Transform A Rental Home Into Your Own Home ☆ 5 Tips

I’m delighted to finally show you the home of my best friend, Anita, and her family in Manila on my blog. She and I first met in Jakarta, Indonesia 10 years ago in 2011 since she was my neighbor in the same cul-de-sac.

Anita and her family moved to Manila in August 2020. Yes, they went through an international relocation from the U.S. to the Philippines in the middle of the pandemic. For my family and myself, who never left Manila during the pandemic, welcoming Anita and her family was the biggest event of the year in 2020. It is a rare and fortunate occasions in this nomadic life style to live in the same city with old friends twice. How fortunate we were!

As for myself, Anita’s relocation to Manila meant something even more special.

For the first time, I was hired to decorate someone else’s home: Anita’s.

After Anita and her family came out of the 2-week quarantine in Manila, she proposed to hire me as a decorator and organizer of her home. She encouraged me to make it professional from the beginning so that I could eventually lead it into a business if I wanted to. (That is so thoughtful of you, Anita!) Her background as a sales and marketing professional helped me set myself up for my project. Starting with a business proposal, I managed to create the basic foundation to run my decorating projects.

MY VERY FIRST PROJECT: PANTRY ORGANIZATION

My first project was pantry organization at Anita’s home. To see her pantry transformation, please click the link below to jump to the post which documented the process with before and after photos.

Simple Pantry Organization Ideas

After having organized Anita’s pantry and eventually having decorated her home, the words got around in our small community thanks to her always talking about me. The encouraging words, compliments and praise coming from her not only did it help me build confidence in myself, but it brought me new clients. It was incredible to see how showcasing her home was the best advertisement. As a result, I ended up with 3 other small projects. I could have never landed myself with any of the decorating projects in Manila without her help. I’m forever grateful for her trusting in me to do the job.

2ND PROJECT: SON’S ROOM

Easy & Affordable Tips To Decorate Boy’s Room

Without further ado, here are some tips to make your rental home your own.

MEDIA ROOM

TIP 1: RUGS

Rugs set a tone of each room. Investing in one will be worth the money. I have a photo slideshow with before and after photos on this post. You can see how this room transformed from the room without a rug and the room with this rug. Please scroll down to the bottom of this post to see photos of before and after the transformation right next to each other.

Do you recognize something about this room? This rug used to be in our family room in our home in Manila.

You can also see the same rug in the following posts.

Family Room With Rattan Chairs ☆ Manila Philippines

Area Rug Cleaner Recommendation In Manila & Black & White Family Room Decoration

Home Tour & 12 Tips To Decorate Your Short-Term Home

Tips For Decorating A Small Home

MUSIC ROOM

TIP 2: PILLOW CASES & BLANKETS

Pillow cases and blankets accessorize chairs and sofas. They are great investments as well. At the moment pompom pillows and blankets are popular. I love them myself. They are fantastic additions to any space. You don’t have to have pompom blankets obviously. When you redecorate a room, but buying new furniture is not within your budget, I recommend getting new pillow cases and blankets on your chairs. They give a fresh look without spending a fortune on a new piece of furniture.

TIP 3: DECORATE A WALL WITH YOUR HOBBY

This room has a big blank wall, but Anita said she didn’t wish to paint it. It is quite understandable as we usually have to paint it back to white when we move out. As someone who has just gone through a relocation myself, I can understand the reason for her not wanting to do it. Since music is Anita’s passion and talent, I decided to use her guitars for her decoration. She already owned so many beautiful ones. You may have already known that guitars make great decoration on a wall. I have also seen surf boards, skateboards, bikes and more used as a wall decoration. Do you have any other ideas or suggestions? Please feel free to write them down in the comment section. I would love to hear your ideas!

TIP 4: USE A TAPESTRY TO HIDE & DECORATE

When you live abroad, you encounter some design that you may not necessarily see back home. Sometimes you may not have an exact furniture that you would use as a storage. Being creative and flexible becomes necessity overseas. Tapestries are a great item to decorate a big blank wall or hide undesirable items to see such as shoes on a shoe storage. I myself used a big fabric to hide our shoes stored on 2 bookcases in Manila as well as in Mumbai.

LIVING ROOM

TIP 5: A BIG WALL ART

A big wall art will decorate your wall without painting. Anita and her husband found this buddha painting on canvas in Bali and had it framed in Jakarta, Indonesia many years ago. The wonderful thing about this painting is that it is light even though it is as big as filling up a section of a wall. Instead of a gallery wall, I prefer a big piece of art as it is easier to move. The effect of a big painting is instant. If you can’t find a light big piece of art that you love to invest in, wall decals or wall papers are great alternatives.

That’s it! I hope you liked how I designed Anita’s home. I hope you enjoyed it!

My Home In Manila (2018 – 2021)
Transform A Rental Home Into Your Own Home ☆ Before & After Photos

Anita’s Home Before The Sea Shipment Arrived
4 Home Accessories That Improve Your Space Instantly

FOR YOUR PIN

As for my personal note, this is going to be my last blog post that I publish while I’m still in Manila. I have some photos, topics and recommendations to write about the Philippines. Thus, I will continue to write and hopefully publish them soon. At the moment I have so little time due to our big move. Anyways, thanks for following my family’s journey.

It means a lot for me to have you come visit my blog. Thank you so much!