7 Tips to Decorate Base Housing & Make It Feel Like Home

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There are a lot of perks to living in base housing, but it has its drawbacks too. Especially if you are as obsessed with DIY and home renovation as I am.

As much as I want to do a complete makeover on every single house that we move into, it’s just not feasible.

Since we move around so much, we either live on base or find a rental instead of buying a house. And it doesn’t make sense to invest time or money in a house that doesn’t belong to us. Not to mention the fact that military housing/landlords wouldn’t let us change or renovate anything anyway.

So, over the past 11 years, I have found ways to decorate our base housing and rentals to make each one feel like home.

7 Tips to Decorate Base Housing

Gallery Walls

One of the projects I did when we moved into our first little apartment in Tacoma, Washington was to put together a gallery wall. There was a big empty space in our dining room, but we didn’t have the money to go out and buy a big piece of art/decor.

I put together a photo gallery wall with a mix of our wedding pictures and Lainey’s newborn pictures using cheap picture frames from Walmart.

I loved it so much that I ended up hanging it in the next 3 houses!

You can even buy a boho-inspired gallery wall kit or this perfectly square black and white set from Amazon for less than $40. Gallery walls can be a relatively cheap way to fill big spaces in your home.

Gallery wall for hanging children's artwork. — *(I hung this little gallery wall in the playroom for the girls’ art work.)*

Boho gallery wall. — *(This boho gallery wall uses more than just pictures.)*

Family photos gallery wall using Wal-Mart picture frames. — *(Forgive my terrible 2012 cell phone photo, but this was the gallery wall that hung in our first apartment.)*

Gallery wall for military housing. — (*This nature-inspired gallery wall is perfect for travel landscape photos.)*

Gallery Perfect Black 12 Piece Square Photo Gallery Wall Picture Frame Set with Hanging Template, 16.5 x 10.2 x 16.7 inches 97 Decor Eclectic Decor – Maximalist Decor, Colorful Eclectic Home Decor, Eclectic Wall Decor, Eclectic Wall Art Prints Set for Bedroom, Painting Japanese Contemporary Art Museum Gallery (UNFRAMED)

Big Pieces of Art or Big Mirrors

After we moved into our house on Fort Johnson (Polk), we had 2 big walls still empty after we finished hanging everything we had. Instead of making another gallery wall, we tried to find big items to fill them.

We ended up using a large mirror for one of them and a poster-sized photo in an old window for the other. Nearly 10 years later, we are still using those large pieces to fill big blank walls in our house.

If you can’t afford large pieces, there are plenty of tutorials on Pinterest for large DIY wall art. From abstract painting ideas to macramé yarn hangings, there is something for every style and budget.

Large pieces of abstract art can be used to decorate base housing. — *(There are plenty of pins for abstract art that you can make yourself or for purchase.)*

Large pieces of wall art are perfect for filling blank walls. — *(You can learn how to make these dyed yarn hangings or purchase from a small business.)*

*(I think everyone has swooned over the Anthropologie mirror or its dupes at some point.)*

Large wooden mosaics are great to decorate base housing. — *(I made that wooden mosaic to help fill the space in our current rental.)*

ITSRG Floor Mirror Full Length, Arched Floor Mirror, Wall Mirror Full Length, Gold Mirror Full Length, Floor Mirror Freestanding, Bedroom Mirror Full Length Standing (Gold)guzhiou large macrame wall hanging – Boho Tapestry Macrame Wall Decor Art- Chic Bohemian Handmade Woven Tapestry Home Decoration for Bedroom Living Room Apartment Wedding Party – 43

Furniture That You LOVE

When you decorate base housing, you should buy, make, or refurbish furniture that you LOVE!

This is probably the BEST tip I can give you. And one that I have taken to heart since we started this crazy military journey.

We don’t put our time, effort, or money into renovating the rental houses we live in. Instead, we invest in our furniture.

The furniture that we have refurbished can last us a lifetime. Most of the pieces that we’ve redone will come with us to our forever home, so we don’t mind putting time and money into this hobby of ours.

