Decorate With Shelves

It can be hard to make rented accommodation reflect your personality. You can’t add wallpaper, or paint and you can’t rip out those awful tiles in the kitchen or pull up the carpet and replace it with something of a better quality.

You can, however, put up pictures and paintings and fill bookcases full of colour. You can try and match kitchen appliances to the colour of the tiles, or (if they are truly hideous) cover them with stickers as I did in my student flat. You can lay down a giant rug if the carpet is getting thin and if you ask really, really nicely, you might even get away with putting up a few shelves.

My landlord is super nice. It’s worth getting on your landlords good books as the better they think of you, the more likely they’ll agree to things like this. I make regular contact with my landlord to keep her updated on bits of things; the progress on the damp patch in the living room, what I should do if I needed to adopt a cat (long story) and when I’m going on holiday for two weeks. Regular polite contact shows that I’m a good tenant who wants to keep the property in good working order, and is willing to talk about problems instead of hiding behind them. It also helps that my rent is paid without fail every month.

By emailing my landlord, I have written proof of any changes that I might have done so they can’t be used against me when I finally leave. I will want my deposit back in full!

So, back to the original topic: my shelves. The walls in my flat are massive. 3 metres high and empty. Giant canvases are great for huge spaces but I wanted something a little different in my bedroom. To be honest, I saw this picture on your wishcake and fell in love a little bit – so I decided to make one for myself.

I bought two mega cheap i-need-some-help-if-i’m-going-to-look-pretty shelves from Argos. Less than £10 for two, and I had some black and white paint handy to jazz them up a little. Once painted they looked so much better than plain pine (yuck – so cheap looking) and I put them up! All by myself!

This is my bedroom before. Nice enough, but lacking in something.

And after! Complete with a new bedside lamp for reading and the shelf. Which just adds something to the room, doesn't it?

Here is a bit more of a close-up.

And even more close up

This shelf was decorated with some picture frames which I had hanging around in a drawer. I added some fancy wrapping paper and instant pictures achieved! The lotus candle stick (which I doubt will ever be used as a candle stick) and the ‘Dream’ lettering were bought in the sale at Cargo Home and the pebbles were a Christmas Gift from Matt’s mum which I hadn’t been able to find a place for.. until now!

The white shelf in the dining area isn't completely finished yet. It's up, but not really home to anything. It might play home to my herbs now that the sunshine is disappearing. We'll see.