How to decorate your rental when you can't paint/ can't drill/ have a bunch of limitations

Renting has become a norm for a lot of us these days, and they can come with a long list of restrictions. So today, I'm going to share with you my tips on how to work around those limitations to make your rental space finally feel like home. We have all said it, I live in a rental so I can't paint over the beige walls. I live in a rental so I'm stuck with this ugly flooring. It's a frustrating but very relatable feeling. When I was a product designer, my job was to turn problems into opportunities to improve the user experience. Interior design is exactly the same. These rental limitations can be flipped and turned into design opportunities that can actually improve your daily life. Take those beige walls for example. You could lean into that warmth, focus on natural elements like wood and jute to create a calm earthy space, or contrast the beige with bold punchy decor like a bright blue rug and bold maroon cushion to create a high contrast aesthetic that looks incredibly curated. Stop thinking of them as restrictions but rather a starting point. Think about it this way, if you had a blank canvas to do whatever you wanted, there's a high chance you're going to be overwhelmed with the unlimited options and this leads to decision fatigue. Restrictions are actually a gift. They narrow your focus and force you to make better more creative decisions. So when I first saw my entryway of my new rental space, I was pretty stressed out. It was narrow, dark, and had an awkward nook. The walls were covered in ugly fixtures like an electrical panel, a metal box we never need to use, and a large cutout in the wall. But then I calmed down and started to flip those supposed problems into solutions. Okay, the space is narrow, so what compact sized shoe cabinets are there in the market? There's hardly any natural light but there is a window in the stairway. Let's use a mirror to help bounce some light off it. There's an awkward nook, so let's make it look intentional by making it cozy and functional with a DIY bench. By the end, these solutions didn't just solve the layout issues that I couldn't fix, they also hid the ugly wall fixtures I mentioned. I achieved the exact look I wanted because of the limitations that forced me to make better decisions. Here's a secret, you don't need to buy expensive furniture, you just need to identify your priorities. When you're thinking about your space, pick one to two items that you're willing to invest a bit on and then find budget-friendly options for the rest. Maybe for you, a priority is a beautiful roll of peel and stick wallpaper or a striking lamp that's going to boost your mood every time you turn it on. Remember, it's your choice to spend your money on things that actually make you happy. Take our old apartment for example, we bought an expensive couch because that was where we spent most of our time on. In contrast, we bought a dining set for just 100 euros because it wasn't a priority for us since we usually ended up eating on the couch anyways. But keep in mind that priorities can always shift. A few years later, when we moved into our new space, we then invested in a larger dining table that ended up being the place where I host, where I craft, where I do all my DIYs and even edit my videos. Another example is our bedroom. My priorities were a bit with hidden storage and some custom-made curtains. The rest of the room are filled with pieces from IKEA, off-season sales and DIYs on a budget. Which, speaking of, brings me to the next point. You could say that DIYs are also a form of investment since you spend time and effort in them. But there is a wide spectrum of how much effort you actually need to put in. On one end, you have the big projects like painting an entire room yourself or building a cabinet from scratch. You might be saying that you don't have the time or the skills for that. So let's focus on the other end of the spectrum where I promise no power tools are involved. And just because a project might seem easier, it doesn't mean that it can't have a big impact. So when I just started on my DIY journey, the thought of painting an entire piece of furniture was really daunting. So instead, I just painted the insides of the top half of my barely bookcases. This was a low effort, low risk, low cost DIY that ended up changing the whole look of my bookshelves. If you love the look of wood but don't know anything about woodworking, try contact paper. I've used it to cover the top of my white IKEA dresser to give it more warmth. I contact papered the luck bench to make it look like it's made of solid wood. I even added butcher block contact paper to my cheap veneer countertop in the kitchen. You could also DIY small but unique pieces of decor to style your apartment. Grab an old vase and add some spray paint or paint a fun pattern on it. Glue some wooden beads together to make an interesting piece of decor. Make some match yarn to make a fun colorful macrame curtain pull. Add some paint and command strips to some foam rings for a conversation starter piece of wall decor. The only tip I have is to really have fun with it so that every time you look at these pieces that are styling your home, it puts a smile on your face because of the memory attached to it. On that note, I have definitely fallen into the trap thinking that I need that $60 vase from Anthropologie to make my home look beautiful and curated like the ones on Instagram. Before purchasing that $60 vase, ask yourself a few questions. Does this vase remind you of a fond memory or is it going to spark joy every time you look at it? If the answer is a big fat yes, then go ahead, buy it. You probably won't regret it. But if you're unsure, then you will be better off saving your coin for something else. Decorate your home with things that have meaning to you. This might be a keepsake from your travels or that lego set that you spent the night building with your partner or a