Renting after you’ve owned a home feels like a burden has been lifted off your shoulders at first.  When we bought our first home, within weeks our washing machine broke, refrigerator broke, HVAC broke, ya know…small things. Le sigh. However, since we began renting over a year ago, not one.single.thing has broken or needed to be fixed.

Back to my point at hand, the downside of renting is your lack of freedom. Before we moved in, the owners so graciously repainted every wall in the house a beautiful shade of almond. Blegh. And they thought it would be nice to leave all the interior doors a natural wood finish. Not cute. But the rent is cheap and we have a huge fenced-in back yard which is very important for our dogs.  So, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I can work with what I’ve got without making any major changes, both for landlord purposes and financial purposes. Bottom line: I don’t want to sink a lot of money into decorating this matchbox. Here are some things I have done or plan to do to spruce this place up a bit.

Home Decorators Collection has a sale going on right now of temporary wallpaper. I’m thinking of using this to create a faux headboard for our guest room bed. It has many possible applications, I think a guest bath or powder room is always a great place for wallpaper.

Using “sticky hooks” and tension rods allow you to hang and drape without making holes. I used tension rods in my office to make faux roman shades, and they worked great. I’m trying to figure out how I can use some kind of adhesive hook and curtain rods so I can hang drapes, again, without making holes. I’ll get back to you on that.

Errybody get your lean on. I’m a big fan of leaning art and mirrors be it on the floor, a shelf, or mantle.  Mostly because I like it, but also because it is easy.

So you can’t paint your almond walls? There are tons of ways to add color and drama to a room besides paint. I would squeal to get my hands on that tufted sofa from Anthropologie.  A printed console table and colorful lamp shades  brighten up any entryway. And the best part is…all that can move with you when you go! So get creative with fabrics, throw pillows, and rugs to add color and texture to your otherwise almond room.

To all of you renters out there, how have you made your house a home? Do tell.