As many of you know, I’m no stranger to travel. To be honest, I’m pretty much a part-time professional packer (it would be funny if it wasn’t so true!). Y’all, I even packed an entire apartment into a Jetta in three hours! Thanks to my husband’s career, we have lived in our fair share of rentals during our marriage. My fellow Southern Weddings gals have, as well (though I still come out ahead in the numbers game). I know we’re not alone, so I’m thrilled to be able to share a few tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years for making an apartment/rental home/hotel room/guest room feel like home.
Photo from Samantha + Kevin’s rental home tour by Ashley Bosnick
1. If you only take one thing away from this post, this is it: photos! A new city can be quite lonely, and bringing along a few friends and family members via photos is a great way to feel “at home.” While I love including photos of our family in our space, I try to include photos of our favorite memories, as well. Need a quick pick-me-up after a long day? Glance over at the night you got engaged sitting on your bedside table. I can guarantee you’ll feel better!
2. Invest in great bedding. One of the very first things BDK and I bought after we got married was really great bedding! We knew how important a relaxing space to lay our heads at night would be, and even if we couldn’t paint our bedroom walls, slipping into soft sheets and the coziest duvet was an even better option.
Photo from Mary Hester + Andrew’s home tour by Anna K Photography
3. Bring a few special pieces. Y’all, I’ll say it… I hate knick-knacks. Thanks to more moves than I can count, I’m a “less is more” kind of girl when it comes to home design. However, I am a fan of special pieces. Like my theory on having photos around, having your grandmother’s china on display (or set at the table if you don’t have any display room!) can make a boring kitchen feel like a space where you want to spend time. If you’re in a furnished apartment, your favorite pieces of art can be hung on existing nails (just swap out and store the originals).
4. Add some life. Two quick (and inexpensive) ways to feel at home: add a potted plant and light a candle. The candle will help get rid of any unwanted smells (yuck) and the plant will make any space feel more lived in for about $10. You can always give it away once your time is up! Our friend Caroline Rector demonstrated this beautifully with her recent move to Seattle.
Photo from Caroline + Aaron’s apartment tour
5. Replace tchochkes with experiences. Instead of going wild at Target and spending on a bunch of pieces you may or may not love but that ultimately will not much effect your feeling of home, invest in experiences in your new city! Going to a new park, restaurant, coffee shop, hiking trail, outdoor concert, or ice skating rink — and getting acquainted with the best parts of your new locale — will help you love where you live. And, as you create good memories in a place, it will hopefully will transform from “that place where we lived in a lame apartment” to “that place where we did some amazing things like XYZ.”
6. Go big quickly. If you know you’ll be somewhere for at least a year and have the go-ahead (and motivation) to make larger cosmetic changes (painting walls, swapping out a light fixture, etc.), make those changes fast – ideally before you move in! Unlike with a home you’re purchasing to live in for years, where you might want to take your time and see how you’ll live in a space before you make changes, you’ll want to get the maximum enjoyment out of any changes you make to a rental before you have to change them back!
Photo from Mattie + Jon’s rental home tour by Kaitie Bryant
7. Look for furniture pieces that will last. Depending on your situation, you might not be able to invest in your dream home (or even a starter home), but we all need furniture. While this may seem counterintuitive, splurging for the dresser or mattress you’ve been eyeing will not only make you love your current space a little more, but it can help you to see the light at the end of the tunnel — I love imagining my favorite pieces in our future home!
8. Give your space some love. This might sound obvious, but when you don’t love the space where you live, it’s easier to justify letting things slide. Instead, give it some love, just as you would if you were in your dream home! Clean the stove, fix broken hinges, do the dishes every night, wipe down the baseboards, wash windows when they need it. Even if the aesthetic is still not your favorite, feeling a little pride of ownership can transform your feelings about a place.
Photo from Landon + Jordan’s home tour
9. Remember: home is where the heart is. Whether you’re eating pizza on a mattress on the floor of a one-bedroom rental or staying in your in law’s guest room, making your space feel like home is truly about who you share it with. Having BDK by my side made even the barest and least-ideal spaces feel like an adventure, and somewhere I was glad to come home to every night.
Belles, do any of my fellow rental experts have anything to add? I’d love to hear how you make wherever you live (rental or not!) feel like home!
I totally second the “less is more” adage! When we first got married (almost a year now!), my husband was living with his sister in a rented condo, and then I moved in with them. I wanted to really take the opportunity to not have so much “stuff” since I knew we would be moving out in six months. We have now moved out, and into my grandparents’ spare bedroom that they so graciously offered us while we are saving up for a house. We still have “stuff” at my in-laws’ house and we are somewhat moved in, but I realized recently that there’s just so much I want to get rid of that is not necessary OR put it into neat and tidy storage bins (hello, huge Tupperware bins!). We’re thinking of redoing the room we are in currently and just having a comfy bed, comfy mattress and bedding accessories, getting a large dresser, putting a large desk and dressing it up all cute-like, and then just getting a wall stand for our TV.
It’s certainly a huge help knowing that the space you have, though small, is organized! And, I like purchasing pieces for us NOW so that later, when we finally are in our first home, we can use those pieces then. I like thinking ahead to what style we’d like our future first abode, and then getting items now that will work well in them. It makes the goal of getting your first home more positive and less stressful! (Sorry this is so long, by the way. Haha.)
These are great tips! I’m studying abroad this spring and will definitely be using these to help me settle in.
You hit on everything we love to do! Curtains are a big one on the cozy scale for us. As gross as this sounds, we always put new toilet seats on too. We just changed out our lighting throughout the house and already the home feels more personalized. Happy renting!
This is wonderful. It is often difficult to make a rented space “home-y” and these tips are super helpful (especially the part noting that it’s not necessarily about the space itself, but the person you’re sharing it with)!