Photography: Alana Landsberry / Styling: Lucy Gough
Personalising a rental home can be tricky when your lease is filled with obstacles that prevent drilling, painting and hanging decor! While some landlords are generous with how you can customise their property, others, unfortunately, keep a tight rein on embellishments.
Interior designer Briellyn Turton, founder of Studio Brie, is currently renting with her partner — and this hasn’t stopped them from making stylish adjustments to the decor.
“I’m married to a real estate agent, I’m an interior designer, so we do kind of make decisions and ask for forgiveness later,” Briellyn says with a laugh. “We do hang art on the walls, we do mount our TV, and I know people have reservations, for good reason, because I don’t want get trouble.”
Listen to Briellyn on The Edit podcast:
Briellyn is also a disciple of, what she calls ‘whimsical interiors‘. “Whimsy, to me, is essentially decorating and living in a way that makes you really happy, childlike happy,” she explains. “It looks a little bit different to everyone, but generally it’s unconventional.” So, how does one marry such a personal style preference with living in a rental home?
Here are some ways to personalise your rental, without breaking the rules, and still making it look like a designer dream home.
1. Use freestanding statement furnishings
Think about the furniture you bring into the home, and try to incorporate one-of-a-kind pieces that speak to your personality. Upholstered bedheads can be a saviour in the bedroom, and statement armchairs or creative shelving ideas can really makeover your living spaces.
Briellyn, for example, has a beautiful, hand-painted, multi-panel screen which serves as both a room divider and piece of art. “As you can imagine, I was unbelievably bored by not being able to control the walls [in our rental home]. I’ve got a pretty nice art collection with really large pieces, so that’s helpful. But [the screen] was just a piece that I thought, ‘I can move this around’. You can spread out the screen, make it as long as you want, or you can make it more compact. So, that was kind of my little way to control my environment.”
2. Hang art on your walls
There are multiple ways to go about hanging art in a rental property. You can buy adhesive hooks, which is a great, impermanent solution for your walls. However, I know I’ve found that sometimes these stick-on art hooks simply can’t handle the weight of a large, framed artwork.
Depending on your state, you may be able to install picture hooks without asking for permission from your landlord first. However, even if granted permission, you’ll still be required to patch up any holes and restore the property at the end of your lease. (Unless your landlord agrees otherwise.)
Briellyn encourages people to seek permission and patch-up later, as it’s a worthy investment in your living environment. “Chalk that up to being absolutely a worthwhile investment. If you’re going to live in a place for a year, two years, three years, you have to have art on the walls. So, you just pay a professional to patch it up when you leave,” she says.
In states like NSW, ACT and WA, installing picture hooks is considered a “minor change”, meaning, even though prior permission is required, a landlord is not allowed to deny the request if it’s “reasonable”.
State-by-state rules for hanging art in a rental home:
| NSW | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. |
| VIC | Prior permission to install picture hooks is not required, unless the walls are brick or concrete (not allowed), or it’s a heritage home. |
| ACT | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. |
| QLD | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. If in an apartment, your landlord must also request permission from the body corporate. |
| NT | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. |
| WA | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. |
| SA | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. |
| TAS | Must obtain prior written permission to install picture hooks. |
3. Add stylish storage
If your rental suffers from a lack of in-built storage, your organisational solutions are also an opportunity to express your style. Think: stylish baskets or boxes, statement side tables or even free standing coat racks to add a touch of personality. While you may wish to source unique shelving or wardrobes for bigger storage solutions (Tip: try these second-hand stores in Sydney or Melbourne), there are also plenty of affordable, stylish options available at retailers like IKEA, Bunnings or Temple & Webster.
The Midi storage cupboard,
$499, Mustard Made
Harlem Seagrass Basket,
$54.95, Temple & Webster
Kirribilli Bookshelf,
$895, Koala
BLANKHÄLLAN Bedside table,
$99.99, IKEA
4. Think smart about kitchen storage
Another way to get the most out of your storage is to think about taking advantage of your overhead kitchen storage. For example, if your cupboards have shelf pin holes, Home Beautiful editor in chief, Elle Lovelock, encourages renters to consider how you can rearrange the shelf heights. “If you get just one extra shelf cut — and you can get it done for under $10 — and put that in, all of a sudden you have [an extra shelf],” she said on The Edit podcast.
