Medina Grillo’s hands-on experience of renovating her rented three-bedroom semi spurred the creation of a blog to help like-minded home-improvers. Now, almost a decade since its launch, it attracts up to 80,000 monthly visitors.
When she first moved to Birmingham, she was working as a health professional and updating her house in her spare time. The family has now been there for eight years, but prior to this Medina and her husband had lived in seven rental properties. “When we first moved in, we spoke to the landlord and told him we were looking for something long-term as we’d already had our first son,” she explains. “We wanted to decorate and he was quite open to that.”
Medina’s 1950s house didn’t have feature fireplaces or period character, so they’ve added their own. “In my living room, we created built-in bookcases, which has made a big impact on the space. It looks so much nicer,” she says. “I would blog about these types of updates, because it was a way to relax and it felt therapeutic after having worked on something serious like a surgery.”
Once Medina, 35, started posting about her home-improvement projects on social media, she realised a lot of people of the same age were in similar positions and her content was highly relatable. “I know how to navigate different types of landlords as I’ve had so many,” she explains. “I’ve been in situations where I’ve decorated the house and I’ve had to move out a couple of months later.”
As you enter her current home there’s a small porch and here she has applied her creativity using Ikea hacks for shelves to display art; there is even an unconventional floor covering. “We initially laid wallpaper and put a sealant over it,” she explains. “That held up for about three or four years. I then added linoleum on top of it instead, which is what we still have now.”
As more of us were restricted to our homes during the pandemic in 2020, being comfortable in that space grew in importance. When Medina started her Instagram account, @grillodesigns, it was unusual to see rental homes used as interior-design inspiration. “I found that some people feel that being a renter means they’re somehow not as successful as a person who owns,” she explains, “or because you rent you can’t have a nice home.” Medina wants to help these people overcome this belief. “I think it’s really important to talk about renting in a way where you can have and buy nice things for your home, within your own limits.”
Having children didn’t stop Medina and her husband from doing this. They had a four-year old – now 11 – when they moved in, and they now have a two-year-old, too. “We did a lot of DIY when our eldest was very little and he got quite used to it,” she says. “He’d try to join us or take part as best as he could and I think that’s important – when you have kids, make them feel included and their spaces will feel more like home.”
In the hallway, Medina painted numbers on the stair risers using a stencil. At the time her son was obsessed with numbers, so they incorporated them in their interior design. “We would always count the stairs when going up.”
In her own bedroom, before she had her second child, she had dark walls. “After having my youngest, I just felt like I wanted a space that was a bit different and a bit more uplifting, and peaceful and calm at the same time,” she says. “I changed it again recently – we installed new wardrobe doors and painted the whole room back to white with the ceiling coloured in Crown Paints’ Overjoyed to kind of make it feel more fresh.” Carefully chosen accessories – curtains, cushions and a green throw from Dunelm – bring the look together.
Although she’s moved around a lot, making spaces special and comfortable has always been important. It is something her own mother did when Medina was a child. “I want to pass this to my children, because when you’re a child you don’t know whether your house is rented or owned. It’s not really a big deal to you at all. You just want to come home to a place where you feel safe.”
In 2019, Medina wrote Home Sweet Rented Home about her experiences as a renter and featuring advice on DIY in rental properties. “I’ve had landlords that weren’t really great with keeping on top of home updates and I’ve had to move as a result of that,” she says. “So I’ve really had it all over the years. I know what to do and what not to do.”
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Homing instincts: Medina Grillo’s top tips for high-impact decorating in a rental
Decorate in ways that won’t damage the walls. For instance, you can use temporary wallpaper that can be removed.
If you are not allowed to paint, add interest with temporary touches, such as stickers. Inject personality using accessories – try a feature rug or some bright coloured cushions.
Get the children involved and ask for their input when it comes to making decisions, especially in their own bedrooms.
If you can’t hang works of art, place them on freestanding shelving systems. ‘I think that art is the best way to inject colour into any space.’
Talk to your landlord and see whether they’d be willing to contribute financially to long-term home improvements.
It’s important to think about our impact on the world and not be constantly changing things and buying new items. ‘We need to decorate in a way that we know will last a long time.’
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