Changing the shower head in a rental is a must. I've also upgraded towel bars, installed robe hooks on the back of the door, and put up inexpensive shelving that I left behind when I moved, all without any complaints from landlords.

Perfect timing! I an replacing my builders-standard, sliding mirror vanity with a large, ornate gold mirror and a tiny black chandelier. I'm going for a steampunk kind of look since everything s cream, oak wood and bronze. It's low cost (thrift store finds) and easily reversible upon moving.

I once had a very budget conscious but quite old rental. The bathroom was tiny, with cheap paneling half way up from the baseboard. I primed and painted the paneling white. It looked kind of like white wainscoting. Then I purchased inexpensive white trim to top off the formerly raw paneling. It made a tremendous difference - looking more like beach cottage bath than the formerly sad rental bath.

I was actually about to send in a picture of my nightmare bathroom for some help from the readers. The faucet is on the top of my list, since the knobs are so hard to turn on the one I currently have. :(

As a landlord, I hope you talk to your landlord before making any of these changes. S/he may very well be willing to do them, especially if you share the cost, since the landlord has responsibility for maintenance after the change.

Attaching things to walls and putting holes in walls is risky and may not be allowed in the lease. I already know there will be a lot of patching when my tenant moves, repainting if the touch-ups don't match the rest of the wall. If a tenant wanted a better towel rack, I would have been happy to put one in.

Some locales require the use of low-flow showerheads, especially in rental units. Again, I would check with the landlord first.

Replacing a faucet is also a major thing, especially if the landlord is a responsible person. If anything goes wrong, the fix and the cost of a plumber falls on the landlord. Again, I suggest asking the landlord to make the change for you. You can spring for the faucet as an incentive.

We switched out the shower head (best idea ever) and installed a new medicine cabinet. I couldn't stand to look at the moldy and poorly painted cabinet that our apt came with so I found one on sale at Ikea and couldn't be more please. Because it was relatively inexpensive ($50) that when we leave in a couple years I won't mind leaving it behind. I also recaulked the tub and cleaned the grout which makes such a difference.

*pleased

If the shower head is in good condition, disassemble it, remove the water restrictor & reassemble. $0 upgrade..

Great article! I totally agree about the hardware :) I think the landlord will share the cost if you negotiate for it.

#1 New toilet seat. A must! Throw the old one away and leave the new one.
#2 Shower head. I like having a hand held shower massage.
#3 I had a nice kitchen faucet I picked up on a 80% clearance. I moved that from apartment to apartment. It is now in my condo.

This is a great article. I would love to see one of these for the kitchen too.

http://houseofthebonestorm.blogspot.com/

i covered the old, grungy floor tiles with new flooring right over the top. also replaced the toilet seat, towel hooks, toilet paper holder and new showerhead so it all matched.

oh...and there was a hideous 3 bulb light fixture above the sink in brass, so i took it down, spraypainted it a brushed nickel to match all the new fixtures and it really brought everything together.

Some things I've done that haven't been mentioned yet:

1.) I replaced the electrical outlet covers (old and yellowed) with new ones (light and bright!)
2.) I replaced the handles on the drawers. (The old ones were iron, molding, and outdated--I kept them just in case we need to put them back before leaving.)
3.) Our medicine cabinet had this weird plastic sliding door with an old, peeling silver knob. I switched out the knob and screwed it in on the OTHER side of the plastic (essentially, inside-out.) I put it back into place that way and now instead of being peeling and yellowed, it's fresh and modern!

If you can't change a shower head, then cleaning it by soaking it in vinegar may improve its appearance and water flow to a surprising degree.

Lesson learned the hard way - there aren't a lot of low cost fashionable faucets and fixtures at the local hardward stores, and there are a ton of great options on eBay... but that's often the wrong option for US residents, since the fashionable stuff is usually European plumbing and doesn't match up to US plumbing. Grrr! Some really great stuff that I bought but could not install. So please take my mistake as your own learning curve.

I switched out shower heads in my last place 6 times before I found the one that worked for me. And when I got the right one in, I kept one of the ones that didn't work so well ... so when I knew I was moving to my current place, I switched them and will be installing my beloved rainshower + handheld combo. ($50 at Sam's Club!).

Friends with a rental condo swore by their curved shower-curtain rod as a way to make their small tub feel slightly more roomy. They stashed the landlord's curtain rod in a linen closet and swapped them back out at the end of the lease.

I've been trying to talk my husband into the same thing, but he *likes* the sliding shower door that I hate so much... sigh.

We just moved into our apartment last week and the bathroom is really small. Luckily we have a great landlord who agreed to install a cabinet above the toilet before we moved in. We also changed out the shower head with one that has an extension on it (my fiance is 6'3 and these older bathrooms arent made for tall people) and put up a curved shower rod. Its is really amazing how these simple diy things can change a whole bathroom.

Since most apartments come with horrible shower heads, I always replace them! Our shower heads currently are 20$ or less from XS Cargo (overstock type store) and are lightyears better than the ones that came in the apartment- we've actually just purchased our first house and will buy the same ones again.

Stainless 3M hooks (the ones that come off without damage) are a must for hanging towels and clothing in bathrooms.

Had we planned to make this place our long-term home, I guess I would have put more effort into the bathrooms, but we're coming up on 2 years and finally purchased our own place. Definitely love the ability to take upgrades though- even in purchased houses- anything that isn't nailed down is fair game.