5 Tips to Decorate Your Apartment – Quicklets

Decorating a rental apartment without upsetting the landlord can be tough for tenants. Check out these 5 stress-free, rental-friendly tips for inspiration.

5 Tips to Decorate Your Apartment Without Upsetting the Landlord

Anybody who has ever rented an apartment knows there are certain obligations they must keep which you wouldn’t have to worry about if you outright owned the property. 

Most often than not, you’ll be specifically told by your landlord before signing the lease agreement that it isn’t possible to keep pets in your new home, sub-let it to other people, and make major changes in the way the place looks without the owner’s knowledge. 

These conditions will even be listed in your contract, so breaking any one of them can have serious consequences, including the possibility of voiding your agreement, losing the security deposit, having to reimburse any damages, or worse.

Is there an alternative?

The majority of tenants are reasonable people who wouldn’t do anything that would upset their landlords, however a home is a very personal space and even if you’re renting it, you’ll naturally want to make it reflect your tastes and style a bit closer.

While it’s isn’t true that all rental homes come with off-white walls and cheap, generic furniture—there are plenty of properties which pack a lot of character out there, just take a look at our database—if you feel like you want to change things up there are many ways, you can safely decorate your home without altering it permanently or causing any damage.

Here are our top 5 landlord-friendly and tenant-satisfying tips to give your rental home a more personal touch:

1 – Get mountable or second-hand furniture cheaply and paint them up

Unleash your inner artist and add colour to your rooms by painting onto furniture you bought. If you’re not artistically inclined, you can stick decals onto them to brighten up your living space. You can even look up Zanna's chic Boutique on Facebook! 

2 – Add more colour and warmth with fabric

Cushions, blankets, throws, and rugs will instantly revitalise empty spices and give a more compact and homey feeling to your apartment.

3 – Replace lighting fittings and other removable objects with more elegant pieces

This is a quick and easy way to spice up your surroundings and it takes so little effort and time. Just switch your lighting fixtures with new ones, including detachable LED strips, and substitute boring and uninteresting objects like cabinet knobs, pulls, and shower heads with more elegant and distinctive replacements.

4 – Put books, photos and other mementos in prominent places

If you have books away in boxes or drawers, take them out and dust off any volumes that have a cover which matches your ideal colour scheme. Or just put them together in an eclectic jumble and—voilà—you’ve given your home a new and dash of colour.

5 – Shift around any movable furniture

Chairs, sofas, even tables can be safely and temporarily moved around to rearrange your living space and give it a fresh look. Obviously this works best with larger places, but if you have a cosier home you can still open up some space or fill in empty nooks with smaller household objects.

In Conclusion

You’ll find a bevy of websites that offer creative and affordable DIY decoration tips for rental apartments. One of our favourites is Apartment Therapy. On Pinterest you’ll also find a treasure trove of easy and money-saving home decorating ideas.