If you are looking for rental home decor ideas, look no further – we’ve got you covered!
Rental Home Decor Ideas
It’s hard to feel at home in a rental property, especially when there are so many restrictions when it comes to personalising the space to suit your lifestyle and needs. We’ve compiled a quick guide, complete with decorating tips and shopping links to help get your started!
Before we get stuck into things, it’s important to point out that as renters we should always ensure to request written permission from a landlord prior to making any semi-permanent or permanent alterations to the home.
You will find that most landlords are more than happy to allow changes to be made; With this in mind though, you can expect to foot all of or at least most of the bill so set yourself a realistic budget before proceeding.
Walls & Flooring
Before deciding on making any changes to your wall and floor finishes, create a plan, budget and always seek written permission from your landlord.
Painting a home is a pricey and time consuming task which most landlords will not approve so instead, you may consider using removable adhesive wall stickers to jazz things up. Always make sure to test a small sticker on a discreet spot on the wall before going all out to make sure they won’t affect the paintwork when it comes time to remove them.
As for your flooring, there are many options such as vinyl or click together timber flooring that can be laid directly on top of the existing floors. Again, seek written permission for this one as this would qualify as a semi-permanent solution to sprucing up the floors of the home. Should this not be the best fit for you, you may instead prefer to stick with more cost effective (and less permanent!) options such as rugs.
Rugs & Soft Furnishings
Soften the look of your rental property with the use of area rugs, runners and mats. You will find that the right rug will dramatically lift the feel of any room, from the bedroom to your living area, making it super cozy while also introducing a new layer of texture, warmth, colour and pattern.
Complete the look with matching soft furnishings such as bed spreads, throws, cushions and table runners. You’ll be surprised just how much of an effect new fabrics and textures will have on your home! And the best part? You can easily change up your look with new pieces later on!
Complement your floor coverings with soft furnishings such as table runners, throws and cushion covers to create a whole interior scheme that you can easily change up as trends evolve.
Adhesive & Over-Door Hooks
Providing a zero damage solution for hanging your art, self adhesive wall hooks are a renter’s dream! You can pick them up at any hardware store; they are super strong and will not damage the walls or peel off the paint.
They’re also great to use as towel hooks in your kitchen that you can place wherever is most convenient for you, broom hooks in the laundry or within your kitchen cabinetry to hang measuring cups and other small utensils when you’re short on storage space.
As mentioned previously on the topic of wall stickers, you should always test any adhesive products on a discreet spot of your wall prior to starting out on any decorating projects. When following the directions and adhering to weight limits, quality adhesive products should not cause any damage to your wall paint however, in any rental property there really is no way of knowing the quality of the paintwork itself. A quality paint job will not damage with the removal of any stick on product. A poor quality paint job though WILL so ALWAYS test sticky products out first to avoid any dramas!
Photos, Art & Prints
Now that we have our handy self adhesive wall hooks, we can finally hang up our favourite photos, prints and art: what better way to add a personal touch to a rental home! Gone are the days of using blue-tack to stick on posters – Create gallery walls, put up your favourite photos and feel at home in your newly decorated pad, all with the help of handy adhesive wall hooks.
Another super quick and easy solution to hang posters and photos is to use adhesive photo corners. You will find these in any craft store for only a couple of dollars!
Decorative Storage Solutions & Furniture
We all need more storage in our homes; relying on built in storage provided in a rental home isn’t always enough so thankfully, there are PLENTY of very affordable and very stylish options available. Get creative with the way you keep your home clutter-free: invest in a quality bookshelf or freestanding storage unit, use lidded baskets or even a stack of vintage suitcases from the op-shop will do the trick!
A great way to add more discreet storage to your home is to make use of multi-functional pieces with concealed storage. Storage ottomans and beds with drawers built in underneath are great ways of adding both style and function to your rental home decor.
Plants
Bring the outdoors IN! Whether faux or real, a beautiful plant will create a fresh and colourful vibe in your home. There are plenty of options for indoor plants that require minimal to no maintenance; for more in-depth information, checkout Plant Care Today’s piece ’35 of The Best Indoor Plants For Your Home’ – a handy guide on the varieties of plants that thrive indoors.
When shopping for faux plants and florals, keep an eye on the quality; You can spot a cheap fake-ass plant from a mile away but a quality fake-ass plant? Beautiful! Kmart has some surprisingly realistic looking faux plants, the perfect rental home decor on a budget. Gotta love another good Kmart bargain!
Lighting
Although you may not be able to change any ceiling light fixtures, you can change the colour temperature and softness in your rental home by using different light bulbs. Changing a light bulb sounds like a minor thing however, the difference in the room’s atmosphere can be incredible.
Cool lighting for example, is tinged with blue and is not very soothing for the eye, casting everything in a bright, unnatural glow. A warm light however will create a much cozier atmosphere in your home making it infinitely more comfortable.
Further enhance your lighting and decor scheme with table and floor lamps. Be strategic with your placement of plug-in lamps; set them up in key areas to enhance the livability of your home. For example, you could consider creating a small reading nook by placing a comfy armchair, small side table and floor lamp in the corner of your bedroom. Relaxation at its finest!
So there we have it – 7 different ways to create a new look in a rental property without causing any upsets. We’d love to hear the ways you’ve managed to spruce up your rental home – Share your Rental Home Decor ideas in the comments below!
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