Is it possible to make a rental property feel like home? Honestly speaking, we have been asked this question quite a few times. Also, the answer is a resounding YES! However, we also know that it’s easier said than done, so here are our top tips to make a rented property feel like home without breaking any rules or conditions mentioned in your rental agreement.
Living in a rental space might not be an ideal thing for someone who likes changing the character and theme of their house every so often. For tenants, the fear of losing the security deposit makes them compromise over a lot of things they don’t like. Whether it is the daunting colour theme of the house, unnecessary mirrors, or dented cabinets – they have to adjust and compromise on a lot of things.
Just because you are living in a rental space, it doesn’t mean that you are not allowed to feel at home. Keep scrolling as we answer your question on how to make a rented flat or house feel like home.
Easy Ways to Make a Rental Property Feel Like Home
There are quite many constraints of living in a rental apartment, and making the place feel like your own is arguably the biggest challenge. Considering that most landlords don’t allow walls to be painted over or nailed, the idea about hanging artworks, changing lights, and other fittings goes out the window, taking your home décor spectrum with it.
The first thing to do here is to not give up. Remember that incorporating your personal style in your abode doesn’t have to involve changing the bathroom floor or fitting new cabinets. That said, here’s our compilation of the top tips on how to make a rental flat feel like home and give it a touch of your personality. We will also discuss how you can let it reflect your character, while also not breaking any agreements or understandings between you and the landlord:
- Play Around With the Walls
- Add Layers to Your House
- Make the Most of the Floor Space
- Bring Your Style to Life
- Light it Up
- Pay Attention to the Bathroom
- Go Green
Play Around With the Walls
When it comes to giving a personal touch to your house, the foremost thing is changing the colour theme and decorating the walls with a fresh coat of paint. However, living in a rental space and renovating the walls is a bit different. Now, you certainly need to think outside of the box if your landlord doesn’t allow you to paint the walls.
You will be surprised to know that several alternatives are available in the market for wall paint. As such, wall stickers are becoming an increasingly popular option among home designers, and they have been deemed the safest option to play the colour scheme of a house. Just make sure that you check the packaging and go with fully removable stickers. To be on the safe side, you can even test it out before applying it to the whole wall.
On a side note, if your landlord allows you to change the colour scheme by painting, you can take help from our recently published guide on finding the best paint brands in Pakistan. You can even navigate to our paint calculator to find out how much paint you will need for your space.
Add Layers to Your House
Hanging paintings, decorative pieces, and frames of your favourite artwork are some of the few simple ways to personalise your living space, but things are a little different for renters. Most tenancy contracts, however, specify that walls or doors of the house shouldn’t be damaged by nails or screws.
As an alternative for adding character to your walls and finding a way to hang your favourite artwork, you can make the most of modern hangers and shelves that require no nails or screws to fit on a wall. There’s a lot of variety for hangers and wall-racks available in different sizes. Whether you want to hang items of different weights, photo frames or canvases, mirrors or wall clocks – there’s always a better option than driving a nail through the wall.
Another great way to add layers to your house is to make your sofa, couch, or bed look as comfortable and cosy as you can. You can easily do so by piling up cushions of different patterns, sizes, and colours. Cover up unattractive or creaky portions with rugs, vase, or side-tables. Just make sure that you do not stuff the room, and there’s enough space for you and your family to move around comfortably.
Make the Most of the Floor Space
Besides using wall hanging, you can also make the most of the floor space to make the rented flat feel like home. You can bring movable furniture and accessories, or you can use the floor to creatively lean objects, such as mirrors and canvases, against the wall.
In spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, it can be a little tricky to change the overall look. Just be smart about adding accessories. Pick up things that complement the existing theme of your house rather than going against it.
Bring Your Style to Life
In our list of challenges to make a rental feel like home, the next thing is the space constraints. Space is either too big or too small. As such, you’re either short of space, or you’re looking for ways to fill some empty space.
Further, not everyone is lucky enough to get built-in wardrobes and wall shelves, so you might want to wear your creative hat to bring your style to life. So, here are a few things that you can be creative with and make a rental property feel like home.
To begin with, if you have an unattractive bookshelf, don’t worry! Bookshelves have endless opportunities to be customised according to your style. You can decorate their backing board with beautiful wrapping papers or paint. You can even arrange your books the way you want it, either by genre, author, or just colour.
Light It Up
Another great way to make a rental property more homely is to play around with lights. We all know for a fact that the correct application of lights can transform the way a space feels, be it rented or owned – it can light-up the saddest parts in your house or sadden the most happening area. It doesn’t matter if your landowner doesn’t allow you to mess with the electrical connection, you can always replace bulbs, use artificial candles, or even chandeliers to bring variety and create an appealing ambience.
While bulbs and chandeliers might be a little difficult to pack during your move out process, you can opt for lamps to enhance the interior of the house.
On a side note, if you have decided to replace the lightbulbs, make sure that the ones that were already in place when you moved are kept safely. And, put all of those back at the end of your lease. Also, make sure you’re using power-efficient lights or lamps or the ones with the same voltage as the previous ones.
Pay Attention to the Bathroom
Besides the bedroom, the bathroom of your house tells a lot about your taste and your hygiene habits. It might be a little hard to completely revamp the bathroom in a rented space since you’re not allowed to change the flooring or the paint colour – it doesn’t mean that you cannot personalise it.
You can keep a few indoor plants or hang them if there’s not enough space. You can also change the curtains and add a little texture to the bathroom door. Keep it clean and maintained by adding a good-looking bath mat, some towels, or shelves.
Go Green
Another excellent way for decorating a rental property or to make a rented apartment feel like home is to add a little greenery here and there. Buy low-maintenance green and leafy plants that can survive indoors. Make sure the plants do not require a lot of sunlight or air. As such, it is best to buy succulents because they require little maintenance. Buy colourful and matching pots. You can even opt for terrarium since they occupy little space and are extremely easy to maintain. If you need help with building one, we have already hand-picked an easy guide to building terrariums. Even faux plants can add a personal touch, and it can make a rented flat feel like home.
This was our take on making a rental property feel like home. If you have something to share with us, you can write to us at blog@zameen.com.
On a side note, if you are looking for popular areas to rent in Pakistan, you can take assistance from our area guides. From sports facilities in Jamshed Town, Karachi to the public transport in Lahore’s Bahria Town – our guide will virtually transport you anywhere across Pakistan.
For more tips on transforming a rental property, keep visiting Zameen Blog. Get the latest updates on the property market delivered directly in your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.
