Rental House Front Stoop Update

INSIDE : Did you know Apartments, Condos and Rental homes are allowed to be beautiful spaces. It’s true! Just because you don’t own your living quarters, does not mean it can’t be a place you love spending time in. Check out my Rental House Front Stoop update because two years living in the rental home, didn’t stop me from making it a charming entry!

Rental House Front Stoop simple Updates, Delineate Your Dwelling


This post may contain affiliate links.  See here for my full disclosure.

This post has been updated since it’s original October 2016 publish date.

It has been quite some time since I did a rental house post, so today is the day!  Today I am going to share my Rental House Front Stoop Update.  Notice I didn’t say renovation or even makeover… sometimes when you live in a rental, there is not a lot you can actually do to change a space.  However, I am here to show you what a huge difference just a few little small updates can make!!

What is a Front Stoop vs a Porch?

A stoop is typically a small staircase ending in a platform that leads to the entrance of a building or home.

A porch is the roofed area outside, but still attached to the walls of the house.

Before Rental front entry

Here is what our little front stoop looked like before my little update.  There was a step up to our screened door, a small landing and then one more step to our home’s wooden front door.

I lived with it being three shades of green for a full year. There was the vibrant hunter green indoor/outdoor carpet, one soft sage green trim + accent wall, very pale sage green remaining walls and then two green + white checkered valances.  

It wasn’t awful, but felt a little dingy and didn’t match the exterior or interior of our home.

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before

One day during the spring while my kiddos took their hour long quiet time, I went into the basement and grabbed a can of WHITE paint we already had and just started painting.  Instantly things started to feel so much better.

Why is it that when living in a rental home, we are so afraid to make our home… OUR home?  

The room has quite a bit of detail work due to a gorgeous planked wall, but painting it was so worth the effort.  And what a better space to make look welcoming and more like my family than the front stoop – literally the very first impression of our home.

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Simple updates to a Front Stoop

While the paint dried, I shopped my home a little and then headed off to Target for a few finishing decor touches.

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Supplies needed to update a Rental Front Stoop

Wire wall baskets 
gorgeous black and white plaid rug 
Deer hook (similar)
Copper pipe shelves 
Two white valances 
Fern wreath 
Allllllll the plants

Creating an updated Rental Front Porch

This is the view right when you open the door into the stoop area.  The very first thing you notice is the plaid rug, which is probably my favorite part of the room.

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling

Organizational baskets

On the left side of the space I hung the black wire basket with hooks.  Over the summer these baskets were filled with bug spray, citronella candles and of course, air plants.

I was also channeling my inner preppy Jungalow with covering all the window sills with my plants.  It works as a perfect little green house and I love pop of plants every where I look.

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling

DIY Painted Valences

I took these super inexpensive white valences and painted simple black stripes on them for an instant crisp update! I used painters tape to mark off the lines and it took maybe an hour plus dry time.

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Plaid Doormat

I bought the 2’7″ x 5′ rug size because it was the biggest I could go to cover as much of the indoor/outdoor carpet as possible.  If this were a home we owned, I would have replaced this carpet but a rental a rug was the perfect option.

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling

Quirky Hooks

And because it hurts my heart just a little to be too white and black, I hung my sweet deer hook with a string of pom poms I made.  Every room needs just a little odd, don’t you think?  (Similar hook)

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling

Adding Plants

I also moved my Ikea Pineapple plant inside, so hopefully he will keep growing over the winter!

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling
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On the other side of the front door, I hung my DIY Copper Pipe Shelves.  They are the perfect size to hold my smaller air plants and they add just a touch of copper to the room.

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling

Updating your Mail Shoot

Our mailman delivers the mail right to our house and this little door is where our mail enters from outside.  I had wanted to remove the old wooden knob and replace it with a copper knob.  

As much as I twisted that wooden knob was NOT coming off so I got smart and PAINTED it copper!!  I used my favorite copper foil paint (it’s actually a bronze color but it looks perfectly copper).  It’s remarkable how real it looks.

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It may seem silly, but I wish the space was even 12″ wider so I could put a little chair in there.  The room makes my heart sing with it’s cheerful white walls and plants all around.  

Really there isn’t much more you could want from a room in your home.  So whether you are an owner or a renter – make your space work for you!

Rental House Front Stoop Update, Delineate Your Dwelling

Check out some of my other Rental Home posts:

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6 Comments

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Thanks so much! 😉

  1. Looks great! Love the black, white and green colors together!

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Thanks so much, Heidi! It’s such a happy room to enter our home to, now.

  2. It looks darling Amy! The plants and the pom poms are so much fun. What a transformation a little paint makes. Adding to my rental tips board!

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Thanks, Kathy! Low budget and low effort, but yes – paint can do wonders!!

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