern-day Marie Antoinette, Emily artistically decorated her living space with an abundance of baby pinks, blues and cream-colored items along with French-style furnishings and adornments.

Oman’s studio apartment on Horatio Street lies at the very top of West Village, right along the Hudson River. She describes the process of looking for an apartment hectic, as she visited 30 different places before finally choosing one. Although Orman tried using two websites, StreetEasy and NoFeeRentals, she ultimately turned to a broker after neither proved successful.

“There was always something missing in the apartments that I looked at before,” Orman said. “I wanted a studio apartment and I really loved the location, so this apartment was perfect for me.”

After finding the place last May, Orman began renting out the apartment last August at a cost of $2,200 per month. Orman found that although searching for an apartment is intimidating and often times stressful, moving into an apartment is not any easier.

“When I found the place, it was completely empty so it was kind of scary to think about what it would actually look like once I had all my stuff moved in,” Orman said. “There was a time when I thought there was no way I’d be able to fit everything in. Also, I was studying abroad in Paris for the summer, so I wasn’t here to move stuff in.”

Many students purchase their dorm furnishings in-store from locations like Bed Bath & Beyond or Crate & Barrel. Orman, however, purchased her furniture from Ikea’s online shop, where purchases are delivered right to her door.

“When I got back from Paris, I picked out everything online and used Ikea for all my major furniture pieces, like my bed, dresser and couch,” Orman said. “When I got here in August, there were a bunch of boxes with all the furniture. My dad and I actually built all of it. The only thing they helped us with was the desk, but my dad used to be a carpenter so we built most of it ourselves.”

Although the process of moving in can be chaotic and exhausting, once the furniture is all set up, the fun part begins — decorating.

Decorating and maintaining the look and feel of a room is one of the more creative and innovative aspects of living in an apartment. Orman describes her apartment as Parisian-themed, with French-inspired pieces here and there.

“A lot of my decorations are from Urban Outfitters and some are from little places along the street that I saw,” Orman said. “I wanted my apartment to be Parisian-themed because I’ve been taking French for a while and I really like French culture. I also lived in Paris over the summer.”

Some of her favorite pieces include a cloth backdrop of the Eiffel Tower from Urban Outfitters, a set of Paris sketches purchased from a street market along the Seine River and a poster with the famous Marie Antoinette quote, “Let them eat cake” that a friend crafted as the Bid Day theme of Orman’s sorority.