DIY ideas for a rented apartment. How to make a rented apartment cozy - ideas that will be useful to you
So, transformations are needed. But first you need to determine to what extent they are possible, what tactics to choose. Alas, here you have to discuss many things with the owners of the apartment.
If repairs can be made
Now there are a lot of cozy, bright apartments for rent, with excellent renovations. There’s nothing to say about this option - most likely, you won’t need to change anything there, except perhaps add some little things, accessories, what’s in your taste, what creates the mood. But such housing will probably not be the cheapest option.
If you want an economical option, then you may get an apartment that has not been renovated for at least 10 years, with old trash and not too spacious. And this, the most common option, often requires repair. If the owners allow you to do this, great, but here you also need a middle ground. If you don’t plan to live here for, say, 20 years, then you shouldn’t spend all your personal savings on bringing someone else’s property into exemplary shape.
The repair should be easy, cosmetic, it is not necessary to redo everything. Firstly, change what has really fallen into disrepair. Secondly, focus on what gives immediate transformation. Necessarily - . They can provide fifty percent success. Next, you can lay linoleum or carpet, but do not lay parquet.
You can change the kitchen apron, and it doesn’t have to be made of tiles; you can use special panels. The main thing is that it is clean, neat and well-groomed. Everything else can be changed through decoration, without radical intervention.
If repairs cannot be made
Incredible, but true - often owners (especially pensioners) prohibit making not only any repairs, but even rearranging the furniture. It is inexplicable, of course, why people don’t want to improve their apartment at someone else’s expense. Well, they don’t want to - and they don’t need to. And there is no need to be discouraged in this case. Any apartment can always be updated through other means. And the first step is get rid of unnecessary junk.
Very often in rented apartments there is broken furniture, non-working household appliances, and all this rubbish just sits there, cluttering up the entire living space. But the owners value all this and are not going to throw it away. Discuss several options with them.
Firstly, you can fence off a compartment on the balcony or arrange a closet where you can put them. Secondly, you can take it to the pantry, if you have one. Thirdly, you can arrange hanging drawers, shelves, and mezzanines in your apartment for old things. Fourthly, if you have a garage, some of your things can be taken there. Fifthly, you can arrange a closet-storage room in the corridor (if, of course, the dimensions of the corridor allow it).
Old things
If the owners do not agree to any of the above, then the solution is to place the sofas at an angle, put old things behind the sofas, and make overlays from plasterboard or furniture board on top. Or it’s trivial - group all the trash in one place and make a curtain partition out of fabric or use blinds. Place smaller items in special fabric suitcases with zippers (these are sold for dressing rooms) and on top of cabinets.
Promo brands
storage of things
Active decorAny interior can be decorated so that it looks new, thanks to active, style-defining accessories. Please note that any accessories and decor are removable and do not damage walls, floors, or furniture, otherwise the owners will be full of complaints. Carefully inspect the apartment, and first of all, you will need to decorate what has fallen into disrepair and catches your eye.
Furniture covers
Shabby, old furniture A 30-year-old room that screams about itself can be easily and simply transformed with removable covers or new bedspreads. Removable covers are useful for chairs and stools, and not only to hide defects. The fact is that most often they will be of different sizes and very simple. But with the help of textile covers, designed in a single key, you will visually combine pieces of furniture that do not match each other into a single ensemble and at the same time create the style that you need. 
Definitely necessary. Old curtains - out. Instead, hang modern, beautiful fabrics, preferably light ones, made from environmentally friendly materials. “Play” with window design. You can make a beautiful lambrequin, hang multi-layer curtains, attach all kinds of pendants to them,
In Russian practice, rented economy class housing rarely has a design solution and European-quality renovation. Usually this is old furniture and cosmetic repairs, perhaps not even fresh. At the same time, for many, a rented apartment does not become a temporary home; one can live in it for decades, but often during this time it is never fully inhabited. Why? Firstly, there is a feeling that the home is not your own, that you can move out of it at any time, which means why invest effort and money to remake it for yourself? Secondly, there is constraint in the form of the will of the owners. Some people will calmly accept that you will change everything, but others need to call before every hammered nail.
