Happy Wednesday friends! At this point I feel like all days kind of blend into each other. But today I wanted to chat about how to make home yours while renting.
Often people on my social channels can’t believe we rent – why would you put money into a space that isn’t yours. Honestly, we haven’t put much in. The items that we haven’t upgraded ( window coverings, thermostats, lighting, appliances garage etc ) have been through partnerships or we had the wood/materials on hand.
You wouldn’t believe how far a can of paint can go.
I thought it would be fun to talk about how to make home yours while renting and give you my biggest tips for making your space extra cozy and personality filled.
How To Make Home Yours While Renting
1. Paint
If you’re allowed to paint – do it. Paint can go such a long way in making a space yours. When we moved into our home it was painted grey. The actual colour of grey was really pretty, but since our home is so so dark, it made the space feel very gloomy and sad.
Since we had a really hard time matching the grey that was on the walls, we have slowly painted the house white. We have used “Simply White” from Benjamin Moors and we had it colour matched at Cloverdale paint.
Since our home is all the same colour white, it is super easy to fill holes when needed.
Although I can’t stress enough, if you don’t know how to properly paint, maybe don’t.
Quick Story: When we moved into our last rental the renter had painted quite a few of the rooms white. BUT, she had done such a poor job. It was streaky and you could see the colour underneath. At the ceiling it was so awful – we ended up having to fix everything to painted as it looked so bad.
Also, don’t choose a bright and vibrant colour. That isn’t fair to the landlord and it isn’t fair to the next renters. When you’re renting, stick with neutral colours that will be pleasing to anyone living in the space.
2. Change out the light fixtures
like #1, if you do not know how to properly change out light fixtures, you might want to skip this step or hire an electrician. But changing out the lighting can go a long way in making a space feel like it’s yours.
When we moved in two years ago that was one of the first things we did. We changed out all the overhead lighting to our own lighting and it made the space feel a lot more personalized and cozy.
We have a big rubbermade bin in our garage with the landlords lights stored in, so when we move out, we can re-install them all. It might sound like a lot of work, but our lighting is really customized to our style and this is such a big step in changing the vibe of the room.
Below is clickable pictures to all the lights in our home.
3. Area Rugs in Every Room
Like lights, an area rug that fits a space will speak volumes about your personal style and make a space feel more personalized.
In our home, we have area rugs in every room of our home. Since we really dislike the laminate flooring throughout our home, we have covered up a lot of it with area rugs.
For a list of some of the area rugs in our home, click here.
I love buying area rugs from here.
One thing to remember when buying area rugs is if you have rooms that join or an open layout, you need to match them somewhat to each other so they do not clash. In our home, the entrance is off of our living room. So we have a neutral jute in our entrance and a patterned rug in the living room.
I also recently ordered this jute rug to match our entrance jute rug that will go in the hallway.
You don’t want to have two patterned rugs next to each other if they aren’t in the same colour family as it could clash.
4. Plants
Adding faux and real plants into every room of our home has created a space that feels alive. Not only do plants make a space look more aesthetically pleasing, but they also help clean the air of your home!
I love real stems for my vases and below I’ve linked a few of my favourite faux plants that make home yours while renting.
4. Adding Artwork
One of the biggest ways to make a space feel like you, is adding artwork. If you’re on a super tight budget, check on my recent blog on DIY artwork. I also blogged how to make vintage rug artwork. We have art in our home from Minted, Opposite Wall, Poster Store, Creative Co-op and many other places. My most FAVOURITE piece of “art” is our Frame TV though. There are so many possibilities and you can even add your own artwork onto it!
I also love to have picture ledges in our spaces. They’re so easy to make, I have a DIY here. You can also buy them pretty inexpensively.
5. Accent Furniture
Are you not allowed to hang photos or paint? Adding accent furniture is a way that you can infuse style into your space with no damage. Having a sofa table in an entrance with layered art, a key dish and some vases – or having side tables on either side of your sofa or in between chairs with a decorative lamp and stack of books is a way to make your home yours.
I like adding decorative baskets with plants in them to corners as well, blanket ladders, leaning mirrors and floor lamps are other ways you can decorate your home without putting damage into the walls.
If you want to hang photos but you’re not allowed to use nails, command strips are a really great route to go. They allow photos to stick to the wall and when it comes time to leave, you just carefully pull the command strips off the wall.
I hope this helps you in the effort to make home yours while renting. There are honestly so many little things you can do in making home super cozy.
I always say, if you can turn your home back to how it was when you first received the keys, there shouldn’t be an issue in doing it.
Most importantly, the key is to be respectful and take pride in every home you live in.
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