Accent Walls
If it is okay with your landlord, repainting the walls can make a dramatic difference to the light, atmosphere, and even the perception of space in your apartment. Generally speaking, if you paint the walls in your apartment, you will be held responsible for painting them back to their original color. Berger Rental Communities offers a great option for our residents: Our residents can select a paint color(s) out of our 8 great options, and we will paint any walls of the resident’s choice. For a small one time fee, our residents can have beautiful accent walls, and they never have to worry about painting them back to white.

Wall Decor
Using a little spackle or caulk on your walls right before moving out is easy-worrying about covering up holes should not deter you from using art, posters, and mirrors to customize your home to reflect your style. Great wall pieces can be found at a great price (prices so great you can dispose of these items when you move) in many places such as thrift stores, garage sales, Ikea, Target, Home Goods, and Wal-Mart. Look mainly for colors that are appealing to you, representations of your hobbies and things you like, and mostly, look for pieces that just make you smile.

Area Rugs
Area rugs are great items to use to make your apartment reflect your style. Area rugs are fantastic to keep in high traffic areas, or areas you are likely to have spills-at your entrance, under a coffee table, under a dining table, and in hallways. Shop for inexpensive area rugs in the same places you would shop for wall decor. Remember that if red wine gets on your area rug, you can replace the rug. If red wine gets on your carpeting, you might have to bring in a special carpet cleaner, or run the risk of forfeiting a portion of your security deposit.

Your Bed
In most bedrooms, the bed is the main attraction. Get a great bedding set at a great price at stores like Ikea, Target, Home Goods, Wal-Mart, and Macy’s during one of their fantastic sales. Allow yourself the opportunity to make your bedroom a sanctuary that you can’t wait to get to at the end of the day. While shopping for bedding, go for some great wall decor to match your color scheme or theme.

Furniture
Local thrift stores, garage sales, Ikea, The Dump, Target, Home Goods, and Wal-Mart (just to name a few) sell some unique pieces at great prices. Be sure to check out the scratch-and-dent areas of furniture stores as well-scratches and dents can build character in some pieces, some scratches and dents can be buffed out or covered up, and some you might not be able to notice. You can also find some great deals on furniture on eBay and Craigslist. When shopping, keep in mind that some paint can truly make over furniture-I once received hand me down furniture that just wasn’t my cup of tea. A few cans of pink spray paint really allowed me to turn my neutral colored apartment into my dream home that represented me for just $25.

Details
Plants work wonders in an apartment. You do not need many plants-pick out a few that are appealing to you, and place them throughout your home. Synthetic plants can look great, and they are very easy to take care of. If you can handle a little maintenance, real plants are great, and they do a great job of bringing neighbors together-it is wonderful to have a neighbor that you can take turns with watering each others plants when you are out of town.