Moving into a rental home? Here are 3 ways to customize your home in a rental-friendly way

Moving into a rental is sometimes great for budgeting, and some may argue that it’s certainly a viable option for long term financial planning too. Here is one video by the Khan academy that challenges the notion it’s always better to buy a home. And here is another video comparing the two options.

Ok, but for whatever reason, you’ve decided to move into a rental. Or another city. You know what the investment people DON’T usually talk about? Decor and customization! With your own home you can rip out walls, floors, and do whatever you want. But with rentals, your home-sweet-home has to stay rental-ready for the next people moving in.

But not to fear – we’re going to give you some clever ideas for creating a customized look in a rental after you’ve moved in.

Rental friendly decor ideas

1) Use wood planks to make things interesting

Planks of wood used cleverly can create a ‘rustic’ feeling in a home. Especially when the wood is distressed, though it doesn’t have to be. And if you repurpose old doors to do this, it can look even cooler.

The great thing about using these large pieces of wood is that they not only make statement pieces for a room, they can also be a way for you to add wall hanging material to a wall, without touching the wall itself. For example, attach a wall lamp or sconce to the old wood. This way you not only won’t have to build in an electrical connection through drywall, you also won’t be making holes in drywall at all! The same theory could apply to picture frames, hooks, and so on.

Here are some ideas and photos to get you going:

• https://relovedrubbish.blogspot.ca/2013/12/wall-sconces-on-old-shutter-doors.html
• https://blog.simonton.com/repurpose-old-doors/ (for the lamp idea)

2) Temporary flooring

Two cool ideas here for temporary flooring to use after you’ve moved into a rental.

First one is vinyl tile. Vinyl is a great option for waterproofing a floor. And, with vinyl tiles, you can easily lay them on top of an existing floor. This video by EngineerYourSpace on YouTube explains how.

Vinyl sheet flooring can also work, as shown in this article by Apartment Therapy, along with other rental-friendly decor ideas.

Second idea is to use plywood. But this will probably only work if your rental has a tiled or very hard floor (like concrete, linoleum or epoxy). It sounds crazy, but it can be a cheap option to update flooring. Plywood is often used as sub floor when laying down other types of flooring (such as vinyl or laminate). But if you stain it or paint it directly, it could theoretically work bare too!

Here are posts on how to get this plywood floor going (or at least some ideas to inspire you!):

• https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-PLYWOOD-FLOORS/
• https://www.homeflooringpros.com/blog-guides/11-best-plywood-flooring/

3) 3M Command strips and Command hooks

These are an ESSENTIAL for moving into a rental home. They are amazing at leaving no trace behind when you need to hang things on your walls, and sometimes even heavy things. This great invention by 3M allows you to use sticky-strips that adhere to your walls, and that can be removed easily by pulling down on their ‘loose end’ tab. You can find them in most department stores where you find nails and picture hanging hardware. And they can do wonders!

• Here is a video from LiveYourStyle showing ideas for Command hooks.

Stay tuned for more next week!

We’re not done! We’ve got more ideas for decorating after you’ve moved into a rental in Vancouver.

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