Neutral white walls, mismatched second hand furniture and an eclectic mix of plates and cutlery, must be a rental property. A rental property doesn’t need to be so bland. Here are three easy tips to making your rental property feel more like home.
1. Insert a bit of colour.
Paint is a great way to brighten up your flat and at £25 a can it’s cost effective too. Most landlords won’t mind if you re-decorate but if your personal taste is outlandish (think bright pink walls) they may request that you return the property back to its original state when you leave.
Before you make any changes it is imperative that you seek approval from your landlord first. The landlord may even pay for the paint if you offer to do all the manual work.
2. Choose statement pieces that you can take with you
When furnishing your new place, choose pieces that are easy to pick up and take with you. Smaller items such as light fittings, lamps and rugs are easy items to remove that help your new place look more homely.
The nomadic life of a renter means that with no fixed residency you may not want to spend money on furniture that may not suit or worse fit into your next property. If you live a transient lifestyle bespoke furniture hire might be a better option for you.
3. It’s all in the details.
You’re not in high school anymore so retire those old movie posters in favor of unique artist prints. Many artists these days create limited prints of their work that won’t break the bank. Prints start at around £20 and can go up to £500.
If you shop around at markets such as Spitalfields and Brick Lane you can find some great artist works.
Photos are also a great way to show you actually live at your flat. IKEA stock some cheap photo frames, or for a more individual, eclectic look grab some old photo frames from your local charity shop.
Just because you are renting doesn’t mean that you home needs to look drab. If you are not prepared to invest in a few brushes and paint remember an oversized vase with flowers go a long way.
The author of this post writes for Roomservice by CORT the UK’s leading home furniture hire provider.
We traveled here with our three daughters, the youngest being 14. The place was very nice inside. Almost too nice. We were afraid to really use it. It was decorated beautifully. Like a show home. It was very clean. The master bed gave us a little bit of a sore back by the time morning came each day. Somehow I must have missed in the description that the washer/dryer were not inside the unit, but inside the garage. To use them you had to prearrange it (as they have a tenant who also uses them), go outside & thru the garage door. It would have been difficult to know when to prearrange a time to use it, as we were on vacation, & didn’t know when we would be there from day to day. Thus, we really never did our laundry. Big disadvantage, as we did not travel directly home & had to do our laundry upon arrival at our next destination. At the end of each day we would have liked to have watched some tv as a family, but the main family area did not have a tv, although each bedroom did. The property keeper is the daughter of the owner. She is very pleasant. We probably would not stay here again. We would like to have a place that is more casual, with washer/dryer inside the unit, & a main place to watch tv as a family.