Rental properties are intended to appeal to the broadest possible audience, to rent quickly for the owner. It may therefore be challenging to think of ways to personalise your newly rented property to ensure that it feels like your home.
This inspirational iDADA guide works with you to show you how you can achieve a comfortable, stylish and highly personal home.
Colour
Colour is such an intensely personal expression of your design character. In general, lighter colours reflect light, are easy to live with and show off the architecture of a home beautifully.
That said, within the palette of neutrals and whites, if used in combination, there is no need for your interior to ever be bland. Think about what features you want to emphasise and which ones you would rather have fade into the background. As always and particularly regarding the use of colour, ensure that your landlord or letting agents are happy for you to proceed.
Display
A room without any display of personal life such as photographs, drawings, mementos, objects and such like, can feel a little ‘soul-less’ rather like a long stay in a hotel – enjoyable but not ‘home’. Remember that you are in a rental property and cannot just bang holes in the wall!
Kitchens and bathrooms
In a rental property, the kitchen and bathroom are the most challenging rooms to personalise due to their ‘fitted-ness’. However, some things are achievable, effective and cost-efficient.
Just follow the golden rule... Don’t, Move, Anything, Major!
By that we mean don’t even think of moving any pipework, toilets, sinks, baths, washbasins, shower inflow and outlets (a new shower head though is easily achievable) and don’t move any electrics and certainly not by yourself. Electricity and water do not mix!
Ask your landlord if, for example, you wish to move a heated towel rail and, even better, ask him for the number of his trusted tradesmen.
Soft furnishings
‘Soft’ furnishings are the textiles that can add personality, warmth, colour, texture and a transformation in the acoustics of a room, softening and dampening sounds and adding a layer of sensory comfort.
They are perfect for adding personality to a rental home and, of course, can all be taken with you when you move, to be redistributed throughout your new home. Without any soft furnishings at all, a room can be quite uncomfortable, as anyone who has eaten on a tiled-floored, hard-seated, bare-windowed restaurant can testify. As one disgruntled diner put it: “The noise dear, The noise!”.
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