Super Cheap and Easy Value Add for your Rental

[Shannon Sadik]

After recently spending several thousand dollars renovating a rental unit to what I thought was really nice, the new tenant asked if I would be willing to replace perfectly good sliding closet doors to newer, more modern ones. The request irked me, but I wanted to find a way to keep this tenant happy. She had great references and was paying premium rent. Sooo, I googled and realized sliding closet doors are expensive!  But I came up with an idea and thought i'd share it here in case others can use it too.

It's called Washi tape. You can google tons of images for design ideas, but the beauty of this tape is that it is easily removable without any residue left behind and comes in a multitude of colors/patterns.  And the best part-- it's only $3 a roll!! 

Here is a pic of the original doors. 

Here is a pic of the new doors with gold Washi tape. 

I do have to warn you that the tape doesn't work great on dirty or uneven surfaces. In the second bedroom, even after a coat of paint, the tape kept coming off, so I opted for electrical tape instead. The tenant absolutely loved it and I was very glad to have found this compromise. 

On the next rental unit I was renovating, I was aiming for a very modern look, but didn't want to spend money replacing perfectly good white appliances with stainless steel ones, so I used the washi tape again. 

It took me about 10 minutes to put on this tape and I think it achieved the look I was going for. And if the next tenant doesn't like it, no problem! It just comes right off!