Renters Friendly Before & Afters | The best non-permanent upgrades for your Rental Apartment

Many renters hope to add some color to their place, but Mery’s dreams were even more modest — white paint. So before she moved in, she negotiated with her landlord and got permission to paint and update her kitchen. Playing with white paint and how it works with the textures in her kitchen, she made a huge change. From Mery: I moved in six months ago and I am a renter. The first thing I told the owner was that I would rent it only if i could paint the kitchen tiles.

Sarah found herself in an all-too-familiar predicament: she had a bland bathroom and a strict landlord. Not wanting to force her bathroom to live a colorless life, she got creative and found a stylish and temporary solution. From Sarah: Last spring we moved from Manhattan to Northern Virginia, where we’ve been living in a beautiful rental house.

Tiffany hit the rental jackpot with a gorgeous old fireplace. The only catch is that it came with not-awful-but-not-great yellow tile. Well, all praises be to contact paper because Tiffany was able to totally change the look of the tile and remain on her landlord’s good side. From Tiffany: One of the things that I knew I wanted to change in my rental was the yellow tile surrounding my fireplace. I’ll admit that once I moved in, the yellow tiles grew on me.

An incredible, temporary floor makeover.

Amy was #blessed with two very crucial elements of a rental makeover success: an apartment with good bones and a generous landlord. She took those gifts and ran with them, turning her bathroom into a totally lovely, stylish and calming sanctuary. From Amy: The first thing I did when I signed my lease was ask my landlord if I could paint the bathroom.

Who couldn’t use a little glam in their life, right? Okay, so maybe it takes a certain type of person to pull off a really glam look at home, but Tim from Design Maze and the resident of this apartment were the perfect team to pull off this eye-popping den with a modern take on Hollywood glamour. I think it will make even the most minimalist design lover feel a little glam-envy. The best part? This is a rental apartment so everything is temporary.

I will never get tired of seeing real life, totally attainable home updates, especially when they’re renter friendly. Kevin’s flawless execution of some classic kitchen updates is absolutely worth a gander and may inspire some updating of your own. From Kevin: When I started thinking about giving our little kitchen a refresh, I immediately thought of what a big impact some color could have in our kitchen.

Shehzeen was faced with an all too familiar problem, a rental kitchen that just didn’t work. The color was off, the placement wasn’t ideal, but she made apartment lemons into very cute lemonade. From Shehzeen: I live in a rental so doing any kind of a permanent overhaul to the kitchen or its appliances is out of the question. Also, my kitchen was extremely open plan and was sitting right there in the living room.

Jess and Ryan moved into their apartment six years ago, drawn to the multi-floor layout that allowed them to create two defined areas: one for entertaining and lounging, the other for sleeping and working. While they were in love with the apartment itself, the floors throughout the kitchen, dining, and living rooms left a bit to be desired. The old, yellowed, scratched linoleum caused the downstairs to feel cold and uninviting.

Jess’ rental had a beat up fireplace that was a bit of an eyesore in the middle of her living room. She found the perfect low-cost way to give it some glamour, with a classic renter’s trick that we love: Contact paper!! From Jess: The main materials are contact paper and an exacto (or utility) knife. Prior to doing anything to your fireplace make sure you give it a good wipe down so that the contact paper will stick to the fireplace surround.

Andrea’s rental kitchen was lacking a backsplash… and personality. Enter Etsy with a colorful (and temporary!) solution that complements her space. From Andrea: I had been looking for an answer to my rental kitchen woes for over a year when I found these removable wall/tile decals by Bleucoin on Etsy. I was instantly inspired to refresh my dark and boring galley kitchen with them.

Gem, from the blog Blackbird, recently moved into a new apartment in Auckland with her husband. Because it’s a rental, they did not want to do any big renovations, but they did want to give their kitchen a stylish upgrade. With a little cash and some elbow grease, they turned their kitchen into something they are both happy with. First, with the permission of their landlord, they painted two of the walls with paint they had left over from another project.