When renting, how do you decorate?

[zoebartlett]

We''re moving again soon and since we haven''t seen our lease yet, I''m not sure if we''ll be able to paint, put holes in the walls (to hang pictures), or do the typical decorating things. I really don''t want plain white walls and we have a few prints that I''d love to hang. Has anyone used those 3M (?) hooks or something similar to decorate without marking up walls? If so, how did they work out? Are they really sturdy enough to hold framed prints, etc?

 

[somethingshiny]

First off, I''ve rented a lot and I''ve always gotten permission to paint at least a couple rooms as long as I promised to repaint them back before I left.

I have used 3M hooks and they work really great. But, in my opinion, removing one of those causes more damage (if done too quickly) than a nail. For any of the things that Ive hung, I''ve used two of the hooks and it seems to hold fine. I still use them because I like to change out my pictures with the seasons so I like to just pull down the hook instead of having visible holes.

Another option for color is to mount fabric to large frames and hang it on a large wall. you can bring in pattern, color and texture without anything permanent.

 

[zoebartlett]

I love the fabric idea! Thanks SS! I haven''t rented in a long time and when I did, I didn''t do a whole lot of decorating. I''ll have to find a fabric store around here and see what they have. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Hera]

You could try hanging with sewing needles and then putting toothpaste in to hide the hole when you leave.

 

[neatfreak]

Honestly I just put nail holes in and then spackle and paint when I move out. It isn''t hard to do and that way I can hang what I want.

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks for the suggestion Hera!

NF -- you''re right -- it''s not a big deal to spackle and paint if needed. I''ll give it more thought. We''re not moving for a few weeks so I have time. By the way, how did the big move go?

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 7/24/2009 7:41:11 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett
Thanks for the suggestion Hera!


NF -- you''re right -- it''s not a big deal to spackle and paint if needed. I''ll give it more thought. We''re not moving for a few weeks so I have time. By the way, how did the big move go?

Thanks for asking Zoe! It went as well as could be expected I guess so far. I closed out our old apartment and flew out here with the babies. But we haven''t moved in to our new house yet (work is being done inside) and our stuff hasn''t arrived yet either. So we''re still in transition which sucks!

Back to your Q: It really isn''t a big deal to spackle-it''ll take you 20 minutes max. I thought of another thing I did which was add color with curtains.

 

[I Love My Sailor]

Hello,

We use the hooks that have that really strong adhesive on the back so you don''t have to use any nails. I have herd really good things about them. We haven''t tried to take anything down yet but here is a picture, I actually have a large and very heavy painting up and we have lots of others, nothing has fallen off the walls

 

[I Love My Sailor]

try again

 

[vip0802]

gorgeous place you got, I Love My Sailor!

i''ve had mixed results using the 3M adhesive hooks. they really do hold up and they come in different sizes depending on the weight of whatever you want to hang. you just have to be really careful when pulling the tab to release it from the wall. then again, i''ve had the tabs snap on me and have had to pull the hook off the wall. needless to say, i''ve had my fair share of spackling and making trips to Lowes & Home Depot to find matching paint.

i''ve heard good things about Hercules Hooks although it will leave a small hole though. it''s no different than using regular nails IMO, but easier to to use.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

We are renting and have put holes in the walls and plan to spackle and paint when moving. We''re lucking in that when I asked the landlady if I could paint some of the rooms, she said yes. In fact, we before I asked, she suggested that I paint one of the kid''s rooms because it was a peach color and she had seem my horrified look when walking into the room

Painting is an inexpensive way of jazzing up a rental house. Just be sure to stick with lighter colors that you can easily paint over. . .

Then again, how long do you plan to stay there? We''ll be here a few years, so it was worth the time to make some subtle changes in the house/landscape. Our damage deposit was $1,800! I guess that is normal around here. Homeowners make sure their home is brought back to original condition.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 7/25/2009 7:28:21 AM
Author: I Love My Sailor
Hello,

We use the hooks that have that really strong adhesive on the back so you don''t have to use any nails. I have herd really good things about them. We haven''t tried to take anything down yet but here is a picture, I actually have a large and very heavy painting up and we have lots of others, nothing has fallen off the walls

We used strong adhesive tape when hanging my son''s name (letters we bought from pottery barn) and when we removed the adhesive, the tape ripped out huge chunks of drywall! They were much more difficult to spakle than regular old nail holes.

 

[iheartscience]

I used to paint my entire apartment, but after moving so often I got sick of painting. So there are off white walls in every room of my current apartment! My fiance (ETA oops-guess that's husband now!) and I have a lot of great framed art that we hang up, though. I've always just used regular nails to hang things. I guess if the nails made big holes I would spackle and paint, but where I live the landlords are required to paint between tenants so I've never had to do it.

 

[zoebartlett]

NF -- I hope things settle down for you soon! I''m sure you must be so excited to move into your own house.

ILMS -- thanks so much for posting pictures of your house. I love it!

Vip -- thanks for the recommendation for Hercules Hooks. I''ve never heard of them before but I''ll look into them. Good to know that 3M hooks can be tricky. Thanks for the heads up!

MC-- I''m not sure how long we plan to stay. If we stay down here, we''ll probably be in this new condo for a couple of years I suppose.

Thing2 -- congratulations! Have you posted pictures in BWW? I''ll have to go check. I think we''ll probably end up using nails instead of strong adhesive tape since it sounds like tape or something similar can fo a lot more damage than nails could.

Thanks again, everyone, for your suggestions!

 

[icekid]

We move too often to bother with painting, like Thing. Still a few more years before we put down solid roots! Still, it has to feel like home. The best way to obtain that, IMO, is with your photos and artwork etc hanging. But painting... we don''t bother