Rewind to this past July, when I unlocked the door to my new apartment, flipped on the lights for the first time…and was sorely disappointed with what I saw. Rental apartments are known for having awful, cheap and unflattering lighting, and mine was no different. From the fluorescent bulbs to the dated fixtures, my apartment was desperately in need of upgrades. But improving an apartment lighting situation on a limited budget with landlord-imposed rules to follow can prove difficult.

One of the first changes I made to my new apartment after moving this past summer was changing out all of the ugly CFL bulbs that were in all of my fixtures. CFL bulbs are great for saving energy and money, but I personally dislike them inside my home as I think the light they give off is unflattering. The most offensive instance of this was in the eye-level bathroom fixture. Every time I turned on my bathroom light, the harsh light blinded me while simultaneously casting enough shadows over my face to make it look like I hadn’t slept in weeks. Needless to say, I quickly traded in that bulb for this decorative incandescent bulb that casts a warm, pleasant glow over the space. If you’re looking to save energy and money but aren’t willing to sacrifice the look of a warm white incandescent, LED lights are the perfect solution. And since they last up to 25,000 hours, you won’t have to change your apartment lights whether your lease is for one year or 10.

If your apartment is cursed with the dreaded “boob light,” like mine unfortunately is, there are some solutions for you as well. There are thousands of attractive decorative fixtures on the market today, any of which would be an improvement to this common apartment lighting look. Of course, you should consult with your landlord and an electrician before making any changes to your light fixtures. A less labor-intensive alternative is simply switching out the old bulbs in your ugly fixtures for brighter, warmer ones. My fixtures contained slow-to-turn-on, too-bright daylight CFL bulbs, so this solution worked nicely for me.

Another problem that plagues renters is the lack of light in the unit as a whole. My entire 850-square-foot apartment contains three light fixtures—yes, three! The living room, which happens to be the largest space in the apartment, has no light source at all. To combat this, I brought in two standing column lamps and two large table lamps for my living room, two table lamps for my bedroom, and another standing lamp for the kitchen and dining area.

Though this sounds like a lot of light, it's definitely necessary to make your space bright enough to be both inviting and functional. Plug-in lamps are an absolute necessity in any rental, as the lack of control of where, what kind, and how bright the existing apartment lights are can ruin the atmosphere and functionality of your home.

Anyone who has lived the apartment life for a few years has probably gotten the short end of the stick on the view from your window at some point. For me, it was last year, when my bedroom window was about 10 feet away from a huge parking garage. Because of this, I got very little natural light in my room and, obviously, didn't have the most scenic view. See the outlines of cars parked right in front of my window?

I blocked out the less than appealing view with sheer curtains and chose to make my own light by outlining my window with micro-LED lights. As you can see, this solved my light problem quite well! The headlights streaming in my windows at all hours were a different story.