How to Paint A Room in Your Rental and Why We Decided To Paint
So last night I wrote this big ol long post about why we painted the rental. I got really sappy and started talking about the meaning of home and all sorts of gushy stuff. I didn’t publish it and today it just doesn’t feel right so I’ll save that story for another day. Today, I want to talk about the rental and why we painted it and how to paint a room in your rental for cheap…
We painted our living room. Just went for it. I debated it for a long time but no more… I debuted the brand new color on Instagram and my sweet friend Allison from The Golden Sycamore said, “might as well love it from the beginning.” And it’s so true. We can’t all live in our dream house. And sometimes even the dream house needs a little pizzazz. So it was time to start lovin’ this house from the start! I didn’t want to put anything else up on the walls and think this would be beautiful if the walls were gray.
Now the walls are gray. And a lovely shade of it.
It’s a cozy gray, that just gives our space such a calming feel. As soon as we finished painting our house just felt different. Paint can do that, ya know.
So guess what… if you live in a rental or even if you own your home and you haven’t painted yet. If you don’t know how to paint a room, or something is holding you back, go for it. You might as well love it from the start. It’s worth it!
So here’s the thing. We didn’t go and paint every wall in the house since still have to paint it back when we leave. We just painted the living and have plans to paint a couple more walls in the coming weeks.
How to paint a room in your rental: Three things to think about.
Pick a color any color. Okay well maybe not any color. You want to go with something light that you won’t agonize over when it’s time to paint it back. If you are dead set on having a dark colored wall, choose a smaller accent wall.
Don’t go breaking the bank when buying supplies. Don’t invest a ton of money in supplies unless you plan on painting a lot. We paid just under $50 for all of the supplies including a gallon of paint. I went cheap on the rollers and brush. I did splurge on the good tape so the edges were crisp.
Think about your investment. You are investing money into this project. Is it worth it? We anticipate being in this house for at least two more years so $50 dollars about three hours of painting was well worth it to us. And we even had fun doing it.
Oh and the color, it’s Olympic’s Thin Ice.
Happy weekend.
What a wonderful, soft shade of grey! Indeed, for 50 dollars, the satisfaction of coming home each day to the decor of your choice is priceless!
I looooove that color! I definitely want soft grey walls in my future home.
I like gushy stuff. I look forward to that post 🙂
We lived in military housing for almost 20 years. It was the only way to make your house look a little different.. I always wondered how many layers of paint were on the walls in the houses and what colors they were.
I love it! soooo worth it!!!
I know the feeling of indecision – our last house was a rental because it was owned by the government agency my husband works for as we were in a remote location. Anyhow… it was hard to decide whether to paint or not because we had only three years there. But three years is a LONG time in the grand scheme – to look at walls that you can’t stand. We had an okay neutral color that they had just painted but did do some feature walls just to add our own touch. Well worth the time and money. Your grey color choice looks gorgeous Chelsea!!
Okay, so I hadn’t read this post yet. I kept meaning to and got sidetracked. And then I was hanging out with my mom last night and she said ” that was so sweet of your friend Chelsea to mention you in her post about painting a rental” and I was all “what?”! So, I just HAD to read it then! I love your post! And thanks for the shout out! 🙂 We painted our last rental, and even took down wallpaper, and it just made it feel so much more like home! It was definitely worth the work. And we actually improved the place for the owners, so they were happy for us to do the work! 🙂 Much love, friend!! 😀
The color is beautiful and I think that painting a rental is totally worth it. Just because you’ll only be there a short while doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t love where you live or make it your home.
Stopping by from Inspiration Linky.
I totally agree that paint is the best thing ever when you need an inexpensive fix. It is definitely best way to improve home’s curb appeal ,an easy and cheap way.I love this post – your tips are indispensable for renovating on a budget…I’ am thinking to paint all my woodwork including paneling and our fireplace!
We live in a rental in NYC and after nine years of white walls, I finally took the plunge and painted the bedroom a light gray with blue undertones. You’re right – it makes SUCH a difference. My husband just found out we’ll be here another 2 years, so now we’re planning on painting our living room. He wants a bold color though, like Benjamin Moore’s Blue Heron, which partly scares me and partly makes me want to say OK if we’re going to do it might as well do it in a rental so we have another 2 years to figure out if we like bold or want to stay subtle in our next place. LOVE this gray you chose!
This is a wonderful idea! I love how paint can totally transform a room and make it more comfortable. Living the military life has it”s challenges so making a home your own is really an important thing. Some landlords will even pay for projects done to the rental, so it might be worth asking for some of the investment back! I’m glad I hopped over from Inspire Me Please!
So very true, I love the color you chose too! xo
My husband and I recently had a debate about this. We are renting and his thought was what’s the point in painting if we have to paint it again when we move? He couldn’t understand why it was so important to me. Why not just hang decor and pictures? I realized that for me, I have been living in rental apartments for nearly 10 years where either painting was not an option or I knew I’d be moving again in 6 mos-1 year. For me, painting just makes the place feel more permanent, more personal, and more like home. Once I was able to say that, he understood and got on board. 🙂
Hey! I love your room! I actually just painted my nursery using this color but mine looks more like a light blue which I didn’t want. I like what your room looks like which is a soft gray. Does your room have a bluish tent to it in person ?
Can I ask what color this is? I love it and I was thinking of a similar color, if not a little more gray than yours. Also what brand did you go with? Thanks!
I love this post! I am new to military life and we just moved into a new house! We were living on base for a few months and ended up painting the living room and our bedroom a similar shade of grey. We paid a bit more then you did and it was still worth it to me! We ended up having to move out quickly so we actually didn’t end up painting it back. Base housing here (NAS Pensacola) ended up charging us just $45 a room to paint it back for us since it was such a neutral color. In our situation it was easier and cheaper to just let them do it themselves!
I wish I could paint. I asked my landlord if I could paint one accent wall a light grey in my master bedroom, and she said no, even though I promised to paint it back when we moved. I am stuck with dingy yellowy white walls, which is so disappointing.
Oh what a bummer! Sometimes I think that asking forgiveness is better than asking permission but that’s in hindsight. There’s tons of things you can do to spruce up the walls. Check out wallsneedlove.com!
Ok I LOVE THIS SHADE!!! Just came across your blog on Blogher today for Must Follow Monday and I’m really enjoying looking around. Thanks for sharing the paint color at the end! We are PCSing in a few weeks and just started looking at paint 🙂
I’m so glad! It’s a really perfect neutral for us!
I love your idea of this grey colour.i’ll definetly try this color at my home