Renter-Friendly

In a small bedroom the bed takes up most of the floor, and everything else fights for what’s left. The way to make it work is to stop thinking about floor space and start thinking about walls, the space under the bed and the closet. Where the bed goes Against a wall. In a really small room, pushing one side of the bed against the wall frees up a usable strip of floor on the other side. You lose easy access to one side, which matters for two people, but for one person it’s almost always the right call. ...

An apartment door in a shared hallway doesn’t get a porch, planters or a lantern either side. But it’s the first thing you see when you come home, and a little Christmas on it makes the whole corridor nicer for the neighbors too. The limits are mostly about the building: no damage to the door, nothing that blocks the hallway, nothing that’s a fire risk. Within those, there’s plenty you can do. ...

Most apartments don’t have a fireplace, and stockings still need to go somewhere. The good news is that once you stop thinking “mantel,” there are lots of places that work just as well, and most don’t need a single nail. A stocking stand The easiest answer: a floor-standing stocking holder (on Amazon). It’s a freestanding post with hooks, and it can go anywhere: next to the tree, beside the TV, by the front door. Once Christmas is over it comes apart and goes in a closet. ...

A rental living room usually comes with beige walls, a ceiling light that’s too bright, blinds instead of curtains and floors you didn’t choose. You can’t change much permanently, but a few things that come with you when you move make the biggest difference. Curtains, hung high Almost every rental has blinds and nothing else. Add linen curtains (on Amazon) on a rod mounted as close to the ceiling as you can and a little wider than the window. The window looks bigger and the room looks taller. A few screw holes for a rod are usually considered normal wear, but check your lease; tension rods work if you can’t drill. ...

Lots of apartments don’t have an entryway at all, just a front door that opens into the living room. But even two feet of wall next to the door can do the job of an entry if every piece earns its place. Everything an entry needs to handle: coats, bags, keys, shoes, the mail, and one last look in the mirror on the way out. Hooks before anything else The first thing to sort out is where coats and bags go, because otherwise they end up on a chair. A wall coat rack with a shelf (on Amazon) gives you hooks below and a little ledge above for keys, sunglasses or a plant, in about two feet of wall. ...

A Christmas tree in a small apartment usually means moving a chair into the bedroom for a month, and then finding somewhere to keep the tree for the other eleven. Lots of people skip it, and the apartment can still feel like Christmas. What works instead is decorating the few places you actually look at every day. In most small apartments that’s the front door, the TV stand, the windows, a wall or two, and the coffee table. Get those right and you won’t miss the tree much. ...

A lot of Christmas decorating advice assumes you can hammer a nail wherever you like. If you rent, everything needs to come down in January without leaving a mark. Working within that often ends up looking better, not worse. Walls, without holes 1. Stockings on adhesive hooks. Large removable hooks (on Amazon) along a mantel, or if there isn’t one, along the top of a bookshelf or a console. Use hooks rated for at least three pounds each; a filled stocking is heavier than it looks. Press the strip for thirty seconds when you put it up, and in January pull the tab straight down so it releases cleanly. ...

The entryway is the first thing anyone sees when they come in, and usually the last place that gets decorated. It doesn’t need much room. These ideas work in an entry as narrow as three feet, and nearly all of them come down without a trace. If you have a console table Even a 30-inch console is enough. A lit garland across the back. Lay a 6-foot pre-lit garland (on Amazon) along the back edge of the table and let the ends pool a little. On a 30-inch console that leaves about 18 inches hanging at each side, which looks generous without sliding off. A narrower table needs only 4 feet. Tuck a few pinecones or dried orange slices into it. Pick one with a timer (six hours on is typical) so you never have to remember to switch it off. ...