Tag Archives: interior design

Furnished vs. Unfurnished

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Many times when you’re looking for a rental property you’re given the option of getting your new place furnished, or unfurnished. Usually a furnished rental includes the basic furniture most people have in their homes: bed, nightstand, dresser, and desk in the bedroom, couch, love seat, coffee table, and sometimes a TV, in the living room, and some sort of a dining table.

What are the benefits of renting a furnished home?

With a furnished home you’re saved all the time and cost of finding, buying, and transporting furniture. You’re pretty much just responsible for moving your personal belongings into your new home. You also don’t have to worry about moving furniture out afterwards, either. Renting a furnished home is a great idea if you don’t know how long you plan on staying in the same town, because you won’t have the burden of transporting a ton of furniture from place to place.

Now, we all know that with a list of benefits there’s always going to be a list of cons, too.

Usually, if you rent a furnished home, your overall monthly rent will be a bit higher than if you were to rent an unfurnished home. This fee typically isn’t too high, maybe like $20 more a month, but it’s still something you should factor in. Another reason people sometimes opt out of renting a furnished home is because of the furniture itself. It would be impossible to have brand new furniture for every single tenant, so the furniture is used over and over again by tenants who choose to rent furnished homes. It’s also pretty standard, so you don’t really get to pick what kind of furniture it comes with.

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Personalizing your space

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Recently, we talked about different things that a rental home has to offer that you can and can’t change (read it here), so we figured we’d bring you some tips that’ll help you customize your space and make it all your own.

Wall decor!!!! This includes sooooo many different things, so you’ll truly find something that’ll suit your personality. Pictures are cool because they allow you to get really personal and showcase the things that have real significance to you (like people and places). A cool way to arrange pictures is to use all kinds of different frames; it’ll add some flare to the room and isn’t expensive to do if you hit up your local thrift shops. Posters are also awesome! There are all kinds of posters available for all kinds of interests, so you’ll definitely find something you like. Plus, posters take up a pretty large space! Speaking of space…tapestries also take up toooons of space! They look great and can completely transform an entire room, all whilst taking up an entire wall. plants

Plants!!! Plants, real or fake, definitely add life to any room. You can have flowers, ferns, etc., the choice is yours. And, plants refresh and purify your air so they’ll have a benefit beyond just looking nice. If you have a certain theme or color scheme going on in your home, you can find plants that match this and make your home feel like it’s truly yours. Also, just like with picture frames, you can create a unique arrangement by combining a bunch of different pots for your plants.

Lighting is huge! Choose cool floor lamps that reflect your own style and can serve as conversation pieces, too. Lighting can change the entire mood of a room, so be sure to choose wisely! An easy way and inexpensive way to create some nice lighting is by adding christmas lights to a room; they can be put anywhere, and everyone can agree that they add a pretty touch.

 

Out of the Box: Using the right storage to maximize your rental space

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As someone who’s renting their home, you’re not exactly allowed to knock down some walls and make a new closet or alter your current storage situation. With that being said, you need to find other ways to maximize your space and storage.

Though no one admits it, a lot of us like to take the lazy way out and just accumulate storage bins in our garages or under our beds…bad solution!!! Storage bins do not have an aesthetic appeal, and ultimately take up a ton of space. It’s important to maximize functional spaces, like our closets, and even furniture. If organized correctly, closet space can go a veryyyyy long way, even for the smallest spots. If you have a pretty standard closet, you can get closet organizers/systems pretty much fully-equipped (check out The Container Store). If you have a smaller space, or want to customize it more than standard closet organizers, you can instill your own shelves and hanger units based on your precise storage needs.storage

As far as functional furniture, we all know Ikea is the bees knees. Have you ever seen Swedish storage!?! IT DOESN’T EXIST! That’s where Ikea comes in! Ikea makes furniture as functional as possible to take advantage of space, especially useful when your storage is very limited. You can switch our your storage bins for a sleek bed that has big built-in drawers. Even small things, like a coffee table that doubles as media storage, can make all the difference in your space.

Basically, if you organize and plan correctly, you can make a small space into the storage space of your dreams.