Page 18 Fall Home Improvement 2025 Lincoln Daily News Continue -- You are a renter. You love the location, the price, and the layout. However, it’s all white, sterile looking, and boring ……but you’re a renter. What can you do? Before you do anything these first steps are necessary! Review your lease and check for clauses about alterations, hanging things on the wall, painting and any additional charges or withholding of the security deposit. Talk to your landlord. Open communication is always the best and if you are planning to do anything that might leave a mark, like painting/wallpapering or adding shelves that require large holes, talk to them first. Offer to repair all the holes and paint over anything back to the original color upon leaving. Make sure that you document that conversation, what and when you did it and even consider writing up a document of approval and ask the landlord to sign it with your intentions and how you plan to leave you place. If your landlord is not willing to let you make any noticeable changes, there are still some things that you can do to make it your own. Things are expensive so there is no harm in checking out thrift store, garage sales and latching on to family or friends getting rid of stuff. Anything can be repurposed, cleaned up and reused. Focus on one room at a time and Rental Renovations get that right before you move on to the next. This will help maintain your budget and give you time to learn from your mistakes and plan for the next section or room. Use removable wallpaper and decals. You can get anything from back splashes for your kitchen and bathroom to making an accent wall. A large tapestry, rugs or textiles can be a great accent by using a tension rod or adhesive hooks. Hanging strips that are damage free can hold accent mirrors, large artwork, and other wall décor. Baths could be the hardest to change since some rentals have used the basic white or the cheapest regardless of the color such as pink or blue. To easily dress up a bathroom, in addition to changing a backsplash, adding a pretty or fun shower curtain, and coordinating mats and towels to pull it all together is the easiest. You don’t have to hang things on the wall to make the room look different. Adding lamps, floor lamps, wall sconces or leaning mirrors, ladders, or artwork on top of or against a bookshelf or mantel. Mirrors, if placed properly, can make a room look much bigger than it really is. You will have to spend time playing with the mirrors at different angles and locations. If you are planning to stay at this location long term, you can even change out the knobs and/ or handles on the cabinets (with the same size as not to drill extra holes in the doors/drawers) in the kitchen and baths. If you are handy, you can temporarily change
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