Rental style The ultimate guide to decorating your apartment or small home

Experts suggest that those starting a career or moving to a new city should rent housing first and buy later. One concern with renting, though, is ensuring that the unowned apartment or house speaks to the individual's sense of home--without the need to make alternatives that could be costly move-out issues. Enter interior decorator Brown, blogger behind City Chic Decor, who specializes in personalizing rentals. This is her room-by-room view, complete with good color photographs (it's hard to believe there's contact paper on those countertops, for example). Every chapter features design products to consider that are fairly easy to take with, such as books, faux flowers, rugs, and floating shelves. There's advice, too, for finding apartments (especially difficult in cities like Boston, New York, and San Francisco), from avoiding last-minute searches to signing a contract quickly. How to transform an ugly bathroom? Try a new shower curtain and rug. Includes a list of go-to resources.

Renters who drool over HGTV decorating shows but don't have the freedom to knock down walls will swoon over this practical guide on how to cultivate maximum style in a nonpermanent setup. Brown, a Manhattan interior decorator who has lived in a number of tiny New York City apartments, starts by providing tips on landing the perfect pad, especially in markets as competitive as N.Y.C. ("sign as soon as possible"), then moves on to advise which items are worth investing in (mirrors, wall art, curtains) and which are not (area rugs, couch, coffee table). Narrow entryways--the bane of many a big-city apartment--are made beautiful with runners, floating shelves, and mirrors. Love wainscoting but live in an apartment without it? Brown demonstrates how this distinctive "character feature" can be created with painted lightweight boards and Velcro tape. No room for a dining room table? Brown has a variety of solutions, such as a wall-mounted folding table or a lift-top coffee table. She also shows that furniture with built-in storage is worth its weight in gold, as are shelf risers. This'll be a hit with anyone who writes a rent check and wants to add a bit of flair to their home. (June)