How to make a rental property feel homely

[Candustpleasefuckoff]

When you cannot put up pictures and shelves and mirrors etc.

It won't feel like home without having all my things around me.

(Moving into rental whilst looking to buy for a while)

no pictures? Are you sure?

the tenancy for mine says you can, just make good afterwards. Or contact the landlord and ask what type of picture hooks would be best; the 3-pin ones leave minimal damage. Don't go through any pipes or cables!

shelves is pushing it, but no worries, buy a shelf unit.

rugs very useful.

Estate agent once told me to put toothpaste in holes when i moved out of new flat i rented. It worked too! I'm talking small picture hooks not big gaping holes in wall

I have a rental property and they are allowed to put up pictures.

however.. there are also now loads of those wall stickers that come off have a look online there are really pretty ones.

rugs and cushions you could always change the curtains and put the old ones back up afterwards.

IKEA.

Tbh we left stuff like that in boxes/wrapped and bought some cheery plastic tat and a lot of very cheap chiffon and went for looks we wouldn't necessarily do in our own home. Lots of paper globes and stuff too. And obvs re painted old stuff etc.

We saved the cool neutral Kelly hoppen sort of polish for a bought home. Which is something we are still yet to get around to. I've gotten rather find of my cheery plastic :)

My friend is in rented accommodation and isn't allowed to put anything on the walls, so it's not that uncommon. It must be a nightmare for landlords who replaster walls and then end up with a succession of short term lets where each one puts different holes in the walls. However well you try to patch up it is never perfect. We were in military housing and the walls were awful for this reason.

Shelving units to put your stuff on and changing light shades, curtains to yours. Hopefully it won't take you long to find something you want to buy.

You can buy picture hooks which stick on the wall and are removable when you are done, they are a revelation! Amazon sell a brand called Command. They hold a surprising amount of weight too.

You dont have to put up tall shelves (which i agree if unattached to the wall can be quite dangerous) you can get a side board, cabinet or ikea do some low shelving units (besta i think). You can also put framed pictures in those).

We have taken down all landlords curtains and replaced with slightly more 'statement' fabrics. Same with rugs. Shower curtain and table cloth.
Pitures

I'd add re curtains (as I live nearby) that if you don't want mine, take them down and wrap them, and I will store them for you. With a note copied to both of us that this is what has happened so we don't forget at the end of the tenancy.

not practical for distant landlords of course. And I also provide real lampshades, not paper balls!

You can use heavy duty hooks with tacks. They don't leave any holes in the walls and you can hang pictures on them. I use them in my house as fed up with holes if any change of mind.

You can get 50 of them in a pack for about 8. :)

Be careful how much you buy for a rental, without considering how something might fit in a future place. Ikea's not so cheap that you can afford to throw it away when you move. Also, moving house is stressful (as my name suggests, I've done it a lot!), so it can be very nice to "nest" with good-quality transferable furniture/ decorations, which will keep "home" around you when you move house, things like:

• own curtains
• area rugs (not too large, or you may end up somewhere they don't fit)
• if it's Victorian, or some other "period" property, persuade the LL to put in, or let you put in, a picture rail, which could save the walls from future tenants' holes, so there's a lot of LL and tenant value in this
• tension rods, braced between window/door architraves, would give you another "picture rail", or curtain rail for windows/doors (many doors really benefit from a curtain, in winter - letterboxes are a bugger for creating draughts)
• tallboys rather than chests of drawers: it's more floorspace-efficient, and covers up more of the blank wallspace (keep space behind for air to circulate so there's no mould, and buy wood if you can, so it's more stable)

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