When it came time to pick out decor for my wedding, I figured I only had one option: find the coolest stuff you could get at the dollar store, buy lots of it, and cover it in paint and glitter. Getting married near my hometown (before it went and got hip) meant that all of the rental houses were very old school. And thus, my options for modern, eclectic, interesting wedding decor were situated firmly between “not enough options” and “not in my budget.” But today that all changes! Because now there’s Rentivist.
Rentivist is what would happen if you merged your local rental house, with the unique finds of a great flea market, the curation of a West Elm catalog, and the person-to-person functionality of Airbnb. They offer everything from furniture rentals, to decor, to tents and all the odds and ends you could ask for. And the stuff is good. Here’s how they explain it:
We’re simply a space for those seeking a world filled with plentiful and diverse rentals for creative projects, events, and everyday life. And for those who want to make money sharing their awesome things with the world.
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
Think of Rentivist as the Airbnb of rental houses. All transactions on Rentivist happen directly between the lister and renter, and Rentivist has listers across the US (with more options in California, Florida, and Minnesota). Just start browsing for rentals—you can narrow things down by location or item type—and you’ll be immediately greeted with dozens upon dozens of beautiful items just waiting to temporarily serve your purpose. Each renter has their own rental policies (see an example here—just click on the “About & Policies” section at the top of the page), which might include delivery terms (some include free delivery, others don’t), rental period, what geographic areas they service, and even optional styling assistance if you need it.
While Rentivist offers lots of rentals across a bunch of different categories, where they really shine is in furniture rentals. Because let’s say you’re planning a backyard shindig and you want a comfy cozy place for people to be able to lounge while others are dancing. Well now you can easily rent a cool velvet sofa for 0 or two awesome vintage wicker chairs for , instead of scouring craigslist for discounted items and then having to figure out what the hell to do with your furniture when it’s over. (Not that there’s still zebra print benches somewhere in my mom’s house or anything.)
And while Rentivist does have more options available in certain geographies, it’s especially useful if you’re getting married in one of those parts of the country where all the cute stuff shows up last (aka not San Francisco and New York). Lots of Rentivist’s renters will ship or deliver across state lines, especially for the small stuff. They’re also great for smaller weddings, where you only need a handful of items (lots of their renters don’t have minimum order requirements).
So if you’d resigned yourself to scouring craigslist for cool decor, or spending every weekend at your local thrift shop, but secretly wish you didn’t have to? Then Rentivist might be the #lazygirl answer to your problems. Head over to their site today and start browsing. In the meantime, I should totally throw myself a lavish sleepover for my thirtieth birthday just so I can rent this, right? (Just say yes.)
P.S. Not looking to rent? For those of you who have leftover stuff from your wedding (or just Life) RENTIVIST IS OFFERING APW READERS a 30% discount on NEW LISTER SUBSCRIPTIONS, JUST USE CODE “RVAPW16” when you sign up.
