The 10 Commandments to Decorating Your Rental Home
Decorating your rented home can often be a minefield of decisions. Because you don’t own the house you are living in, you need to weigh a multitude of considerations ranging from financial risk to aesthetic payoff. Whether it is a melaka apartment or a house in penang, décor is the key to giving these temporary homes a nice lived-in touch. Here are the 10 commandments to decorating your rental home.
1. You Shall Decorate
First things first – you need to actually decorate your rental. No excuses. People often wait to truly decorate a home until it is their “forever home”. You need to get rid of the mindset of “when I have a home, I’ll buy this”, or “when we move into our own house, I’ll hang these more personal pictures”. You need to embrace living in the present!
While paying your rent on time is important, so too is making sure your home is personalized and stylish. Although your rental may be temporary and you may not be staying for long, this doesn’t mean you have to avoid putting your mark on your home. Celebrate your home and enjoy the space you are already living in in order to make your temporary rental truly feel like home.
2. You Shall Invest in Versatile Pieces
When people rent, they often do it for a while. Although renting may not be a long-term living situation, people often rent while they save up enough to buy their own home. The thing is, once your lease expires, you often don’t know where you’ll be moving next.
To mitigate this, you can choose furniture pieces that are more versatile. Rather than choosing furniture and décor that fits your current space perfectly, incorporate pieces that can adapt to a multitude of styles. Think of modular sofas that can be rearranged easily as well as multifunctional pieces such as coffee tables that double as storage. Try to avoid large heavy pieces of furniture, unless you really love it, of course. If you really love a piece that you have invested it, you will find room for it in your next home.
3. You Shall Upgrade Lighting
Lighting is one of the things that can make or break your space. Lighting is often one of the worst features of a rental unit. Think about it: harsh, unnatural lighting will not do your home any favors. Fret not, however, as swapping out lighting isn’t that hard. You can think of swapping standard overhead lighting fixtures with pieces that you love. You can even consider putting those overhead lights on a dimmer in order to allow your lights to be more versatile. However, for these upgrades, you will need to hire an electrician, and also think of the expenses involved when you need to move these lighting fixtures to your next pad.
If this is an expense you are not willing to make, there are other ways of making lighting changes to your space that can be within your budget. In light of that (no pun intended), you can always focus on getting some stylish table lamps or floor lamps instead. These add a warm moody ambience and will definitely up the coziness factor.
Rental properties usually come with the bare necessities and “builder basics”. That means standard and boring hardware fixtures. You can think about replacing cabinet pulls and knobs to add your own personal touch. You can also exchange other hardware fixtures such as curtain rods and bathroom faucets. Just remember to keep the old ones somewhere safe and switch them back when you move out.
4. You Shall Improve Window Coverings
Lackluster window treatments are what often screams “temporary home”. Rental homes tend to come with dirty old curtains or even depressing vertical blinds. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to live with them. Upgrade them to some fresh new curtains. This can be a temporary measure to add some zest and life to your rental home. When you move, no big deal, just take them with you.
5. You Shall Embrace Paint
Painting your walls is a simple and easy way to make a huge difference in your own space. However, in certain situations, doing this might void your deposit. Your options are thus to: (1) ask your landlord for permission to paint your walls a nice neutral color; or (2) paint the walls the color of your choice and paint them back at the end of your lease. In most cases, if you choose a great relatively neutral color, you might not even have to repaint when you move out. This can be a win-win situation for everyone. Your landlord may even give you the green light thank you for adding some value to the space.
6. You Shall Consider Temporary Measures
If you are on a tight budget and want to avoid the expenses and work involved in painting, you can consider other forms of wall decoration. The options can be endless. Think about wall decals, or stick-on wallpaper, or even displaying small accents. These options can help you make a big difference in how bespoke your home looks or feels.
7. You Shall Buy Carpets and Rugs
If you can’t paint the walls, color the floors with carpets or rugs! A good carpet or rug will bring color and texture into your space. They’re also a good way of covering the boring drab of standard laminate flooring. What’s more is that you can take it with you when you move. They’re yours forever!
8. You Shall Display Art
A lease is no excuse for bare walls. Whether you will be able to hang any art on your walls will depend on your lease. Most of the time, all that is stipulated is that you need to patch up the holes when you leave. Artwork personalizes your home. You can hang personal prints and photos gallery-style on your walls. If you don’t want to deal with the headache of patching up too many holes, consider picture ledges. They’re simple and sleek ways of displaying pictures on walls without actually needing nails and hammers.
9. You Shall Focus on the Positive
Never treat decorating your rental home as less than decorating a home you own. Just because a home is temporary, does not means it deserves any less in terms of decorating flair. Think of the bright side. While your friends are saving for their mortgage and loan repayments and can’t afford a new sofa right away, you can save up and get that leather sofa you’ve always wanted. Think of the positives: if anything breaks down in your rental home, it’s not your problem.
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