But this is not a reason to stare at cracks in the plaster for several years and put up with Soviet furniture. We have compiled for you a kind of instruction on how to transform your rental housing in budget and harmless ways. All ideas are suitable for easy changes in your own apartment.
Step one: get rid of the excess.
Many owners rent out an apartment not only with furniture, but also with its contents. Old books, figurines and other trinkets, as well as pieces of furniture you no longer need, can be given to the landlord. If the owners do not want to take them, carefully put everything in boxes and put them away. It would be better if the shelves were spacious, but only those things that have some meaning to you or that fit perfectly with the interior will be on them.
Even if order was put in place for your move, dust still accumulated during all the fuss and sorting out of things. Do some general cleaning - in the process you will just understand what you need to buy or change.
Step two: deciding the fate of the furniture.
If among the furnishings provided by the owners there is a necessary piece of furniture, for example a coffee table, but you don’t like its appearance, then it can be replaced or transformed. In order not to go broke, you can buy a nicer and more comfortable piece of furniture on avito.ru or at a consignment store. When moving, you can sell it in the same way and lose almost nothing.
If you are purchasing furniture that will go with you to your next location, look first at compact and folding options. They are easier to transport and can be placed in any housing configuration. Ikea has a lot of lightweight, foldable and inexpensive furniture.
If it is not so easy to get rid of the furniture that comes with the apartment, you can put it in decent shape. Wooden furniture can benefit from some maintenance, such as a new coat of varnish or wax. Furniture makeovers can also be harmless: buy new bright handles for dresser cabinets or print a stylish design on cardstock and attach it to the back wall of the shelving unit.
A good option: cover problem areas with stickers or throw something on top.
We’ll talk more about how to disguise the imperfections of furniture and all surfaces in the apartment in the next step, which will begin tomorrow. Do not miss!
Step 1. Optimize the space
By optimizing space, I mean the use of measures to make it easier to move around the apartment - the correct arrangement of furniture. In general, these are actions that are aimed at making the room spacious, light and functional. Before you start searching for the best solution, I offer a small table. Print it on a printer or open it in a text editor.
Now let's determine which areas of the apartment need special attention, let's call them “problem areas”. They are in every home and probably in yours too. A lot of things always accumulate in such places, you constantly remind yourself that it’s time to sort them out, but you just can’t get around to it. Most often this is a pantry, a cabinet for cosmetics and, in some cases, even.
Exercise.Identify the problem areas in your apartment and write them down in a table.
Set aside 15 minutes every day to review an area. Just take a garbage bag and throw away 20-30 unnecessary things in one go. In just a week, your apartment will be completely transformed. Read more about organizing your closet.
Step 2. LIST OF REQUIRED CHANGES
One of the main interior elements that determine the sound of a room are curtains. In addition to the traditional design of windows, they are used to divide space into zones and decorate doorways.
Curtains made of threads and glass beads are very popular now; they can be purchased in specialized stores or made with your own hands.
Use as many textile elements as possible and your apartment will no longer seem empty and uncomfortable. Even such minor little things as a curtain and a soft rug in the bathroom can significantly transform the room and make your morning.
Give preference to natural materials. It is much more pleasant to have breakfast at a table decorated with a colorful fabric tablecloth rather than oilcloth.
Exercise. At this stage, you need to carefully inspect the apartment and fill out the second plate. Write down what decorative elements you would like to see in each room to make it more comfortable.
Step 3. Decorate the walls
This is the most important and very interesting stage in decorating a cozy apartment. Unfortunately, many people prefer to stop at the previous step. And in vain, because with empty walls the interior looks a little unfinished. I will not describe expensive methods of wall decoration, such as canvas paintings or photo wallpapers. I will focus on simple, low-cost options that will emphasize the cozy atmosphere of your home and make it unique.
Family photo gallery. Today, photographs surround people everywhere - they are stored on our computer, phone, social networks. There are so many photographs that it is impossible to even remember them. To avoid wasting time choosing the best image for your family photo gallery, you can create a collage of small photos. With its help, you can beautifully decorate a wall or cabinet door, and images printed on magnetic paper are perfectly attached to the refrigerator.
