From Drab to Fab: 5 Renter-Friendly Ideas for Disguising Bad Flooring

Renting can be a great way to reap all the benefits of living in an urban area without having to deal with duties that come with property ownership. It also makes it easier for you to save money and reach your financial goals.

That being said, being a tenant also means you are renting a place where other people have lived before you. Often, it is the flooring that will be showing most signs of wear-and-tear, making it challenging for you to truly feel like it’s your own place.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to tackle this issue. Here are some temporary, renter-friendly solutions for taking your flooring from drab to fab.

Use vinyl floor tiles as an easy fix for damaged flooring

You may not think of peel-and-stick vinyl tiles as a viable solution, and this is mainly because of the bad rap this type of flooring has gotten in the past as it would often peel away or start lifting from the floor. Peel-and-stick vinyl has gone a long way since then. Nowadays, better and stronger adhesives are used so that your vinyl floor tiles stick in place without doing any damage to the flooring underneath. Plus, they’re easily removable, meaning you can quickly and inexpensively change things up when they start to look unappealing or just get boring. They’re like wallpapers — only for your floors. Another advantage is that they also come in a variety of styles, patterns, and colors, meaning you can really get creative here.

Opt for carpet tiles that are easy to install and remove

Carpet tiles can be a great alternative to installing a wall-to-wall carpet. They are renter-friendly and easy to install and keep clean, and they’re also recyclable and fairly inexpensive. Like vinyl floor tiles, there are many patterns and colors to choose from, and you can easily replace them in case they get stained or damaged due to the high traffic. Depending on the surface you want to cover, calculate how many tiles you need and make sure to order some extra just in case! Pay attention to adhesive, though, and test it beforehand to see if it’s low-level sticky. If this is the case, the tiles will be easy to remove when the time comes to relocate.

Combine several area rugs to create a trendy layered look

Covering a nasty stain or damaged flooring is sometimes a matter of rolling out a rug or two and calling it a day. Unlike vinyl and carpet tiles, this option requires no time or effort at all. Nowadays, brands are offering a plethora of options in terms of colors, materials, and styles. For example, any one from Miss Amara rug collections will help jazz up your rental space and its coziness factor. You can try combining several area rugs for an on-trend layered look, experimenting with colors, patterns, textures, and softness. It’s a cheap, easy, quick, and superb way of giving your floors a chic and cozy makeover. Plus, when the time comes to move, you can just roll them up and bring them to your new place where they can once again grace your floors.

Rely on foam tiles to disguise unappealing surfaces

Comfort plays an essential role in designing a liveable home, and foam tiles can be an excellent way to provide a cozy underfoot in an area that gets a lot of foot traffic. While they’re characteristic for gyms and kids’ rooms, the cushy squares aren’t reserved for these areas only. Aside from being a great way to disguise shabby and unappealing floor surfaces, foam tiles also effectively absorb noise. Plus, they’re easy to assemble and disassemble and come in many styles and colors so you can easily find something that will help you dress up your rental floors in minutes.

Cover the floors with a coat of paint

Sometimes, a can of paint can be a viable solution to damaged flooring, covering up the spots that are either impossible to clean or damaged to a point where there’s no other way to fix it but to splash some paint over it. Of course, whether you’ll be able to use this idea for your rental home will largely depend on what your landlord has to say about it. Painting wood floors can be a great way to give your rental underfoot the much-needed pick me up, but removing the paint takes a lot of headache-inducing sanding, so your landlord may object. That being said, if your landlord doesn’t plan on renovating any time soon and gives you the green light, by all means, go for it.

Wrapping up

No matter how beautiful or comfortable a rental space may be, if there’s one thing that can instantly ruin its look, it’s definitely the flooring! As a renter, you might not have the ability to design and renovate your living space to your liking, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with not-so-pretty floors.

Depending on your budget, there are several temporary solutions for sprucing up your rental home and choosing the right solution for every room. Whether you decide to splurge or do it on the cheap, definitely double-check with your landlord to make sure you are on the same page!