Styling your rental home
without breaking the rules
without breaking the rules
Just last month I moved to a new house. After finally getting all my furniture inside and unpacking my last box I am ready to start decorating! There’s just one problem, I am a renter. All the home styling tips I see involve hanging art and painting walls, something us renters just can’t do. So I gathered the stylists at Impressions and had them share all their styling tips to help make my rental house a dream home.
Let’s start in the kitchen. Whether it’s modern or straight from the 60’s (like mine), there are a few things you can do to bring in your own style.
Start by changing the doorknobs! You’ll be surprised at the difference that new doorknobs can make. This small change is a great way to embrace your personal style. If you’re looking for a modern touch you can find some great (and cheap!) doorknobs at Ikea and Bunnings. For those of you who love a more eclectic style, Bliss has a great range of coloured and patterned doorknobs. I chose a range of miss matched, vintage style doorknobs to embrace the 60’s feel of my home while adding some beautiful colour.
The next step is to bring some art into your living spaces. Everywhere I look I see beautiful pieces of art hanging on walls but as a renter I can’t put nails in the wall. There are two very simple solutions to this! The first option works for lighter pieces of art. Command has a range of picture hanging strips and hooks that will stick to your walls with adhesive designed to come off without damaging your walls. Sounds perfect right? If you’re hanging small and light art it is, but larger and heavier pieces may be too heavy for these adhesive hooks to hold.
Your second option is to lean your art on the floor or a unit. I doubted this option at first, but Katie took over our studio and designed a bedroom to showcase leaning art. She created a cozy feel and added a great pop of colour and pattern without hanging a heavy piece of art. The stylists at Impressions will quiet often lean art on units in lounge rooms, dining rooms and walkways. Sometimes this is because it’s too heavy to hang but other times it is used to keep a very relaxed style.
A fresh coat of paint on an old wall can do wonders for a room, but for renters this isn’t always an option. Whether it’s an old and cracked paint job or just an unsightly colour, when you can’t fix the problem you can always distract from it with some careful coverups. One great way to distract the eye from the wall is to create a climbing plant wall. These are cheap and super easy to DIY and customise with different colours and plants.
Start with a simple clothing rack, these can be purchased for as low as $10 from Kmart and Ikea in a simple white but for heavier plants I recommend going for a sturdy build with either a metal or wooden frame. Give your rack a paint job to suit your home style and then start layering hanging and climbing plants. These plant walls look great against any wall or even as a room divider.
Another great way to cover up an old and ugly wall is to add some removable wallpaper or adhesive vinyl. Wallpaper has changed a lot in recent years and now is a viable option for many renters! Removable wallpapers are self adhesive and designed to ensure little to no damage on removal. The best part though, is the variety! The perfect wallpaper exists for everyone! Whether you want to keep it minimal with a block colour, add a bright and bold pattern or turn your wall into a beautiful piece of part. Adhesive vinyl can vary on price depending on where you get it and the complexity of the design. Our very own Impressions stylist, Megan, found the perfect pattern for her kitchen cabinets in her homes granny flat at Kmart!