While the kitchen might be the heart of our home, our living room is where we spend the most time. It is also the first room you walk into so it serves as our entry way as well. I think living rooms in rentals provide the most opportunities for creativity given that they are usually big empty spaces waiting to be filled. Usually I just need to configure our furniture in a way that is functional, create moments throughout the space using end tables, lamps and decorative pieces, then layer in the rug, window treatments and wall art. My goal for our current space was to make it warm, welcoming and cozy. We were fortunate that this our living room had good natural light to play with. In almost any rental we’ve been in, here are the updates I like to make to make it feel like home:
- Paint
- Window shades
- Drapery
- Lighting
Before
The Updates
Paint
I already mentioned the the paint color we used throughout our apartment in the previous post about our rental bathroom. We chose Behr Spun Cotton, but used a semi-gloss finish in the living room.
Window Shades
Most rentals have some variation of the ugly white metal shade. However, if you check with your landlord, you may be able to swap these out for semi-custom shades. This small swap can make a big impact on pulling the space together and I just love how warm it made the room look. I was able to get a great deal on woven wood shades that were incredibly easy to install.
Drapery
There are lots of options for budget friendly drapery: think Target, Ikea and Amazon. Another option is to sewing your own drapes. This gives you a truly custom look (not to mention the satisfaction knowing you created it yourself). I love browsing fabric stores and getting to work on making something beautiful to add to our home. Be mindful that drapery requires curtain rods. Check with your landlord if you can drill holes into the walls, but a little spackle and paint make them very easy to patch when moving out. Our curtain rods are from Target and we’ve used them in multiple apartments. The drapes are the Emery Linen curtain from Pottery Barn and were an investment but well worth it. I actually found ours, brand new, on Ebay for half the cost. They will move with us to our next rental and eventually our forever home.
Lighting
Lamps are a fantastic way to customize and add layers to a space–they also can be moved from place to place. I found our overarching lamp from West Elm on Facebook Marketplace. I always recommend keeping an eye out and checking Facebook Marketplace first before buying something new. You can get things at a fraction of the cost and it is much more sustainable.
With a little creativity and knowing what standard updates are feasible in a rental, we’ve been able to turn our living room into a space we love spending time in.
After
Get the Look