figurine that reminds you of your childhood or that takoyaki shop that your dad bought you even though you're already 30 but he saw how much it excited you when you saw it. I promise, it doesn't matter if it doesn't fit the Instagram aesthetic. If you display something with an emotional value to you, it's going to make your space feel unique and more than ever like home. So now you have pieces of furniture that you prioritized your spending on and sprinkles of decor that are meaningful to you. To fill the remaining gaps in your home, you might want to pay a visit to the thrift store. If it's your first time entering one, you might be overwhelmed with the amount of stuff in there. So here are five things I like to look out for. Number one, art. Adding art to your space is one of the easiest ways to add a lot of personality to your home and the thrift store is perfect for finding unique pieces at a low price. Whether you're looking for landscapes, still life, vintage posters or even non-traditional types of art, your local thrift store most probably has it all. Number two, baskets. Aside from obvious storage, baskets are great for hiding the ugly parts of your home while still being accessible. They can be really expensive new so I like to hunt for them at the second-hand store and more often than not, I end up finding ones with really unique shapes and sizes. Number three, books. If you're going for that library aesthetic, you're going to need more books than you think and second-hand stores are perfect for that. They usually go from anywhere between 50 cents to 10 euros depending on the type and title. Number four, candlesticks. If you appreciate some vintage charm in your home, look out for brass candlesticks at the thrift store. I have a small collection of them sprinkled all around my home and if they're a little bit grimy, don't worry, you can easily polish them with some lemon and salt. Lastly, definitely look out for decorative vessels. This can be pottery or glassware and you can often find really fun shapes at the thrift store. If they're not exactly in the color you're searching for, you can always add some paint or even use the classic baking soda hack to turn it into a piece that fits your home color palette. With everything I've already mentioned, your brain might now be filled with so many thoughts and ideas. It's really important that you document all of this down so that you can visually sort and figure out what actually works for your space. To do that, we are When you create a new board, you can choose from a bunch of templates. So whether it's interior design, business marketing, or even just planning your weekly routine, there just might be a perfect template for you. But for now, let's go with a blank canvas and pop in some existing pictures of the space. For this example, I'm going to use our old living room. At the start of this video, I talked about turning problems into solutions. So let's first list out the problems of the space. This can be really powerful because by writing out all the problems on a list like this, you might start to see that there are several small problems that point to one main issue. In our case, the functional problems all pointed to a general layout issue with the living room. I popped in some screenshots of the floor plan the landlord gave and used the draw function to first draw the existing layout and then brainstorm on some new layouts. You can use this draw tool on both the desktop and tablet versions of Melanote. With the new layout, we could solve a bunch of the functional problems we previously had. So I proceeded to the next step, which was to sell some of our old furniture. I created a simple table in Melanote to keep track and with the handy mobile app, I could easily update our budget while on the go. And just like I mentioned earlier, I also identified the main priority for our living room. We would focus on finding a good comfy sofa and the rest of the items would have to fit into the remaining budget. I saved potential furniture options with the Melanote web clipper directly onto my board and shared this board with Pat so that he could leave comments on what he liked or didn't like. This is really useful as it just keeps everything well documented and neatly organized. To finalize the design of the space, I created a mood board to see if everything will come together nicely. Like I mentioned, Melanote is free to use with no time limit. You can sign up with my link in the info box and start brainstorming and redesigning your rental space. A big thank you to Melanote for sponsoring today's video. When I asked on Instagram about your difficulties in decorating a rental, a lot of you mentioned not knowing how to add color when you're not allowed to paint. So to talk about this, let's zoom in on two specific spaces, the kitchen and the bathroom. First, let's look at my old kitchen. When you look at the pictures, it looks like a pretty colorful space but the base is really just white walls, white cabinets and brown countertops. If your kitchen is a white box like mine, you actually have the advantage as you get to have a lot of fun shopping for items without worrying about sticking to a strict color palette. Instead of a regular drying mat, pick a fun color. Add pops of yellow with the most random things like a vegetable scrub and some dried pasta. Boost your mood with the orange of terracotta plant pots and lentils in a mason jar. The best part about decorating a kitchen is that a lot of the decor are actually functional pieces or even edible. Next, let's take a look at this bathroom. It's basically a white box with a dull gray flooring. Since the walls are fully tiled, you probably aren't allowed to drill into it so let's play with textiles. To cover the gray floor and add some comfort, let's add a fun checkered bathmat. To easily add color to the walls, I'll add a yellow hand towel and some stripy bath towels. And finally, let's add a beautiful shower curtain. If your bathroom has enough light for