Avoiding the pitfalls of decorating a shared home

Personalising shared accommodation can be a hazardous business, but with co-operation and imagination it’s totally achievable

The bedroom is the one place in shared accommodation where you can give vent to your own taste and styling with something like Penneys new Floral bedding (from €16).

You've just picked up the keys to your newly rented house or apartment, bags and boxes are unpacked and you’re longing to inject the gaff with your own style and personality.

This can be tricky when you’re not the owner, particularly if you are unlucky enough to have a landlord who sees you as merely a way of paying for their investment rather than a human being with the basic human right to a roof over your head and a need to create a home.

But if you have one of those lovely, kind landlords who wants to build a good, long-term relationship with an equally good tenant who wants to take care of the place and improve the look of it, they’ll be delighted to let you give vent to your inner stylist, short of applying a sledgehammer to the walls, or slathering vivid magenta emulsion over the rental staple magnolia.

So, now that the landlord is on-side you think you’re all set to go. True, if you live alone; great, if you live with a significant other as together you’ll sort out the décor decision-making — even if you’re fighting about it along the way.

But these days many rent with friends and colleagues, so how do you steer the decision-making while sharing almost everything apart from bedrooms?

Letting one person choose art for a communal space and the other décor makes for good relations among housemates where each feels their style and personality are represented (Garden and Hold Me Up posters from €10 at Desenio.com).

Chelsea Brown, New York apartment dweller, blogger of all things rental, and author of a handy book on the topic, Rental Style, saw there was little information available about decorating small rental homes and how to negotiate around decorating politics with co-habitants, so she launched the City Chic Décor blog.

That was five years ago and 96k Instagram followers later.

And, as a long-term renter herself, she has plenty to say about décor manoeuvrings with flatmates, especially when you have completely different tastes in interior design and maybe even levels of tidiness.

Stay with neutral colours for bigger living room items like rugs to give the illusion of space in more compact apartments (Ariana rug from €125 at M&S).

Surprisingly, she tackles financial arrangements first, advising caution regardless of whether you are close friends or have just met.

“I suggest purchasing half the items and your roommate purchasing the other half,” Chelsey says, “Do not split the cost of everything. This will cause controversy once someone moves out because there’ll be confusion and possible confrontation on who keeps what.”

They’re wise words for anyone, couples or otherwise, moving in together.

But getting down to the business of décor, she advises taking turns at who chooses what for the living room, especially where tastes don’t exactly converge.

She says, “Give one person art dibs and the other décor dibs. This way you both have a say in how the living room looks. And by the way, it’s okay to mix two interior styles as long as there is an even amount of both in the space.”

But something she considers an absolute no-no is personal photos in communal spaces.

“Art and photography are perfectly fine in a common living area,” she says. “However, personal photos should be left for the bedroom and personal areas.”

Use a leaner mirror propped against a wall to reflect light into a room and use the space behind for storage (Stretton leaner mirror €350 at Harvey Norman).

With different interior styles to compromise on, Chelsey advises sticking to neutral bases which are typically items like sofas, chairs, rugs and wall colour.

“Neutral furniture will always enlarge your space and make it feel more open,” she says. “You can add character through small pieces of décor like pillows and decorative accents. Neutral tones like greys, whites and tans can be blended to any interior.”

If you’ve managed to get that far without falling out, wait for the struggle to find a home for extra belongings and hobby paraphernalia. This might break you, especially as rentals are notoriously scant on storage, particularly the built-in variety, even in bigger properties.

Rectify storage issues by choosing furniture pieces with integrated storage like the GH100 ottoman stool (from DFS €499).

“Have you ever thought of storing items behind furniture?” asks Chelsey. “Almost every large piece of furniture in my apartment has items behind or under it. For example, I store extra extension cords behind the leaning mirror in my living room. I also store artwork and camera accessories on the side of the couch in my living room.”

She also suggests thinking laterally if you are buying furniture and storage, and to try and combine them.

“Furniture-turned-storage is key for any small space,” she says.”

“Whether it’s an ottoman with storage built into it or a sofa that lifts up to reveal empty space, you can find so many options on the market.”

• See Instagram.com/citychicdecor for some inspiration.