Rooms to Prioritise When Making Over a Rental
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Creating the Home of Your Dreams…
When I first moved into our rental home, I wanted to do all the makeovers on every home straight away. I’m not exactly the most patient person at times, especially when it comes to decorating. However, I don’t have all the pennies in the world. Or rather, I do have savings, but I’m becoming one of those sensible people whereby I’m not going to spend it all at once.
I’m sure this is much like most renters out there. Itching to make their mark on their new home. Wanting to do it all but not quite being able to. If you’re coming to this blog or following me on my Instagram, you’re not afraid of making over a rental home and are ready for the challenge. However, you know you can only work on one room at a time. So here are my top three rooms that I would recommend working on first, turning your house into a home…
KITCHEN.
I would always recommend starting with the kitchen. Some of the best rental makeovers can happen in this room. Being also one of the most practical rooms in your home, it’s the one you want to get right straight away. Now, whilst in my rental kitchen makeover, I went to the full hog. Now, if you cannot do the whole makeover (like say paint the cabinets) you can update things like the backsplash or countertops. For our countertops, we covered them in contact paper. It instantly made the room look bigger and brighter. If you can paint the cabinets, I would also urge this. Changing ours from pine to bright white, it made it look so much cleaner and chic.
The next part of this I would look at is other practical parts. Lighting would be the main thing, along with organisation. I’m a stickler for a good layout and tidiness. A well-organised kitchen will allow you to function better. Look at decorative baskets to hold your goods, storage canisters and plastic bins (like The Home Edit). Your kitchen will be looking fabulous and working like a well-oiled machine in no time.
LIVING ROOM.
Much like the kitchen, the living room is one of the most lived-in rooms in a home and one to prioritise when making over a rental. For our living room makeover, we did a lot of painting the walls, changing up the lighting fixtures and general decoration. I would always recommend looking at changing up lighting fixtures as a must. Even if it’s just switching out the light shade.
If you are like us and have horrible carpet in your living room, always invest in a gorgeous rug to cover as much space as possible. I love our Berber rug, it covers such a large space and brings in the neutrals into our home.
Other things to consider (which is not something we’ve done) is to look at possible tile stickers for fireplaces, covering walls with wall art and bringing in personal touches and textures. The key to decorating this room is to make it nice and cosy.
BATHROOM.
The bathroom is a harder room to makeover but can be the most effective. There’s not much to makeover other than a good lick of paint and some good old trusty tile stickers. But the main thing that you can ‘renovate’ in your bathroom is adding storage. For our bathroom makeover that involved adding a mirrored cabinet, shelving and cabinets. Rental bathrooms are totally lacking in storage, so wherever you can add some is great.
Unforutently with bathrooms, there’s no ripping out the bathroom suite. However, you can change out things like the taps if you’re feeling braved (and have spoken to a professional). If you want to stay on the safer side, look to your soft furnishings and adding interesting decor and making your mirrors look chic.
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