My landlord’s move-in inspection took eleven minutes. He handed me a two-page list of things I couldn’t touch walls included. No nails. No adhesive strips. Definitely no paint. I looked at my bare beige walls and felt something between frustration and a challenge. That’s when I found out how to use washi tape to create … Read more
My 42-pound arch mirror sat on the floor for three weeks. I’d already looked up at least five damage-free ways to hang large mirrors read every blog, watched the YouTube tutorials and I was still scared of what my landlord would say. I’d just moved into a rental in Austin, and my lease had that … Read more
Last spring, I signed a lease on a small apartment in Austin and the moment I walked into the living room, my stomach dropped. The floor was this brownish-beige laminate scuffed, hollow-sounding, and honestly depressing. I couldn’t paint. Couldn’t nail anything down. My landlord was very clear about that. So I started obsessing over temporary … Read more
My bathroom floor was offensive. Like, genuinely, personally offensive. The previous tenant had left behind a cracked, yellowed linoleum situation that no amount of bleach could fix. I scrubbed it three times in one weekend. Still looked terrible. And because I rent a small studio apartment in Austin, I couldn’t rip it out and replace … Read more
My bedroom is 10 by 11 feet. I know exactly how many steps it takes to get from the door to the bed. Four. Four tiny steps and that’s it. Living in a small Chicago apartment means every wall decision matters more than people realize. So when I finally decided to stop staring at my … Read more
Heads up: Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy through them, StealTheDecor may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and I only link products I have used or would buy again. The first panel came off in my hand with a flake of beige paint stuck to … Read more