Shelves. A functional interior detail that is easy to make with your own hands. Their main purpose is to store items that should always be at hand - books, documents, bath accessories, food, as well as to be used for decorative purposes - as a stand for photographs, flowers, candlesticks and other decorative elements.
Command center. Incredibly useful for managing household chores. Using this device, you can store reminders in one place: a monthly calendar, a daily to-do list, utility bills,
Often, with rented housing, we inherit household things: rugs, old dishes, curtains and books, worn carpets that look cheap and old-fashioned, sometimes our favorite item is a Soviet wall. Most of these “treasures” will not be useful to you, but you won’t even raise your hand to throw them away, and maybe the owners won’t let you. And you can completely hide it.
Ikea has a lot of inexpensive storage containers, from 35 rubles for a cardboard box to 1200 rubles for a box on a frame, lined with fabric. Large boxes, up to half a meter high, are sold at Gruzovichkoff from 92 rubles apiece.
Things neatly folded on the mezzanine or under the bed will no longer remind you of the previous residents.
And, if you decide to get down to business thoroughly and deal with the wall, rent a warehouse for large items. It is more expensive, from 2000 rubles per month, but the issue with the owner’s things will be resolved, and you will not need to worry about their safety.
2. Add personal experience (after all, you live in the apartment, not the owner)
Your apartment says more about you than your hairstyle or the way you dress. A personal collection of anything will be a great showcase of style. Hang photographs, reproductions of paintings or posters with inspiring slogans on the walls - do not let the walls get bored. But, if you are still afraid of making holes in the walls of a rented apartment, use advice from our designers: They will offer alternative solutions.
Decorate your walls with a collection of your favorite baseball caps for more reasons to see them more often.
Hang it on the wall... bike, and he will eloquently introduce you as a creative and extraordinary person.
3. More comfort
Cold weather is ahead, which means daylight hours will become shorter. It's time to look at a couple of cozy things for your home:
- New lamp
An intricate sconce, floor lamp or table lamp - the more light, the cozier the autumn evenings.
- Candles
Let the atmosphere into your home hygge. Warm light gives a romantic mood and comfort.
- Warm and fluffy fur
Decorative fur skins - great for autumn comforters and a pleasant alternative to blankets and carpets.
4. Pay attention to the little things
It is not necessary to undertake a global renovation; start small:
- Furniture fittings
You can make the accessories yourself: you will need a base, for example, old children's toys, bolts, a drill and a can of spray paint. Interested? Read step by step instructions on our blog.
- Towel hooks
- Moodboards
5. Turn disadvantages into advantages
Is the shabby cast-iron radiator in the room the center of attraction? Repaint! Using special paint for radiators (alkyd or acrylic enamel), you can disguise the battery in the color of the walls or, on the contrary, make a bright accent on it.
Transform an old chest of drawers with a bright geometric pattern - let there be one more trendy thing in your home!
Smart decor is like a beautiful dress that instantly transforms its owner. Get inspired by our “reboot” examples:
When thinking about changes to the interior, do not rush to take out a calculator and calculate the colossal expenses ahead. Take advantage of our tips and arrange your rented apartment on a budget and efficiently.
It is possible and necessary to refresh a rented apartment by remodeling it to suit yourself. But this can be done without much material and physical effort. Here are 6 common disadvantages of rented apartments and how to deal with them.
- 1 of 1
On the picture:
We learn to look at other people's trash through the eyes of a designer: someone sees this item as a bunch of boxes from a garbage dump. And studio Droog turned them into a designer chest of drawers!
On the picture:
When it comes to a rented apartment, everyone unanimously begins to say that you shouldn’t spend a lot on improving it - why invest in someone else’s property. This is, of course, true; major repairs are not required in a rented apartment. But living in someone else’s unattractive mess is not respecting yourself. How to decorate an apartment quickly and cheaply?
1. Owner's things. No one needs someone else's trash, so try from the very beginning to look for an apartment that is not littered with trinkets that cannot be thrown away or taken out.
If, for some reason, you were unable to agree with the owners to free the living space from the “inheritance,” then hide it all in boxes and put it out of sight. The following problem often arises here: there are few storage systems, especially when the apartment does not have mezzanines and other built-in niches. When there are not enough of them, the apartment is guaranteed to be a mess. There are many solutions.
