In most rental homes, tenants can only make superficial changes to their living environments. This often means they are not even allowed to paint the walls or hang pictures on nails. This forces us to seek more creative ways to decorate our apartments and rental homes. Don’t let those stark white walls scare you away from making your rental a cozy place to stay. Try these landlord-approved rental decorating ideas.
Decorate with wall art. If you cannot paint your walls, you can still make them a unique part of your home by personalizing them with art. Paintings, photos, sculptural pieces: These all help to give your rental a personal touch. However, nail holes can make walls look unsightly. Instead, hang your art with wall hooks that stick with double-sided tape; these hooks usually don’t damage the paint as long as they are removed carefully.
Replace faucets and fixtures. You can give your kitchen or bathroom a whole new look with a different, more modern faucet. Even a new shower head can give you a more spa-like experience–plus, you can get shower heads that reduce water usage for a reasonable price. Consider updating fixtures in the home with more modern ones (and change them to the original ones before moving out).
Warm it up with rugs. Do you have hardwood flooring throughout, like I do? Without any rugs, a home with hard flooring can look and feel cold. Large area rugs work wonders in living and dining rooms, and runners are great in hallways. A small accent rug helps to collect dirt by the entry door. Even if you have carpeting in your living room, an area rug can help “pull” your room together and give it a homier atmosphere.
Hang curtains to soften windows. You can buy pretty inexpensive curtains to help soften up any room, and they are pretty easy to install. If there are no curtain rods, you may have to buy and drill one above each window. Panels, draperies and swags can help define your style, provide privacy and block out sunlight.
Design your lighting. Change out light bulbs in each room to achieve the desired effect. Incandescent lamps can have a softer appearance, while fluorescent ones provide bright light. You can replace them with energy-efficient ones if you like. Remember to layer your lighting to achieve the effect you like; use general, task and accent lighting and use each type as needed. Light fixtures can also make a statement about your overall style.
Related Content:
Decorating Your Apartment or Rental Home
Basic Home Essentials for Your First Apartment
How to Survive Apartment Living