theSun Property October 2016

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rug in beige. The small size avoids
an overpowering of the anchor rug,
which is the one in the living room,
but still aids in setting up the
bedroom “zone”.
The living room “zone” is
marked by a 8ft x 10ft rug in shades
of black, white and grey. The ornate
designmakes it a striking accent
that draws attention towards the
living area and away from the rest of
the loft. The rug features a black
border that visually tricks the eye
into creating a separate zone from
the rest of the loft. The neutral tones
of the two rugs eases the process of
complementing and conforming
with furniture pieces of any colour.
Dull and lifeless interiors
An earlier tipmentioned in the
article advises to purchase furniture
pieces that are both easy tomove
and complement with. This may
leadmany to stay on the safe side
and gowith neutral-coloured
pieces. However, one should not
stave off frombringing colour into
the home via accent/small
furnishing pieces.
While removable wallpaper can
be used to remodel other parts of
the home, Schuneman used peel-
and-stick patternedwallpaper to
give the built-in kitchen cabinets an
upgrade. The starkwhite cabinets
have since been given a designer
touchwith silver patterned stick-on
wallpaper. Alternatively, use
marble-designed removable
wallpaper on kitchen countertops
for amodern flavour and feel.
In bedrooms, purchase bedding,
pillow cases, blankets and curtains
in bright colours and designs.
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BYALYSSA J. OON
LIKE it or not, owning a
property unit marks success
in life, which could be a
reasonwhymanyMalaysians
shun the idea of renting. House
prices have risen over the past few
years, so too has popularity in
ownership of property for
investment and to provide financial
security in an unstable economy.
However, not everyone can afford
to buy a house, especially the young
who are starting out on their
careers. Hence, many young
Malaysians have no choice but to
rent tomake ends meet and hold off
owning a home of their own until
later in life.
In the case of rentals, landlords
usually try to keep units modestly
furnished, if at all. One reason for
this “bare essential” is to lessen the
margins of expenditure on the
landlord’s side, having to repair or
refurbish each time a tenant comes
or goes. Due to this, landlords
usually forbid tenants making
permanent cosmetic changes to
interiors of the home. In fact, some
don’t even allow a nail in the wall.
While this may pose a challenge
and discourage home rentals as
homemay not come across as
homelywithout that soft yellow
light, family picture wall, your
favourite themed interiors or even
drapes instead of white office
blinds, here are a few tips to help
put a homely feel to rented
residences.
PRACTICAL TIPS
Before decorating your rented crib,
here are a few important details to
take note of:
Be sure to get written permission
from the landlord if youwant to
make any permanent changes to
the unit, such as painting a wall
or knocking in some nails.
Set a budget and stick to it. There
is no point in spendingmuch on a
temporary address as youmight
need to repeat the process when
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Home sweet home
> Tips tomake a rented housemore homely
Email your feedback and
queries to: propertyqs@
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youmove again.
If this is your first “home”, it will
be a good idea to look for
furniture that canwork in
different settings and are
portable. This wouldmean no
fixed or permanent furniture like
ceiling-to-floor wardrobes or
built-in cabinets unless you are
willing to leave thembehind and
the landlord has approved of
them.
Before starting any redecoration
work, take photos of the home in
the state that you first received it
in. This is to avoid any
misunderstanding with the
landlordwhen youmove out
and return the unit/keys.
Have boxes ready to keep any
rental fixtures that youmight
want to replace with your own
decor. Thesemake it easier when
moving out.
POPULAR BASICS
With all the safety nets in place, it
is time to put your creativity to the
test andwork around permanent
fixtures of your rented abode. Here
are some suggestions for:
Boringwhitewalls
Wallpapers, with their bright, bold
and beautiful colours and patterns,
are quickly becoming a favourite
of many home owners. Wallpapers
also come in a diverse range of
designs to suit every decorator’s
taste and for every decor theme.
The rising popularity has also given
way to a simpler and less permanent
solution, which is removable
wallpaper.
This paste-up, which is easily
removable, offers renters amuch-
needed relief to the uniformand
mundane white walls that often
plaster manyMalaysian homes.
Withwallpaper, one can create an
accent wall of misty forests
for a subduedmood in the
bedroom to help lull you to
sleep or add personality to
the living roomwith striped
patterns or prints. Interior
designer Kyle Schuneman
used scotch tape to create a
diagonal-striped “wallpaper”
for the living roomof his
rented home. The diagonal
stripes on either side of
themantel helped “anchor
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the roomand highlight the fireplace
as a focal point,” said Schuneman.
For a decor that is slightly easier
to put up, look for wall decals (also
known as stickers). These are easier
to find at hardware stores andDIY
shops and are often sold at relatively
lowprices. These days, decals come
inmany configurations, as quotes,
photo frames and evenworldmaps,
among others.
Some recommendations suggest
placing a horizontal decal above the
couch as an anchor in the living room
or silhouettes of fantasy creatures to
decorate children’s rooms.When the
time comes tomove, just peel these
off and throwthemaway.
Stark naked floors
Flooring is usually the least of
problems forMalaysian homes,
which is why it is often a neglected
part of the home scene that hardly
receives any attention. Learning
how to use rugs to define a space
can helpmake rented living spaces
feel more homely.
In themidst of house-hunting,
lifestyle blogger and textile designer
Joanna Hawley put up a post on
how she used rugs to define spaces
in her open-concept apartment.
“I’mno stranger to studio
apartment living. In fact, I’ve never
had a bedroomdoor as a renter. I
didn’t really think that a loft would
bemuch different, but somehow
this one does. Whatever the reason,
I felt a need to define spaces within
the loft and rugs were a quick and
easyway to do that,” Hawleywrote
on her blog,
Starting with the bedroom,
Hawley chose a soft 5ft x 7ft yarn
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PHOTO: DECORDOTS.COM
Whenever you switch themout, the
pops of colour remain. The best part
about using changeable items as
colour accents is that every other
week, it looks like you have
redecorated the home, bringing a
refreshed feeling to the home and
the occupants. Bright colours are
also known to complement neutral
shades of furniture pieces.
An alternative to knocking in
nails is to use stick-on hooks when
hanging up photos. This will leave
lesser damage to the walls, themost,
glue stains which can be washed off
or hidden behind a coat of paint.
Renters can nowbring in the
“family feel” to their rented abodes
by putting up a gallerywall of family
photos with noworry of ruffling the
landlord’s feathers.
Lastly, do not let the short period
of living in a rented space hold you
back fromdecorating interiors the
way youwould in a property of your
own. Be creative and diligent in
finding non-permanent solutions
that allowyou to revert the unit to
its original state onmoving out.
PHOTO: SHOPIFY.COM
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theSun ON FRIDAY | OCTOBER 7, 2016