They Wrote the Book on How to Revamp Your Rental
With homeownership increasingly out of reach, renting has become a long-term reality for a many—yet the interiors world remains largely focused on those with the freedom to build new homes and undertake conventional renovations. So, where do you find inspiration if your lease won’t allow you to knock through walls or rip out a dated kitchen?
In their new book, Home for Now, Niko Dafkos and Paul Firmin, founders of the London lifestyle brand Earl of East, explore the ways renters can "live meaningfully within borrowed walls." Best known for their candles and home fragrances, the pair are experts on the everyday rituals that make a space feel like home. Drawing on this understanding, their experience as long-term renters, and the homes of creatives from East London to Brooklyn, Dafkos and Firmin make a compelling case for investing in the spaces we inhabit right now—not the ones we might own someday.
A portrait of Niko Dafkos and Paul Firmin, founders of London’s Earl of East and authors of Home for Now, with their dog, Piper.
Across 36 case studies and chapters on specific aspects of decorating rentals—including textiles, art, and lighting—the book shows how renters around the world have transformed their temporary spaces. Here, Dafkos and Firmin share their tips for creating a rental that feels like home.
A spread from Home for Now focused on the importance of small, meaningful objects in making a place feel like home. Firmin and Dafkos recommend plenty of open shelving and credenzas for the display of personal objects.
What made you want to write a book specifically for renters?
Paul Firmin: It felt like an obvious gap. So much of the interiors world is aimed at people who own homes and have the freedom to renovate. But that’s not the reality for most people. We kept having conversations with people who felt like they were in a holding pattern, like they couldn’t really invest in a space until they owned it. We wanted to make a book that spoke directly to them.
Emily Taylor and Drew Simel’s brownstone apartment in Brooklyn, New York, is one of Firmin and Dafkos’s favorite case studies in the book.
Niko Dafkos: The conversation around homeownership has fundamentally shifted. There’s a whole generation of people—particularly in cities—where homeownership by their early thirties is simply no longer the default expectation. For many people, renting is a lifestyle choice that provides freedom.
Emily and Drew converted a storage cupboard in their New York apartment into a playroom. "It was very clever," says Firmin. "They made it feel magical entirely through layered lighting."
Do you wish you had a book like this when you first rented?
Firmin: We spent a lot of our adult lives renting—and we built the early version of Earl of East in a rented apartment in East London. There was so much hesitation in those early years about investing in spaces we didn’t own, and we held back on things we shouldn’t have. We absolutely wish we’d had something like this.
Shai Akram and Andrew Haythornthwaite live in a Victorian-era former flour shop in Stoke Newington. Instead of saving for a mortgage, they invested in making their rental entirely unique. All of the design moves, from the partitions and storage to the two mezzanines, are completely reversible (the partitions are made of full sheets of plywood held in place without nails).
For someone who has just moved into a characterless rental, where do you suggest they start?
Firmin: Lighting first, always. Replace any harsh or cool bulbs with warm ones, stop using the overhead light, and bring in lamps. The transformation is immediate and costs almost nothing. Then scent—burn something familiar from the first evening. After that, bring out the things that tell your story. Books on a shelf, a ceramic you’ve had for years, a print that’s followed you from your last place. A blank rental starts to feel personal very quickly once the things that matter to you are visible.
Scott Bennett’s home in East London is characterized by its personal details. "Scott and his partner, an architect also named Scott, made a deliberate decision not to rush to furnish," explains Firmin. "Nothing came in without a story to tell. The result is a space that feels more considered and more personal than most homes people have lived in for decades."
Dafkos: Rearrange what you already have rather than buying new to create collections of your cherished pieces; dismantle and store landlord furniture that doesn’t feel like you; use open shelving to display ceramics, books, and vinyl recordss; and throw a piece of fabric over an unloved chair to tie it into a new color palette. Use curtains to hide screens; lean a large-scale print against a wall rather than hanging it; and use plants to bring life in. Scent is also really important—burn a candle or incense consistently, so the space starts to smell like yours. None of these require a big budget.
Brigette Muller’s apartment, also featured on Dwell, is filled with items passed down from family members that remind her of their time together. Textiles draped over sofas and chairs create a coherent palette, and she has a "magic drawer" in the kitchen filled with incense and candles. "I’m always thinking about how all five senses shape the feeling of a space," she says.
Are there any common decorating mistakes renters make when trying to improve a temporary home?
Firmin: The biggest one is living with things they hate because they feel like they can’t change them. You can ask your landlord about painting a wall—use it as a tool to get a reduced rent, even. You can also easily replace cabinet handles in the kitchen and swap them back when you leave. The other mistake is buying lots of cheap, disposable things to fill a space quickly rather than waiting for a few pieces they actually love. A room with five things you care about will always feel better than one full of things you settled for.
"Zoe Starreveld’s 1960s townhouse in North London stayed with us," says Firmin. "Zoe has never been interested in pristine finishes or show house styling—she sees her home as a stage for daily life, a backdrop for raising her son, Alby, and a testing ground for her design studio. Her approach to the constraints of renting is so pragmatic and so freeing. She simply leaves the things she can’t change—such as the kitchen and the utilitarian bathroom—and works entirely with movable elements, including textiles, plants, objects, and window treatments."
What are the pieces worth investing in if you move often?
Dafkos: Invest in things that travel well! The question we’d always ask when renting was: "Will this fit in a Zip van?" The more portable and personal something is, the more valuable it becomes over multiple moves. Practically, we’d also say keep a consistent palette. The same two or three colors repeated through cushions, textiles, and objects means every new flat feels like yours.
"A room with five things you care about will always feel better than one full of things you settled for."
—Paul Firmin, author
Firmin: A really good lamp. A rug that you love. A statement chair. A chest of drawers or sideboard that earns its place in every home. Good linen. Glassware you actually enjoy using. And a few key ceramics or objects that are genuinely meaningful. The test we’d apply is simple: Will I want this in ten years, and will it fit in a van? If the answer to both is yes, we say get it. Don’t wait for the forever home.
Yasmin Philgence and her partner, Dan, have made their South East London apartment feel like home by focusing on objects with meaning. Wine bottles saved from special occasions are dotted around the apartment, alongside records handed down from Dan’s father. The television sits on a chest that belonged to Dan’s grandmother.
Did writing the book change the way you think about your own home?
Firmin: Seeing how creatively people worked within serious constraints—tiny spaces, strict landlords, limited budgets—reminded us that the spirit of a home has very little to do with its square footage or how much money you spend. We also went straight home and ordered some of the plug-in uplights we kept seeing in the U.S. homes!
Rhett Baruch and Patty Sanchez’s 1920s apartment in Koreatown, Los Angeles, is a blend of home, gallery, and office—with an enormous Batchelder tile fireplace in the entry. Their interior style is a mix of studio crafts, modernist furniture, and what Rhett calls "weird stuff that nobody else really cared for."
What message do you hope readers take from Home for Now?
Firmin: That belonging is an active choice. It isn’t something that arrives when you finally own four walls—it’s something you create, through the daily decisions you make about how you inhabit a space. Home isn’t about forever. It’s about now. And now is enough.
Read about a converted workshop residence featured in Home for Now here.
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