Apartment living is fantastic.

Modern apartments can feature all kinds of luxurious amenities, from in-suite laundry to fitness rooms and movie rooms. You never have to worry about maintenance, and the spacious, modern design of your suite will make you feel like royalty.

There’s a downside, though: you can’t nail things into the wall, and you probably can’t paint. While that can seem like a problem when you’ve got big interior design ideas, there are tons of ways you can renovate and decorate without causing any damage.

The Right Tools for the Job

Back in the day, the only way to hang anything was to get out a hammer and nails and start pounding into the wall; you might use a stud finder, if you were particularly cautious.

Nowadays, there are a number of ways you can hang things without using nails. We’re going to focus on three: velcro, command hooks, and tension rods.

Velcro and command hooks are fairly similar. They use adhesive in order to stick to the wall, so if you’re careful when removing them, they won’t leave any damage at all. There are a number of really practical uses for command hooks; they’re primarily great for organizing. Need storage space? Use them to hang baskets! Have a lot of cables snaking around your floor? Use them for cable management, and bunch those cables along the wall! Command strips, a cousin of command hooks, are perfect for hanging picture frames.

The Command product line has taken velcro’s place for a lot of home decorating, but velcro still has one advantage; fabrics adhere really well to it. While you might not be able to repaint your walls, you can use Velcro in order to cover your wall in fabric, adding whatever texture and color you desire to your room.

Tension rods are another incredibly useful, damage-free way of organizing and displaying your favorite things. Instead of using adhesive or nails, they use tension (hence the name) to stay in place. You can use them vertically or horizontally; once the rods are in place, you can hook things to them, or use them to separate things. Hang plants near your windows, hang curtains to create makeshift office space, make drying racks - whatever your heart desires!

Let There Be Light

Lighting is absolutely essential to the feel of a room. When you use accent lighting, you can bring people’s attention to your favorite piece in the room, while good ambient lighting sets the mood.

In most apartments, you won’t be able to change the fixtures, though it’s worth asking if you can. You will, however, be able to buy floor lamps for ambiance, table lamps for accent, and task lamps for work.

All of this electric light is lovely, but you can’t neglect the most important source of light: the natural world. You need curtains over every single window, so you can control the amount of light that floods into your room. What’s more, curtains can make quite a statement; they come in all kinds of colors, shapes, and fabrics, so you can use them to quite dramatic (or subtle!) effect.

To talk about light without talking about mirrors would be a disservice to them both. You can use mirrors for more than just checking your appearance. They reflect light, so they can help illuminate a room. What’s more, when you have a large mirror facing a window, you’ll reflect what’s happening outside, adding natural beauty to your home. The mirror will also make the room look more spacious.

Fun with Furniture

The furniture you own can make or break the look of your home. There are a few things every adult should have in their living room. A comfortable couch for guests to sit on; a loveseat too, when possible. A nice coffee table that you can put books, board games, or even, unbelievable as it may be, coffee on.

You should also go out of your way to use furniture to make a space your own. Get a bookshelf and load it up with your favorite books; you might also use shelving to store records, games, or any other passion of yours. You might be inclined to invest in a decent sound system, so you can play your favorite music all day long (just not too loudly!). You might love movies, and invest in a 4K TV on a big stand. Remember that the space is yours; put yourself into it.

One thing that can’t be recommended enough? An area rug. Area rugs are a statement piece, and they can transform the look of a room. Believe it or not, they can even help with loudness of a room. Go with a classic Persian design or something more modern with geometrical patterns - anything you like. Much like curtains and fabric for walls, area rugs come in all shapes and sizes.

Considering Color

The biggest impact the walls and floor of your apartment will have on your space is their color.

Most apartments have neutral color schemes, somewhere in the range of grey to off-white. That’s because these walls allow you to make the space your own; whether you opt for vibrant, calm, hot, or cold colours, neutral walls and flooring will accommodate you. That enables you to pick the perfect color scheme for each room using little more than furniture and other decor.

For those who aren’t satisfied with neutral walls, there are still options. While most places won’t let you paint your walls, you can use the aforementioned Velcro and fabric techniques to transform a room. Wall fabric isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s okay; there is plenty of wallpaper that’s been engineered to be easy to remove. You can find virtually any colour or pattern you like! This is usually best for accent walls, but you can use it almost anywhere you like; you might even find easy-to-remove panels you can use on cabinets and other fixtures.