it, you could also add a couple of plants to literally add life to the space. Now, compare the before and after. Everything we added would have taken just a few minutes but all of them combined have made such a big impact. The same principles can be used for the rest of the living spaces. You can have a white base but still add a lot of color with different textiles such as rocks, curtains, and pillow covers. No one needs to live in a white box if they don't want to. Another trick to make a rental look visually interesting is to play with unexpected shapes. One of my favorite ways to do this is with a headboard. Most rental bedrooms are just a collection of squares and rectangles so adding a headboard with a curve or unique silhouette instantly breaks up that boxy feeling. There are a ton of options on the market or you could DIY one following one of the hundreds of tutorials online. It doesn't even have to be a big piece like a headboard. It can be something small and utilitarian like this wavy towel holder. You really only need one thing to act as a sort of disruptor in the room. That single point of contrast is what is going to add dimension and makes the space feel curated. On a similar note, if your space feels flat, you're probably missing layers. Layering is what takes a room from looking like a showroom to looking like a home and it doesn't even have to be complicated. It could be as easy as placing decor pieces in front of one another. By overlapping your items, you're creating depth which forces the eye to move around the space, making it feel dynamic and lift in rather than static and flat. Whether you're not allowed to or too scared to pick up a drill, I have a few solutions for you. For hanging small pieces of art, stick a paper clip onto the wall and hang your print with a small magnet. For heavier items, use command or taser hooks. The key here is to follow the instructions very carefully. If it says to press and hold for 30 seconds and wait overnight, do exactly that. Any impatience here will definitely cause the hook to drop. In particular, I love these taser poster hooks which I usually use multiple of to hang larger heavier frames like the one in my entryway and dining room. If your wall is not super textured, velcro strips are also great for creating a feature wall. I recently found the ones from Summer Bright to be more budget-friendly and stronger than the command ones. And lastly, I like using these transparent command hooks for hanging lightweight Christmas decor like a bell garland or even some paper stars from the ceiling. Since they're transparent, I can just leave them on the walls and use them when Christmas comes around. But if you would like to remove them, definitely use a hair dryer to avoid ripping off the wall paint. If you live in Germany, a lot of window blinds come with a rental-friendly hook that you can just clip onto the window without drilling. Alternatively, tangent rods are also great for adding curtains. I've also used them to temporarily put up Christmas garlands, a shower curtain for my DIY studio, and even to create extra hanging storage for cleaning supplies. And lastly, you don't actually have to hang everything. Mirrors, frames, or even a leather shelf for your blankets can all be leaned against the wall. The leaning aesthetic is, in my opinion, really cool. In this day and age, we arguably cannot live without electronic devices, yet they tend to be visually unattractive. To hide the ugly router, I like to use an open weave basket. This ensures that the signals are still strong and you can thread the cords through the open weave. Or, hide it under the table by sticking it to the wall with some velcro strips I mentioned earlier. For consoles, I highly recommend getting a media unit with slatted doors in order to hide the consoles, but still allow for good ventilation so that they don't overheat. For kitchen appliances, first make a mental note of what needs to be out on the counter all the time. Try to get ones that fit your kitchen aesthetics so that they don't feel like an eyesore. For us, that's the microwave, toaster, and the carbonator. The rest of the less used appliances, like the blender and air fryer, go into cabinets. And to manage those cords, use power strips that you can mount onto your furniture and run any excess cords through cable channels. For under the work desk, this fabric organizer is a game changer as it allows you to still access the cords easily, but hides everything away so neatly. If you don't know how to change a ceiling light, that's totally fine because you won't even need to turn it on after this. Ambient lighting is key to making your space feel cozy and homey. Just compare these two pictures side by side. Which one makes you want to curl up on the couch all day? Here's my formula for ambient lighting. In the corners, I like to add either a standing lamp or table lamp, which turns a dead zone into a decorative focal point. For task lighting, avoid things like this. The light is usually too harsh and they quickly become an eyesore. Instead, look for options that provide bright but diffused lighting or ones where you can adjust the angle. If you're struggling to find a table lamp in your style or budget, a hack I have is to get a basic bulb vase and place an interesting glass vase over it. On top of bookshelves and wardrobes, I like to add an LED strip for that glowy effect. By pointing the light upwards towards the ceiling, you're using the wall to diffuse the light which makes the room feel taller as well. If you only take away one thing from this video, I hope it's this. Changing the lighting of your space can change the entire vibe of your home. A big shout out to my channel members for your constant support. I've been having so much fun filming secret little vlogs for you guys. If you would like to see more behind the scenes, you can consider joining as a channel member to support my channel. And thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you in the next one.