Are you stuck in a rut and you feel like your apartment is just a place to live, and doesn’t feel like the home you have always dreamed of having? Many of us feel that way, especially in the rental era and especially as so many landlords place restrictions on decorating apartment and house rentals.

Not to worry! You know we’re always here for you. There are some really easy things that you can do to spice up your apartment without spending a lot of money and without being evicted! Here are a few simple décor tips from someone who has lived in many a generic apartment and understands your pain. 

Go retro! All items found on our Used.ca sites.

Paint What You Can Paint

Sometimes, landlords will nix the idea of letting people paint the walls. This can be kind of a let down unless you really love white, off white, almost white, bright white and white white. Paint what you can paint, and then leave the rest the way it is. Instead of painting the walls, try painting your furniture or hanging a artwork, tapestries or adhesive wall art that doesn’t leave marks. Often if you show your paint colour choice to your landlord he or she will relent and see it as an improvement. If your taste is ’80s throwback, prepare to plead.

Add an Area Rug or Two

Apartment rentals can come installed with some of the worst flooring imaginable. Don’t let that get you down, because no one’s carpet is worse than mine and maybe one day I’ll even prove it. Add a cheap or used area rug to cover up some of the ugly linoleum flooring or cheap carpets. For the kitchen and bathroom, choose an easy-to-wash area rug  as they can get moist and crumby quite easily. Elsewhere, go for rugs that suit you and your colour scheme. If you are lucky you will get some top quality wool rugs from your local UsedEverwhere.com site. I found several Moroccan rugs on our sites.

Switch-Out the Curtains

Let me guess, your curtains are blah and possible off white or brown? Buying new curtains can be really expensive. Instead, buy used. Be sure to choose light colours so that you can still have as much daylight as possible, and make sure you store the apartment curtains with care so that you don’t need to worry too much about damage, mildew, or major wrinkling when you need to put them back up again.

Splash of Character

So you can’t paint the kitchen or mural the bathroom but you can accessorize and you can accessorize with character. Check out the vintage pieces in our photo collage; these were all found on a local Used.ca site. Not a vintage junkie? No problem. Just enter the term ‘IKEA’ into one of our sites and have yourself a night of fun. However, be aware that the competition for IKEA furniture on our sites is high!

Decorating an apartment or house rental can be challenging because you need to be able to work within a few guidelines that are set out by the landlord or property management company. There are a lot of ways round it though, even if you live in what resembles a very large shoe box. Think about accessories that can brighten the space up, colour match with throws, bedding and furniture and hang art. Your shoe box will look like a character home in no time.

Quick links to apartment rentals in your area:

House Rentals Halifax

House Rentals Ottawa

House Rentals PEI

House Rentals Regina

House Rentals Vancouver

House Rentals Victoria