Apartment rental can be expensive and budget hacks can help to save money on rent and other expenses. Make sure you read the lease agreement carefully to avoid surprise fees.
Yes, the article also discusses hacks for saving on groceries, using coupons and loyalty programs, and finding affordable entertainment options.
Here are 23 small, on-a-budget changes, most of which take less than an hour, all of which can be reversed with ease when it’s time to move out (and get your security deposit back).
In a rental, the kitchen is often the area where the most can go wrong design-wise, and chances are you can’t rip it out and start fresh.
Fix Up the Kitchen
1. Lay new countertops right on top of the old.
If you hate the countertops that came with your place, take an idea from designer C. S. Valentin and lay a new countertop material right on top. (And note also: the cloth covering the under-counter storage.)
Another countertop cover-up: Sarah Lonsdale had plywood covers cut to fit over the existing countertops in her West Coast rental.
2. Swap knobs for ultra-DIY leather pulls.
A Remodelista favorite, and one that is proof that the smallest changes can make the biggest difference: swapping less-than-desirable cabinet pulls.
3. Wrap pulls in tape.
Or, wrap cabinet pulls in tape (these, in Rental Rehab: The DIY New York Apartment, are wrapped in textured blue duct tape cut with an X-Acto knife); rope or cloth could also work.
If it’s the cabinet fronts themselves you don’t like, take off the doors and stash them away so you can find (and replace) them easily when it’s time to move out.
4. Take off the cabinet doors.
This works well for upper cabinets, where you’re more likely to have artful ceramics and glassware on display; cabinets that stash food and packaging are best kept under wraps (see below for a way of concealing these).
5. Hang fabric (or even pretty tea towels) in place of cabinet fronts.
If you’re not ready to go for the completely open look, tack pretty lengths of cloth in place of cabinet doors. In Done/Undone with Clarisse Demory in Paris, Demory removed her Ikea cabinet fronts and hung blue tea towels instead.
If you don’t have upper cabinets and want to add some storage (and drama), consider building a removable plywood backsplash that can be carted with you to the next place.
6. Build a temporary backsplash.
Read on in Kitchen Upgrade: The Low-Cost DIY Black Backsplash, and see Remodeling 101: 6 Budget Backsplash Hacks for more ways of creating a backsplash on a budget (or covering an unsightly one).
7. Invest in custom fronts.
If you know your cabinets are Ikea, and if you’re planning on being in your apartment for the long haul, consider investing in custom cabinet fronts that fit onto Ikea boxes. See Ikea Kitchen Upgrade: 8 Custom Cabinet Companies for the Ultimate Kitchen Hack for a few of our favorites.
Transform Outdated Light Fixtures
A rental with acceptable light fixtures is a rarity.
A simple switch with a big impact: If you can, swap out an existing light fixture (or cover a bare bulb) with a fixture you can bring with you from rental to rental.
1. Swap out a front-and-center fixture with something more appealing.
Hide an unappealing light fixture with a more attractive shade that will cover the whole thing.
2. Or, add a statement shade right over the old fixture.
3. Replace exposed bulbs with artful versions.
For a fixture with exposed bulbs, swap just the bulbs out, like Sarah did in her LA rental: “I removed the milky glass shades on the light above the mirror and replaced them with silver-tipped light bulbs, which not only look better but also provide nicer light,” she says.
If you’re like most of us and inherit a rental bathroom in serious need of an upgrade, try these ideas.
Upgrade the Bathroom
1. Swap out standard-issue shower curtain rings.
Another place where leather ties come in handy: as shower curtain holders, instead of standard-issue plastic rings.
2. Switch the mirror.
Alexa reports that she took down the ugly mirror in her Brooklyn rental bath and replaced it with a more attractive version—it took some elbow grease, she says, but was worth it. If the mirror is removable, replacing it with something of your own choice makes a big difference.
3. Wrap exposed fixtures in rope.
Don’t like the look of ugly, rusted pipes under the sink?
4. Snap on removable tiles.
For tired walls or ugly tile, invest in removable tiles that can be stuck or snapped on (and travel with you when you go).
Cover Bad Flooring
Here are some ways to cover up less-than-desirable floors.
If you can’t tear out the flooring and start fresh, create a new layer on top.
1. Layer boards or painted plywood, cut to fit, on top.
“It transformed the space, and we were able to pull it off while keeping the original kitchen intact,” she says.
Another version of the same idea: plywood, cut to fit, shown here in Christine’s bathroom.
The oldest (and most budget-friendly) trick in the book: covering ugly flooring with rugs. Covering them, wall-to-wall, with washable Swedish floorcloths.
2. Source, or create, an artful floor covering.
Disguise Exposed Utilities
Here are some tricks to disguise unsightly fixtures.
Exposed pipes and heaters? You might want to check with your landlord before painting since, unlike walls, it might not be possible to get an appliance or fixture back to its original color.
1. Paint utility fixtures.
Photograph from A Two-Week, $1,000, 500-Square-Foot Rental Overhaul by a Design Student in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
For a more reversible, more textured cover-up, wrap exposed pipes in sturdy rope, as seen in Le Mary Celeste: Coastal Cool in the Middle of the Marais.
2. Wrap steam pipes in rope.
Divide Your Space
If you live in a smaller space than you’d like, one of these simple changes can help divide it.
1. Paint a “room.”
To create the illusion of a “room” in an open space, paint a section or an alcove, making sure to stop abruptly where you want the “room” to end.
2. Use a bookshelf as a divider.
photograph by Matthew Williams.
To create the feel of a separate, private bedroom in a one-room apartment, enlist a tall, study bookshelf, as designer Karin Montgomery Spath did in this New Zealand studio.
photograph by Matthew Williams.
For a softer divider, we like the idea of curtains, but hanging one from the ceiling requires hardware and drilling holes.
3. Add a rolling rack and a curtain.
Cover Bare Walls
A solution for bare apartment walls, and renters (or commitment phobes) who don’t want to hammer nails in:
If you’re lucky enough to have molding in your apartment, use it to hang artwork (or extra storage), as Sarah did here with an S-hook and a length of string.
1. Hang photos (and storage) from the molding.
No need to hang art if you’re not ready (or if you have a cement or brick wall that makes it hard to hang things). Photograph from House Call: 50 Shades of Weathered White in Hudson, NY, from Zio & Sons.
2. Or, lean art and mirrors on the floor.
Photograph from Living Large in 675 Square Feet, Brooklyn Edition. More ideas for the rental apartment.
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