Welcome back to another episode 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 Kasia Fiszer. ]

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 INTRODUCING THIS MONTHS GUEST . . .

 Charlotte Jacklin!!.. although I’m pretty sure the word Pink may have given it away!

No one does ‘Pretty in Pink’ quite like Charlotte.

For those who may not know, Charlotte is a lifestyle Blogger at The Charlotte Jacklin Blog.(Previously known as Betty Magazine) . She also has a weekly podcast called The Fringe Of It, which she co-hosts with Liv Purvis (What Olivia did). You can follow Charlotte on Instagram here – guaranteed her Instagram stories will fast become your daily dose of inspiration and entertainment! They are brilliant!

Here’s how I got on at Charlotte’s house!

Where do you live?

I live in Lincoln with my boyfriend and 2 year old daughter. We relocated here from Margate just under a year ago to be closer to my family.

How long have you rented this property for?

Just under a year.

When did your renting journey start?

I have been renting ever since I left home at 19. The first place I lived where student halls, and then 3 other places whilst I finished my degree in Rochester, Kent.

I then moved to London, and think up until Margate, have moved every year since I was 22, which has been pretty exhausting!

How did you find your current home?

We were the only people to view this house, as soon as I saw it I knew this was ‘the one’, I’d been on Rightmove every hour of every day since we decided we needed to move. And it popped up at 8pm on the eve of Easter weekend.

I was pretty relentless with calling the letting agents, and popping in to see if we could view it that weekend (we were in Lincoln for that weekend only, and were four hours away in Margate) as we were fast running out of time to find somewhere before we needed to leave our current place.

How would you describe your interior style? Are there any trends that have influenced your current decorating style?

My interior style is somewhat accidental, whilst you might come in here and see a distinct theme, it’s all been brought together slowly through items I’ve acquired (I am a bit of bargain hunter) and also hunted for to fit a certain space in the house.

I guess you could say my style is feminine, there’s A LOT of pink. I really love bright, light spaces, light is really important when I am looking for somewhere to live.

I once lived behind a wood yard in North London where there was little daylight, it really effected my mood. I love all things retro, but am conscious to not make it look like a time warp, so it’s a delicate balance.

Describe your relationship with your landlord? Is he/or she ok with you decorating?

We were lucky enough to meet the landlord on that 1st visit, and we got on really well. I told her what I loved about the house, and she said she was happy for us to make it a home and paint it whatever colours we wanted too.

That was such a relief to hear, we haven’t actually painted anything very bold as in the back of my mind I am thinking about painting over it when we leave, so we didn’t go for anything too dark. We have taken down some Venetian blinds, and lamp fixtures which we have stored really carefully in the garage, and will put back up when we leave.

What is your favourite room in your home?

The bathroom I really love, I have never had a particularly exciting bathroom when renting, and the fact I now have a pink wall in my bathroom is quite exciting.

I also love my office, for the first time ever it’s a dedicated space for me to work in, and it’s made so much difference to my productivity as a freelancer.

It’s also super floral! Click here to see how this flower wall was made

But my absolute favourite room is the Dining room, I knew I would like a room that was solely a place to gather friends and family and eat meals, and when I saw this house I envisioned how it would look. I was really inspired by Hannah Bullivant and her rented house in Faversham, she was my inspiration for this.

I love the big table, my dad kindly made it for us, and we eat at least 2/3 meals a day here and for the first year ever I hosted Christmas here!

I have finally found some chairs to go the other side, after ‘honest feedback’ from my older family members that they’d prefer a seat with a back…so I scrapped the second bench we were planning on making. They should be arriving this month from Etsy.

Which room is your least favourite room and why?

Least favourite room is the kitchen, the decor is just not to my taste, and the layout / efficiency of it just isn’t great. We’ve always lived in open plan flats before, and I don’t like being shut off from the other person when you’re cooking your evening meal or when family is over.

However I love that it has a door to open up into our lovely garden, so I think I can manage! I am going to ask the landlord if we can paint it white and cover the tiles and doors white, and maybe change the handles and floor (I don’t think it would be too much), but at the same time how much do I want to do up this house?! Every renters dilemma I think!

Do you have a favourite renter friendly product to recommend?

Brilliant white paint, by the bucket load. We always use Dulux or Crown as cheaper white paint doesn’t always have an even coverage and turns out to be false economy. And those two brands you seem to get a lot for your money and good quality.

I know not everyone is lucky and has a great landlord, but every time I have pitched painting everywhere white (at my own expense) the landlord has been happy for me to do it. Command hooks are also brilliant. I haven’t tried removable wallpaper yet, but wanting to give it a try this summer – I’ll report back!

Where do you buy your furniture and home décor?

eBay and Etsy are my go to places to find anything before I look for things new. You’d be amazed at what you can find on there, there’s always second hand IKEA on eBay and Etsy is great for bespoke pieces at affordable prices!

Also ask your friends and family what they have in their garage, we have a few items from our parents garages / lock ups and even my nephew’s nursery (he’s now 16) that are perfect in the house.

Things always look so different after a sand, lick of paint, and maybe changing door handles or adding legs. You then have a piece of furniture that’s unique to you, for a much cheaper price. Still in love with our bargain sofa set for £140 from the British Heart Foundation, they get some great furniture in there.

I also love H&M home, Oliver Bonas, Homesense, Zara Home, Laredoute, Made and Amara for luxe looking accessories to compliment the second hand items and bring those older things up to date.

Do you any words of wisdom to share with other renters?

Don’t rush it, I know it can seem tempting to get a space finished, but it takes time to get it right. I have an ongoing list pf pieces I am looking for, or things to make / DIY, this helps me remain focused so I don’t buy anything I don’t need or tire of easily.

Also look in different departments for storage solutions (bane of my renting life, storage). I love bathroom shelves for storing things in my office,, gold bathroom racks for storing vegetables in my kitchen and have a dressing table, that’s supposed to be a hall console table.

Also I love renting because I don’t need to worry about the upkeep of the boiler and things like that and also I know what I like and will be looking for when we eventually buy a house of our own. Everything has it’s learning.

So what do you think of Charlottes’s Home? I would love to hear your thoughts. As always your support and shares are always appreciated. You can also share your rented homes on Instagram using #HowIRent.  Don’t forget to Leave a comment below!

 

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