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

March 22, 2020April 6, 2020 Medina 7 comments

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]

 . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 INTRODUCING THIS MONTHS GUEST . . .

 

Salsabil El-Awaisi!

 

Salsabil smiling into the camera in her kitchen

 

WATCH THE VIDEO TOUR

Here what I got up to at Salsabil’s gorgeous modern home in Edinburgh.  Enjoy – please don’t forget to leave a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel, if you haven’t already!

 

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.

Salsabil sitting on her sofa and smiling into the camera

 

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!

Modern living room with grey sofa and large watercolour art
Salsabil used large water colour wallpaper to decorate the wall behind the shelf. See our post on rental decorating ideas

 

modern dining space in front of tall windows

Close up of shelves styled with tray and books

 

Modern living room with clean lines

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

A marble fireplace with a large antique mirror on top
This fireplace has been completely transformed with Marble contact paper. See our removable products list here

A modern gallery wall on a blue navy wall

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

 

Kids bedroom with IKEA PLAY KITCHEN AND Kallax storage
The IKEA KALLAX cube used as toy storage here. See some other IKEA ideas for kids storage here

Boys clothes hung from clothes rail

 

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.

 

Gallery wall above bed in bedroom
Salsabil created a wall hanging using a bath mat inspired by The Lovely Drawer

Styled marble fireplace mantle in the bedroom

 Can you share any before pictures of your flat? 

Before image of dining space in the living room
Before image of the dining space in the living room
Before image of fireplace in the living room
Before image of fireplace in the living room

 How would you describe your decorating style?

Modern, clean, soft colours

Image of modern bedroom through a mirror

Bedside table with dried flowers

Bench by large window in bedroom

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.

View of kitchen from hallway

Billy bookcase used to store spices in the kitchen
Billy bookcase used to store spices in the kitchen

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

Kitchen view with open plan shelving
Salsabil painted her kitchen cabinets
Breakfast area in the kitchen
Salsabil used her sons artwork to decorate this space

 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.

Blurred image of salsabil walking in her hallway

 

-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.

Click these images below to share this modern home tour to Pinterest.

Tour of a once dated, but now stylish modern home in Edinburgh completely transformed on a budget

Tour of a once dated, but now stylish modern home in Edinburgh completely transformed on a budget by its owner Salsabil El-Awaisi #howirent

Post navigation

Home Tour of a Colourful Flat Share in London
‘We Sold Our Historic Fixer Upper Home and Downsized to A Rental’

7 comments

  1. Irene Caird says:
    March 22, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    Ah! Absolutely enjoyed this episode. Love love love what Salsabil has done to her apartment. Beautiful! I’ll be pinning a few things. 👌❤️

    Reply
  2. Ana says:
    March 23, 2020 at 5:23 pm

    What a wonderful space😊 I love Salsabil’s apartment.

    Reply
    1. Medina says:
      March 24, 2020 at 7:49 am

      Thank you for watching!

      Reply
  3. Kristi says:
    March 23, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    What a great transformation and smart use of the space! I love how relaxing the colors and decor are. Such a nice flow!

    Reply
    1. Medina says:
      March 24, 2020 at 12:32 pm

      Thanks for reading 🙂

      Reply
  4. kate shaw says:
    March 25, 2020 at 4:38 am

    Stunning, love the light and airy,international look. Beautiful blending of forms and colour. Also enjoy very much this series – people don’t have to ‘own’ to make their house a home. Wonderful

    Reply
    1. Medina says:
      March 25, 2020 at 8:55 am

      Yes exactly! Thank you for reading and watching 🙂

      Reply

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How I Rent

A celebration of all the amazing renters out there who, in spite of it all, have managed to transform their homes into abodes of personality and style.

This website is a place for renters to come together and share their thoughts, and feelings throughout their renting journey. You can expect to find  regular home tours, useful information around renting, and decorating tips that wont cost you your deposit on here.

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