'RENOVATIONS' FOR YOUR RENTAL APARTMENT - A MINI GUIDE

I’m no stranger to renting! As a woman who likes to move a lot, I’ve rented many a-houses and apartments over the last 7 years and I always need to make them feel like home! Of course, in order to avoid breaking a lease, one cannot simply execute permanent ‘renovations’ but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your house feel like a home with some reversible and removable options! Here are some of my favourite ideas, my friends! *contains affiliate links*

1 - REMOVABLE WALLPAPER

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - removable wallpaper is your friend! Bring an accent wall into a room and give your space a luxurious or higher-end feeling with faux wallpaper that will not damage your walls when you decide to move! It’s pretty easy to put up (I mean almost every time I’ve done it, I’ve put it up myself and so far so good!). Some of my favourite styles include a red-brick for a loft feeling or this gorgeous dark blue and gold peony print! I’ve also looked into some options from a Canadian company called Timberlea Wallpaper that I’m planning to grab some paint-textured removable wallpaper from!

2 - SWITCHING OUT HANDLES AND DOORKNOBS

A super easy but under-rated switch? Changing out the handles on your cupboards! I bought this 30 pack of modern black rectangular cabinet knobs to swap in and replace the silver ones that were throughout my house and instantly they freshened up the apartment! Luckily I had enough for every room so there is a cohesive look throughout! Just keep the originals in a bag until you’re ready to move and BAM, you’ve classed up the place without damaging anything.

3 - COMMAND STRIPS AND COMMAND STRIP SHELVES

Whether you use command strips to put up decor and prints or you purchase some of the command strip products, these have been a saviour for me! I try to avoid screwing things into the wall if I can because that’s just something else to fix when I leave a rental. Luckily, command strips hold quite a bit of weight depending on which ones you buy, so I’ve had large framed art on the wall, put up curtain rods, used command strip shelves in place of a side table by my bed - so many uses! I personally have liked to purchase the higher weight strips for my wall decor, these floating wall shelves in place of a table near my bed, and I used these command strip hooks to hold a mini curtain road in my office so as to not have to drill another set of holes in the wall!

4 - CONTACT PAPER / MACTAC ACCENTS AND ‘RESURFACING

I can’t tell you how many places I’ve lived in that just have not been kept up to date style-wise. What I mean by this is: outdated countertops, strange coloured carpets, retro finishes etc.! I’ve come to love contact paper in these cases because I can instantly change up a space. When I moved into my current apartment, one of the surfaces that wasn’t fitting the vibe I was going for was the kitchen counter! It wasn’t necessarily bad by any means, but I really wanted my kitchen to have a light and airy feel so I temporarily covered the dark brown and black countertop with white marble contact paper and loved how it brightened the space! Contact paper can also be fun for adding accents to doors and adding some visual interest to appliances like your fridge! Some of my favourites include this White Marble contact paper and this Black contact paper which was great for adding a little pop to the doors in my home office!

5 - TEMPORARY LIGHTING - ‘FAUX-POT LIGHTS’

Have you ever walked into a fancy home and there are those cute little round lights that light your way in a dark hall automatically? Or those fancy pot lights under shelves, sconces or little nooks that turn on with a switch or remote? You can do a version of these in your rental! I’ve personally purchased these motion sensor LED disk lights that I have in almost every room and on the staircase leading up to my apartment so my way is lit right away when I’m dashing around in the early mornings or late evenings (they’ve been a saviour and I don’t bump my toes in the night anymore!). I’ve also, in my previous apartment, purchased these remote-controlled disk lights. I used them in my closets and popped them on the ceiling inside because the closets were quite deep and didn’t have any lighting in them. My next purpose though? I thought these would look really cool under a floating shelf above the tv console in my living room - imagine having your own custom lighting for what, 30 bucks? I’ve also seen these be used for areas where you want to put up a sconce but don’t want to have to do electrical work - just glue in one of these bad boys and you have lighting wherever you need it!