Olivia Glendale is a 20-something year old mother of two, both under 2 years. When she’s not busy soothing tantrums and changing diapers, you can find her blogging with sass about home décor, organizing, and DIY projects at www.DIYMother.org.
When you’re living in a rented space, you might find it impossible to decorate the way you’d like-you can’t paint the walls, make holes in the walls for art, or install crown molding. You don’t want to risk paying more money when your lease is up, and that’s understandable. With a little elbow grease, however, you can easily transform your rental into a chic living space.
Below are a few tips on how to decorate your living room like a pro, even if you can’t use professional tricks of the trade.
Move Up
A basic rule of decorating a small space is that utilizing height makes the room feel bigger. To create height, use a tall bookcase-not only does it lengthen your space, it gives you tons of room to fill it with fun accents. If you don’t have a bookcase, try getting some extra-long curtains and hanging them 3 inches below the ceiling. The higher you hang the curtains, the bigger the space looks.
You’ll want to fill the in between area with things like end tables, table lamps, or house plants. Décor for eye-level should always be art or photos.
Use Texture and Color Wisely
From House To Home
When you have white walls and not many options for decorating, you must rely on textures and colors to make the room pop. If you’re into the neutral look, you can still create texture by looking for things like shag rugs, faux fur throw pillows, tufted ottomans, or even an antique trunk.
If you really want to incorporate color on the wall, try hanging a large sheet of fabric as a backdrop to create an accent wall. You can also hang a fabric panel. Wall decals are also a good way to color the walls-just be careful you don’t get out of control. Wall decals have a tendency to be a bit busy and almost kitschy.
Make a “Gallery Wall”
You might not want to nail anything into the wall, but you can still pull off a gallery wall and minimize the amount of caulking you’ll have to do before you move out. Buy some floating shelves-that way, you can put as many frames on them as you want without worrying about 30 holes in the wall.
Paint…Your Furniture
You can’t paint your walls, but you can paint your furniture. I can’t tell you how many pieces of furniture I’ve refinished; and most of the pieces came from second hand stores. Pick an accent color for your living room (something bold or bright) and paint an end table or shelf. You can also spray paint any decor you want-vases, candles, decorative boxes. Get creative and colorful!
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