How to Personalize Your Apartment as a First-Time Renter

Your home deserves to be personalized. The design should reflect your style, your favorite colors, and your personality to help you feel happy and comfortable in your own space. Of course, this is a little more challenging with rental homes. Some homes come with rules about how you can and cannot affect the walls, while some landlords don't care how you decorate, as long as the wall is whole and undamaged when you move out. Some leases include a no-holes decoration clause and many cautious renters avoid punching holes in rental walls for any reason.

So how do you truly make a rental home your own within the no-holes restrictions? We've got a few great strategies for modern renters to personalize, hanging curtains and artwork, within the comfortable bounds of your lease.

Clever Places to Put Decorations When Renting

Windowsills and Half-Walls
Tables and Shelves
Along the Top of Appliances
Free Standing Decor

Before you start worrying about the walls, decorate your surfaces. Find creative and decorative places to put your artwork throughout the house. Windowsills with plants and sculptures brighten your day as much as a framed painting, while free-standing art can be a 3-dimensional display without touching a single wall.

Your rental home might have a hearth and mantelpiece to decorate, or built-in shelves ready to show off your favorite art pieces. There are many ways to decorate a rental home that don't require wall suspension.

No-Damage Decorating Tips for Rental Homes

If you have a no-holes clause in your lease or your landlord specifically mentions not damaging the walls, you can still decorate! Mounting tape distributes the weight of a mounting point to hold heavier loads without punching a single hole. The only question is whether it comes away clean or with a layer of wall paint.

Command Strips & Mounting Tape

Command Strips are the 3M name brand no-damage mounting tape strips. It's basically foam two-sided tape that works on walls. With a pull-tab, they will detach from almost any surface without any damage, even to brittle paint. Command strips can also mount points like hooks and picture frame wire for diverse no-hole decorating options. You can also work with rolls of mounting tape, cutting strips as needed.

Adhesive Hooks and Clamps

If you want to hang things like curtains and window treatments, affix hooks and clamps to build attachments in your rental home. You can hang potted plants, workout equipment, and extra storage throughout the house, provided each hook and clamp connects securely. Don't forget to pad the back of the plastic or metal fixture so it doesn't scratch the paint. This is a great way to add curtain rods and other features to a plain looking house.

Shelves and Backdrop Furniture

You don't have to mount your decor directly to the wall with something between the wall and your decorations. Experiment with shelves and end-tables of various heights. Try displaying your art on shelves, or on the back of a bookshelf with the shelves removed. This way, your art is mounted to an item that belongs to you instead of the rental home wall.

To Drill or Not to Drill: Mounting Art and Tech

If you live in a rental home that allows standard decoration (the occasional nail hole), when and where is appropriate? And how much mounting is reasonable? Many of us take one look at drywall anchors and wonder if that's a good idea in a rental. The answer, first, depends on your lease. Then it depends on the security deposit risk. From there, you can make any plans that can be undone with a new coat of paint.

Ask yourself these questions:

"Does the wall already have holes? Can you re-use them?"
"Is the wall receptive to nails or screws?"
"Will you need drywall anchors, and will they blend?"
"How obvious will the hole left-behind be?"
"How easily can I repair the hole?"

Interestingly, drywall anchors of the right color can be less obtrusive than an unadorned hole in the drywall. Be strategic when and where you choose to add a new hole - and how easily you can repair and touch-up any small changes you have made.

Cleaning Up After Decorating a Long-Term Rental

Longer-term tenants are more likely to hang semi-permanent decorations and install mounting points into the wall. In fact, years of built up wear-and-tear and steady rent provide for this choice. But when it comes time to move out, you want to leave those mounting points as nearly invisible as possible by filling and repainting each spot.

This method can help you repair and cover almost any size of mounting hole damage left in a rental home wall.

Fill Holes & Damage with Drywall Putty

Get a pot of drywall putty and a plastic putty knife, the kind with a flat square end. Apply a small scrape of putty over every nail and screw hole in the wall, whether or not you remember making it. If you repair a few extra spots, it only costs you a few seconds and secures your damage deposit either way. For each spot, use the flat edge of the putty knife to press putty into the hole and scrape it flat and flush against the wall. Remove excess putty as needed. Give the putty a few hours to dry and it'll be ready to repaint.

Repaint with Matching Interior Paint

Get a pot of paint that matches the home interior. This can be a very small supply, as long as the color and finish match. For each putty spot - and for every scuff and stain - add a fresh swipe of paint. Follow the grain of the existing paint to make your touch-ups blend in. Give this paint a protected day or two to fully dry and check your work.

Your rental home can be beautifully and personally decorated while still fully within the terms of your lease. Whether you cleverly use Your attention to detail ensures a return of your security deposit and win the good favor of your property manager - however you choose to decorate. Contact us today to explore more great decoration tips and custom window treatments for personalizing your home interior.

