Y’all I am really getting the hang of this “post from a hotel room” thing… it’s so weird not being able to go home at night! I can’t pull out my projects or plan posts ahead of time… I am literally living in a hotel! Luckily moving brings up plenty of topics to make my head spin… I feel like my brain is in overdrive! Yikes!
The one question I’ve been asked on repeat ever since arriving at my new store? “Are you moving to town”… followed quickly by “are you buying or renting?” Well y’all we are renting… for various reasons! #Aintnobodygotmoneyforadownpayment. Of course that doesn’t really bother me because… well we’ve always been renters! I’ve spent my adult life in apartments and rental homes… while growing up we were the ultimate renters! I’m talking military housing y’all!
So while we have to be respectful of our landlord I have learned so many tricks to making a rental feel like home. There’s so many little things you can do to take your place from House to Home! Plus there’s always the old standby “ask for forgiveness… not permission!” 😉
Add a Rug!
A rug can add so much personality to a room! If you aren’t allowed to paint adding a large amount of color and texture on the floor can go a long way. Even if you have wall to wall carpet a great area rug can cover that builders basic beige carpet right up! And if your house has horrible poop brown carpets like our new house does? Well let’s just say it’s a good thing we have area rugs for almost every house.
Want an extra tip? If you have a large room but don’t want a rug with a large price tag try searching the remnant pile. Plenty of carpeting stores will sell you large carpet remnants… you can often get a large piece to cover up dingy wall to wall carpeting at a low price! Pay a small price tag for the remnant and a bit to have the edges bound… now you have a large area rug for a fraction of the cost.
Add a Feature Wall!
Growing up army we weren’t allowed to paint… but something my mom did at every single house was to decorate the walls with wallpaper boarders! They helped to make the house feel like ours… and the walls to feel a little less stark white. Now I know wallpaper boarders aren’t especially “in”… but there are so many ways to make your walls feel more like home. I love the duct tape, washi tape, any kind of  tape, trend that is going on right now! Don’t you love the duct tape diamonds in this bedroom? Want a bolder pattern? Try a removable wallpaper like the arrow pattern below!
 Spackle Costs Eight Dollars
Don’t be afraid to put pictures up on your walls! Add a gallery wall, hang those wedding pictures… don’t be afraid to put up an entire collage of 89 picture frames. Filling holes is so easy and having blank walls is so depressing. Add a bit of home to your house by putting your family on the walls. When I moved into my very first apartment I was a young single girl without a big budget for big art pieces… that’s ok a can of paint can fix anything. I made my very own pallet art for the cost of picture hanging hardware ($4) and it makes such a big impact in the room!
Switch it up… Literally
Invest a couple of dollars in new cabinet hardware. You might not be able to paint the cabinets that perfect shade of white or to install your dream farmhouse sink… but you can have your dream drawer pulls. Just make sure that you pick pulls and knobs that will fit in the holes for the existing drawers… you don’t want to drill holes for new hardware! That would completely defeat the point!
Extra hint? Put all of the old hardware in a baggie and duct tape it inside a cabinet that isn’t used often. Now you know exactly where it is when you need to put the old hardware back!
Want to go the extra mile? Switch out your boring, standard light chains for new ones… preferable blingy ones! Make sure you use my first extra tip to corral all of the original light chain pulls in a location where you can easily find them… I put mile in a baggie right over my washing machine in the garage.
Make it YOURS!
Accessorize accessorize accessorize. Put your things on the walls and in the rooms. The number one sin I hear every single time (and that I am completely guilty of) is failing to take your things out of the boxes and put it in your house! Maybe you’re not sure how long you’ll be there… decorate anyways. Maybe you hate the green kitchen or that your rental doesn’t have the fabulous chandelier and crown molding your heart yearns for. Decorate anyways. You might not have the perfect house… it’s a rental… but don’t let that stop you from being happy for however long you call that rental home. Make it yours.
This post contains affiliate links to completely helpful products!
