'This is how I spruced up my West Midlands rental home - without the risk of losing my deposit'

DIY lovers have shared their top tips on how to make a rented home your own without losing your deposit - including sticky tape and fake wallpaper. 

Many renters feel limited in what they can do to add their own style to their rented home without angering their landlord. But interior design enthusiasts say that there are lots of ways to decorate your home and still return it back to how you found it. 

Teri Muncey, 38, who lives in Birmingham, West Midlands, has been renting for over 15 years and says that, after years of not touching the properties, she decided to make her home feel like hers.

She says it all started with creating gallery walls using her own artwork, changing light fixtures, adding curtains, and putting in shelving to add her own personality on display. Now, the DIY lover’s main trick is to use peel and stick items, which she has used to change her kitchen counters, bathroom and kitchen tiles, and even the glass in her shower.

Teri, who posts under The Lovely Drawer, said: “I started thinking about how I could put my own stamp on the place. I decided to try all sorts of hacks that I could think of to actually change the space. I have never been in a position to buy so I needed to work out a way to make it feel like my space and settled.

“The first big change I made was to the kitchen, covering all the cabinets in peel and stick vinyl. It just brightened the whole space and made it feel very different. That was the first time I made a room unrecognisable in a rental.”

The mum-of-two also used electrical tape on her bathroom windows to create the illusion of windowpanes, and changed all the handles on her cabinets out. 

Teri says the important first step is to check with your landlord to see what colour they have painted the walls with so you can paint it back when you leave. In her last home, the designer says it was very hard work to turn it back at the end, but she says that this is worth it to live in a home that you love. 

She said: “You don’t usually have very much control in a rental so if there are things you can do that you can undo at the end it does feel really nice. Whenever I am in a rental I always know I will be there for a few years, so it feels worth it to put in time and effort to do something that is going to change the look and feel of the space.”

Debs Stubbington, 44, from Colchester, Essex, started renting in 2019 after the breakdown of her marriage and says the transition to not owning her home was a ‘shock.’ However, the DIY lover says she quickly realised that she could make changes to her home using the key tools of tape and paint. 

For wallpaper lovers, Debs says that you can create the same effect using paint, or even use an adhesive film to apply wallpaper and still be able to peel it off. She also added panelling to her wall using double sided sticky tape, wood, and paint, which was easily pulled off when she moved out. She stressed the power of paint, adding that most landlords will be fine as long as you paint it back, and if not then you can always paint masking tape or your furniture to add colour. 

Debs said: “It was a bit of a shock to suddenly have to ask somebody’s permission to do things. I tried really hard to find something that I was going to be able to put my own stamp on. There are always ways to get around things. Paint is a brilliant tool. If you are not allowed to paint, then add large pieces of colourful furniture instead. 

“There is a massive stigma around renting and that it is not your home. It did feel a bit like starting again because people are always saying that you need to be on the property ladder. But I was so happy in that house. I always saw it as my home, not something I temporarily borrowed.”

Debs says that her main advice is to start small to prove to your landlord that you are good at DIY, as this will give you more lenience going forward. 

She said: “A lot of landlords are afraid of tenants making changes because they are worried that they won’t do it very well. When they see how well you can do it they will have more faith in you. I genuinely think that is what allowed me to ask for bigger things. It is a trust relationship, because as much as it is your home it is their property. I don’t see why renters should be second class citizens because they don’t own their property.”

Debs has now bought her own property, and documented the process of turning her rental back to white on TikTok under Bangonstyle. But, halfway through reverting it the landlord decided to sell the home, and asked her to keep it the way it was to help it sell. 

She said: “I got every single penny of my deposit back because I left the house in a lot of ways in a better state than when I rented it. None of my changes caused any damage that couldn’t be painted over. If you spend money and time on the property you are benefitting the landlord and yourself, because you get to live in a beautiful home.”