Love this sofa table from World Market. — *(This natural wood sofa table from World Market is on my wish list!)*

How to refurbish a vintage hardware cabinet. — *(This antique hardware cabinet will house my small craft supplies for years to come.)*

A large comfy sectional is good for an base housing living room. — *(A big comfy sectional is also on my wish list!)*

The refurbished antique bed with cow hide upholstery. — *(This refurbished bed will definitely last for years.)*

Yaheetech PU Leather Accent Chair, Mid-Century Modern Barrel Chair with Wooden Frame and Soft Thick Padded for Living Room Bedroom Home Office, Light Brown NCKMYB Modern Sectional Sofa with Double Chaise, U-Shape Sectional Sofa for Living Room, Apartment (Beige)

Decorate Base Housing with Lamps

Rental houses and base housing typically use the cheapest supplies and building materials available. That means the cheapest light fixtures, resulting in poor lighting throughout the house.

If you’re not into a dark and shadowy interior, the answer could be a few strategically placed lamps to help brighten things up. We even made our own tripod lamp for a reading nook.

**Pro Tip: Replace the ‘Soft White’ lightbulbs in your house with ‘Daylight’ lightbulbs. It makes your space look so much brighter and cleaner.**

*(What a beautiful way to repurpose old books.)*

Embrace those white walls of base housing. — *(Floor lamps are great for rooms that don’t have enough light!)*

Use an unusual lamp to decorate base housing. — (*You can find a unique lamp for every style.)*

Bring better lighting to your base housing with decorative lamps. — *(We found a pair of these lamps for our nightstands while we were stationed at Fort Liberty.)*

Industrial Touch Control Table Lamps Set of 2 – Black Bedside Lamps with 2 USB Ports and AC Outlet, 3-Way Dimmable Nightstand Desk Lamp for Bedroom Living Room, Glass Shade & 2 LED Bulbs Included LEPOWER Tripod Floor Lamp, Mid Century Wood Standing Lamp, Modern Design Shelf Floor Lamp for Living Room, Bedroom, Office, Flaxen Lamp Shade with E26 Lamp Base

Buy All the Plants

Plant-filled shelves and even entire plant-filled rooms have taken the home decor world by storm. Plants are a huge part of the boho trend that is so popular right now. And I’m here for it!

Pretty green plants are also a fairly cheap way to decorate base housing. You pretty much can’t go wrong with a beautiful green plant. Several varieties are easy to care for and thrive even in low light.

Plants are a fun way to decorate base housing. — *(I’m still arranging and re-arranging this huge built-in bookshelf in our living room.)*

Plant shelves are perfect to decorate base housing. — *(One day, I hope to be able to take plant shelfies like this one!)*

*(These were some of the first plants I bought for my shelf!)*

Plants are a great way to decorated base housing. — *(This is plant lady goalsss!)*

AWLYLNLL Plant Stand Indoor for Multiple Plants,3 Tiers 7 Potted Tiered Plant Shelf Outdoor Garden Decor ,Wood Ladder Plant Holder Table Plant Pot Stand for Living Room Window Balcony Home Decor Pearls & Jade Pothos 4inch Pot Epipremnum aureum -Live Houseplants

Removable Wall Paper

Removable wallpaper is one extremely impactful way to decorate base housing or a rental house. It comes down without a trace and can bring a lot of color and interest to your most boring walls.

Sadly, this is the only tip that I haven’t tried yet. But I’m hoping to try it out in the girls’ rooms after our next PCS.

*(Put a bold color/pattern in your bedroom!)*

Use removable wall paper to decorate base housing nurseries. — *(I wish I had known about this when my girls were babies!)*

*(Adding removable wall paper to your bathroom has a huge impact!)*

Use removable wall paper in base housing to add color and pattern. — *(Removable wall paper could transform your entryway!)*

JiffDiff Floral Wallpaper Peel and Stick Dark Farm Floral Stick Wallpaper, Wildwood Wallpaper Self Adhesive Wallpaper for Home Bedroom Cabinets Thicken 17.71 UniGoos Peacock Tail Classic Pattern Blue Green Peel and Stick Wallpaper Vintage Removable Wall Paper Modern Self Adhesive Contact Paper for Cabinet Shelf Liner Bedroom DIY Decor 17.7

Use Books to Decorate Base Housing

Another way to decorate base housing or rental houses using something that you already own is to use your books as decor.

Take a trick from the DIY Edit and arrange them in a rainbow or do like all of the shows on HGTV and turn them backwards so that only the pages show. There are all kinds of interesting bookshelves on Pinterest if you’re looking for something different or a DIY project.

There are endless ways to use books as decor and bookshelves are one of my favorite things to decorate.