Hi Auntnete.

Rather than getting into a long discussion about French country and how to get that look without painting the walls or taking down the inappropriate window treatments of a short-term rental apartment, I have another suggestion for you: save your money & your efforts at creating a French country decor till you're in your new home and in the meantime, take advantage of this brief--let's hope--period of transition and give yourself the decorating permission to do something new & different, something you might like to try out, and yet not want to live with for an extended period. Think of it as the sorbet couse between heavy dishes in a big meal, that is, something light & refreshing.

If your old furniture has nothing to do with the existing decor--or lack thereof--in your temporary housing, cover it up with some bright-colored slipcovers in a palette that you wouldn't normally choose. Hit the dollar store for some garish beaded pillows--they've got a ton of them. If you can sew a decent seam, whip up some flat panels--not 'curtains' or anything that looks as though they were trying to be curtains--out of an interesting fabric, maybe a bold abstract, maybe a gossamer print, maybe an ethnic blockprint. If you can find some oak leaves that haven't been turned to compost by now, spray them white, attach them to some nylon netting and light them from behind. Put your nice lamps & accessories away in the closet, pull your upholstered pieces out from the walls & let a soft wash of colored light come from behind them, via a plug-in fluorescent lightstrip covered in colored celophane--look in the Easter basket clearance aisle--that's lying on the floor. Or hang a group of multi-colored paper lanterns with a string of small Christmas lights threaded through them. Find an artist's easel & put a big framed print on it. Buy a few of those oriental-design polypropylene rugs they make for the pool and lay them on your bare wooden floors. They'll soften up the look of the place, they're colorful, they're cheap and they can't be destroyed. In fact, those things will be around long after we're all turned to dust, but while we're still around, there's no reason that we can't make use of them. Put away your fancy crystal & get yourself some bright acrylic dishes. You can sell them at a yard sale after you get into the new place. If you have handsome woodwork that was worth stripping, you may also have tall ceilings. If so, buy one of Martha's backyard gazebos at Kmart & install it in the dining room, with some rope lighting inside to lend a gentle glow to mealtimes.

Basically, treat this place lightly, as you would a vacation cottage, rather than seriously, as you would if it were really your permanent home or if you were going to be graded on the results by Elegant Home magazine. Since, no matter how seriously you approach it, a short term place can never acquire the sense of calm & stability that a real home should have, just acknowledge that fact from the getgo, than let loose & have a little fun with your new place.

Regards,
MAGNAVERDE.

If you won't be there long, ignore everything. When we built our house, we lived in a horrible (truly) double wide -not because it was a double wide but because it was old and gross to the extreme- but everything that got moved in stayed in the exact spot it was placed until we moved out. Boxes on top of sofas, lamps on top of chairs, stuff everywhere.
Because that was not my home in essence, I spent all my time planning our new home, reading lots of books and doing some really nice paintings (I'm an artist) and basically not cleaning. I knew this period in my life was special and that with the new home would come all the cleaning, decorating and yard responsibilities but I still look back at that time with poignancy at freedom from having a house.

I still worked though, and my mother was dying so it wasn't a bed of roses just a very special and I hope never to be repeated time of life.

Those are both great ideas and were my inital thoughts. But not nearly as creative as yours Magnaverde! Because of my husbands work we have to entertain and while I love those thoughts he NEEDS a more traditional environment. Believe it or not, french country was my idea to throwing my style to the wind. LOL! Plus reality has set in, the housing market is awful. I can see years before our home sells. It is in a terrible market. And on a final note, I have been horrible about this move. So I am trying to make up for my wicked ways...

I'm with some of the others. Save your effort, save your money, it's a rental. We just moved into our new house a year ago. For the two years prior, we rented a house after the sale of ours while building. We found the rental, what we thought would be a wonderful stop for a couple of years while building. Long story short, it was the worst place I've ever lived in my life!! The house appeared great, double the square footage of our house we sold. It had 2 whirlpool tubs in the house, a bathroom for each bedroom. The fireplace was huge and it had a huge greenhouse attached to the house. The yard was 2.5 acres and had a Koi pond and rose gardens in place. We moved in January. What a disaster!! The Koi pond could have been a 101 of what not to do when building a pond, same went for the greenhouse. The soil was so bad even the roses there wouldn't grow and bloom properly. The HVAC wouldn't heat the house over 65 in the winter, cool lower than 85 in the summer with outragous bills to go along. The plumbing was constantly stopping up, and the FP wasn't built to code and when used would puff thick black smoke back into the house on occasion. The laundry room had a hidden rotted wall behind the water heater that allowed mice and spyders open freeway into my home. And the property management company would do absolutly nothing to correct anything in the house! To top it off, the neighbors across the street were the worst rednecks from Hell you could imagine. Wild parties at all hours and on all days of the week, and had a Pitt Bull that tried to come thru my windows after my Labs. They were obviously into something illegal. I called the police more in 2 years than in my entire life! I did my best to stay busy with my new house plans, like Bumblebeez. But it was hard not to just scream and run away. I couldn't really garden, the house offered me basically no pleasure at all. The happiest day of my life was when I closed on my new house and the moving company started to load me up to leave! We love the new house and I'm quite busy now decorating, painting, gardening, and just enjoying my home. So the bottom line, don't put too much into a rental from a money or emotional standpoint, it's just a temporary exile before you are in your own home again!

Auntnete, I hear you about your DH needing to entertain. I think you'll enjoy taking a look at the threads in our Gallery. I know there is some French Country interspersed in the Cottage Decor thread and also in the LR, DR, BR, etc. threads. There are several hundred beautiful photos there. Perhaps you can find some that inspire you both for your rental and for your next home?

