How to Make a Furnished Apartment Your Own

Renting a furnished place certainly makes an itinerant lifestyle way easier – and cheaper -than an unfurnished place, but wandering into an apartment that’s already decorated could feel a bit like home invasion. So how do you make a temporary apartment full of someone else’s stuff feel like home?

Fortunately, you can give furnished apartments a temporary facelift without doing any permanent damage that will incorporate your personal style. And best of all, you can do it on a budget. Here are some useful, room-by-room tips for transforming your pre-furnished place into a fab crash pad:

Bedroom

Bedding

If you’re looking for simple creature comforts, bedding is a great place to start. Your own pillows, sheets, mattress topper, comforters, and throw blankets will be your best friend in a furnished apartment. They’re cheap to buy, easy to make (you don’t have to be Martha Stewart) and add some of your personality to the space.

If you want to buy inexpensive, yet comfortable bedding, head to a discount store like TJ Maxx,Ross or even your local Walmart. You’ll be able to get everything you need at a fraction of the price.

Bedroom Essentials

Furnished bedrooms typically have a bed, dresser and nightstand. Spruce things up and make them your own by putting out framed pictures of your friends and loved ones, some small special knick-knacks from home, an alarm clock and an air purifying machine or box fan. Make sure to purchase plenty of hangers for your clothes and if need be, a collapsible laundry basket.

Living Room/Common Areas

Hang Curtains

Curtains are a design staple everyone should own. They add a homey touch that you won’t know was missing until you hang them. Pick curtains in a pattern and color you like, and be sure those elements match the rest of the decorative pieces you bring into the furnished place.

When you do hang curtains make sure you follow these golden rules:

  • The curtains should fall to the floor or just above or below the window sill.
  • The top of the curtains should be even with the window frame, a few inches above or ceiling height.
  • When fully open, the curtains should not block any of the window. The rod should extend 4-6 inches beyond the edge of the window frame.

Invite Color

As you now know, curtains, pillows, blankets and bedding are all great avenues to introduce your choice of color palette to your apartment. Pick a single scheme and stick with it if you purchase decorative pieces.

A neutral palette will be easy to pair with any apartment furnishings you come across. However, if you’re into neon pink, more power to you! You want this place to feel like home, so ultimately let your personal tastes guide you, and be consistent.

(Tactfully) Cover the Furnishings

The apartment probably already has pillows on the sofas and chairs, and you can use that to your advantage. Simply buy or make covers that fit over the existing pillows. Pillow covers will transform the often generic decor of a furnished apartment into your own unique space, without breaking the bank.

Take decorating one step farther by purchasing a sofa or chair cover that calls to you. You might consider covering a cold, uninviting leather sofa with a warmer suede or corduroy slipcover. Slipcovers come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, fabrics and patterns. Unless shabby-chic is your thing, make sure that you don’t accidentally choose a cover that clashes with the rest of the furnishings or is the wrong size. A cute cover can quickly turn into a bunchy, ill-fitting, clashing nightmare, if you’re not exact in your measurements.

Beef Up the Entertainment

It’s likely that there is already a television for you to use in your furnished apartment, but if you’re an avid movie watcher or prefer to stream your content, basic cable might not cut it. There are a variety of highly portable, moderately priced products on the market that are suited for all viewing habits.

  • Oldschool: Do you love the way a DVD feels as it spins on the tip of your finger? Are trips to the Redbox part of your daily routine? Consider purchasing a cheap DVD player to take back that “old school” feeling.
  • Something Old, Something New: For those who like to use Redbox and occasionally stream content, consider getting a DVD or Blu-Ray player that has streaming capabilities. Make sure you research what streaming apps are compatible with the machines you’re looking into. Some of these can be very limited.
  • New School: If you’re more likely to use a DVD as a coaster than entertainment, consider purchasing a Chromecast, Roku or Amazon Fire Stick. These devices are small enough to fit in your pocket, so they are both highly portable and inobtrusive. Depending on their capabilities, they can range in price from $20 to over $100. Make sure to do a side-by-side comparison of all the products you consider before purchasing, as some of them require certain level subscription services, and some you can purchase access on a channel-by-channel basis.

Bathroom(s)

Over-Toilet Storage

If storage is limited in your bathroom, an over-the-toilet shelving unit is an inexpensive fix that doesn’t only increase storage space, but can really spruce up a basic bathroom.

From generic to ornamental, over-the-toilet shelving comes in a variety of materials, including metal, plastic and sometimes even wood. Depending on the complexity of the design, these shelving units can range from $20 to a couple hundred dollars.

Storage shelves over your toilet are great space savers, and can double as a nice way to facilitate bathroom ambience. Put candles on the top shelf that you can light for a relaxing bath. Put some bathroom art on one of the shelves, or use it to hold bathroom reading matter. Whatever you choose to do with it, over-the-toilet shelving can add both flare and utility to your bathroom.

Choose a Scent

Purchase a nice candle, automatic air freshener or scent diffuser with a pleasant “bathroom” scent. Scents good for bathrooms include fresh linen, cucumber-melon, eucalyptus, lemongrass and mint.

Kitchen

Dishes

If your new fully furnished digs don’t include pots, pans and dishes, be creative in your selection. Make sure you don’t go out and get a 12-person dining set when realistically, it is mostly just you who is home. Too many dishes can get expensive, and extraneous.

Decor

If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, or have a fairly open floor plan, you can make it your own in the little things you choose. Carefully choose and coordinate your kitchen towels, pot holders, and other highly visible and frequently used items like knives and cooking utensils. There is a very diverse market for kitchen utensils and other decor, so shop around. You can find everything from the basics at Dollar Tree to the cutesy at Target.

Other Tips

Embrace/Replace Wall Art

Photos, canvases, paintings, prints and mirrors are all perfect for the nomadic renter. Pick art that’s within your chosen color scheme, and get to decorating. Hanging art you picked out will make the furnished apartment feel more like your own.

If the apartment already has some art, take it down and replace it with yours. Just remember where you put it, so you can switch the items back before you move out. You don’t want to lose part of your security deposit!

You may also love temporary wallpaper. The stuff is magic—you stick it to your walls, enjoy the color and patterns while you’re living in the apartment; then peel it off when you move. Removable wallpaper won’t mess up the paint on your walls and will allow you to breathe life into the room.

Consider choosing a single wall upon which to apply the adhesive. Doing this will give you an accent wall!

Knobs: Make your kitchen and bathroom your own by replacing the hardware with ones of your choosing. You can get knobs at a hardware store and even places like Anthropologie. Just make sure you hold onto the originals to replace before you move out.

Cabinets: Remember that lovely temporary wallpaper? Well, you don’t have to use it as a paint alternative. Consider applying smaller sections of temporary wallpaper on your kitchen cabinets.

Knick-Knacks: Remember the souvenirs you have from your various travels? Those small items can make a living space feel more like your own. You picked them out and purchased them, and using them in your decor design will remind you of fun times.

Knick knacks also fit into a furnished apartment with ease. It’s not like you have to replace something to decorate with small artifacts. Strategically choose which items you’ll use to decorate—those that match your overall color scheme and style choice are best.

Photo by Roberto Nickson (@g) on Unsplash

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