Renting doesn’t mean your space has to feel like it belongs to your landlord (Picture: Ananya Chandra and Aziza Quadir)
As all tenants know, rental properties often come with restrictive rules that require creativity to be kept to a minimum.
Even so, you can incorporate some personality and make your space a home without provoking the wrath of your landlord – with the right know-how.
For Ananya Chandra and Aziza Quadir, compromising on personal style in their rentals simply wasn’t an option and best of all they did it on a budget, without incurring a reduction in their rent deposit.
We caught up with Anaya and Aziza to find out the simple, affordable and fully reversible hacks you can do to give your space the personal touch.
Ananya’s top tips
Ananya, known by her 24,000 TikTok followers for her vibrant and maximalist interior, has transformed her rental property for £100.
Ananya turned her hallway into a cosy, calming space with a few simple products from Wickes (wickes.co.uk) including the Halsted Medium Radiator Cover (£80), Quick Dry Satin Wood & Metal Paint – Pure Brilliant White (£16) and All Purpose Round Head Paint Brush (£4).
In a video that has received more than 22,000 views, Ananya shares the entire process from start to finish, building the radiator cover and painting it a warm white.
Styling the area with soft furnishings, the result is the epitome of grandma chic.
Tell us about your property...
I currently rent. The property in the video is a Victorian flat conversion and is over 150 years old.
What problems do renters face when it comes to DIY?
The biggest problem is needing the permission of the landlord to do DIY in the first place.
I believe that the best DIYs are the ones that don’t require your landlord’s permission, are fully reversible, and can be taken with you when you leave – like the radiator cover I did in my video. I also think a few smaller changes are better than big, ambitious ones.
Don’t try to paint your kitchen cabinets, despite what you may see on social media, but try something like peel and stick tiles to hide a backsplash.
Ananya thinks a few smaller changes are better than big, ambitious ones (Picture: Owner supplied)
How should you approach these easy changes to a rental?
Identify a few key projects and tackle those slowly. I would focus my attention on the spaces that you spend most of your time in, or the spaces that you need to improve the functionality of, or both.
Why is it important to make a house a home, even if it’s a rental?
Making your space feel personal doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated: decor pieces can go such a long way, and these don’t usually require any DIY. Art, books, plants, lamps, and even soft furnishings like bedding, curtains, cushions and rugs, all bring personality to your space and are easy to add or swap out.
Ananya recommends using soft furnishings to give your space a personal touch (Picture:
What is your favourite DIY hack?
Using Command hooks and other products. The bathroom in my rental doesn’t have a towel rail or hooks, so I found a towel rail which I was able to stick onto the tiles in the bathroom, to make it a little bit more functional.
I’ve also used Command products to hang fairy lights, trailing plants, art on the walls, a broom and mop… you name it. I swear by them.
Aziza’s top tips
Interior and lifestyle influencer Aziza has almost 18k followers on Instagram and specialises in rental-friendly hacks.
She has transformed her kitchen and created a contemporary look using just one simple product from Wickes – the Bendable LED RGB Strip Light, which costs just £28 and can be placed under cabinets to create a soft and subtle glow.
Where do you call home?
Aziza had to get creative with her two-bed unfurnished flat (Picture: Owner supplied)
I rent a two-bed unfurnished flat. I chose a two-bed as my husband and I both work from home.
What problems have you faced improving rentals?
My first rental flat was furnished, which meant I wasn’t able to make it as much of my own space as I wanted.
However, I was able to use a few hacks, such as using Command hooks to hang pictures.
You have to get really creative when you live in a rental as everything has to be reversible.
What is your favourite DIY hack?
Definitely sticker vinyl and tiles – great for beginners and can be done anywhere. I’ve seen many people do it in bathrooms.
Aziza is a fan of vinyl stickers and tiles, which make a great DIY for beginners (Picture: Owner supplied)
What’s your top tip for DIY?
Plan as much as you can before jumping in, especially if you’re a beginner. It can be quite overwhelming, especially when things go wrong.
So planning, and maybe creating a mood board or writing down the exact steps and dimensions, can help make it seem like it’s not such a huge task.
MORE : ‘We added £35,000 to the value of our home by watching DIY YouTube tutorials’
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As a renter you’ve got to get creative.
