Kitchen DIY Ideas For Your Apartment That Won't Cost You Your Deposit

Renting can be extremely limiting for tenants who love to redecorate their living spaces. Landlords will often have strict rules about permanently changing the look of a room, and it can come out of your deposit if you go against these rules.

With that being said, your landlord has most likely not updated the decor in your apartment for several years, leaving you with the redecorating itch. Today we’ll be looking into a few ways you can DIY and spruce up your rented kitchen.

Updating The Cabinets

When you want to change the entire look of a kitchen without spending too much money, it’s always best to focus on the most prominent feature of the room. In the kitchen, that’s going to be the cabinets.

There are a few ways to update the cabinets without costing your deposit, so let’s look at some of these now.

1. Vinyl Stickers

Vinyl stickers are taking the renters' world by storm, and they can be used on almost anything. These are sticky-backed pieces of vinyl that can cover cupboards and give them a new lease on life.

You can get these in all sorts of colors and styles, and they could not be easier to put on your cupboards. After your tenancy is over, you can peel the stickers off without ruining the cabinets underneath.

2. New Handles

We underestimate how much fresh handles can actually do for cabinets! Rented apartments will often only use cheap wooden handles that are not the nicest to look like.

It’s simple enough to change the handles - simply unscrew the old ones and fit your new ones in the existing holes.

Be sure to keep the old handles somewhere safe so that you can switch them back at the end of your tenancy!

3. Use Strip Lighting

Strip lighting is another very popular method of renovation at the moment, and they’re battery powered so you don’t have to start wiring electrics! (Something that your landlord would most likely have an issue with).

Use LED strip lighting underneath the cabinets and set them to whatever color you want. This gives your kitchen an instant modern upgrade, and you can peel off the lights when you leave.

Tackling The Worktops

Now that your cabinets have had a much-needed facelift, the worktops might be staring you in the face waiting for their own. Luckily, it is very easy to change up your countertops temporarily while you’re renting.

Sticky Vinyl

They’re back! There’s a reason why we said that vinyl stickers are a renter’s dream - you can use them almost anywhere.

They’re reasonably priced and therefore you can keep updating them when you get bored.

These stickers aren’t the most robust things in the world, but they will allow you to update your worktops without costing your deposit. Your landlord will never even know!

Boring Tile Got You Down?

If the kitchen floor is ugly, then the entire kitchen will suffer.

Don’t worry, though - you don’t have to suffer with tired flooring for your entire tenancy. There are a few ways that you can spruce this up for an affordable price.

1. Floor Tiling Stickers

Any time you want to update somewhere in your rented apartment, always consider stickers. They’ll peel right up when you’re moving out, leaving the original decor untouched and clean.

Floor tiling stickers are very simple to lay down (goodbye tile adhesive and grout!) and you don’t have to wait days for them to dry.

Just make sure that you read the reviews of the tiling beforehand so that you are certain the specific brand won’t damage the floor underneath.

2. Kitchen Rugs

Rugs are an amazing way to spruce up your rented flooring, but the last thing you’d think of is putting one in the kitchen where it can get dirty and damp. However, kitchen rugs are designed to prevent these things from being an issue.

How, you ask? They’re waterproof rugs that can be wiped away should you get any food or water on them. They’re stain-resistant, easy to maintain, and can simply be lifted away at the end of your tenancy.

We Want Fresh Walls!

Again, we often underestimate how much a fresh wall can transform an entire room. Landlords will often leave walls painted a dull color, but you can brighten them up in a few ways.

1. Paint

Some landlords will give you permission to paint the walls whatever color you like - provided that you paint them back to their original color before the end of the tenancy.

This gives you free rein to do whatever you want with your kitchen walls - a new wall color might even make the rest of it look better, eliminating the need to DIY any more of the kitchen!

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2. Hanging Tapestries

If you don’t want to spend double the money on paint when you have to revert the walls back to their original state before your tenancy is up, hanging tapestries is a good alternative.

These are thin fabrics that can cover entire walls, so they’re great at giving the kitchen a new lease on life. Simply stick them up with some tac or tape, removing them carefully before you move out.

You might have to replace the tape every few months when the old stuff loses its stickiness, but you won’t have to worry about having to paint the entire kitchen back to a new color before your tenancy is up.

Summary - Kitchen DIY Ideas For Your Apartment

We hope that you have learned something valuable from our tips today! Just because your landlord has strict rules, doesn’t mean that you have to live in a dull-looking space for the entire time.

There are plenty of ways that you can give your kitchen a new lease on life and tons of kitchen DIY ideas for Your apartment out there.

Remember - vinyl stickers are your best friend. They can be used on cabinets, worktops, and the kitchen floor! Just peel them back up when you’re done!

You can also update handles and decorations, making the space your own.