How to Make the Ugliest Eyesores in Your Rental Disappear with Clever Design Hacks

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Picture this: You’ve found the rental of your dreams. It delivers on space, location, character, and budget. It’s practically perfect — except for that one unsightly feature that you know will drive you nuts. So do you need to suck it up and resign yourself to living alongside an eyesore for the duration of your lease? Not necessarily.

“Just because you can’t renovate your space doesn’t mean you can’t elevate it,” says Shaqueria Dial, founder and principal of S.D. Designs. “With a little creativity and a few renter-friendly tricks, you can design around even the ugliest features — from cheap blinds to old, worn flooring — and make your home feel truly yours.”

Here’s how two design pros say you can turn those unsightly elements into a distant memory, with just a little extra work. 

It’s almost cliché when you move into a new apartment and see popcorn ceilings or window treatments that have been there for decades. Thankfully, you don’t have to live with these less-than-appealing “design” features. Here’s how you can live with them and love your space. 

Moving into an apartment with stained or dated flooring is just plain unappealing. While you can’t make worn carpets or yellowing linoleum floors disappear, you can use “oversized area rugs to cover large patches and damaged areas,” says Dial. You could also try layering rugs, which will add extra texture to the room and distract from the less-then-ideal flooring, explains Dial. For kitchens and bathrooms with tired floors, Dial recommends laying down “vinyl mats that work wonders and can give you a fresh new look instantly.”

Natural light or the lack of it is one of the hardest things to change in a room. That said, a windowless room doesn’t have to look dark and dingy. The secret to brightening up this space is a layered (artificial) lighting approach, according to designer Alexandra Hamilton, joint founder of House of Hamiltons. Combining different light sources like lamps, wall sconces, and pendants will add warmth and depth to your room while detracting from the lack of windows. 

Though necessary, a visible electrical panel is quite unappealing. No matter how much you try to decorate around them, they still stick out like a sore thumb. According to Dial there is a quick and easy solution to make them “disappear”: Simply “use large, leaning art or mirrors to hide panels behind.”  

Cheap-looking blinds, especially the plastic variety, are enough to drag any room down. But renting doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to live with them in full view. “Layer them with curtains using tension rods or Command hooks above the window frame,” says Dial. “Aim to hang your curtains higher than the frame to draw the eye up.” If privacy isn’t an issue, simply remove and store the blinds for an open concept look, adds Dial.

Radiators don’t have to be the elephant in the room. The simplest way to distract from a heater is to “use a bench, narrow console table, or sideboard to blend it into a vignette,” says Dial. Those with a steam radiator will want to avoid using metal materials (wood is a better choice), as they may overheat. Plus, you should position any covers or fixtures with at least two to three inches of clearance, to ensure good air circulation. If you can’t find the right sized table, which can sometimes be tricky, opt for clip-on radiator covers that double as shelves and paint them to match the walls to blend in even more.

If you’re stuck with bumpy ceilings, there are actually some pros to the popcorn look — including better sound-blocking from your noisy neighbors. Still, they can wind up feeling dusty and dated, so to make them less noticeable, consider a fresh coat of paint (landlord-approved, of course!). This can rid you of that dingy feel and also make the popcorn less porous, preventing future stains. Soft lighting via table and floor lamps can make the ceiling appear more gently textured too. 

One of the worst eyesores in a rental has to be the dreaded boob light. Dial suggests “adding oversized lamps with statement shades to draw the eye away from the fixtures.” This clever renter-friendly hack from Josie Raina (@josie_raina) also demonstrates how to hang a cute lamp shade over a boob light using just three teeny cable clips. Ideally, the lampshade will have a wire rim or prongs already attached, so you can just nail your clips into the ceiling and use putty to fill the tiny holes whenever you’re near the end of your lease. If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can also try this trick for fashioning a boob light cover using two IKEA bowls.