"What can I do with my rental apartment to give it a face lift? It looks like it was dipped in glossy paint and rolled in lint, but I don’t want to spend a fortune because it is a rental…" If you're lucky enough to be able to paint, the answer, once again, is color.
Paint is cheaper than wallpaper, drapes, furniture or art, and is the first place you should go for a bang-for-your-buck upgrade. Though before and afters can't quite capture it, the paint finishes in this instance were particularly egregious, and looked like a slumlord painted the walls with his feet.
But the apartment in question is so cute! It's a duplex, two bath, slipper of a thing with a spiral staircase leading up to heaven, a deck with more heaven and all those windows.
PAINTING BASICS
1. Start With White For starters, any paint schedule of mine lately includes Ultra Flat Ceiling Paint in white.
2. Finishes are Important! After a flat ceiling, I like matte walls, satin trim and where possible, I'm using Bath and Spa paint from Benjamin Moore in my water areas — it has a matte finish and is water and mildew resistant.
3. Select an All-Around Color We needed an all-around color and settled on Farrow&Ball Pavillion Gray 242.
4. Add Accents of Coordinating or Contrasting Color This is really egalitarian — what follows is one paint color from each company. The office is a Frenchy blue from Benjamin Moore's Affinity line, Instinct AF-475, (you can see it through the doorway between the kitchen and sofa). The kitchen backsplash is S2060-r from Fine Paints of Europe — it's a bit more expensive but that quart is well-used for its scrubbable dense pigment.
5. Choose a Focal Point The centerpiece of our color design is that dark wall behind the stairs. At first, we were going to put Ralph Lauren Blue Leather VM147 behind the console when you enter the room, but the more I thought about it, it wanted to be in the middle of our color collage, to suck you into the room, balance out the kitchen and office and lead you up those stairs.
What lies up those stairs is the subject of next week's article.
PAINTS USED
Ultra Flat Ceiling Paint, white
Farrow&Ball, Pavillion Gray 242
Benjamin Moore Affinity, Instinct AF-475
Fine Paints of Europe, S2060-r
Ralph Lauren Blue Leather VM147
- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
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i know it was just mentioned and not nececcarily recommended, but considering the cost of Farrow and Ball I would never use it in a rental apartment.
sorry, not "necessarily" :)
Agreed. I stick with Glidden or Valspar. They are great, decently priced paints. I have a similar color to the pale grey in your space, and I love it. It's just enough to give the space some color and feel like home without being an overwhelming color everywhere. Nice and airy!
Laura
http://www.justalittlebit.net
Great place, but I'm seeing one too many chairs in that small space...
I'd agree w/ Steph: Benjamin Moore is a fair bit less spendy for a rental and the results are just as good...
...tho personally, I'd opt for a semi-gloss ceiling in that space: it could use the sparkle of a reflective surface on those low ceilings.
I do like that dark wall which helps it recede in this small space - Would have enjoyed seeing that color wrapping around the room and onto the wall behind the sofa as well, as that side of the room appears fairly drab in comparison.
Speaking from bitter experience:
Take pictures before painting. In particular, document with photos any pre-existing issues such as mildew, peeling paint, bad drips.
Get it in writing that your landlord has approved the painting. If needed, document approval of shades (are dark shades okay, or only light ones?)
Get it in writing what will happen when you move out. Will you have to re-paint or forfeit your deposit? If so, how much of your deposit? Your landlord may not require a re-paint fee if you live there more than a certain period of time (such as two years). Get that in writing, too.
I painted an apartment because the paint job was horrendous: mildew coming through the paint in the bathroom, painted on cat hair, paint peeling off in sheets in the kitchen. I had a verbal agreement with the manager that I could re-paint. But when I moved out, he tried to keep my $1,500 deposit. I was saved by the the photos I had taken which proved the paint when I moved in was a disaster; he backed down and refunded my deposit.
Nice, @rayma! The power of document, document, document!
I have a feeling that, though my roommates and I have put holes in the walls and ceilings in a few places, they'll be repainting our apartment when we move out due to water damage from the landlord-installed air conditioner in one room, and the shower in another. I should definitely get in touch with them about it...
It's bad enough to pay for window dressing on a new rental, it makes me queasy to spend even more money to paint the walls... then repaint them white before I move out. Most landlords I've spoken with strongly discouraged painting the walls and demanded I paint it back or lose the security deposit.
Sure I could fight it but it's just not worth the effort for a rental.
