Landlord-Friendly Ways to "Unlease" Your Imagination

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Rose Bennett Gilbert
Photo: Courtesy York Wallcoverings

We are grad students renting a nondescript little house for a year, which means we can’t paint the walls—they’re all white—or do much else that’s decorative. I’ve always loved decorating, but my artsy hands are tied. Maybe you have some suggestions that won’t compromise our security deposit?

The answer to your injunction is: Think Temporary. There are any number of here-today-gone-tomorrow decorating tricks that will temporarily relieve your creative ache. A few to consider:

>> Peel-and-stick removable wallpapers with patterns, murals, even your own photos and/or artwork. To enjoy this year, peel and port to your next digs when your lease is up. A few of the many sources: sherwin-williams.com; muralsyourway.com; homedecorators.com (tempaper); wallcandyarts.com; wallpops.com (includes midcentury modern motifs by Jonathan Adler).

>> Art on a roll: See here: scissors plus six matching frames equal a red-hot wall treatment from a single roll of wallpaper (“Pucker Up Buttercup” from the “Risky Business II” collection by York Wallcoverings, yorkwall.com).

>> Color the inside of bookcases or shelves with cardboard cut to fit and painted whatever hue you cry for.

>> Go a bit mad with colorful curtains: Hang them so they extend beyond the windows themselves to add interest to the walls, too.

>> Velcro fabric to the wall behind beds, canopy-style.

>> Go on: Dare to paint just one wall some wonderful color. Repainting should cost no more than a gallon of paint and an hour of your time while you’re waiting for the movers next year.

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of Manhattan Style and six other books on interior design.

Picture-perfect wallpaper: A single roll energizes an entire once-dull-white wall,
no pasting required.