A Renter on a Budget Turned a Dated Flat Into a Stylish Modern Home

Welcome back to the second season of the #howirent home tours! If this is your first time visiting, hello! Let me give you a quick run through . . .  #HowiRent is a monthly home tour series that started as a way to champion renters, who are transforming their homes into abodes of personality and style. Check out  previous home tours here, or apply to be a guest here. 

[All the beautiful photographs in this series have been shot by Rachel  Cohen]

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 INTRODUCING THIS MONTHS GUEST . . .

 

Salsabil El-Awaisi!

 

 

 

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW

Tell me a little about yourself? What do you do?

I’m Salsabil El-Awaisi, originally from Jerusalem-Palestine, I grew up in-between Dunblane and Dundee and moved to Edinburgh 5 years ago to seek out more work opportunities.

 

I graduated from university 8 years ago in Interior design and have been working in the industry since. Four years ago, I had my son Adam, who is my ray of sunshine. After maternity leave, I just couldn’t come to the term of leaving him in any kind of childcare, so I decided to leave my work as an Interior design consultant at the time and start my own business in Interior design – check out my portfolio here!

 

 

Do you have any hobbies outside of your work?

I love hanging out with my family and friends and just catching up. If I ever get a chance, I love reading novels but I’m a sucker for history and loving discovering new places with history behind it.

Where do you live?

Edinburgh, Scotland

Who do you live with?

I live with my husband and my little boy Adam

How long have you lived in this flat?

We have nearly been in this flat for two years this spring. We were on a livid hunt for a new flat and after 4 months we found this place on Rightmove

 

 

Where did you live before?

We lived in a smaller flat outside Edinburgh for about 3.5 years

What is your relationship with your landlord like?

We deal with an agency rather than the landlord directly, but we have a good relationship with them.

 

 Can you share any before pictures of your flat? 

 How would you describe your decorating style?

Modern, clean, soft colours

What’s your favourite room in the house?

I love my bedroom. It’s the most recent room we finished, and I just love how it feels. The colours are really soft and relaxing, and I find myself spending lots of time in there.

Do you have any favourite brands?

As an interior designer I’m always online or in different shops looking for new products or new designs which means I get to check out so many different stores. But some of my personal favourites are anthropology, west elm, cox and cox but I love checking out local independent stores too.

Where do you get inspiration from?

I find inspiration in anything around me. Nature, movies, magazine and of course Instagram (you can follow me here)

 Can you share any DIYS in your home you are particularly proud of?

My favourite DIY that I love because it’s so simple is my hanging wall mat. It was so easy but looks beautiful

 Lots of people rent for a variety of reasons, why are you renting?

We are not in a position to buy at the moment

 How do you feel about renting?

I don’t mind renting at all. We love the area we live in and it’s not an area we can just buy a place in easily, so we have chosen to rent to stay here. When we were searching for this home, we had a lot of boxes to tick and one very important one was that we have the flexibility to make this home our own.

 

-Would you decorate differently if you bought a home?

If this was our own property maybe it would give us a little more freedom to knock or restructure the place a little more but other than that we are very luck to have the freedom to do a lot.

 

So what do you think of Salsabil’s home? I would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment below As always your support and shares are appreciated. You can also share your rented homes on Instagram using the tag #HowIRent.

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