craving that couch... so beautiful!

Changing out the lights really does make a difference. I took down all the hideous and outdated light fixtures in my rental and replaced them with cheap but oh-so chic paper lanterns.
In the main living spaces I put up white but in the bedrooms I put up red and blue.
It looks infinately better and each paper lantern was only $6 from world market!

I have implemented the third and 8th cure in my apartment

I despise the wall colour in the first photo.... my entire apartment was this colour when I movedin. My landlord referred to it as "bone white" but I always thought of it as more of a wanna-be white with a dirty yellow cast. It sucked all the life out of my apartment until I repainted!!!

When my husband and I moved in, there were mostly-dead vertical blinds in the living room. The manager said he'd replace them, but we actually asked him not to. Instead, we just hung inexpensive (like, $20 the pair, woo) ivory-colored Ikea curtains. So much nicer, and when they need cleaning I can just pitch them into the washer. I've been thinking about adding trim of some kind but haven't gotten around to it.

Except for the kitchen lighting, a bathroom fixture that is at least not actually hideous (faint praise), and a not-bad fixture in the hallway, we have no overheads. Cheap but awesome Cost Plus paper lamps to the rescue in the bedrooms and the living room. Also a few occasional lamps from Target.

There's not much we can do about the kitchen lights, sadly; there's no way to switch out the lame recessed fixture we've got over the sink, feh, and its (I kid you not) spring-loaded glass cover got painted in place before we arrived. It was a dead loss, as we had to pry the sucker off to switch out the bulb, which was dead, and the spring broke. (Er... Come to think of it, I should call and see what the landlord has to say about that. Oh dear...) The other fixture isn't that obtrusive, as we have nine-foot ceilings. So I've let well enough alone.

And thanks to AT, I now have an awesome denim-blue dresser in my kitchen. It holds ridiculous amounts of linens, bakeware, storage containers, and odd-sized items like my food processor blades and my food scale. I love you, Craigslist. (Funny; I spent equal amounts on the dresser and on lovely new brushed-nickel drawer pulls that completely transformed the look of the dresser.) I never would have thought of this without you guys, so thank you!

anyone know the source of that L-shaped sofa in photo #5?

@Kpaige13: I'm pretty sure that sofa is from Copenhagen (or Denmarket, if you have one). I own the couch version of it. Wasn't horribly expensive as far as couches go but the padding is kinda sagging and losing its modern lines.

Personally I love that green kitchen!

I am digging that couch!!! :)

If artwork isn't too heavy, I use straight pins to hang them...straight pins leave holes in the wall that are pretty much invisible. I also often prop heavier art pieces on higher furniture, such as an armoire, instead of hanging on a wall.

Does anyone know the brand of the ceiling light fixture? The ebay store is empty. That specific light fixture would be perfect in my living room!

Thanks

Yes, I am dying to know where to get something similar to that ceiling fixture in #9!

I would also add that NOT having a bed with a box spring can be super helpful as well. A high frame with a mattress eliminates the need to move a box spring, and it can provide a lot more storage under the bed.

I absolutely love that second photo, and the fifth. The best advice I was ever given was that if I invest in a few pieces of quality furniture, any apartment I'd put them in would look pretty good. I don't have a ton of expensive stuff: two red Barcelona chairs and a Noguchi coffee table were the only big purchases. On top of that, I bought a clean-lined brown leather sofa from Ikea, but that's the only "cheap" thing we have. I didn't run out and buy a fiberboard bed for $1,000 from Pottery Barn -- I'd rather have just the mattress set on the floor than have cheap crap just to fill a space. The small amount of furniture I own would fit into any environment, and thanks to the red chairs, I've never felt the need to paint my walls anything but white.

And to clarify, by "cheap crap," I mean the quality, not the price. I'm amazed that Pottery Barn and Ethan Allen and its ilk can charge as much as they do for a lot of their items. And the suburbanites just eat it up.

I find we're really restricted in our apartment building. They've adopted a new property management company that has been making a lot of small changes and implemented a "you can't do anything" policy. They switched out our toilet and shower head with low-flow models (which was fine, I guess), but they've replaced all of the light fixtures with ugly, boring pieces. Now they're painting our balconies and there have been talks of replacing kitchen appliances, but we have no control.

