As someone who has rented their entire adult life, moving into a new place can feel a little… blah. These spaces are generally generic, temporary and a bit vanilla. Basic, cream colored walls? Check. Slightly dated cabinets? Check. Wall to wall beige carpeting without an ounce of personality? Check and check! To make a rental feel like home means going beyond the basic white walls and infusing your space with intention and personality. And luckily, you don’t have to break the bank to do so.
Ahead, I rounded up a few of my favorite ways to make a rental (or any home) feel like yours—no major renos required.
photo above from our interview with Chloé Crane-Leroux by Michelle Nash
Give Your Home A Signature Scent
Signature scents are so chic. Scent has the power to draw you to a very specific time and place, so why not do the same for your home? Keeping a candle in your entryway, or reed diffusers in your bathroom is a subtle, yet beautiful way to make a rental feel like home. You could even bring a travel sized candle with you every time you vacay, so you can have a little piece of home come with you wherever you go.
I like swapping home scents with the season. I choose bright, fruity and clean scents for spring and summer, warm and spicy scents for fall, and woody scents for winter. We always keep a candle in the entryway, and it’s always nice to enter our home and smell something beautiful right away.
Upgrade the Lighting
Most rentals have built-in overhead lighting, with lack luster lighting fixtures. More often than not, they also come with cool light bulbs, which can turn your living room into a doctor’s waiting room—not the vibe. We never turn on the dreaded big light in my rental, and have instead, added tons of lamps with warm bulbs. The effect is so much cozier!
Another renter hack is to swap out the lighting fixtures. Our rental came with an odd, overly modern lighting fixture in the dining room, and we swapped it for a crystal chandelier. It instantly elevated the entire space and made a world of difference. You can do this yourself, or hire an electrician. We ended up hiring a Taskrabbit and they did incredible work. Lighting is often overlooked, but good lighting affects the whole mood of your space.
Swap Hardware (And Save the Originals!)
One of the highest-impact, lowest-effort upgrades is to swap your hardware. Change cabinet knobs, drawer pulls, even showerheads. I swapped a hand held showerhead for a rain shower head and I’m happy I made the switch everyday! Plus it was so easy to do by myself. Choose finishes that align with your aesthetic (like brass, silver or matte black), and just remember to store originals in a labeled bag for move-out day.
Add Plants
When it comes to decorating a space, plants are always the missing piece of the puzzle. Plants quite literally bring life to a space, they add texture and color, and can balance out the trickiest of spaces. Add small plants to surfaces like coffee tables and shelves, and opt for larger, statement plants to place in sunny corners.
When adding a new plant to your home, be mindful of where you’d like the plant to live and how much sun the area gets. Different plants have different light and watering needs, so just be sure you know what your home offers, and what the plants needs are. Speaking from experience, doing this research beforehand can save you from heartbreak and a dead plant. The more you know!
Paint
One of the quickest, more cost effective ways to completely transform a space is paint. Even just swapping beige walls for a crisp white can make a rental feel like home. The right paint color can transform a space from boring to bold, whether you opt for vibrancy or neutrality.
If painting an entire room feels daunting, painting smaller areas can still pack a punch. I’ve painted the interior of my front door pink in our last three rentals, and the effect is night and day. It adds so much playfulness and fun to our entryway, and now our house doesn’t feel like home without the pink door. Plus, the amount of paint needed for a door isn’t much, so the whole project only cost about $10. A steal!
Try Peel And Stick Wallpaper
One of my first ever renter friendly design projects was adding peel and stick wallpaper to our laundry room. I picked a simple leafy green print for the wall, then added woven baskets to hide our laundry supplies. Instead of opening the doors and seeing bright orange Tide bottles lined on a shelf, we were instead greeted with a beautiful print and natural textures. I remember gasping the very first time I opened the doors and doing a little dance. That was the day I fell head over heels in love with peel and stick wallpaper, and have been using it ever since.
Even a simple, neutral print can change the feel of a room and make a rental feel like home. I especially love adding wallpaper to smaller spaces—you can go a little bolder in a powder room, for example, which is always fun. If you’re applying peel and stick wallpaper yourself, give yourself a whole afternoon to get it done—it takes longer than you might think! I will also say I’ve never had a problem with removal, just be gentle and take your time when it’s time to move out, or if you’re ready for something new.
Add A Temporary Back Splash
The world of peel and stick knows no bounds, and one way to make a rental feel like home is to give your kitchen a little extra love. A temporary backsplash is a wonderful way to add life and color to a rental kitchen. In my experience, these spaces always leave me wanting more. Rental kitchens usually include very basic appliances, honey oak cabinets and drab countertops. But a temporary back splash is as easy as peel and stick wallpaper, just on a much smaller scale.
Even if you don’t have a rental kitchen—tile can be expensive. Why not give peel and stick tiles a try? More ways to infuse personality and charm to a rental kitchen include framed art, displaying fresh ingredients and not shying away from beautiful tools. A beautiful vase filled with wooden spoons, a pretty salt and pepper container or an organized spice rack can go a long way.
Create Everyday Ritual Corners
Intention is everything. It doesn’t matter whether you own your home or not— how you live in it is what makes it truly yours. What better way to make a rental feel like home than creating everyday ritual corners? Try designating small areas in your rental for daily habits, like a coffee station, a reading corner, or a meditation space.
These areas don’t have to be complicated—placing a comfy chair, a small lamp and a little table in a corner is the perfect set-up for a nook. The key is, of course, to live in these spaces. Really spend time in the little sacred spots and corners of your home to make them truly yours.
Whether you rent or own, it’s the small, intentional design choices you make that turns a house into a home. Small shifts can create big changes, so start with a single surface, a wall or a corner. You deserve to love where you live!
