As newlyweds, we have lived in a variety of places and each time, we have fixed it up to feel more like our own. We purposely choose to live in an older apartment in a safe area because it is SO much cheaper and we can put more money towards investing and our house goal. With a little fixing up, it has been great for us to spend significantly less on our rent and make major progress on our other goals!
It doesn’t take a lot of money to make your space feel a little more personalized and depending on your landlord you may be able to be even more creative!
Here are 10 changes we made to our current apartment. The first 5 are changes anyone could make, regardless of your landlord. The next 5 are changes we made because we have had awesome landlords and Dan is a master negotiator.
5 Changes Anyone Can Make (Not Permanent)
- Paint: If you do anything at all, I suggest paint! It is amazing the difference a fresh coat of paint can make and 1 can goes a long way. Even if your landlord does not allow different colors, a fresh coat of white paint will brighten up the place and make it feel much newer! We painted everything in our house from the doors, baseboards, cabinets, ceiling, walls etc. and it feels so much better!
- Declutter: This is by far going to make the biggest difference in your apartment! Everyone can do it and it doesn’t cost you a dime! When we first did this, I just went through the entire apartment taking things off of walls and out of closets like a mad woman. haha Then, I slowly started adding the things I truly loved back into the house and became way more intentional about what I wanted and where things went. I still do this regularly and it is amazing how few things I like in a room or on a wall. Believe it or not, you don’t have to have a picture hanging on every wall of your house.
- Doorknobs: We found our current doorknobs on sale at Home Depot for $3 each. Our apartment before had a series of mismatched doorknobs and it was such a simple and cheap fix! Again, if your landlord preferred the mismatched look, you can always save them for when you move and put them back the way you found them.
- New hardware: We switched out our kitchen hardware for these, but if you aren’t allowed to drill holes, you can go with these and just screw them into the holes that were already there. Then, when you leave you can switch them back to the old ones.
- Removable backsplash: In both of the apartments that we renovated, they had these ugly yellow backsplashes straight from the 70’s. We used this backsplash to cover it up. It definitely isn’t as great as a real backsplash would be, but it looks 100x better than the original and the best part is that it is removable!
5 Changes Some of You Can Make: (More Permanent)
- Light fixtures: This one is a little trickier if your landlord doesn’t want change but it definitely made a HUGE difference in our Kitchen. We had some cheap plastic ones before and although these are not necessarily my dream light fixture it definitely updated the place!
- Kitchen and Bathroom Floors: This also has made a really big difference. Our landlord gave us the supplies and then we installed it. Again, it may not have been the exact style I would have chosen but it is SO MUCH better than what we had before!
- Baseboards: In our last apartment, we replaced all of the baseboards. In this apartment, we were only able to replace the ones in the kitchen but again our landlord paid for the materials and then we installed them.
- Painting our cabinets and doors white: When we moved in, we had some doors that were brown and some that were white and some cabinets that were brown and some that were white. In order to update it and also make it feel more cohesive, we painted everything white.
- Carpet: This has been our latest endeavor. Our landlord just cleared us to get new carpet and take the cost off our rent over the next few months and I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER. We have so many stains and our current carpet is just dingy and needing a pick me up. I have been attempting to cover it up with rugs as best I can for the last two years we have lived here but Dan is an expert negotiator and was able to make this happen. I don’t know if I have ever loved him more. haha Ask your landlord! It is amazing what changes you could make just by asking!
All in all, it is amazing the small and big changes you can make to your apartment or rental property. We spent $200 on all of these changes and we save ~$6,600/ year by choosing to live here rather than a newer apartment! I would say it is worth the investment!
Don’t wait until you have a house to love where you live!