The parquet floors? Buy a rug or deal with it. The wood panelling on all of the cupboards? Too bad. The awful bathroom tiles? Live with it. The non-adjustable thermostat/radiators and grey walls and everything else we've come to hate? Can't change anything.

I'm very lucky when it comes to renting, the apartment manager here doesn't care what we do so I've been able to do things I'd never be able to do in another building, like painting my kitchen cabinets pink, use gold spray paint for room dividers on the floor where the previous renter had painted some of the floors a darker color with no care taken to edge it off nicely, and painting my bathroom purple and then black.

On the other hand it's also impossible to get him to fix anything. I moved in to one outlet in the kitchen and lights that didn't work. My best friend says she feels sorry for whoever moves in when I move out, she says they'll come in and see ceiling fans, chandeliers, and all the shelving I've put up and come back when they move in to the old fixtures, and all the other flaws I've managed to cover!

I would caution not all sectional couches look good broken up into smaller pieces. When buying, I would actually try it out in the store to see how versatile it really is.

I had one rental that looked really great and new except for the drapes. Someone had tried to spray bleach or something on them and they were disinigrating (white fiber stuff everywhere) with a ton of holes. They weren't going to put in new ones so I ended up putting in my own (& because it was hooks not a rod, it was more expensive than just cheap cute curtains). When I asked the prop mgr if I could just throw theirs away, he's like no, just put them back them up when you move out! I was trippin...why do you want such a brand new rental to look crappy because of window coverings? Well this is why, when they showed the place, my stuff was in it and what did the tenants see? Nice, beautiful faux silk to the floor drapes. Of course those were gone when they moved in.

I have one more suggestion. Personally I've never been in a rental where I could hang stuff on the walls or paint. Another option would be a big cube storage unit (like multiple sets of cubitec or ikea expedit). You can then place your art, stack beautiful coffee table books and ceramics on one big wall in your living arrea.

Some art or mirror are also made to be able to lean or be hung. I've got a 6 ft tall mirror that has a frame with substantial dept so it can also stand on the floor leaning against the wall.

I second Ms Melly on the green kitchen - it's totally adorable.

Where do these wood floor apartments exist? All I've ever had has been that terrible grey carpet that seems to come standard in every apartment.

Anyways, these are all lovely examples! The green kitchen is pretty cute.

Thanks for the great ideas! I posted some more 'rental renos' ideas on my blog last year here...Rental Renos.

I am planning to add a new segment or two of my crazy ideas soon(as we have recently moved to ANOTHER rental!).

Ah! Where can I get that awesome utensil holder in the last photo? That's way cooler than sticking your forks and knives in some random drawer! And then I could use the random drawer can be used to hide something else less pretty like boxes of parchment paper and aluminum foil.

Are decals out now? A full wall mural of a cherry blossom tree, with a few hanging rice paper lamps, and a shoji screen really made my living room feel more like mine, without painting. I also can't say enough good things about the 3M products for hanging stuff without damaging walls.

Lafftaff: the oak floors in my ghetto apartment is about the only thing it has going for it. oh, and the gas stove. i think they're mainly found in older apartments from the 50s. the same era will also get you a bigger patio sometimes. i keep wanting to move to get away from my douchey landlord, but despite the peeling paint, the inside is quite nice.

@alaylam I have something similar in my rental right now and i want to die. Its that horrible "magnolia" paint color that every landlord seems to think makes a "warm and inviting" apartment to potential renters. It just makes everything and everyone that comes into the space look sallow.

My landlord

@ M. Lee- the cute utensil caddy is from IKEA; we have a rail with hooks & containers that is almost identical from there!

I don't see any "kitchen" in #2. Just cabinet doors & a picture rail.

Woo! Thanks Sarah W.! I had been searching everywhere...except, apparently, IKEA. :)

Painting an apartment is mandatory for us! When we are ready to move, we just "return it to its original condition." Life is to short to live in white. Especially porous construction grade rental white :)