Decorating For Temporairy Spaces

 







I am currently renting a home, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever had to settle for less then EXACTLY what they wanted when it came to looking for that special home thats not your own :) 

I had a lot of variables that needed to be met when looking for a place, and a very short amount of time to do it...for one thing, I was about to give birth.  Literally, that little bun was about to shoot out of his oven...so basically, with the few choices we had, and time pressing down on us, we agreed to a less than "current," home :)  I'm talking dark wood trim and doors from the 80's, and old grey carpet.  Depressing.

However, I knew that I would be able to mask the majority of the design flaws, and thus, we moved in just in time to prep a baby room, then head on out to the maternity ward.  Evertyhing was complete...we now had something to put in the crib, and our worries of finding a rental were over  :)

The downside was that I had my work cut out for me.  This house was seriously lacking any sort of asthetic charm....Luckily, I can almost always come up with some method of covering, hiding, and camoflauging.  Of course, if I owned it would be a lot easier...Creating a cozy, cute house is a bit more challenging while working under rental restrictions.

The living room, which is shown above, was outfitted with sheer drapes that I aquired at a thrift store for a buck at most, as well as yards and yards of flat bed sheets, lol.  I  purchased those at my favorite thrift store too, for less then the cost of a drive-thru lunch.   Here's what I used to achieve a "Trash to  Treasure" style room without the use of paint, or any permenent elements:

Wall treatment:  What I used- Crinkly, searsucker type drapes in crisp white - Push pins - Cotton, flat bedsheets in sage green and lilac.  Fireplace "Coloums" - I installed the white drapes  on either side of the fireplace to add some drama, as well as to try and reflect light.  I used push pins, and improvised as I went to achieve the desired effect. I love "soft" surroundings, so fabric is always my go-to material to change the look of a room.  In this case, it really helped to soften the hard lines around the fireplace.  Faux "Paint" -  This is a great application for decorating rentals.  Instead of using paint, I selected light colored, sage green and lilac flat bedsheets, and after ironing out any wrinkles, went about installing them on diffrent walls to add color, and to create backgrounds for artwork.  The key is to pull the sheets tight.  You don't want it to look like you haphazerdly push pinned saggy bedsheets on the wall!  Take care to pull the sheets nice and tighgt (or any fabric you choose).  Also, I ironed the edges flat, which may seem excessive, but is a detail that will make a diffrence.  I have had people do double takes and ask if I had painted.  Lol.  It was a good affirmation that I had done the job correctly.

Ceiling treatment:  What I used- Sheer, white drapes - Push pins.  I love cozy spaces, and I've always loved canopies over beds, so in this case I took that idea to the living room.  Over each sofa, using push pins, I draped shear, white curtain panels.  What I wanted, and actually achieved, was to add some dimension to the room.  I can't stand square rooms, with tons of hard angles.  I didn't have enough fabric to "tent" the whole ceiling, so doing individual canopies over each sofa created a really nice look.  It lowers the ceiling a bit in those areas and creates the feeling of being in your own little nook.

Art Work.  What I used- Picture frames - Wallpaper samples - Leftover pieces of fabric from the wall treaments.  I used some random picture frames that I had laying around, and rummaged through my crafts to find something to put in them.  In this case, my objective was to add light to the room.  I dedcided against doing collages, or photos, simply because they felt too busy, and dark for my purposes.  I ended up using white, textured wallpaper samples I had.  They were about 12"x12," so I had plenty to fill the frames I had.  I had to fill space in one of the larger frames though, so I used some of the leftover lilac colored fabric I used in my wall treatment project.  I stretched it across the cardboard backing of my frame and literally taped it in place!  Then I centerd a square of the white, swirly textured wallpaper.  I replaced the glass, and hung them in groupings over my faux paint.  Sidenote:  I have a "hang up" when it comes to  hanging pictures/art...I can't stand to put anything on the wall unless it has a foundation that enhances it.  What I mean:  I feel that a room needs an area rug to anchor the furniture.  It's the key to grounding the room and pulling it together.  Well, that's how I feel about artwok.  Without an anchor, it's simply floating on the wall, and it drives me nuts.  I like to add layers and create a more textural effect.  

Window treatments:  What I used- Light weight drapes - Fabric from bedskirt.  In this case, I had some pretty Ikea curtains already on hand.  I hung those on either side of the slider glass door.  It looked good, but it was driving me nuts looking at the bare wall about the top.  It needed a "header."  For this, I rummaged around the linen closet and found a king size bedskirt.  It didn't work for my bed, so I cut it all up and used the material to create a valance for above the slider.  I created a cohesive look by continuing the design into the adjoinging dining room.  I installed the same "headers" above the windows, along with the two doorways.  I used push pins to adhere them to the wall, and simply folded the top and edges for a finished edge.