There are many reasons why people choose to live in a rental apartment rather that purchasing a house. No matter your living situation, everyone deserves for the place they come home to every day to feel like home. One of the most common ways we do so is by adding personal touches that are tweaked to our own routines and aesthetic preferences. When you own a house, you have pretty free reign to do this. In a rental apartment, however, things get a bit trickier.
Typically, major changes must be approved by the landlord, for instance. If you’re living in a rental apartment for economic reasons, you may not have the funds to undergo major renovations in the first place. Luckily, there are actually lots of little things you can do to decorate the rental without making permanent changes. Here’s a list of some of our favourites.
The kitchen is one of the trickier rooms in the home to decorate. Most major changes seem to involve ripping out the old floor, making expensive alterations to the kitchen fronts and cupboards, or replacing major appliances. Usually, these kinds of changes require the help of a professional.
In recent times there have been some simple and creative innovations that can help you to bypass all the headaches of kitchen decoration. One such solution comes in the form of self-adhesive kitchen tiles. Simply place these stick-on tiles over the originals, and no one will be able to know that you didn’t replace them completely! These self-adhesives open up whole world of new possibilities for you and your home decorating potential. You can even mix and match sticker tiles like we see in this kitchen.
If you’re looking to add some non-permanent decorations to your apartment, it’s time to take to the walls. In this guide we will be covering several options for enhancing the decorative scheme in your rental apartment. To start, let’s talk about how you can hang things with relatively low impact on the walls. Here we’re talking about using common hooks. These hooks are ideal for things like curtain rods as well as decorations that aren't too heavy.
Oftentimes you can find common hooks at the hardware store that only leave a small pinhole when you ultimately decide to remove them from the wall. Therefore, you can use them to your heart’s content without worrying about what kind of damage they might have done to the walls once it’s time for you to move out. Plus, common hooks have plenty of decorative variations, including these simple wooden hooks by Utology.
With the help of your newfound common hooks, you can now hang up some lovely curtains in your apartment. Drapes add a sense of cohesion and thoughtfulness to the overall look of the space. Additionally, they’re pretty easy to install. Some bold curtains like the ones pictured here can really do a lot to significantly change the room’s look. This is an excellent way to add colour and visual intrigue to a room with white walls. You can easily swap out the curtains too, as your own personal preferences change.
Curtains are fresh and fun ways to add décor without cluttering up the home with objects that are strictly ornamental. Choose curtains on the sheer side to help sunlight penetrate or opt for opaque curtains in the bedroom so that you can sleep in when you want to.
If you’re looking to cover more of the empty space on your wall, a tapestry is useful. Incorporating a tapestry is a good way to add more textiles to the space, a technique that can help make the room feel more sumptuous and dynamic. They can often be found for a low price, and are typically pretty large.
Alternatively, tapestries can be smaller and more intricate like the one pictured here. The beauty of tapestries is that they come in countless themes and designs to fit an array of aesthetic tastes. What’s more is that they are light and easy to hang. In fact, you can also use some common hooks or a curtain rod to display your tapestry.
If tapestries aren’t really your thing, or if you don’t feel like they are suitable you’re your apartment, you can always add some wall decals instead. Today, adhesive sticker murals are just as diverse in colour and style as tapestries are. They can really bring a lot of interest and vibrancy to a room as well.
For example, this adhesive sticker mural includes elements of motion that spread across the space. In this way, they cause a rather simple living room to come alive. Moreover, sticker murals leave no trace on the walls upon removal. This way, you can add as many as you want to the walls without worrying that they will damage the paint job beneath.
Another classic means of decorating your home is to display items of interest on a bookcase. Rental apartments are no exception as a freestanding bookshelf is ideal for this space anyway. The reason for this is that a freestanding bookshelf allows you to avoid nailing shelves directly into the wall. Thus, we recommend that you invest in some freestanding bookcases that suit your decor style.
Like the other suggestions on this list, there are plenty of different bookshelf designs to choose from. Such styles range from industrial or minimal like we can see in this example, to rustic and regal classic. Bookshelves accommodate an array of different objects including, but not limited to, your favourite novels or cookbooks. You can certainly store other ornaments or mementos here as well. Furthermore, standing ladders are trendy at the moment, so don’t be afraid to experiment with one in your bookcase ensemble.
Another decorative option that doesn’t necessarily require you to do anything to the walls is a statement mirror. Choosing a tall mirror that you simply lean against a wall will help you to take full advantage of the vertical space in the apartment. Mirrors don’t simply make a statement with their pretty frames, either. Placing your mirror at an angle will also create a more flattering reflection by making you look a bit taller and leaner.
The mirror doesn’t have to be floor length for you to lean it against the wall. Smaller mirrors can be propped up on top of a dresser, table, or cabinet as well. They can help to make the room to appear bigger than it actually is by multiplying perceived space.
Just as you we suggested with regard to the statement mirror, try leaning your artwork against the wall rather than hanging it. Large pieces, like the forced perspective photograph shown here, can simply be set up on the floor. For heavy art pieces or artwork with imposing frames, propping them against the wall will allow you to avoid having to drilling heavy-duty hooks into the wall.
As for smaller pieces, you can either go with a frame that has a leg at the back for propping it up on a shelf or other surface. Alternatively you can set the photo in a bookshelf or display cabinet and prop it up against the back for support. Essentially, if you can find a way to refrain from drilling large hooks into the walls of your rental, we seriously suggest taking that route. It’ll save you some grief in the future.
Finally, if you’re looking to add some life to the space, perhaps you should get literal about it. By this we mean that adding some living, breathing plants or flowers to the room, you’ll be able to reinvigorate it in many ways. For one, the presence of nature within an interior helps to foster a sense of spatial harmony, and they can purify the air. Further, surrounding yourself with plants is proven to improve concentration, enhance creativity, and promote relaxation.
Tending to your plants on a regular basis may even help inspire you to take better care of the surrounding areas in your home. Pairing multiple plants of different shapes and sizes will certainly create a more unique and interesting look. Flowers will also bring plenty of fresh fragrances to the space.
If you found this ideabook useful, check out these ways you can beautify the bathroom in your rental apartment. Happy decorating!