10 Zero-Budget Home Decor Ideas for Rented Homes and Airbnbs

I have a home of my own, decorated with furniture and decor I’ve collected from around the world, but lately I’ve been living a nomadic life. I love the thrill and flexibility of living in different places, but I missed having a space that felt like me. Guesthouses, Airbnbs and short-term rentals can feel impersonal. At the same time, you don’t want to invest much time, effort or money in a place you may leave soon.

But no matter how long you’ll stay, it’s your home for that time, and it should have your style, personality and preferences woven into it. You also don’t want expensive or non-removable decor that makes you regret decorating at all.

Over the last year I’ve lived in a few short-term places and done a bunch of low-budget makeovers along the way, and I’ve picked up some tricks for decorating on a zero-to-low budget.

All it takes is some effort, a discerning eye, a sense of style and a little creativity.  So here are 10 ways to decorate a temporary house for almost nothing.

1. Use plants as decor

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way. Plants are the most amazing decor, and they liven up any place with good vibes. You might say plants aren’t free, but I don’t mean buying a 12-year-old bonsai from a fancy nursery. Take cuttings, propagate them in water until they root, and plant them in waste containers. Some plants, like the money plant, can live in water forever, no soil needed.

To save on planters too, use old containers, paint buckets, coconut husks or large shells.

2. Hang discarded fruit baskets

In boho decor, cane and wicker baskets are legit decoration. For this article, I mean the free ones: baskets discarded after serving as a fruit carrier or gift hamper. Channel your inner dumpster diver, collect them, and arrange them on a big wall.

This only works if the rest of your home has a boho aesthetic. Otherwise, they’ll just look dowdy and rough.

3. Collect pinecones

From my trip to Manali last year, I learnt one decor hack. Pinecones! Literally found on the roads in most hilly places where there’s pine trees (duh), you can scoop up these beautifully shaped pinecones by the dozens and use them endlessly. You can paint them and make hangings out of them or simply gather them in a pot or basket as a display piece like I have done here.

4. Make feather, wood and shell hangings

Good dreamcatchers can be pretty expensive and justifiably so, but it’s possible to make your own using materials from nature like shells, wood, feathers and of course pinecones. Here‘s a simple one I’ve made from some loose sticks and bird feathers. You can even do Macrame, rope and pinecones. (Make sure to not collect shells where it’s explicitly prohibited and take only those pinecones that have fallen naturally.)

5. Get old and used books to display as decor

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but you can’t help it if the covers make excellent decor! Books are great cuz not only are they great travel companions, they also make for great decor items once you’re done or before reading them. Since I’m always reading multiple books at a time and have more in my reading pipeline, books form a major part of my household aesthetics. If you want them exclusively for decor, then look for hard-bound coffee table books. To make them truly a budget decor hack, get cheap second-hand books from flea markets, some of which even sell them by weight! 

6. Make stools from cement

This is one of those items I’ve made and improvised over endlessly. I’d first seen this hack on a vine years ago and then tried my own versions. Very impressed with the first one, I tried a mosaic version which was even better. All you need for this amazingly versatile stool is some concrete (cement and sand) a bucket, 3 dowels or legs and some broken ceramic pieces if you want to make a mosaic stool like I have here. 

7. Let crockery double as decor

I’m all for pieces that serve multiple functions than just utility or decor alone. I’m big on pottery, ceramics and stonewares that look as good displayed as they do eaten from!

So if you don’t want to spend on just decor, get yourself a few standout pieces like a nice platter, a bowl, and a plate to double up as decor pieces

8. Try textured art and wall murals

 

If you’ve been gifted with the gift of art, the world including your temporary house is your canvas. However, art may be free but painting supplies ain’t. So if you don’t want to spend on conventional art supplies like acrylic paints and brushes, use materials like charcoal, coffee and other forms of painting like vegetable painting and toothbrush-spray painting to make simple or themed designs on your wall. If you have no painting talent, here’s some ideas for wall art on a budget.

9. Turn bedsheets into mandala tapestries

Some bed spread, especially the one with mandala and other beautiful motifs can actually make a great wall tapestry. Take a leaf from these cafes in Dharamkot which have expertly used beautiful mandala bedsheets as wall decor. The best part about using sheets as decor is they’re light weight, they cover a huge area, and when needed you can quickly take them off the wall and put them to use as a bedsheet!

10. Make lamps from jute and driftwood

Last but not the least, this is one of my favourite pieces of DIY decor I’ve done. A whole floor lamp made from scrap including the base, the stick, and the jute (which was used in a packaging)

So get those creative juices flowing and start decorating your temporary home for free, or close to it. Rented walls and borrowed time shouldn’t stop a place from feeling like you.