10 interior styling hacks I learned while renting

Easy ways to make a house feel like home – I still use these tricks

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[Image: Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash]

One of the biggest frustrations I found while renting was not being able to do what I wanted with the places I called home – however temporary each might have been. And I bet I’m certainly not alone.

There are 13 million people – that’s one in five of us – renting in the UK, according to campaign group Generation Rent. Plus, the government’s English Private Landlord Survey 2021 found that the private rented sector is now the second largest tenure in England, in fact, with 19% of all households occupied by tenants, compared to 14% in 2008/2009.

The Guardian reported in January this year that the rental landscape has shifted dramatically in the last decade, as uncovered by the Census. It showed that the number of households renting has more than doubled in the last two decades in England and Wales, as home ownership rates fell.

That’s a whole lot of people stuck in some sort of decorating limbo.

“The 2010s began with twice as many mortgage holders as private renters. Ten years later the gap has narrowed dramatically, with just 50% more mortgage holders than private renters, a trend that is likely to increase in an era of higher interest rates” – The Guardian, 5th January 2023.

I wrote in an earlier newsletter about my time spent renting various properties before finally getting onto the property ladder last year. I called myself a part of Generation Rent for 10 plus years and during all of that time I worked on interiors magazines, spending my days looking at all of the wonderful things you can do to a home…how inspiring yet envy inducing, right? It did, however, encourage me to think of creative ways to introduce those trendy interiors into my own rooms in ways that could be easily taken down or quickly put right.

It’s by no means doom and gloom if you do rent – I’ve been there. Each time I moved into a new rental, usually because of a job change, I found a sense of excitement to see how much I could do to put at least some stamp of my style on the house to make it feel like home. There is a lot you can do with accessories and cleverly placed pieces. Here are some of my favourites – in fact I use all of these in my house now too…

1. Create an easy gallery wall
   Give me a 3M Command strip or hook and I’m happy. The greatest invention for easily hanging artwork, photos, prints and – if you’re careful with weight – just about anything else. If you haven’t used them, the strips stick to your wall or surface and you can mount frames where you’d like them. I used this technique to create a gallery wall in my narrow hallway when I lived in a Victorian terraced house about ten years ago and just this weekend, I put a cute rainbow up in my daughter’s room with the same method. I even used a matt black hook design to hold up a mirror in my bathroom in my last rented house. You’d never know it was there come moving out – the strips pull off the wall leaving no trace. Just make sure to follow to ‘pull down’ instructions otherwise you risk taking paint or plaster with you (been there, done that, had to get the Polyfilla out!).

   

   Yes, you could create a gallery wall like this one without damaging the wall. [image: Photo by Steph Wilson on Unsplash]

2. Add texture with textiles
   I have to limit my trips to stores like Dunelm, Homesense and The Range because I am a fiend for soft furnishings. But they make such a difference. Throws, rugs, curtains or voiles, and even smaller touches like a colourful oven glove and nice tea towels in the kitchen, can really lift the look of a space – and don’t cost the earth. If a property comes with naff curtains, replace them with a style to suit you and keep the existing ones clean and dry ready to put back up when you leave. Add a rug to a living room and bedrooms to hide dodgy flooring and add some comfort, colour and pattern. Layer a sofa with throws or cover it completely with one to conceal it if you don’t like the look of it. That terraced house I mentioned came with a delightful maroon carpet throughout which I HATED, so I put rugs down to hide as much of it as I could; I have an old sofa in my dining room that’s covered with a throw until we can replace it; plus I’ve swapped the window dressings in most of the places I’ve been, even finding a made-to-measure Roman blind option that hung on a curtain pole which I still have in my bedroom now.

   

   My bedroom is still very much a work in progress, but the blind is a clever option if you have a curtain pole already and don’t want to drill into the walls.

   

   The offending maroon carpet. Those curtains were quick to go too.

3. Embrace the power of a good cushion
   Cliché, probably, but just like the other soft furnishings mentioned, cushions are an easy, quick and cheap way to add personality to your home. Pick a colour scheme and mix a pattern with a few textures for variety – for example, mix a plain cotton or linen with a velvet and add something with a print or embroidery. I’ve even known people to change their cushions with the season – whatever takes your fancy, I suppose.
   

4. Remove what you can
   I’m not talking about anything structural here, but more about thinking cleverly about the bones of the rooms you’re working with. This is best done when you’ve just moved in or when the area is clear so you can really look at it. Are there any shelves or pieces of furniture you don’t like or need? If possible, remove them and store them safely elsewhere for the duration of your tenancy. I once removed the shelves from either side of a chimney breast so I could more effectively use the areas – one side for a wardrobe and the other as a dressing table nook. The shelves simply slid out and lived in the loft until they slid back in on moving day.
   

5. Include clever storage solutions
   You know those dividers, plate organisers, racks and baskets that go into cupboards and drawers? Not only do they call to my love of organising, but they are so incredibly good at making the most of every inch of space, especially when you’re working with a property where you haven’t specified a thing. Use racks in the kitchen to double create additional ‘shelf’ space, a Lazy Susan (they’re having a resurgence) in the bathroom and kitchen, and hooks on the inside of doors for anything from pan lids and tote bags to jewellery and your dressing gown. I’ve found that baskets and drawer dividers are useful in just about every room to be honest – you can never have enough in my humble opinion.
   

   

   This was a moodboard I created for my last living room in a country-style house I rented. I brought in a rug, cushions, a new lampshade and of course baskets to add my own interior style.

6. Bring your own lighting
   Ask any interior designer and they will tell you that lighting will make or break a scheme. It’s often an afterthought, but shouldn’t be. Of course, there’s nothing you can do about the main lighting (i.e the big light) if you’re renting, but add layers of illumination with lamps – floor and table – so you can create the right ambience throughout the day, especially if you work from home. You could even buy stick on spotlights for under units or shelving if you want to go a step further. And don’t underestimate the effect of candles.
   

7. Play with the layout
   When you move into a new home, most of the time things get plonked and you make on-the-spot decisions about where furniture should go. That’s fine, but live with it for a little while and then see if another arrangement might work better. I have done this in every single rented house I have lived in, often getting itchy feet (probably the result of looking at other people’s houses for a living) and deciding to try the sofa/bed/unit in a different place. In four years living in one house, I had three different living room layouts. You could say it’s indecisive, but each time it changed, it felt fresh and exciting – and I guess that’s the beauty of living somewhere where you’re only really altering the contents, rather than the structure.
   

8. Bring the outside in
   Unless you’ve been living under a rock these last few years, you’ve probably noticed the trend for houseplants. My boyfriend and I adopted so many plant kids while renting that when we got our own house, we had far too many and couldn’t find spots for them all (the downside of a north-facing living room). Plants have a lovely way of adding a homely feel to a house, as well as colour, shape and freshness. And if you have a corner to fill or plug/other unsightly thing to hide, pop a plant there and voilà.

   

   A houseplant or two never goes amiss. [image: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash]

9. Make an entrance
   Don’t forget the front door. A statement doormat sets the scene for what’s to come and I’m a big fan of a seasonal wreath – use those stick-on hooks again, or get a metal over-door hanger.

10. Add something you absolutely really truly love
    I have a couple of things that have come with me through various homes and I still love them now. I picked up a pink velvet armchair for £120 in TKMaxx years ago and it’s still a feature in my living room; there’s a platter from Marrakech that I’m desperately trying to find a spot for as I can’t bear to part with it; and my good-quality linen bedding still brings me joy even though I’ve had it a few years. It could be as small as a gorgeous set of stoneware mugs or a piece of art, but it should make you smile – and make your place feel like home.