Expert Tips for Adding Designer Touches to Your Tiny Rental

A clever trick for transforming floors in a rental is to invest in a removable modular carpet square system. Available in solids, textures and prints, the squares are simply placed onto the floor then held together with stickers. The only tool needed for wall-to-wall installation is a utility knife. Once it's time to pack up and move, the carpet squares can be packed up just like everything else and reused again and again.

Covered in beige and brown, this tiny Manhattan living room was desperately in need of color, pattern and personality. The small coffee table, dated area rug, brown pillows and mass-produced art were placed into a storage unit to make way for pieces with way more pizazz.

To add life to the living room, the area rug was replaced with colorful carpet squares that also added pattern to the space. The brown pillows were swapped for colorful prints picked up from a showhouse sample sale. (Score!) To help accommodate up to three guests comfortably, the tiny coffee table was replaced with a trio of modern nesting tables. To create the look of wallpaper, an 8-foot-by-4-foot sheet of 3/4-inch foam board was covered with wallpaper and fastened to the wall with double-sided tape.

Although the apartment's kitchen was clean and accommodating, it felt cold and sterile. An easy way to add warmth to any kitchen is to layer textiles. A combination of rugs, window treatments and table linens work best.