How To Smartly Update Your Rental Home

after doing a full remodel to our condo in salt lake city, i was a little bummed that living in a space that felt like 'us' wasn't going to happen since we knew we'd be renting for the first few years upon arriving to portland. it was hard for me to wrap my head around going back to renting. i was...not stoked about it. 

HOWEVER. after doing some research, i discovered that that's not exactly true. i began looking for homes that were rented out by the owner of the house. when i found the house we eventually moved into, i reached out to the landlord to see if she'd be okay with us painting and replacing light fixtures. i told her we'd put her light fixtures back when we moved out and if she didn't like the wall colors that we'd be up for painting them back to the original color. she agreed! after she agreed, we signed a lease and i got to work figuring out what i wanted to do to the house... even though i still lived almost 1,000 miles away and had never seen the space before in person. :) 

first things first: what to look for in a rental that you can't change: 

location and layout - can't change these things! :) 

good flooring - replacing the flooring is expensive and likely the landlord wouldn't let you do it or would make you pay for it all. 

lots of natural light - this is also essentially impossible to change. 

the home we moved into is where we wanted to live, has updated hardwood flooring in the main living area and new carpet in the bedrooms, and so much natural light. 

here are the updates we made to the home: 

1. painted seven walls - the home was painted very neutral colors with random accent walls throughout the house. it was fine, but i like a white kitchen and don't love dark brown walls. so we painted the kitchen a warm white, painted our bedroom a warm gray, and painted the accent wall tin the living room that was dark brown to a creamy white to match the rest of the room. these minor updates made major changes to the home. it felt bigger and newer and brighter and happier. i'm so happy with the new look! 
2. adjusted/replaced light fixtures: the light fixtures felt like they were straight out of my grandma's home. again, they were fine. but definitely not us. we replaced every light in the kitchen and dining area. we took down the ceiling light in the living room and just covered it up (not a big fan of ceiling lighting in living rooms) and we hung sconces in our bedroom as well as over the area we designated for the bar. once again this made a world of difference. the lighting in a home can have such an impact on the vibe/feel of a space. so happy we did this. and we get to take all of the lights with us when we move out! 
3. new drapes: okay, so this one i didn't expect to have as big of an impact as it did. when we put up the drapes in our living room i think i stared at them for 2 hours. i was truly shocked by the difference it made in the room. it elevated it the room and made the space look so much more put together. the linen curtains in our bedroom also tied the whole room together and made it feel complete. 

of course we hung art and put rugs in rooms and updated a few pieces throughout the house as well. overall, i'm very pleased with the space and so grateful that we went with a rental that allowed us to make these changes. 

don't be afraid to update a space - even if it's a rental. i kept telling caleb that we will be in this home for two christmases. that made me realize the length of time we'd be spending here and how these small updates were totally worth it! 

here are some photos of our space if you'd like to see.