5 Tips to Make Your Rental Feel Like Home

Don't put up with tasteless furnishings, unloved walls and dodgy lampshades (thanks, landlords). Just because you're renting doesn't mean you can't make your abode feel like home – your home to be precise. Banish beige from your space and say hello to stylish (and totally mortgage-free) living…

Leave the blue-tac and drawing pins to students – nothing says temporary like tacked up art. Take the time to frame favourite posters, artwork and memorabilia and you’ll instantly give your home a polished and, dare we say, grown-up look.

It’s one of the quickest and cheapest ways to transform a space – even if you only paint one wall, or just the doors and skirting. There’s no better way to put your stamp on your home and make it feel like yours. This room is a shining example of a little ingenuity (and a little paint) going a long way. From decorating hacks to complete schemes, check out the Dulux Let’s Colour Magazine for inventive ways with paint and the whole product range. Order yours for free here.

Whether your rented home has floorboards (lucky you), or a carpet that’s seen better days, investing in a large rug will hide a multitude of sins and smarten up your space with minimum effort. The best bit? You can take it with you when the time comes to move on. We love Habitat’s range of flatweave designs that use bold patterns and splashes of colour for a guaranteed transformation.

Inherited some dodgy lampshades and light fixtures with your rental? Switching these over to more stylish models will have a big impact to the mood of each space – and, again, these can be packed up and moved to your next abode. Switch unnecessarily bright bulbs over to lower wattage bulbs and introduce lampshades which diffuse light in a flattering way – try Ikea’s Vate paper shades (€9-€16 each). If your overhead lighting can’t be easily changed, pep up your home with small task lamps – they’re so much more flattering than a stark overhead glare. After all, you can never have too many lamps.

No outdoor space? No problem – surround yourself with greenery indoors instead. Potted palms, cacti, succulents, terrariums and even mini trees are having a moment in interiors, but aside from hipster-fying your home, they’ll hide any flaws you can’t fix and make for a revitalised and happier home for now.

Get creative with your indoor planting and sow the seed of inspiration with The House Gardener, a bible of house planting from the founder of The Balcony Gardener, Isabelle Palmer (Pictured) Easons.