Meanwhile, Briellyn added: “Also, there’s always a high shelf that you’re like ‘well, I’m not going to put everyday stuff on there because I can’t really reach it.’ I recommend putting baskets up there.”
5. Replace curtains
If there are already curtains in your rental property, you are more than welcome to hang new ones in your own style. (Just keep the old ones, as you may need to restore them when you leave!) While drilling into the wall for hooks will require landlord permission, there are other ways to hang curtains without hooks. Depending on your window frame and existing installations, consider adhesive hooks, tension rods or bracket adaptors to allow you to hang the curtains you love.
6. Colour your walls without painting them
You can paint the walls in your rental if your landlord agrees. However, to avoid that effort (and avoid having to re-paint the walls when you move out), Lucy Gough, former Home Beautiful interior stylist and author of The Home Style Handbook has some other solutions.
“Large format canvasses painted in the colour or pattern of your choice are an easy way to splash colour around without actually painting the walls,” she shares. “Blank canvasses can be expensive to buy new, but you can look for large paintings on Facebook Marketplace or charity shops, and paint over them with your own colour or design.”
Another paint alternative is peel-and-stick wallpaper. This removable wall covering can help you create a feature wall in your chosen pattern or colour. Just make sure your wall is primed, and will work with stick-on wallpaper, first! It can also be used to customise basic furniture, like book shelves.
Want something even more low maintenance? You can always lean large-scale artworks or mirrors against your walls, or return to Briellyn’s idea of an extendable, multi-fold screen.
7. Use house plants
“Plants all have their own personalities and I enjoy moving them around the house as the months go by, making sure they are happy where they are positioned,” Lucy says. “Hang plants down alongside your bookshelf, put a Fiddle Leaf Fig in a corner of your room, a Strelitzia in a sunny spot, or a kumquat tree in a large pot near a window. The list is endless!”
Photographer: Brigid Arnott
8. Think long term: Style your rental like it’s your forever home
Decorate your rental as if you’ll be there forever. Don’t leave your favourite items in boxes waiting for a moving day that could be ages away. Style your rooms with love and enjoy the experience and warmth it brings to your home.
“Timeless, to me, is quality, and secondarily, things that you love and you’ve taken time to collect, or that really excite you, even if they’re not of the moment,” Briellyn says of decor that will last. “[Trends] actually are completely irrelevant if you love it, because it’s going to be timeless in your home.”
When asked by a Home Beautiful reader whether she should decorate to the rental space she lives in now, or wait until she moves into her forever home, Briellyn was firmly in favour of purchasing pieces you love, even if you have to sell them later.
“To me, it is invaluable to be in love with, and at one with, the space you live in,” Bianca adds. “If you truly love items, I actually think, nine times out of ten, you’ll make it work.”
She continued: “I’m a great case study because where we just moved to is tighter in terms of a layout. So, I did have to sell some bits and pieces. But I’m okay with that because I bought pieces I loved, I enjoyed them while I had them, and because they were beautiful pieces, I was able to sell them and not lose a great deal of money.”
Don’t wait for the “forever home” to start living in style!
9. Cover your floor
Cursed with horrible tiles or carpet in your rental? Cover it up! Changing your flooring can completely alter the look of a room, and help you set a foundation for your chosen style theme. Added bonus: rugs can also protect your carpet in a rental, helping you avoid any stains that could be an issue when it’s time to move out.
While you can always invest in a high quality rug you’ll keep forever, you can also now find more affordable rug options to fill your space.
10. Play with the lighting
There are ways to customise the lights in your rental, including changing the fittings and adding lamps. Lamps can make an aesthetic statement, and also provide an alternative to harsh overhead lighting. Speaking of, you may also have the option to adjust the wattage or tone of your globes.
Finally, strategically placed floor or table lamps can add a layer of height to your decor, adding interest and allowing the eye to travel around the room.
Watch Briellyn on The Edit vodcast, or listen on your chosen podcast platform:
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