7 ways to make a rented house a home

You may not own the property you’re living in, but there’s no reason why you can’t add some personal touches to make it feel more like your own space.

While you can’t make any massive changes as you might in a house you own — such as redecorating or knocking through rooms — there are plenty of cheap and easy changes you can make that will make a home from a rented house.

Before we dive in, it’s important to note here that you should always check the terms and conditions you agreed to before grabbing a paintbrush or knocking multiple nails into the walls, as you’ll find that these are often undesirable activities.

Always speak to your landlord or letting agent before making any changes.

At Pickard Properties, our apartments and houses are let with beautifully painted walls, so we like them to stay that way. Nails and reusable adhesive use (i.e., Blu Tack and similar) will often incur a charge, so they’re best avoided.

Having said that, there are plenty of ways to personalise the décor in your rental property without paint or nails.

So, let’s take a look at how you can make your rented house feel like home.

How to get started

Before you start making changes, it’s a wise idea to give some thought to the colours and styles you want in your home.

Consider each room in your property and how you want it to look and feel before you part with any money.

Consider setting a budget too — either for each room or for the property overall — as it can be easy to lose track of how much you’ve spent when working on a project like this.

How to decorate a rented house and make it feel like home

I hope these ideas will inspire you to make changes to your rented house in a landlord-friendly manner.

1.      Update your furnishings

At Pickard Properties, we let out furnished, part-furnished, and unfurnished properties, so if yours is part-furnished or unfurnished, then this offers you ample opportunity to bring your style and personality into the space.

We require that all furniture brought into a property meets current fire safety regulations, so please check this and always speak to us before bringing in any pieces of furniture.

If you are renting elsewhere, we’d recommend you do the same with your landlord or letting agent.

You may already own furniture from your previous home or this might be your opportunity to go shopping for some pieces that will reflect your style, elevate your rooms, and make you feel right at home.

2.      Add soft furnishings

Even if your apartment or house is fully furnished, you can easily inject your personality into every room using cushions, blankets, rugs, and other soft furnishings.

By utilising these items, you can create your colour scheme while bringing in pattern and texture, too.

3.      Use mirrors

Mirrors are available in a wide variety of styles, shapes, sizes, and colours — meaning you can use them to personalise your living space — and they deliver the bonus of extra light and the illusion of additional space, which are undeniably great perks.

Choose from a simple black shape with clean lines, a classic silver arch for a mantel, an eye-catching golden sunburst, or an ornate and glamorous gold oval or rectangle mirror that begs for attention.

Whichever mirror you choose, make sure it adds to the style you want to achieve in your home.

4.      Buy some houseplants

Houseplants instantly bring a home to life and make it feel homely and ‘lived in.’

If you have green fingers or want to give indoor gardening a go, opt for real houseplants and follow the care instructions carefully — placing them in the perfect spots and watering them as needed.

If you don’t fancy the commitment of real plants, then go fake — shops such as H&M Home and IKEA stock some amazingly realistic versions. Don’t forget to dust them every so often, though!

Plants offer a new level of creativity too as, while they can live in a standard pot on a windowsill, they can also hang in baskets, drape their leaves from bookshelves, and so on.

5.      Flaunt your artwork

Whether you are an artist yourself or appreciate the artwork of others, art is highly subjective, and displaying it in your home personalises the space instantly.

If your artwork is framed, you might be wondering how you can hang the prints without nails.

Command Strips (or similar) are a great option — used correctly (you can learn how to use them here), they can successfully hang any size of print and then be removed from the wall at a later date without leaving a trace.

Alternatively, you could display your art prints on shelving and atop cabinets.

6.      Let there be light!

Lighting can make a big difference to your living space so, if your current lighting isn’t quite ticking all the boxes for you, take some time to change it.

Bringing lamps into a property can help you create cosy corners for the evening or light up workspaces in the daytime.

Another option is a plug-in string of fairy lights; they’re available in a wide variety of colours and shapes and can brighten up any corner.

7.      Display your photos

Nothing can make a rented house feel more like a home than your personal photographs on display.

Of course, we have all our photos on our phones these days, but you won’t ever regret getting some printed, investing in a few frames, and dotting your happy memories and the smiling faces of friends and family around your living space.

Final thoughts

As you can see above, there are myriad ways you can update your rental property to make it feel more like home.

If you have any questions about changes you’d like to make, please get in touch with us — or your landlord, if it’s not us — as it’s always better to ask than go ahead and do something that incurs a charge.

If you’re searching for a professional property to rent in Leeds or the surrounding areas, you can browse our properties online today.