We all deserve to love our home, whether we own or rent. So I am going to do a series here on Personalizing your rental. I’m hoping it will inspire you to make small changes to let you fall in love with where you live!
Justin and I sold our house in June last year. It had been a fixer-upper and we poured our blood, sweat and tears into it! See it HERE. We loved the house, but with a 4th baby coming, it was time to find something a little bigger.
We looked for about 6 months and didn’t find anything we loved, so we decided to rent to get settled in before the baby. We found the cutest house that was built in 1957 in the same neighborhood and for the most part, all original! It got a kitchen remodel in 1967 and a master bedroom added in the 80s… other than that it is in its full 1950s glory!
There are things I LOVE about the house…
And then there’s the things I don’t, like the brown carpet and hand painted critters on the kitchen backsplash. However, I was determined when we moved in to make it a space that I was proud of and loved just the same!
First up in the series is the master bathroom. It’s actually a pretty good size for being so old, but it has some quirky features.
Like this sliding gold glittered shower door! Haha! I am thankful that the whole house was already painted in shades of white and cream, which I love. If it wouldn’t have been, that’s the first place I would start. If you are in a rental, ask your landlord if you can paint. It’s amazing how a fresh coat of white paint can drastically change a space.
But, the changes I want to talk about are the ones that are the biggest bang for the least amount of buck.
For our bathroom, there were cute old knobs on the cabinets, however they didn’t all match and they made it look very dated.
Switching the knobs is a relatively cheap and easy fix! I knew I could modernize the bathroom with a simple switch. I found these at Target.
I needed 12 knobs, so for $48 I changed the look of the bathroom! And the nice thing about that is that when we move, I will just trade them out with the originals and can take them with me.
I also added a few accessories on the top of the counter to make it more modern. I had this amazing vintage gold tray that I loved, but with the old cabinets, I needed something a little more modern to balance the style.
I found this computer riser at Target. It looks great on the counter and holds all our necessities.
I also added a vintage rug (similar) that I found at our market last year to round out the small touches, add some dimension and color into the space.
And for very little sweat, tears and money, we now we have a bathroom that we love in just a few hours!
I hope you are inspired to make your space, a space you love!
Did you paint the cabinets?
No, we didn’t! The lighting in the before picture was dark because it was a cloudy day. They are a creamy off white color. We just switched the knobs and added a rug!
I love it …we sold our house also and downsized into a 2B/2b rental. I did the same things you did rug etc. I am stealing the computer riser shelf idea, love it.
Thank you..I may put a little tray/ drawer underneath for extra space.
It’s feels so good to do some cheap updates that make a huge difference!