You’ve just moved into a new apartment—and the blank, white walls are staring back at you. As exciting as it is to have a new home, it can be tough to make your home your own.

With restrictions on painting or remodeling, it’s not always easy to add personal touches to your home. However, even if you can’t paint or change the apartment itself, there are still a few clever apartment solutions to help you give your home a new look.

To get started, keep reading for our seven top ideas for giving your apartment a facelift, without upsetting your landlord.

1. Try Temporary Wallpaper

In apartments, we unfortunately can’t paint the walls or customize with wallpaper. However, a fantastic alternative is temporary wallpaper, which sticks to the walls with a non-damaging adhesive and can be removed at any time.

You can use temporary wallpaper to add some color or interest to your walls, as rental apartments tend to have plain white or beige walls.

For a fun way to try it out, create a feature wall in your bedroom or living room and make it pop with a flower mural wallpaper. It can instantly brighten up a dull room, and won’t damage the walls.

Wall decals are also a fun decorating option to try, especially for the kids. Decals are essentially stickers that you can safely place on the wall, then remove later.

For the kids, look for fun decals like animals, dinosaurs, or trucks.

2. Use Adhesive Hooks for Art

You’d love to hang up some photos or artwork, but your landlord doesn’t want you placing nails or hooks into the wall—sound familiar?

Hanging art is something many tenants struggle with, but a great option is to try adhesive hooks. They stick to the wall and give you a hook you can use to hang art, and they’re easy to remove.

Generally, the adhesive hooks come in various sizes, each for a different weight. When purchasing, make sure you purchase the right size hook for the weight of your framed art—otherwise, your art may fall if the hook can’t handle it.

They can be found at any hardware or grocery store, so pick some up and start hanging up your favorite family photos or pictures.

3. Add a Stylish Rug

What are the best apartment flooring solutions when you want to liven up a room?

The simplest option is to add a rug—if you add one large enough, it will almost give the look of carpeting to a room. Rugs can add color, texture, and design to a room, taking it from average to amazing.

You can also find adhesive stickers that resemble tiles, but are only temporary. These can be popular to add some excitement to boring white tiles in the kitchen or bath.

Rugs and tiles are also useful for hiding damage or stains to floors, something commonly seen in older apartments.

4. Spruce Up the Bathroom

Unfortunately, apartment bathrooms can sometimes lack personality. To transform your rental bathroom, there’s a few things you can do to make it more luxurious.

When it comes to showering, you can add a shower filter to remove chlorine and bacteria from your water. You can also add a soft, comfortable bath mat as well, giving some warmth to your feet when you step out.

Adding nice soaps and hand lotions can be a nice touch as well, as can switching your light bulbs to ensure you have enough light in the bathroom.

5. Add Over-the-Door Storage

Coming up with storage solutions for small apartments can be tough, as there never seems to be enough shelving or closet space. A great workaround can be to add a storage rack over the back of a door.

These can be especially useful for things like shoes, scarves, jackets, or other items of clothing. Because they hang on the back of the door, they’re a great solution for small spaces where floor space is at a premium.

6. Bring in Plants

A beautiful way to add to the look of your home is with potted plants or fresh flowers. Plants are a wonderful addition to any home, and they even offer health benefits.

With indoor plants, you can get a boost to your mental health and immunity, plus you enjoy improved air quality. This is especially true in small apartments, which may not have much air circulation.

Figure out how much daily sunlight your apartment gets and look for plants that will thrive in partial or low sunlight, depending on your light levels.

7. Mirrors Can Make Rooms Look Larger

A well-loved trick by many apartment dwellers is to use mirrors. Adding large mirrors to a wall can make a room appear larger, as it reflects more light.

You can use this concept to create a larger-looking bedroom or lounge room by hanging up a mirror or two. If you can’t hang it up, a large mirror leaned against a wall can have the same effect.

For best results, place the mirror on the opposite wall from your light source, which is likely to be a window.

Try These Apartment Solutions for a New Look

With so many clever apartment solutions, there’s no need to feel unhappy in your new home! Use the tips above to come up with creative ideas to give your apartment more style and additional storage space.

If you personalize your apartment, it will feel more like home and help you feel more relaxed and happy. Get started today and add some special touches to your new apartment!

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