They're right, painting the room a new color would freshen up the space and make it feel like new. But, you could also change the rug, pillows, and art work in order to bring some new life into the space. Those things you can take with you when you move too. You might want to also try rearranging the area, either removing some chairs or switching them around. Good Luck!
Sigh, I love painting walls. Best thing ever, and the easiest way to make a big change. I'm lucky to have a landlady who doesn't care.
On a related note, I would trample 19 babies if it meant I could have a spiral staircase like that. *wish*
..."but I don’t want to spend a fortune because it is a rental…"
Oh my!!! I thought you were worth it!
"it's just not worth the effort for a rental"
Anyplace you live has got to be worth it! I couldn't imagine coming back to some dreary place that I didn't at least like every day until I could afford to buy. Sometimes a lick of paint, which all things excused is quite cheap, is all you need to brighten up a place and make it 'yours' - rented or not.
"...it's just not worth the effort for a rental."
Perhaps if more folks actually took pride in their homes - regardless of the fact that it's a rental - they'd be alot happier and landlords would be more accommodating.
I don't know why people don't want to invest in rentals. This is the place you wake up to every morning and come home to every night. It's your home for the moment, that still makes it your home. Why feel punished because you're "just renting" and look at an ugly space for a year or longer?
I have always painted my rentals without permission from a landlord, and when I give my notice, I encourage him to show the apartment to perspective renters while I am still there. 3 out of 4 times, the new renter has asked to keep my paint job, and I've gotten my deposit back. The 4th time they charged me half of my deposit for a re-paint. Was it worth it to me? Absolutely.
Another time I spent $2K on Ikea Pax units for the closets and left them there when I moved out. Cost of doin' business. I was thrilled with the closets while I had them.
I'm not interested in keeping my life on hold until I own a place. . . I want to be surrounded by the look I want right now.
I think it's worth painting a rental, if only because you think you'll be in it for just a year or so and then you're there for five years. :)
I'm so glad I painted my last place; I was there for four years. I also replaced the cheapo bathroom and kitchen hardware, and put up curtains to cover ugly vinyl mini-blinds. Total cost for everything was only $500, just $125 a year for a place I loved instead of one I put up with.
From what I can see in the pictures, I'm totally loving the layout out of your place! The spiral staircase and the wonderful light from the windows--so airy but cozy. (Although that kitchen is way tiny! :D)
And I quite like your color scheme - grays are really growing on me...
KarynM, I really like your perspective on living.
If someone is going to live in a specific rental for years to come, why not make it beautiful? My parents have always wanted to paint their rental, but then they think, "But we'll move in a couple of years. Why paint?" That was five years ago. There's also no way they will be buying a place, not in this economy. My sister and I are taking over their place and making it over whether they like or not, starting with painting the guest bathroom!
I just changed out my lighting fixtures in the bathroom and over my dinner table. And, it made huge difference in how I feel about my rental apartment! I will just take them with me when I move and put the original light fixtures back. I've done accent walls with Valspar paint in every room too.
I painted the rental I live in now just two years ago, and I'm moving next week to ANOTHER rental and planning on painting there as well. It makes SUCH a difference! One of my favorite quotes regaurding home decor is from Catherine O'Hara in Beetlejuice, "If you do not let me gut out this house, and make it my own - I WILL GO INSANE AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!!!!!" that's basically how I feel about the matter :)
We changed out the fixture over our dining table in our rental last year, after 2 1/2 years of hating the one that was there originally. Between the fixture and the installation it was $500, but worth every penny. I only wish we had done it the day we moved in!
I want to paint my apartment so badly! They did an AWFUL job with the paint--ceiling's a different color than the walls, but is painted partially down the walls, flat paint in every room (I like my kitchen to be thoroughly scrub-able)... it's just a disaster. I'm waiting to get something in writing from my landlord first though.
Paint. I usually follow the rules, but even when a landlord has said "no paint" I've gone ahead and painted a better white over the crummy institutional-buff builders grade paint that landlords often use.
I felt guilty for about one minute.
If your landlord allows you to paint then you should; but get it in writing for sure. I don't agree with not investing just cause it's a rental; given the instability of the economy; you could end up being there a while and it's your home. Home is where you live; where your things are; it has nothing to do with mortgage vs. lease.
If I'm not mistaken didn't Maxwell put a new kitchen in his last 275 sq.ft place. If you are going to live somewhere and be comfortable, you need to make it your 'own' and yes you can always repaint when you leave. Don't be a wimp, paint.