You can furnish a rented apartment using discreet storage systems. Use the space under the bed, hang a cabinet above the toilet, place an old chest in the living room instead of a coffee table: beautiful and practical. All kinds of containers, boxes and baskets are convenient. An interesting solution is to place everything on open shelves, but sort it by color, combining it into beautiful still lifes.
- 1 of 5
On the picture:
2. Ugly furniture. If the furniture is built-in, then you will have to put up with its presence. But no one forbids making her more attractive. Almost any closet can be enhanced with beautiful fittings. If simply replacing the handles does not save the situation, cover the doors with wallpaper, photo paper, or self-adhesive film.
Freestanding cabinet furniture can be creatively painted. For example, regular white paint will significantly improve the appearance of the cabinet. The chest of drawers can be decorated with decorative brush strokes. And on the top of an old table you can lay out a mosaic pattern.
If we are talking about open built-in shelves, place beautiful lacquered or leather boxes on them, this is guaranteed to transform the interior.
- 1 of 3
On the picture:
3. Bad view from the window. There is only one way out - just don’t look at him. And to do this, decorators advise distracting your eyes from the landscape outside the window by any possible means.
There are several options - place a sofa with armchairs by the window, with the back facing the window, or put a desk and hang blinds or Roman blinds. Another way is to cover the windows with thin translucent curtains. Transparent just enough to let in light, but at the same time blur the view of the unattractive surroundings.
- 1 of 1
On the picture:
The view from the window will be enlivened by indoor plants in bright pots.
4. Little light. This problem is usually “treated” with a large amount of artificial lighting: all kinds of floor lamps, sconces and table lamps. Bottom lighting, for example, behind a sofa, looks impressive.
Do not forget that it is better to decorate a room where there is little natural light in light colors and use reflective materials in the decoration: more mirrors, glossy furniture.
- 1 of 2
On the picture:
Use lamps that can be placed both on the table and on the floor. Thus, save yourself from unnecessary expenses and difficulties with transportation.
5. Ugly floor. Globally changing the floor in someone else's apartment is an expensive and unjustified pleasure. Therefore, you can simply lay fresh linoleum right on top of old shabby boards or worn carpet. Or, if the owners allow, painting the wooden floor with paint can turn out great.
- 1 of 1
On the picture:
Buy a piece of new linoleum and throw it on top of the old covering: modern material doesn’t even need to be glued!
6. The bathroom is not renovated. Most bathrooms in Russian rental apartments are especially neglected: the appearance is appalling, the plumbing has not changed since the house was built. If replacing a toilet is a forced step, and the owners are ready to share the financial burden with you. Unfortunately, no one will replace the cracked tiles. There is only one way out: get rid of the old coating (especially if the tiles themselves have begun to collapse).
Plastering the walls takes one day, then spend another day sanding, priming and painting the walls. The final touch is original accessories: bright shower curtains, shelves and even posters.
Comment on FB Comment on VK
Also in this section
Michael and Helen Miroshkin, architects of the Geometrix Design studio, talk about the principles of geometry using the example of their completed projects.
There are many ways to save on renovations, not only of an apartment, but even of a house. Olga Dukven, head of the Domostroy design studio, tells in detail how to do this.
In this article, Pavel Gerasimov from the Geometrium workshop will consider the pros and cons of natural materials, their practicality and ability to fit into the interior.
We tell you what an interior designer needs to know about modern acoustic systems so as not to step on the throat of his own song and speak the same language with the installer.
Pavel Gerasimov from the Geometrium workshop talks about how to choose the style of an apartment for a young family, how to properly plan the budget for implementing the desired solutions and how to think through the layout.
Designer and co-director of the Geometrium workshop Pavel Gerasimov talks in detail about where saving is pointless and what is worth spending money on in the interior.
Designer Anna Valder talks about Scandinavian style, white winter, black nights and interiors of Northern Europe. And she is not only a theorist, but, above all, a practitioner with a large portfolio!
If the lighting issue was not well thought out at the repair stage and additional electrical connections cannot be made, functional “mobile” lamps will help solve the problem.