With a significant number of UK residents calling rental properties home (just over one-third) and a widespread desire to personalise these spaces, we spoke with Katherine Ormerod, the influential voice and author behind Your Not Forever Home. Katherine offers a treasure trove of design-savvy tips specifically tailored for renters.
In our chat, she delves into strategies for negotiating with landlords and shares practical DIY advice, all drawn from her recently published book. Katherine’s insights are a must-read for anyone looking to make the most of their rented abode.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and when you first got into interiors?
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I feel a bit like a fraud saying that I’m in interiors because it has been such a gradual and organic shift rather than anything that I’d ever strategised. My background is pretty firmly in the world of fashion. After uni, I did a Master’s in Fashion History and then went on to have a career in fashion journalism with staff roles at Sunday Times Style, Grazia and Glamour magazine. I also segued for a while into fashion and beauty trend forecasting, but generally, my focus was on the catwalks. During my time in magazines, I started my own social media platforms and while building my professional life there, I became a bit jaded, which led to my first book, Why Social Media is Ruining Your Life, back in 2018. The book was a guide for how to approach digital content creation and consumption more healthily, and it made me realise that I needed to refocus on my personal vocation, which has always been writing. Since then, I’ve authored or co-authored as a ghostwriter ten additional titles and set up a successful weekly Substack newsletter which pokes around at the realities of middle life.
Credit: @yukisugiura.photo
Four years ago, while heavily pregnant, I moved with my family out of a bijou flat we had owned into a rented family home. It was rough around the edges, and as the pandemic continued, I found myself feeling so low in the space I was living in. So, I decided to put some of the skills my grandparents had passed on to me during my childhood to use and began decorating the house. I posted my projects online, and they became very popular. That incredible support from my community — many of whom are also mid-life renters — led, in turn, to my most recent book, Your Not Forever Home, which was published in May.
How would you describe your own home and interior design style?
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Eclectic, Victorian in spirit without the mahogany.
Can you tell us about your new book?
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Yes! I love this book so much. It’s basically a manual for the modern mid-life renter, showing how, by the power of your own hand, you can improve any space on a responsible budget. There are lots of DIY projects and inspirational images, so it’s a lovely coffee table book, but it’s also full of slightly more fiery essays which really seek to rehabilitate the esteem of anyone who hasn’t managed to get a deposit together quite yet. The world has turned profoundly when it comes to property ownership, but our cultural values are still stuck in a past reality. This book is a little reminder that no one did anything wrong and that temporary spaces can be beautiful places.
Credit: @yukisugiura.photo
We love the concept, what inspired you to focus on rental home decoration?
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Living in a rental! Some people aren’t affected by their environment, but for me and people like me, living somewhere which doesn’t feel personal or homely is deadly.
What are the fundamental things to consider when decorating a rented home?
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Number one, get permission from your landlord. This is also number two and three! Any changes that cannot instantly be reset to factory settings need to be approved in writing before you even step in B&Q. Acceptance is also really a key element to decorating a rental home — it’s an exercise in compromise, and there will be things that you can’t change and will have to live with. Accept them and move on. Finally, if you want a beautiful home but can’t afford it, you are going to have to learn how to do lots of things yourself. Don’t be scared by this, there is nothing more satisfying than mastering a new skill and then sitting back and looking at what you have made with your own hands.
What’s your advice when it comes to approaching landlords with plans and ideas?
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Be very clear, show previous examples of any similar projects you have completed, and emphasise how it is mutually beneficial to both parties.
How do you decorate and personalise your rented home on a budget?
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You can’t be snobby and you can’t simply just instantly buy what you want or even need. It takes time and patience, but it is so worth it in the end. I buy lots of things from markets, eBay, and auctions, and you can’t predict when they are going to come up. In terms of the skill which has saved me the most money in my home, it is 100% learning to use a sewing machine. They are emotional machines, but now I have got to know mine, she is my favourite of all my tools!
Do you have any top design hacks that elevate a space temporarily?
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I’m a massive fan of vinyl and have covered worktops, tiles, and work surfaces with it. Nothing is cheaper and more effective at elevating a kitchen.
What’s the one tool you’ve invested in or skill you’ve picked up that’s made a big difference to renovating?
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Aside from the sewing machine, I love my jig because it helps me make large-scale frames, which I stretch woven blankets across to make ultra-impactful artwork.
Credit: @yukisugiura.photo
Who inspires you the most from artists/designers/other content creators?
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I’m still very much obsessed with turn of the 20th-century art and think it will always be the aesthetic that most defines my personal taste. Picasso, Matisse, and Der Blaue Reiter in particular. I’m also a lifelong William Morris acolyte, so there will always be some Willow Boughs wherever I live!
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In terms of other content creators, I love my friends’ homes so much — Cat Earp at Aller Dorset, Pandora Sykes, Lucy Williams, and other renters like Abi Omole and Camille Charriere all inspire me so much.
What’s been your favourite room to transform in your own home?
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The kitchen and bathrooms have made the most impact because they are usually the most tragic in rentals.
Which Oak Furnitureland products do you think would be worth investing in to incorporate from home to home?
I think the Jude sofa is a stylish piece, alongside the fluted Stowe sideboard or Oliver side table especially.
For more rental decor inspiration from interior design enthusiast Katherine Ormerod, order a copy of her book Your Not Forever Home online or pick one up from your local bookshop and follow her gorgeous feed over on Instagram @katherine_ormerod.
