If you rent an apartment wishing you could make it look like your dream home, wish no more!
There is a way to do it.
Don’t you just love watching those renovation shows taking down walls, installing amazing countertops and backsplashes, while you’re sitting in your small rental apartment, not allowed to do any of these things?
Welcome to my world!
I’ve been living in rentals since I was born, I was living in someone else’s interior design, not allowed to do much to the space, and on top of it, had to share a room with my little brother (when you’re a teenage girl, still sharing a room with your brother it is not pleasant!)
The point I'm getting at is that I was forced to be creative with the space I was given and make the best of it to suit my needs.
I don’t know when I will own my own house so until that day comes, I am going to treat my rentals as my dream home, as close to it as possible.
So we are not allowed to break or add walls etc, and to be honest, why would we spend money on someone else’s property? So to answer that question; first of all, because we live in it now...and we’re not talking about massive renovation projects...all I’m saying is you can improve it by manipulating the small space, through decorating to fit our needs and make our rentals look like those catalogue rooms on Pinterest and those Reno shows. Improve does not equal expensive. Just need creativity and good design.
There are many designers out there that specialises in small spaces (like me :) ) but you could also do it yourself. With a little research and good planning, you will be able to turn your rental into your dream home. Here is how you going to do it:
Learn to compromise
Compromising isn’t a bad word. Like anything in life, except your health and safety of yourself and your family, you’ll have to compromise.
Renters might have to compromise a little more but good things come with hard work! I really wanted a light grey sectional couch in my new 1 bedroom rental but it was also important to me to have a sleeper sofa in case I have guests. The sleeper sofas that were the right color and super comfortable were also super expensive! So I compromised and went with a darker grey, more affordable sleeper sectional. It was still in my color range theme design, I didn’t blow up my budget and it actually has extra storage space as well which is a major plus in small spaces.
Don’t get fixated on furniture, have a range of options in your design, in terms of colors, shapes, texture etc so there is room for adjustments in case things like money or size issues arrows.
Work with what you have!
Like any great entrepreneur will tell you, start with what you have, start with your means. Don’t think about what you don’t have and can’t afford, think about what you have and how you can turn it into what you want.
We all have images in our minds of our perfect home. We see beautiful room designs and wish we could do the same with ours.
The truth is that you can improve any room and it doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many tricks in the book and all you need is creativity and good research.
If you start from scratch and need to buy everything for your rental, it’s much more easier. If you already have existing furniture and want a new look there are few ways to go with:
Paint - You can paint over pretty much anything these days (buy the right paint for the right surface). In rentals, make sure you are allowed to paint walls and anything that comes with the rental (fixed cabinets, doors etc). I had a wooden bed frame that was very dates and I had a beachy vibe going on with the rest of my room (my rental was by the beach) so I white washed the bed frame to suit the room design.
Fabric - many furnitures like IKEA can be reupholstered. Just buy the new color and put it on. But if you can’t change the fabric, you can use cushions and rugs to create the look you want. Again, work with what you have - if you saw a design you like, it’s because you like the color theme of the room or the way the furnitures were placed in the room. Think of it as an inspiration for your room rather than copy paste.
Sell - Another option is selling your furniture and replace it with your desired items. There are many online sites to do that, sometimes you’ll get lucky and sell it quickly, sometimes you’d have to wait for a while so just make sure not to buy your new item before you sell the old one.
Research!
Take this whole decorating seriously. You are going to live in this space. You want to put some thoughts and planning into it and make sure it will turn out to be the home you want to come back to every day.
Find inspiration.Become best friend with Pinterest! There is so much inspiration, whether it’s by style or colour theme. Find out what is your style and stick to it. We all have many favorite styles but we have to stick to one or it will end up as your horrible nightmare. If it’s hard to choose, look at each style in more of a rational way: you may like rustic country style but you live in a small shoe box in the city and in order to get that style, you’ll have to pay more or the furniture is big and heavy. Narrow down the styles that you like and go with the perfect fit or the relevant style to your lifestyle and life conditions. Sidenot, there is such thing called cross designs where you use one style as the primary style and have few touches themes of another style. But that’s it! No more than two styles. That is the limit!!!
Pinterest allows you to create your own boards and save pinned photos in there. Create mood boards for yourself and pin your inspirations there so you can visualize your design and what style you like.
I like to work with color themes. It’s easier for me to decorate when I know my color theme for the room, that way you stay focus and helps you visualize everything together.
So first thing you do is pick the color them you want for your space. You can search for color theme designs in Pinterest which will give you an idea and inspirations on how it will look. Good tip is to go with the colors in your rental that are already there (countertops, tiles, flooring)
For example I went with blue/grey, white and brown theme. The kitchen and the bathroom in my rental have those colors so I just continued the theme with the decorating. I got some great inspirations from pinterest and started to look for furniture, knowing the colors I want and the functions I need them to have (storage!)
Plan! Make lists!
Make a list of the important items for each room
We all know what are the essentials in each room ie, bed in the Bedroom, sofa, coffee table and a TV. TV stand is optional as now we can hang the TV screens on the wall, but I like to have a TV stand because it’s another storage source and also hides all the cables and boxes attached to the TV so to me it is essential
When you chose the essentials, stick to simple. There are beautiful designs out there, so many that it’s hard to chose. I like to go with solid and neutral colors for the big furniture and throw colors and patterns with the little objects like art, pillows, coasters..if you do want to use patterns on the big items, choose one and maybe not the biggest one ie. get a patterned armchair instead of patterned sofa, or TV stand. Try to limit the colourfulness to one item. It’s not that I’m being stingy with colors, going back to that calm environment for you to wind down after 8-12 hours of information processing out there, you really want to create a nirvana in your home. Think about it as painting process: The same way you use primary color before applying the color you want, start with neutral colors for the big items (the essentials) and then throw color on the add ons.
My number one is rentals decorating is STORAGE
I don’t want to see anything that is not supposed to be displayed. I want a clean tidy place.
Choose multi-purposed furniture. I have a sleeper sofa with extra storage; now we can have guests and we have storage for their stuff. I store the extra blanket and sheets in there and when I have guests over, it becomes their closet. There are coffee tables and console tables that can turn into dining tables. I like extendable tables in general, especially in small spaces where you want to have as much space as you can. Ottomans are great as well. They are an extra seat when needed and a storage source. I think you get my point, whenever you think of a furniture, think if it can function as something else in your space.
My mum used to tell me “messy room, messy mind”. You got it, my room, growing up, was a pigsty and of course I didn’t listen to her then. But now, I totally get it and I totally believe it as well. Our space is a reflection of ourselves. You can totally read people by the way their home looks like. There is a reason why our dream homes looks the way they do (in our dreams...) and it’s because it make us feel good. And when we feel good, things in our lives look good. So why wait for an uncertain day in the future when you’ll own your own home? Start feeling good now and create your Shangri-La.
Comments