How to make my rented house feel better

[rantyknickers]

We have been trying to buy a property for ages. Have now been renting for 18 months, and am just about to sign up for another 6 months.

I don't mind renting except I still feel like I'm living like a student. None of our furniture matches or fits. We don't have adequate storage and it all looks a bit grubby.

We don't want to get rid of any furniture as we will need it for our new house and we don't want to spend a fortune on new furniture that might not fit/go in our new house...... if we ever find one.

DH refuses to spend any money as 'we're only renting'

It's our lounge that's the problem. We have a blue club chair, a red chenille sofa and a turqoise pikey ikea futon with a red throw to cover it (although it never stays covered for long). We have various bits of mismatched wooden furniture too. At the moment I can see teak, mahogany, dark oak and a bit more teak of a different colour.

I'm miserable and need to do something. I can't live like this for another 6 months [blue]

What can I do to make it feel less like an episode of Steptoe and Son?

Flowers. Seriously, its amazing what a difference they make. (Something potted is a good budgeting alternative.)

Well, I take the view that if you both sell and buy secondhand, you come up even.

Sell the furniture you don't like and use the money to buy secondhand furniture you do. If it doesn't fit when you get a new house, sell it again.

Big rugs (again, v cheap on eBay) do wonders for covering crappy landlord carpet. We own our place but haven't yet replaced the nasty blue nylon carpet (no point with toddler and a baby on the way), but I bought a giant Persian rug for about 200 quid off eBay, and it covers the whole room.

I do think it is very important to make a rented place feel like home. It will save you money if it means you are not so desperate to leave that you jump at the first house that comes along to buy, which may prove to be wrong or overpriced.

Yes that's a good point I suppose - hadn't thought of it like that!

Maybe sell the futon and chair, and buy a complementary coloured sofa/chair to go with the existing sofa. Same with the furniture - keep what you like, then sell the rest and buy more in a similar style/colour. I'd recommend secondhand to keep costs down (or indeed keep an eye on FreeCycle).

I find that less is more too. Have a cull on your belongings (good if you're moving too as there's less to pack). Take a good look at your furniture and work out if anything could be used differently. I find pretty boxes often work wonders for stashing away random bits & bobs - great on bookshelves or top of wardrobes.

If you're using a cheap throw on a cheap sofa and it keeps coming loose, try some velcro to keep it in place. Doesn't matter if you're going to get rid of them when you move.

Could you re-cover the chair with some cheap fabric? It might take a bit of patience (and maybe an arty friend!) but might well give it a new lease of life.

Plants ,decent throws try TK maxx sometimes they are a bit bigger and better quality.Try some nice baskets for storage.Can you put a few personal bits out to detract from the furniture-nice bowls or a couple of lamps?

I can feel your pain lived in a rented house for 8 months while we built our dream house! The worst bit for me was the swirly carpet!! It was a very clean carpet but swirly none the less- all our bits were in storage-but I managed a bit of tarting up with throws cushions couple of lamps and a few precious bits from my own place.

I think the main issue is lack of surfaces. No shelves, no mantlepieces, not even a window sill.

But selling some of the furniture might be a good plan. Some of it is my late mother's and I've kept it as I always hoped their would someday be a corner of my massive family home that would be perfect for it .

The blue club chair was hers and when we move I am getting it reupholstered.

But the nest of tables could probably go as I don't really like them anyway.

a rug could be just the thing for our carpet.

Right, off to ebay.

www.apartmenttherapy.com is a fantastic resource for renters.

Is there a Gumtree in your area? If you are anywhere near a big city it is CRAMMED with beautiful, cheap secondhand furniture.