One of the biggest downsides to renting is that you can’t make any permanent changes to the property to personalise it. You can still make your rental property feel like “yours” if you use a few clever decorating and furnishing tricks.
Use matching colours
By using matching soft furnishings, like cushions, curtains, rugs and bedding, you can make a place feel more like you, especially if you have a particular theme. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to paint any walls, so this is how you bring your favourite hues in. Painting your own furniture is also a possibility, but make sure you don’t splash the floor…
Try removable wall stickers
Discuss this with your landlord first, as they might not like the idea of stickers, but they are ideal for decorating a wall without marking or damaging it. They’re great for children’s rooms or for creating a feature wall. Speaking of removable, fridge magnets are a brilliant way to personalise your kitchen and anywhere else with a large expanse of blank metal.
Employ rugs, throws and lots of cushions
Soft furnishings like these add texture, colour and personality to a space and they’re guaranteed not to damage anything!
Shine a light
A lamp can make a huge difference to a dim corner and offer opportunities to change the colour and ambience of the light and the space. A good lamp opens out a room, too.
If you replace the ceiling lightbulbs with your own choices, do inform the landlord and keep hold of the original ones because they’ll have been used to assess the property’s Energy Performance Certificate. When you leave, put the older bulbs back if necessary.
Bring some plants in
A good bank of foliage can bring life into a space, especially if you use colourful pots and planters. Houseplants can help to clean the air within a building, if NASA is to be believed.
Change your shower curtain
Possibly the easiest way to bring “you” into the bathroom is to swap out the plain, utilitarian shower curtain with something you’ll enjoy looking at as you soak.
If you can’t hang, then lean
You can’t knock a nail into the wall but you can lean things against it. Try leaning a big mirror or two against a suitable wall (maybe use some padding on the mirror to make sure you don’t scuff the paint) or rest a print on top of the mantelpiece.
