Ten of the best ways to decorate your rental space in style
Ten of the best ways to decorate your rental space in style
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1/10 1 Quality
Invest in good-quality products of your own, such as this Toria patterned double duvet set, £130.
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2/10 2 Space-savers
Desirable for all London homes is storage that fits into "dead” spaces under stairs, over doors, on top of wardrobes, under beds or, as here, on the microwave. Shelving unit, £25.
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3/10 3 Individual storage
In a shared property, separate boxes and baskets for tenants help prevent chaos. IVAR shelving units, from £54, help keep belongings from getting mixed up. Large hooks, shelves, plenty of baskets and a bench take care of the things housemates use everyday.
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4/10 4 Portability
"First of all, you’ve got to get your furniture home,” says Robert Pearce, whose Futon Company has five thriving London stores. The Kobe, a great-value easy-assembly three-seater sofa bed breaks down into six wooden components and the futon. Easily fits through narrow doors for delivery, £299.
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5/10 5 No wall fixings
Narrow oak leaning ladder shelves and desks, flat packed, are simple to assemble and take apart again. The desk has a hidden fitting but there are renting-friendly silicon nonslip pads if screws are banned. Sale prices from £50.
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6/10 6 Accessorise
These PS 2017 Vases, made with leftover glass pieces, are part of a collection that will help you add some vitality to your living spaces. Priced £15 each.
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7/10 7 Style
Renters deserve good-looking furniture and cool designs, too. Habitat has this four-part lightweight Nadia rattan kingsize bedframe (£595) which clips together.
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8/10 8 No marks
Add instant interest with stickers, wallpapers and posters from Surface View (surfaceview.co.uk). Haru décor sticky tape (pictured, from £11 per 10m roll), in many colours, patterns and widths for walls and floors, peels off cleanly.
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9/10 9 Lighting
Literally brilliant for renters, plug-ins can move with you. Ikea’s PS 2017 table lamp, £29.99 comes in a range of colours.
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10/10 10 Easy assembly
Award-winning west London architect Henning Stummel has created the Nomad leather sofa, with a five-part frame. Put it together in minutes — no tools or glue required — then take it apart to move. It fits in the back of a Mini. He was inspired by a plywood dinghy his daughters used to own. The sofa costs £1,800 in leather and £1,500 in velvet. A leather armchair is £1,290, and a velvet chair is £990.
A timely seminar tonight in Kensington, at the Design Museum, will bring into sharp focus “The Future of Renting” and go to the heart of how so many Londoners are living today.
With an expert panel and co-hosted by furniture giant Ikea, the seminar will be a call to action on behalf of Generation Rent, which so often has to put up with substandard accommodation. From Sweden will be Maria Jonsson, global macro insights leader at Ikea, who helps compile the company’s annual Life at Home Report. She will talk about the recently published 2018 edition.
The statistics are dire. British homes are revealed to be the smallest by floor space area of any European country. Our average home floor space is 85 square metres, with new homes smaller still, at 76 square metres.
Rents are forecast to climb by 15 per cent over the next five years as accommodation dwindles, and more people with stretched incomes will be forced to share.
“But our core emotional needs will still be there,” observes Jonsson. She ticks them off: “We still need security, privacy, comfort and a sense of belonging.” Not to mention a raft of functional requirements — eat, sleep, work, clean, cook, play, relax, socialise, love.
A single rented space just can’t cope, so we spread out our lives. We work in an internet café, we shower in the gym, go for a run in the park, spend a night out with mates, attend a class. We watch the football/election in the pub. “Home is a different thing, it is a network of spaces and places,” says Jonsson.
The statistics are compelling. About 23 per cent of people surveyed say they go outside “to be alone” even if they live with family. That goes up to 33 per cent if people live with friends or strangers.
Scroll through our gallery above, where we have highlighted ten of the best ways in which design can improve the lives of tenants, especially those who look set to become lifetime renters.
Hire designer pieces for a rental pad with pizzazz
Design writer, editor and curator Henrietta Thompson and her husband and business partner Edward Padmore are behind Harth, a new network that lets you rent high-end furniture, interior design and art directly from top brands, designers and artists, galleries and dealers as well as other members.
Inspired by “sharing platforms” such as Airbnb and even Uber, Thompson says: “We had a great response to our trials. With 1,000 initial members, we’ve confirmed what we already knew, that people want different furniture for different times of year — outdoor furniture in summer and cosy, comfortable items over winter and Christmas.”
She recently furnished a high-end property development in Notting Hill, a Barbican flat and a fashion emporium in Mayfair, plus events and exhibitions.
She adds: “People are offering extraordinary items, including artworks by Royal Academicians, design classics like an Eero Aarnio Bubble Chair and one-off pieces by emerging new designers. We even have a Concorde nose cone.”
Harth members pay from five per cent of a piece’s RRP per month and currently it is free to join.
Pictured above is a Ball Chair from Eero Aarnio Originals, £273 a month to rent on Harth. Expensive — but a style statement for a month or two.
- The Future of Renting is tonight from 6.30pm to 8pm at The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, W8.
- Tickets cost £10, concessions £7 (020 3862 5900; designmuseum.org).