Here is a link that might be useful: Gallery

Another reason not to invest in a look is that your next house might call for a totally different style. You just never know.

I am building a brand new Craftsman style house, if all goes well. Never in a million years would I have said I'd buy new. And Craftsman was never on my radar. Much of my clean-lined traditional furniture will work, but some of my things will be relegated to the secondary rooms, including a country french chair I haddahave!

Anyway, you might fall in love with a style of house (MCM? Colonial?) that begs for a different look. In the meantime, keep your horizons open.

Years ago, I lived for three months in the apartment Magnaverde describes. Didn't wash the walls with light, but I did hang yards of tulle in DD's bedroom windows, pinned with dozens of little sparkling dragonflies. Every "table" was a stack of packed boxes draped with wildly printed table cloths. LR chairs were a pair of plastic adirondack chairs. And I bought a shower curtain from the newly-opened Target with screaming green frogs all over it. Seriously little money and a seriously fun place!

I hated it when we rented in between a job relocation. The house wasn't bad, but just knowing I couldn't do anything to it was far more than irritating.

Since you can't paint, perhaps one wall with fabric stapled to it. Light airy curtains over those blinds (yup, hate them too). You can always repair any holes in walls to hang drapes/curtains, if the owner doesn't have matching paint a paint store can match for you. Most landlords keep things cut and dry due to nightmares from previous renters. Your's might very well be content with changes made since you want to have a nicer place and have the creativity to do so. You could take a chance and paint one or two walls for additional color, even though knowing you will have to go over it again when you move.

Placing many things loved around for accents can help a lot to make your house a home. And as mentioned, rugs/pillows, accents with patterns to remove you from seeing what "isn't" there. I made a point to keep fresh flowers around, was worth such since they are one of my loves.

Can you take the window treatments down and put them back up? How would the owners know if you did that?

There are ways you can attach fabric (liquid starch, I think) to the walls where it's easy to remove.

The only thing I would suggest is to get some Command hooks and use these to hang sheers over the windows. The hooks do not leave a residue and should not strip the paint or finish when you remove them.

Please do not install any curtain hardware and do not "take a chance" and paint anything, (which it sounds like you won't since you said it was out of the question). I guarantee you it is not worth it. You could very well void the lease. Leave the blinds up. I do drive bys of my rental and make occasional visits--all responsible landlords do. I think tenants often forget that a rental is not theirs to decorate as they would like. Their first responsibility is to abide by the provisions in the lease. Always ask for permission to make changes.

Magnaverde had some excellent suggestions. I would re-read and think along those lines.

You say you can't paint. O.K. So, you have their color to work with. You say there are "horrible" horizontal blinds. I have unhorrible faux wood blinds that are not super expensive, perhaps you could carefully remove and store what they have up now, and replace either with something nicer, hoping that original owners would just let them stay, or you could do your own draperies, to augment what's there. If you truly think you will live in this home for "Years" while your home languishes on the market, (I would lower my price, stage my house, and get it sold, personally!) then, repainting will be a necessity for the owners later anyway, and you can take down your rods/hardware, patch, and paint the damage.

Get a book on French Country decorating if that's the way you want to go. Buy furniture. Get rid of the old stuff that does not work. Get your provence stripes and your toiles and your florals and get working on accessories, pillows, etc.

And one more thing. Many, many, people live in fairly blandly painted little rentals. It's not a crime, it doesn't lower your intelligence or end the world. Arrange comfortable furniture in an attractive, useful, way, add a couple of vases of fresh flowers, put out a gorgeous tray or antique platter with your appetizers, add a vintage pitcher or beautiful glass carafe with beverage, throw on a little music, and present a warm and welcoming host and hostess. Your husband's business associates will already know from him that he is in a rental while waiting to sell. Get on with life.

Red

I did reread everything and today I am actually here at the new house and it is not nearly as bad as I thought. It does make me sad they cover up that beautiful woodwork with those disgusting blinds (I mistyped, they are a shiney vertical blinds with yukky up and down slats) I am sitting and measuring and actually it is OK. The house not the blinds. I cannot say it enough but this woodwork is awesome. We have our home staged in Georgia, put $41K into stuff the realtor suggested since October, have reduced it almost 28% and I don't feel we can do anymore. Trust me we have a couple of pieces of rental property (I refuse to rent our home so far) so I completely respect our landlord. I wondered about those command hooks if they really worked. Well, more measuring to see what goes in storage, and what comes in.....thanks so much for the ideas and keep 'em coming!

I can relate! I just moved into a rental until I can be in a position to buy my own house (my exDH got the house). I was so used to doing whatever I wanted at my house that it was really upsetting to move into a place and know that I couldn't make it "mine". The whole place is painted pale yellow, which isn't a bad color, but it's not a color that I would use, and I can't repaint. I also can't use nails or screws. Oh, it's been interesting!! For window treatments I have used tension rods. Could you put a sheer over the blinds to cover them? Here's a picture of my (simple, but serves the purpose) window treatments on a tension rod (one window is missing a panel...haven't quite finished the hemming job).

{{gwi:1641872}}

I have that ladder against the wall because I hung a framed picture from it.

If you can use nails in the walls, you could stretch a nice fabric over a wooden frame and use that as artwork. That's what I wanted to do for my headboard.

I'm learning to inject my personality into my apartment with fabrics, lighting, and furniture, and not to rely on the wall color to set the mood of the room. It's actually been a great lesson in decorating.

I'm sure you have collected enough things that you love that once you get it all in the space you'll feel more at home.