9 Rental Living Lifesavers

Let's face it, rental living can be tough. With so many rules and restrictions, it can be hard to shake the feeling that you’re living in someone else’s territory. However, there are some simple changes you can make to help inject personality and make those rental digs a resplendent personal retreat. Now, like clouds and puppy dog noses, all landlords are unique. So, before undertaking any improvements, check with your particular land baron to avoid any stormy deposit deducting disputes.

1. Embrace the Botanical

Inject life into your space, plant life to be precise. Not only are houseplants at peak trendiness right now, they also add much needed colour and personality to your interior.

2. Everything's Coming up Roses

If you prefer your botanical influences to be more ephemeral, flowers could be the way to go. Flowers provide an ever-changing burst of colour, fragrance and character.

You can embellish the flowers with a deliciously kooky vase. Your local charity shop is almost certainly a veritable vase treasure trove. Embrace the thrift and create a mix and match masterpiece.

3. Sit up and Take Notice

Pinning or hanging wall art can be a rental living sore point. Pesky pin holes are unsightly and taking a hammer to the wall is almost always a no go. A cork noticeboard can be a great solution.

Courtesy of @mintcakeclub

Hang on an existing hook or lean atop a raised surface (sideboard, dresser, fridge). Once installed, a cork noticeboard makes a great platform for all your arty bits and pieces. For extra impact, try adding a lick of paint to create a funky geometric showstopper.

4. Instant Personality

Companies like Paperwave will turn your Instagram pictures into funky retro Polaroid-esque prints. Add character and a sense of nostalgia to your rental space by creating a display of all your favourite snaps. Fabric cable can be a great mounting surface and avoids the pinning/hanging headache.

5. Stand Tall

Courtesy of @thestyleandspaces

Free-standing shelf units or ladder racks are a great platform for displaying all your kooky curios. Thanks to our old friend gravity, these units don’t require any anchoring (so no nasty drilling), simply pick a surface and lean away.

6. Bold Easy Changes

courtesy of @redbubble

There are a number of small changes you can make that add up to a major improvement for your interior. Things like cushion covers, curtains (both regular and shower) and rugs can all be added, switched up or emboldened. Add plenty of rich colour in these areas to battle the (in all likelihood) beige.

7. Creative Revamp

While you’re injecting colour, painting furniture can add much needed variety and is a great substitute for decorating the walls. Papering the back of shelf units is another great way to introduce fresh patterns and add extra depth.

8. Unleash Your Inner Artist

Creating some custom artwork serves a dual purpose. Firstly, you get to be all smug when people compliment your artwork, with phrases like, “oh that? It’s just something I knocked together” . Secondly, art can help to brighten up any plain walls. As before, if nails are a no-no, display on one of your handy ladder racks (see point 5).

Something like this framed Pantone card collection is a great way to add fluid colour to your space. Choose a selection, then mix it up as and when you fancy.

9. See the Light

Rental lighting fixtures are (almost) universally bland and chosen for their price, not their appearance. Of course, changing these will almost certainly be a no go, but there are ways to dress them up. With pendants, the right bulb can totally change the overall look and feel. Choose something decorative and raise the profile of the entire fixture.

Or, where additional lighting could be beneficial, opt for a plug-in pendant. By using a standard 3-pin plug, these options offer an easy way to add low-fuss lighting to any room. So there you have it, a set of stellar solutions for rental spaces.