Home makeover: 'Personal touches have made our rental a stylish family home'

Bursting with renter-friendly ideas, clever upcycles and lots of smart styling, Charlotte Jacklin has transformed her house into a calm sanctuary.

Here, she tells us all about her home makeover experience...

Charlotte's story

We were living in a two-bed flat in Margate, but decided to move back to Lincolnshire, where I’m originally from, to be closer to family. Lincolnshire has great access to London, where I need to visit for work. It’s also surrounded by countryside, which has been so good for my creativity.

I spent hours looking on Rightmove for a house to rent in the area and when I saw this place, I was drawn to the wooden floors. When we went to see the house, it was better than the photos. It was really important that we found somewhere we could put our own stamp on.

The landlord wanted someone who would be here a while and who would make it a home; luckily, they were open to our DIY ideas. We knew that we were going to be here long-term, so we have been very happy to put time and effort into making it the kind of house that we want to live in.

Often with rented accommodation, it can be a challenge to find low-cost renting decor ideas ideas to transform the interior, but we’ve had plenty of DIY practice over the four years that we’ve lived here.

We’re proud of the unique solutions we’ve come up with, including upcycling second-hand furniture and adding free-standing temporary features that we can take with us. One day, we’d love to build our own house, but I think we’re a long way off that yet. For now, we’re very happy continuing to make this rented house feel like home.

Living room

‘Our biggest splurge is the corner Patterdale sofa from DFS. Part of me wishes we had the pink one, but as a compromise we went for the green and I think with a small child in the house, it was probably a sensible decision. It’s so comfy; we’re really happy with it. My favourite thing in this room is the DIY feature fireplace, which I made out of MDF with my dad’s help.

‘After we had tiled and grouted the MDF sheets, we attached it to the fireplace with No More Nails and a few screws, before attaching the whole thing to the wall with fireplace fixings. We made it so it can be easily removed, if and when we choose to leave the house. I painted the fire surround pink and added DIY painted stripes on the wall behind to bring the whole look together.’

Dining room

‘This is the first house we’ve lived in where we have been able to have a proper dining table, so I wanted it to be the main feature of the room. We made the table ourselves using hairpin legs and a sheet of plywood. It was an affordable way of getting a table this size.

‘I’ve always wanted to have one room that was fully wallpapered, and I think this Dahlia Garden design from Boråstapeter works for both the summer and winter. We eat all our meals in here and do lots of different crafts on the table with June. It’s definitely the hub of our home.’

Kitchen

‘We’re lucky that my dad is very handy, with a background in kitchen fitting so we knew that, with his help, we could change up the kitchen for under £1,000. We kept the cabinet carcasses, but got new made- to-order MDF cupboard doors. We added handles that had been lying around in my dad’s garage for years.

• How to design your dream kitchen

‘They weren’t my first choice, but compromises have to be made when you’re on a budget and they actually go really well with the floor. The biggest task and expense was changing the worktops, but I’m happy with this marble-effect laminate design from the GoodHome range at B&Q.’

Master bedroom

‘We inherited the wardrobes when we moved in and were lucky that our landlord agreed to let us paint them in Marsh Green by Valspar. We also replaced the handles with these brushed gold designs from B&Q, which elevates the whole look. The feature headboard is also a DIY project. We made it from MDF and foam and covered it with a pom pom curtain from Homesense.

• How to upholster a beautiful padded bed headboard for an opulent and luxurious look

‘The final thing we’d like to do in this room is paint the walls a different colour, maybe a plaster pink. I quite like Ferdinand from Little Greene.’

June's bedroom

‘This room never stays the same for long. It’s always being adapted to suit June’s ever-changing needs and tastes as she grows up. We sometimes use the space as a guest room when friends and family visit, so it was important that we chose a bed that could be pulled out and made bigger for these occasions.

‘This IKEA Hemnes day bed is perfect. I love the Sanderson floral curtains that I found second- hand on eBay – they go really nicely with the Kip&Co bedspread.’

Bathroom

‘The bathroom was one of the main reasons we wanted to rent this house – we didn’t see many rentals with neutral bathroom tiles. We’ve updated the space with new accessories, like this bath mat from Homesense, towels from Dunelm and houseplants from Patch Plants.

• Ten ways to update your bathroom decor on a budget

‘I also cut down on all the plastic containers for a set of glass bottles that we can refill. The biggest change we made was swapping out the plastic bath surround with a wooden one, which my husband made himself.’

Feature and styling Charlotte Jacklin. Photos Georgia Burns.