Making the the most of the box room

When I bought my large HMO property it was fully tenanted. This was great as far as rental income was concerned, but it did mean that I had only ever entered each room once and so barely knew what each room looked like.

Room 5 I recall as being very small, dark and dingy space with a "lived in" kind of smell to it. This was all I had managed to ascertain on my 30 second cursory tour, and so I was a bit apprehensive when the tenant moved out, and we had to re-advertise. I knew there was work to do to redecorate, but could I really make this room desirable and demand decent levels of rent?

First off I ripped out the carpet. Carpet in rental bedrooms is really difficult to keep nice unless you supply your tenant with a vacuum cleaner and they are prepared to use it. It is much better to go for a hard flooring. I chose a modern grey wooden laminate floor. I can’t tell you what a difference this made to the feel of the room! The drawbacks of a hard floor can be the noise of people walking over it, to tenants living below, and the lost warmth of a textile on the floor, but both of these can be solved cheaply with the addition of a rug.

The wood work was a mess the mismatch of different wood colours looked terrible, so I painted all the skirting boards, shelves and doors white. This did take a fair few coats but very worth while.

You don’t notice how filthy ceilings really are until you go over with a fresh coat of white paint. This fairly quick process does wonders to lighten a room.

The wall colours were experimental! I have used the light green in my office at home and really like it. The "in" colour this season is grey. I have seen it used to great effect in many settings, so I thought I would go for it. Now using a dark grey in a small room was taking a risk, but by limiting it to one wall and an alcove I was able to turn it into a feature. The dark grey offered great contrast to the white photo frames I set upon it.

The art in the room before was dated and didn’t match anything, so I replaced this with some photos I had taken myself. I photoshopped them into grey scale and made them look like a set of image. I think they really help to make this room feel adult and sophisticated.

New curtains, a lamp shade, and cushion that ties all the colours together, completely transformed this room. I even saved myself a lot of money by giving a new lease of life to a set of drawers by replacing the handles and painting them.

I opted for a single bed over a double in this room after advice from a tenant who said they would rather the extra space to live in the room, than a bigger bed. I think they were absolutely right, and I don’t think I will have any issues renting this room in the future. I love it! I’d be more than happy to move in.