Brown Kitchen Floors Get a Rental-Friendly, Vintage-Inspired Makeover (for Only $13!)
There are seemingly endless temporary hacks renters can try to switch up their apartment’s design without violating their lease. You can hang removable wall tiles for a backsplash update, for example, or test out peel-and-stick wallpaper, or even refresh the kitchen floor.
Updating the kitchen floor — whether you’ve got tile or hardwood — seems like a big job. (And often it is.) But here’s a little secret: You can use removable peel-and-stick floor tiles to totally change the look of your space. Take it from Geevie Wood (@sustainyourselfshop), who updated the kitchen tiles herself in her 1920s Minnesota rental home.
“The original floor was very 2000s, just like the new light fixtures,” Geevie explains. “And in my opinion, it’s an insult to the apartment! Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to replace any lighting, so doing the floors was an easy, affordable, renter-friendly, and super-effective way to make [the kitchen] more my own and give it some personality.”
So, Geevie (with the help of her sister) set out to update her tired kitchen floor. Here’s how she did it.
A retro peel-and-stick tile came to the rescue.
Before moving into her current home, Geevie toured several other apartments, and she pulled design inspo from them. “I toured another apartment before this one that had a similar kitchen with black and white checkered floor tiles (I almost rented it) and knew that’s what I wanted,” she recalls. “I think combining the retro look of the checkered floor with a 1920s kitchen really works and goes great with my sink.”
She bought two packs of floor tiles from Amazon, and she and her sister got to work. They thoroughly clean the floor and let it dry before placing the tiles, they stuck the tiles onto the floor (Geevie cut the tiles lining the walls to make them fit better), and once the tiles were placed, she placed books on top of them to help them stick.
She wanted her space to bring her more joy and said the original flooring looked like it was “crying for help” — luckily, she answered the call with this simple, renter-friendly solution. With minimal effort, money, and (required) skill, she completely updated the look of her dull kitchen. The best part? It only took her a few hours to complete.
To see more of Geevie’s adorable rental, visit the full home tour on Apartment Therapy.
This post originally ran on The Kitchn. See it there: You’d Never Guess These Floor Tiles Are Peel-and-Stick (and Only $13!)