Feeling at home in your rented property

​I am an Italian interior designer, living in Stockholm, Sweden. I have studied and worked in London before moving here, almost four years ago. Stockholm is one of the most fast growing European capital. With lots of expats, as well as Swedes from the countryside moving to the capital city, it is a real struggle to find a place to call home. 

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Many of us live in second hand rented flat (myself included!), which unfortunately limits our interior design potentials. Nobody is really keen on getting that glamorous wallpaper on some walls, they will never own.
It doesn't mean that we can not have the stunning home we all wish for.
Here below, some advice after my own personal experience, on where to invest money and where to save...
​keep reading!

As we might be living in this property for a shorter period of time, we are able to create an interior design scheme, sadly limited to only some areas. Therefore, painting walls or attaching a glamorous wallpaper, it feels a bit a waste of money (if you are not Scrooge McDuck) and time, if the walls are in fair good conditions. 
Luckily, we have a solution for avoiding living in a white box, as usually, rental properties tend to be. 

There are plenty of very nice companies selling online frames and trendy posters, at a very affordable price (yay!).
I used myself a company called Desenio, for the frames on the picture above. Aren't they lovely?
If you are renting a small flat or room, compose a wall art with large frames. I recommend to not choose too many small frames for your collage otherwise the whole flat will feel very clutter and overwhelmed.
Keep it simple, I would say, is the rule for small places. 

​The floor is another delicate point. If you happen to find a bad situation on your flooring or you simple do not like it (I have seen many horrible ones in my rented flats), if you are going to change it, you will leave it behind you when you move out (together with your money).
Do yourself a favour then and buy some rugs to cover, at least partially, that floor you would have never choose.
Ikea, for example, has a very nice sortiment of rugs, not too expensive that you can sell before moving out or take with you.

​The key, for a successful interior design scheme in a rented property, I would say is: keep focus on stuff that you can take with you on your next property. 
Maybe you cannot put a nice wallpaper in the bedroom, but then get some really nice bed linen, a bed throw, lots of cushions that will make your bedroom shine anyways. Buy nice lampshades, candleholders, night tables, vases and all those decorative objects that you will be easily carry with you in the future.

Westwing I think, has some very nice homeware products you can check out, if you have not done it already. For who does not know, Westwing is a new online shop of awesome homeware, furniture, tableware, mirrors...everything! They deliver, for now, in most country in central Europe, so if you live there, do not miss their products. They have often lots of offers too!
The same is for your living room: sofa, cushions, coffee table, pouf, frames all these lighter elements if pulled together into a nice schemes, they will completely make you forget that you are living in a rented property. 

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I hope with this blog post, if you are living like me on a rental, you can find the potentials of your home and focus on them. For any question or advice on how to decorate your own rented flat or house, you can reach me at: interiorbyambrosi@gmail.com or via the contact form. 

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Thank you for reading!