A Renter’s Solution for Ugly Flooring

A few days ago, I mentioned a few things that I probably should have done in past rental apartments, but never did. In the comments, one of our dear readers left a rather brilliant tip for those ugly bathrooms and kitchen floors that have seen better days (years, or decades even). Want to hear what they did?

Reader Stephaniemw has a great work around idea for small spaces that, even though they could easily be off your radar, can be fixed in a jiffy and turned into something to be proud of instead of something you’re looking forward to moving away from.

I’ve also bought rolled-up sheet vinyl flooring to lay over the existing flooring in the kitchen and bathroom in two of my apartments. (The one had this nasty yellowed flooring that felt dirty no matter how much I scrubbed it; so very worth it to cover that up.)
I just cut it out around the cabinets, fridge, bath and what not – and secured the edges with a bit of hot glue, which was really easy to scrape off when I moved out. Definitely money and time well spent.

Would you go through the efforts of testing out this idea? Seems like it would be worth it – flooring of this fashion isn’t as pricey as you might think and catching it on sale at your local big box retailer (or using those 20% off coupons from the change of address forms at the post office) could make it an affordable solution to a serious eyesore. I think it’s a great idea for making the space your own and being happy in it.

If you have a landlord who will let you do something more permanent, make sure to check out this cool tutorial on stenciling over ugly floors that simply have to go!

Thanks Stephaniemw!