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Expert Advice by Just Blinds

The Leading Window Treatment Trends of 2024

By Autumn Hooper • 07 Feb, 2024

Each year, styles in window treatments come and go. Trends that were hot last year may carry over to the new interior decor season or may be replaced by something new. In 2024, we are looking at a delightful set of trends in blinds, shades, and curtains that embrace the developing attitudes and popular colors that are already giving the year a unique stylistic personality. At Just Blinds, we are delighted to keep up with the trends, helping homeowners, designers, and property managers to create stunning spaces that align with the latest in window treatment trends. The Hot Trends of 2023 Blinds and Shades Last year in 2023, we saw a great collection of trends, many of which have evolved and strengthened with the new year. 2023 explored the innovations of cell shades and honeycomb shades for the benefits of insulation and light control. Motorization gained a prominant place in both home and office design, and decorators discovered the dynamic possibilities of shades that operate from both the bottom and the top on floor-to-ceiling tracks. Texture saw a real debut with natural colors like wood finishes, linen, dusty rose, and moss green. Though bold patterns also had their day in the sun. The Trending 2024 Window Treatments In 2024, you may recognize a few trends still going strong from the year before, which is good news for those who decorated last year because your style is likely still right on-trend. But we are also seeing new trends developing with elegant enthusiasm. Smart Home Blinds The trend for motorized shades has naturally evolved to favor smart home controls. With a simple voice command, you can take control of all the motorized shades in a room, in your entire home, or set each shade to exactly the height and opacity you desire. Warm Neutrals and Bold Natural Colors Color trends favor a more natural palette. Neutral colors are warmer, even the grays and charcoals have a honey undertone, while natural colors like mossy and forest green are growing stronger in hue paired with a jewelbox of flower petal colors. If you're following the Colors of the Year, you may have also noticed an adoration of ocean blues, and you can match those blues with slightly darker or lighter blinds for beautiful effect. Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Materials Natural materials and textures were popular in 2023, and 2024 takes this trend even further. Blinds made out of recycled materials are now on the rise alongside the growing popularity of blinds made from super-sustainable plants like bamboo, hemp, jute, and grass cloth. These offer natural colors, dynamic textures, and the delight of eco-friendly design. Gauzy Sheer Elegance Sheer curtains and semi-sheer blinds are also in fashion; a classic style that has been floating near the top of popularity for literal centuries. Sheer curtains and blinds maintain privacy while allowing sunlight into the room in a gently diffused glow. They also layer excellently with more robust window treatments. Creative Window Treatment Layering Speaking of layering, we are seeing an enthusiastic embrace of creatively layered styles. Wooden shutters, gauzy curtains, and black-out blinds are among the most popular layers, but decorators are getting creative with how they choose to to layer their window treatments, using both multiple fabrics and structures at the same time. Find the Blinds that Best Suit Your Needs How can you choose fantastic and on-trend blinds that perfectly suit your design needs? Fortunately, the diversity of this year's trends leave room for almost any personal sense of style and the individual needs of each room's windows. Start with the size of your windows and your room's existing color palette. Decide if you want to match, accent, or contrast the colors of the room. Then choose the opacity, privacy, and level of motorized control you desire. This should guide you toward a specific selection that will work well for your room. From there, it's a matter of specific features and your personal sense of style. Reach Out for Expert and On-Trend Advice If you are getting ready to decorate a room and want the perfect window treatments for 2024, we are only a phonecall or a visit away. Give us a call for expert advice in the right blinds or shades for each window in your home. Our on-trend window treatment experts will be glad to help tailor your window treatment design to your personal tastes, the latest trends, and the style of each of your rooms.

Beat the Heat: Best Choices to Keep The Interior of Your Home Cool

20 Jul, 2023

Is your AC bill keeping you down this summer? Is your home too hot? Window treatments can help cool your home, but you need to choose the right ones and use them correctly. Not all window coverings are made equal. Here are some of the best options to help keep your home comfortable and reduce costs this summer: Cellular or honeycomb shades. These are specifically designed to provide a high level of insulation that keeps the heat out of your home. They also don't block the view when completely drawn. As a bonus, you can get them in a wide variety of colors and patterns to match your home and in both top-down and bottom-up configurations. Drapery. Old-fashioned curtains can be surprisingly effective. Choose a medium color and have us add a white plastic backing to reflect heat out of your home. You can also use drapes to block some of the heat without excluding much light, allowing you to enjoy natural light flowing through your drapes. Fabric Roman shades. These are a distinctive option that really dresses up a room, and if you choose the kind with several layers they will definitely help keep the heat out. We have light filtering and blackout options and everything in between. Why Should You Use These Types of Shades or Blinds? The two reasons are to save money and help protect the environment. Good shades keep your home cooler and this means your air conditioning systems don't have to work as hard and use as much energy. In the northern hemisphere, it's most important to have heat-reducing treatments on your southern windows and you can allow more light in through windows that face north. Both cellular and Roman shades can also be motorized and even put on timers to close the shades when you are not there and then let light in when you return. The small amount of energy used by motorized shades is much less than that lost through naked windows. All of these shades can also add to the aesthetics of your room. Cellular shades are great to add a pop of color or a subtle pattern. Both drapery and Roman shades give a soft feel to your windows that then spreads to the rest of your room. What is the Best Choice? The best choice of the three depends on your personal aesthetics. Our designers can help you make the right choice. If you want motorized shades, cellular shades are the lightest and thus use the least energy, and can roll all the way up and down, leaving your windows completely unrestricted. Roman shades are more visible, but can be used to add fabric and color to a room. Many people still love the look of traditional window drapes. Note that you can also combine shades and drapes for the effect you want, both in terms of reducing heat loss and in terms of aesthetics. How Much Can I Actually Save? The amount you save depends on the kind of window covering you use and how much thermal gain your house typically experiences. The larger your windows, in general, the larger the benefit, especially south-facing windows. For example, medium-colored draperies with a white plastic backing can reduce heat gain by as much as 33% for that window. Most window treatments, though, reduce overall heat gain by about 10%. This can significantly reduce your bills, by $100 to $200 a month during the summer. Using the right window treatment can make your home more comfortable in the summer and save money while preserving the environment. For advise on which window treatments to choose for your home and to see our selection of blinds and shades, contact Just Blinds today.