How To Furnish Student Let

It’s that time of the year when thoughts turn to student accommodation. Whilst most campuses offer a range of self contained rooms, some parents see this as an opportunity to invest in a house or flat for their children and friends to share and reduce their own child’s living costs.

There are a few basics. Each student will want their own room and a double bed should be standard.  Supplying a mattress protector is also a good idea and a yale lock on each bedroom door is also advised. A double wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside table and desk and chair with lamp should complete the room.

Some landlords will include a couple of pictures on nails or a cork-board- no one wants to look at blank walls nor do they want blu-tack marks to deal with.

Practical and hard wearing is preferable to ideal home style. Brown carpets are the new beige for bedrooms and a short dense twist will last longer than a loose long pile nylon carpet. If the living room is less than 4 metres wide then a wood effect vinyl can be as hardwearing as laminate and most importantly easy to mop spills.

There are lots of good quality faux leather sofas and chairs at excellent prices and they are immensely practical and, remember, new furniture will meet fire regulations.

An inventory will help you keep track of items so it is worth supplying a range of kitchenware and new electrical items. With a shortage of cupboard space usually, shared pots and pans, kettle, iron, microwave and carpet sweeper will be welcome- and hopefully the latter will get used!

A range of glass chopping boards will also hopefully be used, saving a valuable work surface from cuts. Paper shades for ceiling light fittings will hide energy saving bulbs and blackout roller blinds for bedrooms will also keep costs down yet private practical solutions.  If the bedrooms are on the ground floor, you might want to consider vertical or venetian blinds which will afford privacy yet still let light in.

There are other things that will be necessary, contents insurance which has an emergency service if you are too far away to deal with flood for example.  Fire extinguisher, smoke alarms and a written tenancy agreement are also required. There are companies who can supply and install a full range of furniture and fittings if time, energy and distance make this task seem daunting. I have included full inventories on my website

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