How to turn a student rental into a home
Transforming a rented or student flat into a modern home can be a challenge. Interior designer Julia Kendell gives Jack Rear some tips
‘The thing about rental properties is that you often feel tenants haven’t taken ownership of the space,” explains DIY SOS and 60 Minute Makeover’s resident interior designer Julia Kendell as she surveys my living room via Zoom.
Kendell is being diplomatic. Others have described the room as “in a bad state”, “untidy” and “frankly atrocious” (thanks for that one, Dad). To be honest, I agree: the room is busy, incongruous, and doesn’t reflect my life at all.
“People see rental properties as being quite transient,” explains Kendell. “They imagine they’ll definitely only be somewhere for 12 months, but of course it could be three years later and that’s a big chunk of your life for you to not have your surroundings figured out.” And when she says that I haven’t got my surroundings figured out? “It looks studenty.” Yikes.
Perhaps if I had taken a bit more care of my student rentals, choosing the furniture and art pieces more carefully, things would not have snowballed to where they are now. In short: students of 2021, take note and don’t make the same mistakes I did.
One of my strongest memories from university was moving into a rental in my second year and excitedly showing a friend my new room. She remarked: “Where are all your things?”
The words have rung in my ears ever since, so much so that I’d adopted a maximalist approach to room design, throwing everything everywhere in a desperate attempt to make an impact. The result was extreme clutter. And after spending months living in a space, especially being locked down in it, it is easy to lose sight of how it makes you feel. Living surrounded by all that mess was bringing me down. I felt very hemmed in by it all, but simultaneously also as if I hadn’t made my mark on my own home.
Taking ownership of a room is tough, especially when you are used to having draconian landlords. Not being able to paint the walls or put up shelves is one thing, but I’ve seen worse. At university we were banned from putting up posters for fear of marking the walls.
A few flats later I was saddled with some truly heinous furniture while my contract expressly forbade me from
‘People imagine they’ll only be somewhere for 12 months, but it could be three years later’
supplementing it with my own pieces. All of these things can be a challenge.
Still, Kendell was convinced that she could help me out. During the onset of the pandemic, the designer and stylist set up a virtual room design service (virtualroomdesignservice.com) to support the thousands of Britons like me for whom lockdown has been a wakeup call that their property needs an update “without the associated fear many have about price-per-hour design costs”. She says: “My ethos has always been to remove the ‘elitist’ image of interior design.”
All of which sounded like just the ticket. The service starts from £675 for a small room like mine and begins with an initial questionnaire about the space: what did I most want to change? What did I like about the space? What styles and colours were I most drawn to?
Then there is a Zoom call – which is when I was told that the flat was looking studenty.
As I showed Kendell around she asked which pieces of furniture I was most keen to keep and which could be replaced or removed. I’ve always been a fan of my square Ikea Kallax storage units, so I knew I’d want to keep those. On the other hand, the table was a handme-down from my parents, originally purchased in 1989 and still had marks from when our puppy was teething on the legs – that could go.
We talked about the practical limitations of the space: most pressingly, the rack of clothes that had taken up residence in the living room because of a damp problem in the built-in bedroom wardrobe and the fact that the left side of the room is darker because it is the furthest from the windows. After an hour, we had agreed on a rough budget that wouldn’t break the bank, chosen some of my favourite retailers, and then Kendell got to work. After a bit of email back-and-forth, she came back to me with her suggestions of things I could change.
Within a few days she sent me an hour-long video with her overall assess
ment, ideas on what I could change and some moodboards showing general ideas of colours, designs and how things might look in the room, all backed up by detailed design theory so that I could understand her decisionmaking.
I basically agreed with her on everything except for things like cushions, prints and the rug (though I came round to her thinking on that later on).
The process helped me to see my flat objectively: what worked and what didn’t. That helped me take ownership of the space a bit more, despite it being rented.
For the first time in a long time I have been excited to invite friends over to hang out. I’m also taking better care of things: since the redesign I’ve found myself more careful to put everything
We are thinking more consciously about the room, not just chucking stuff in for the sake of it
where it belongs rather than just throwing things wherever is convenient with an offhand promise to move it later. In short, I feel like an adult, not a student. And yes, I’ll admit it still feels a little like my boyfriend and I are living in a furniture catalogue, but now we are thinking more consciously about how to add our own personal touches to the room, rather than haphazardly chucking stuff in for the sake of it.
The verdict? Kendell has helped me put together a space that feels comfortable, grown-up and sophisticated. Most importantly, consciously thinking about my flat – the colours, the designs, the best ways to use the space – has helped mark it out in my mind. And for the first time, I feel like I’ve started to rent a home.
Julia Kendell will be appearing at the London Homebuilding & Renovating Show (September 24-26, ExCeL, London)