Decorating a Rental

One of my best friends and clients Trisha has been living in a rental for over a year now. While the house is nice and neutral it doesn't showcase Trisha's amazing style and taste. So she asked for my help to spruce up her Living Room. 

This is an idea of what we started with. Trisha already had all the main pieces for the room but we wanted to add some pillows and recover her ottoman. Because she's renting we couldn't hang anything on the walls including art or window treatments. When she leaves this house she will have to pay for every single hole she puts in the wall. I convinced her that with pillows and accessories we could add a lot to the space! 

I put together a fabric scheme for her jumping off from the amazing ottoman we recovered. The blue trellis pillow was made from Kravet Riad in Indigo. All the pillows were sew by Erin from Plush Studio. 

The ottoman fabric is G.P. & J. Baker Hydrangea Bird in Natural and was reupholstered by Rocky Mountain Upholstery. 

We wanted the room to have a color scheme of pink, blue and seafoam.  The pink pillow was made from Fabricut Definitely Maybe in Raspberry. The blue dot pillow is from Land's End but is no longer available. 

We didn't have a lot of space for accessories so we kept them minimal. Trisha bought this amazing rock in St. George Utah on a recent trip we took together. 

The media cabinet is from Home Decorators. It's no longer available in white but you can get it for a great deal in espresso. 

The rug is from Dash & Albert. 

These amazing blue chairs are from Caitlin Creer. The ikat fabric is from Robert Allen. 

The lamp is the Arteriors Home Cooper Gold Iron Floor Lamp. It is amazing! 

For me the key with rentals is to not focus on what you can't do and focus on what you can do instead. We can't do overhead lighting so we brought in an amazing floor lamp. We can't do anything about window treatments and art so we added fun prints and colors with the ottoman fabric and pillows. We can't repaint the walls so we added color with pillows, furniture and the rug. 

I also told Trisha to remember that this rental is not her "forever house". We wanted to buy things that she could easily transfer to her new home. That amazing lamp will look good anywhere forever so it was a great investment. Don't buy crappy stuff just because you aren't living in a permanent home. Think about buying things that you will love and have for a long time after your time in this rental is over.