As someone who has rented her entire adult life, moving to a new place can seem a bit…blah. These spaces are usually generic, temporary, and a bit vanilla. Basic cream colored walls? Check. Slightly dated cabinets? Check. A wall-to-wall beige carpet without an ounce of personality? Check and check! To give the impression that a rental House means going beyond basic white walls and infusing your space with intention and personality. And luckily, you don’t have to break the bank to do it.
Ahead, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite ways to make a rental (or any home) feel like your own—no major renovation required.
photo above from our interview with Chloé Crane-Leroux by Michelle Nash
Give your home a signature scent
Signature fragrances are so chic. Scent has the power to draw you to a very specific time and place, so why not do the same for your home? Keeping a candle in your entryway or reed diffusers in your bathroom is a subtle but beautiful way to make a rental feel like home. You can even take a travel-size candle with you every time you go on vacation, so you can take a little piece of home with you wherever you go.
I like to swap out home fragrances throughout the seasons. I choose bright, fruity and clean scents for spring and summer, warm and spicy scents for fall and woody scents for winter. We always keep a candle in the entryway, and it’s always nice to walk into our home and immediately smell something beautiful.
Improve the lighting
Most rentals have built-in overhead lighting, with no bright fixtures. More often than not, they also come with cool bulbs, which can turn your living room into a doctor’s waiting room, with no ambiance. We never turn on the dreaded big light in my rental and have instead added tons of lamps with warm bulbs. The effect is so much cozier!
Another tenant tip is to swap light fixtures. Our rental came with a weird, overly modern light fixture in the dining room, and we traded it in for a crystal chandelier. It instantly elevated the entire space and made a world of difference. You can do it yourself or hire an electrician. We ended up hiring a task bunny and they did an incredible job. Lighting is often overlooked, but good lighting affects the entire ambiance of your space.
Exchange the equipment (and keep the originals!)
One of the biggest impact and least effort upgrades is trading in your hardware. Change cabinet knobs, drawer pulls and even shower heads. I replaced a handheld shower head with a rain shower head and I’m glad I made the switch every day! Plus, it was so easy to do myself. Choose finishes that match your aesthetic (like brass, silver, or matte black) and remember to keep the originals in a labeled bag on moving day.
Add plants
When it comes to decorating a space, plants are still the missing piece of the puzzle. Plants literally bring life to a space, they add texture and color and can balance even the most delicate spaces. Add small plants to surfaces like coffee tables and shelves, and opt for larger, statement plants to place in sunny corners.
When adding a new plant to your home, be aware of where you want it to live and how much sun the area receives. Different plants have different light and watering needs, so just make sure you know what your home offers and what the plants’ needs are. Speaking from experience, doing this research beforehand can save you some heartache and a dead plant. The more you know!
Paint
One of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to completely transform a space is paint. Simply replacing beige walls with crisp white can make a rental feel like home. The right paint color can transform a space from boring to bold, whether you’re going for vibrant or neutral.
If painting an entire room seems intimidating, painting smaller areas can still pack a punch. I painted the inside of my front door pink during our last three rentals, and the effect is night and day. It adds so much playfulness and fun to our entryway, and now our house doesn’t feel like home without the pink door. Plus, the amount of paint needed for one door is not large, so the entire project only costs about $10. A good deal!
Try peel and stick wallpaper
One of my very first tenant-friendly design projects was adding peel and stick wallpaper to our laundry room. I chose a simple leafy green print for the wall, then added some woven baskets to hide our laundry supplies. Instead of opening the doors and seeing bright orange Tide bottles lined up on a shelf, we were greeted by a beautiful print and natural textures. I remember gasping the first time I opened the doors and did a little dance. That’s the day I fell head over heels in love with peel and stick wallpaper, and I’ve been using it ever since.
Even a simple, neutral print can change the mood of a room and make a rental feel like home. I especially like adding wallpaper to smaller spaces: you can be a little bolder in a powder room, for example, which is always fun. If you’re applying peel and stick wallpaper yourself, give yourself a whole afternoon to do it – it takes more time than you think! I will also say that I have never had a problem with moving, just be gentle and take your time when it is time to move or if you are ready for something new.
Add a Temporary Backsplash
The world of peel and stick knows no bounds, and one way to make a rental feel like home is to give your kitchen a little extra love. A temporary backsplash is a wonderful way to add life and color to a rental kitchen. In my experience, these spaces always make me want to know more. Rental kitchens typically include very basic appliances, honey oak cabinets, and dull countertops. But a temporary splashback is as simple as peeling and sticking wallpaper, but on a much smaller scale.
Even if you don’t have a rental kitchen, tiling can be expensive. Why not try peel and stick tiles? Other ways to infuse personality and charm into a rental kitchen include framed artwork, displaying fresh ingredients, and not shying away from beautiful tools. A beautiful vase filled with wooden spoons, a nice salt and pepper container, or an organized spice rack can go a long way.
Create daily ritual corners
Intention is everything. It doesn’t matter whether you own your home or not: how you live in it is what truly makes it yours. What better way to make a rental feel like home than to create ritual corners every day? Try to designate small areas in your rental for your daily habits, such as a coffee stationa reading corner, or a meditation space.
These areas don’t have to be complicated: placing a comfortable chair, a small lamp and a small table in one corner is the perfect layout for a corner. The key is of course to live in these spaces. Really spend time in the little sacred places and corners of your home to make them truly yours.
Whether you rent or own, it’s the small, intentional design choices you make that transform a house into a home. Small changes can create big changes, so start with a single surface, wall or corner. You deserve to love where you live!
The position 8 Design Details That Make a Rental Feel Like Home appeared first on Camille Styles.
