Limited by your rented space? Scratch that!

Many homeowners living in rentals often agonise about how much decorating they can actually do on a budget and within the clauses of their lease.

Add to that the fact that many landlords are very stringent about what tenants can do with a space, and you will realise that it is very hard for the tenants to express their personal style and make the place their “home”.

While this is a common dilemma for many tenants, there are simple and cost-effective ways to make any rented space look chic and cozy on the cheap.

1 Look around: First things first; in the interest of being practical, take a long and careful look at your lease and see what is permissible and what is not. Where you are not clear, have a discussion with your landlord and make sure you have a thorough understanding of what you can and cannot do with the space.

For instance, some landlords are happy to let tenants paint the walls a different colour, provided you paint them in their original colour when moving out.

2 Get personal: As much as a rented space can make you feel like an alien, do your best to make the space as personalised as possible by displaying your family photos or things that bring a smile to your face, such as some of your children’s paintings.

Use anything that will give the place your own mark. Next, add some touches of things that have some historical significance such as an old “family blanket” on the main couch in your living room.

3 Be simple: Keep things simple and use no-fuss decorating solutions such as no-sew linen curtains on simple wooden rods. Get the curtains in simple cotton fabric in a neutral colour like grey or white so that they blend with almost anything.

In your wardrobes, use simple plastic crates as wardrobe organisers. As for lighting, look for simple and inexpensive lampshades from local curio markets and ditch the urge to splurge on more expensive fixtures.

4 Get stick: Use wall decals and quotes to add some charm and fun to your space. The beauty about decals is that you can easily peel them off the wall without damaging it.

5 Bring in some colour: In your furniture, that is. This is especially important if you find yourself stuck with white walls. Have fun with it and bring in a rainbow into your home by “colour blocking” your pieces of furniture to create a funky vibe in the space.

For instance, you can paint your coffee table green and place it alongside pink, yellow or red stools. If you are colour shy and only want a bit of colour to change your plain space, you can bring in colour using accessories like storage boxes, floor rugs, coloured bottles, and scattered cushions and, last but not least, some block candles.

6 On or off the walls: Use wall paper as wall art by getting your carpenter to mount some wall paper on some square blocks that you can mount on the walls with minimum fuss. Another way to use paper is to use gift wrapping paper to line the shelves of your cupboards and, thereby, create some simple but temporary visual interest.

Still on walls, use nifty things like magnets to hold your pictures, say on your fridge. Or better still, use your coffee table to display your favourite black-and-white pictures underneath a sheet of glass.

7 Make your claim: Use reclaimed furniture from your local carpenter’s yard to fill the space. For instance, you can get an old headboard and use it as a piece of art if you distress it with some white paint.

Next, get an old pair of doors to create a temporary partition in rooms if you need a room divider. Even old, wooden vegetable crates can be used as temporary tables with a glass top. The bottom line is, though the decorating is a stop-gap measure, you can be creative and use cost-effective effective ways to have a great-looking space.