Ideally you would love to have a house of your own where you could add a personal touch to create a warm and loving space to call home.  This might seem out of reach if you rent and your landlord has stringent rules concerning making alterations to your living space.  So while you wait till the day you finally have enough money to build or buy your own home, here is what you can do to personalise your rental space without breaking the terms of your tenancy agreement.

1. Pictures and Paintings

Getting beautiful décor for your walls is another way to liven up your rental space. Generally,  most landlords have no restrictions on painting your apartment as long as you paint it back to the original colour when moving out.  If he/she is adamant against it, however, it doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to drab boring walls. Transform the walls by hanging photos and your favourite artwork to add some life to your space.

2.  Furniture and Curtains

Beautiful pieces of furniture and lovely curtains can help make your apartment /house reflect your taste and style. Statement furniture pieces with beautiful and lively colours or patterns can easily infuse warmth into your living space. Furniture also stays with you forever and you can use it when you move into another property.

3. Lighting

Changing ceiling lights and other lights in the apartment is an easy trick to transform the area in your rental property. Lighting can change the mood and set a dramatic tone in your apartment.  It is common knowledge that everything looks great in good lighting so get some nice decorative spot lights or lamps to add to your décor.

4. Rugs and Carpets

If the floors of your rental property are not tiled or are tiled with ugly or chipped tiles, a great way to fix this is to get pretty rugs or carpets to cover them up. The rugs could be in your favourite colour or pattern and should be appropriate for the area of the room you want to place them. Make sure the rugs and carpet are tastefully positioned.

5. Potted Plants

If you love plants and would want to grow your own garden but for some reason or the other, the terms of your agreement forbids you from altering anything on your compound, it’s time to get some potted plants. Flower pots come in different sizes, shapes and colours. You can purchase one from any outlet, get some soil, seedlings of your favourite plants and ta-da! — you have your own personal garden. The great thing is you can easily take them with you when you move out of the apartment.

6. Cleaning

There are certainly no laws against cleaning. Your apartment may look dull just because it’s dirty. The old tiles, window frames, ceilings, taps and doorknobs may actually sparkle if you devote some time to cleaning. Learn some tricks to make cleaning easier and if you still find it to be such a hard job, there are a number of cleaning services available to leave your rental space spick and span.

It is often said that where there is a will, there is a way. No matter what rules there are concerning altering your rental property, these pointers will help spruce it up to create a welcoming place to call home.