Kitchen cabinets...

Kris, my fiancé, and I moved into our apartment at the end of January. It was a blank canvas for us, all white and beige. We have the option of painting the walls, which a lot of renters don't, so we're kind of lucky.

If you're one of those renters who cannot paint without breaking your lease, there's a few simple things you can do to add a little color and personality to your home. Today, I'm going to discuss my kitchen cabinets.

I added vinyl wall decals to my cheap "plastic" cabinets.

I saw these cute bird decals at Target on clearance and bought two packages, planning on using them on the kitchen walls. Now, if you're walls are highly textured like mine, they won't stick. They just kept falling off. I thought I had wasted my money, until I realized how cute they might look up on the cabinets. So here's what you do:

First, clean the surface cabinets. If yours are actual wood, you may want to use a wood cleaner, otherwise a simple all-purpose cleaner is fine.

After you've cleaned the cabinets and they're completely dry, you can figure out where you want to place the decals. I had a lot of decals, but I didn't want my kitchen to look too tacky, so I only used about half of what I had on hand.

As you're placing them on the cabinet, smooth out any air bubbles that appear. It may take a couple of times to get it just right, but don't worry 'cuz the adhesive stays sticky a long time!

In all, I used the decals on four cabinet doors in the kitchen and two in my "laundry room" (below). Since you only see one set from the living room, they look more like a cute little accent. People always think I actually painted the cabinets, but I'm sure that's NOT allowed.

There are all different styles of wall decals. You can buy them at craft stores, home improvement stores, IKEA, you can even buy them off Etsy! I think they're great because they aren't permanent. When you get sick of them, you can just peel them off!

Do you have a decorating tip you'd like to share?