rocking your rental: so your renting

image credit: ashely goldberg

when my husband and i bought our first house nearly 7 years ago it was an amazing feeling. the decorating, the planning, the nesting=bliss! we loved having a little place to call our own and fixed it up pretty much just how we wanted.

fast forward a few years, add some kids, subtract an income and you will find us, calling a much larger house (thank goodness!) ‘our own… for now’. that’s right, we are renting and have done so for over 18 months. our–as sam likes to call it–‘little house’ is going on the market in a few weeks time and we have no plans to buy a new house anytime soon. instead we will enjoy living in a house that suits our growing families needs–and lets face it, my american obsession with space–and save up like mad so that one day, when our savings account, income and house dreams all collide, we can jump on the opportunity.

however, the conundrum i have been wrestling with in my year or so of renting is this: what do i do in the meantime with my ever so slight obsession with beautiful, creative and ever evolving interiors? the last house we rented got a total remodel in my brain. complete with a two-story extension and landscape in the garden. seriously… i would say that i think there is something wrong with me, but i think i have worked out that, for me, houses and interiors are a massive canvas that i cannot help but paint on. and although i may not be able to don a hard hat and tear down walls, move kitchens into bigger spaces, add rooms, or closets (why don’t we have closets in england?!), there is an awful lot i can do to express my creativity in a rented space. and rented spaces can most definitely feel like home. i have even grown to love the creative challenge of needing to work within set boundaries and have learned a ton of practical skills in the process (for a fabulous perspective on process art vs setting boundaries from one of my favourites, click here!).

a few friends have come to me recently asking for some help in designing their spaces and it got me thinking. wouldn’t it be fun to share some design tips/ideas in a long-term serious called: rocking your rental?! (and, if you do own your own home but don’t have an endless budget to move walls or buy all new things from scratch, this could totally be fun for you too! just sayin…)

the series is going to include things like practical budget planning, finding your unique style, creative ideas to fit that style within your landlords boundaries and will probably include a few diy posts (if i can manage to hold my camera, hacksaw and keep my kids occupied all at the same time…!). i will also be sharing some before and after of my own rental space and basically just take you along my own journey of making this new rental our home.

i am super excited about it and can’t wait to start sharing!

sarah