How to Make Your Rental Feel Like a Home
I have always lived in rental homes, even growing up.
My parents have only just recently bought and built their own house from the ground up, nearly 7 years after I've moved out and begun renting properties of my own.
Everyone has rental nightmares and stories of great landlords and not-so-great neighborhoods, memories of their first 'starter' apartment right out of college to that place they found by accident that ended up being wonderful.
The question many of us ask ourselves when we move into a new rental apartment or home is whether or not this place could ever be considered 'home.
' Now that concept of home is vague and indescribable, different between two people even in the same family.
For some people home is a certain set of objects, or people, or simply a feeling you have regarding a combination of any manner of things.
Making your rental feel like home, whether you are there for two months or 17 years, is essential to your well-being as well as the adjustment we all have to make when moving into a new place.
I've found that as I've moved through rental properties my entire life- 9 in the last 6 years, to be exact- the thing that has made each of those places feel a bit more like home has varied.
There are a few elements that make me feel at home no matter where I am, though.
These elements include the things that make me feel at home, namely objects, pictures, and other random belongings I've picked up over the years that I've painstakingly transferred through moves and even overseas.
I have a shower curtain map of the world that friends have signed their names on; pictures of family, weddings, and friends from college laughing together; magnets with Shakespeare's finest insults written on them; and a whole parcel of books that I can't quite ever manage to give away.
I have a tape dispenser shaped like a chameleon and coffee mugs from places I've traveled to.
All of these things serve to make my rental properties look like home but there are so many other ways to make your rental feel like home, too.
Investing your time and effort into a rental property makes it seem more like yours; if you are able and your landlord agrees, see if you can paint a wall a fun color or spruce up the place in a more cosmetic manner to put your stamp on it.
Hang paintings that you like or posters with inspirational quotes.
Put your map of the world up on a cork board and pin the places you've been or want to travel to.
Stock your fridge and put some fresh flowers on the table, buy sheets you like and create a space you feel comfortable in.
Not every rental is home, but every rental (no matter how big or small) can seem a bit more like home with just a little bit of effort.
My parents have only just recently bought and built their own house from the ground up, nearly 7 years after I've moved out and begun renting properties of my own.
Everyone has rental nightmares and stories of great landlords and not-so-great neighborhoods, memories of their first 'starter' apartment right out of college to that place they found by accident that ended up being wonderful.
The question many of us ask ourselves when we move into a new rental apartment or home is whether or not this place could ever be considered 'home.
' Now that concept of home is vague and indescribable, different between two people even in the same family.
For some people home is a certain set of objects, or people, or simply a feeling you have regarding a combination of any manner of things.
Making your rental feel like home, whether you are there for two months or 17 years, is essential to your well-being as well as the adjustment we all have to make when moving into a new place.
I've found that as I've moved through rental properties my entire life- 9 in the last 6 years, to be exact- the thing that has made each of those places feel a bit more like home has varied.
There are a few elements that make me feel at home no matter where I am, though.
These elements include the things that make me feel at home, namely objects, pictures, and other random belongings I've picked up over the years that I've painstakingly transferred through moves and even overseas.
I have a shower curtain map of the world that friends have signed their names on; pictures of family, weddings, and friends from college laughing together; magnets with Shakespeare's finest insults written on them; and a whole parcel of books that I can't quite ever manage to give away.
I have a tape dispenser shaped like a chameleon and coffee mugs from places I've traveled to.
All of these things serve to make my rental properties look like home but there are so many other ways to make your rental feel like home, too.
Investing your time and effort into a rental property makes it seem more like yours; if you are able and your landlord agrees, see if you can paint a wall a fun color or spruce up the place in a more cosmetic manner to put your stamp on it.
Hang paintings that you like or posters with inspirational quotes.
Put your map of the world up on a cork board and pin the places you've been or want to travel to.
Stock your fridge and put some fresh flowers on the table, buy sheets you like and create a space you feel comfortable in.
Not every rental is home, but every rental (no matter how big or small) can seem a bit more like home with just a little bit of effort.
