How to Decorate a Rental Apartment on a Budget

Renting an apartment can be tricky, but it can also be a lucrative business decision and a long-term investment that can pay off in kind. One of the main problems modern landlords face is decorating an apartment to be aesthetically pleasing enough without busting the bank and running the risk of guests, to put it simply, thrashing the place.
While there are limited ways you can prevent the last scenario from happening, there are plenty of things you can do to inexpensively elevate the decor and design of your rental property, and attract new business. Here are the top five tips on how you can decorate a rental apartment on a budget.

Source your furniture

Image source: peschekinteriors.com
Who said that quality furniture needs to be expensive? There are plenty of ways you can obtain excellent pieces that work with a variety of interior designs for half the retail price or less. You simply need to turn your attention from the nosy ads to the hidden furniture stores around the city.
From antique to thrift stores, from the flea market to the local landfill, the possibilities are numerous. The best part is, you are more likely to find quaint, beautiful furniture pieces that work wonderfully with a modern design approach, and even better in a charming, rustic setting. Be sure to search online for furniture you can obtain from other people, and visit a salvage yard as well.

Floor covers can save your budget

A beautiful stone or marble floor is bound to increase the value of  rental properties. Wooden floors in particular. However, naked surfaces such as these aren’t a landlord’s best friends, as they require maintenance, and can be easily damaged. Enter, the area rug.
Area rugs excellent at preventing damage and skid marks, and even concealing damage if need be while being an inexpensive way to spruce up your apartment and incorporate a unique flair into the design. If you are really keen on preserving your floors, you can even introduce rubber matting, however, this solution might not be as aesthetically pleasing as a colourful rug.

Soundproof and beautiful

One of the biggest problems landlords face is actually keeping the neighbours happy. Due to the large volume of people passing through the apartment on a regular basis, the neighbours can start feeling unsafe, not to mention that you can get into a lot of trouble if they report noise and disturbance coming from the apartment.
You need to preserve a good relationship between your Airbnb rental apartment and your neighbours, so it’s best to invest in some simple sound-proofing for extra privacy, and top it off with replaceable wallpapers. This way, you can easily replace any wallpaper that might have suffered damage during your guests’ stay.

Manipulate the ambiance with lighting

Another inexpensive way to introduce an up-scale vibe into your apartment’s interior design is to simply add warm lighting across the board. Start with the hallway where you can introduce coned lights and work your way in towards the living room, and the bedroom.
In the living room, the bedroom, and even the bathroom, you want to add programmable lighting so that the ambiance can be easily modified to correspond with the mood and the occasion. Think free standing lights in the living room, and fixed lighting in the bedroom.

Add a variety of interesting details

Finally, you want to make the apartment feel homey with a positive vibe, and a serene ambiance that inspires creativity. To that end, think about all the accents and details you can introduce into the setting without making it feel cluttered or overstated.
After all, every guest has their personal taste, so while you want it to be aesthetically pleasing, you also want to leave it neutral enough so that the design is not actually screaming at them. So think framed wall art, quote art, various potted greenery scattered throughout, and a few details here and there on the shelves and the windowsills. A bookcase is always a great option as well.

Getting your rental property up and running and generating revenue is not an easy task, especially in the first year. Luckily, by following these inexpensive tips you will have no problem decorating your apartment on a budget.