Renting a home is a common practice, especially in big cities such as San Francisco. Whether you are a student, intern, or worker in the city, sometimes it is the best choice to rent a place while you are here. Luckily, Urbanests offers the most affordable San Francisco rentals that are located in the best parts of the city. That only that, we also want to make sure you have the best experience possible while you are with us. Here are some of our favorite room decorating tips to make your temporary room rental in San Francisco feel more like home!
Adding or Changing the Lighting
Don’t have enough lighting or want to change the mood of your home with different colored lights? Add your own personal lamps, plug-ins, string lights, or anything that suits your taste to spice up the lighting of your living space! These lights can easily be purchased at places such as Home Depot, Target, or basically any department store you can imagine. Go and brighten up your room with your favorite lights!
Temporary Wallpapers
If you really want to make your room feel more personal, try adding a removable wallpaper to it! Many people dream of painting their rooms with the favorite decorations or patterns, but can’t do so because they are renting a place. That’s where removable wallpapers come in handy, and with just a little extra bit of effort, you can have your walls covered with beautiful patterns that are catered to your own liking! Just make sure to clean up after yourself when it’s move-out time!
Hang things up with removable hooks
Sometimes renting a place might make you feel like you are not getting enough space to put all your belongings. If that’s the case, maybe it’s time to start thinking vertical and hanging things up with hangers or floating shelves that can be placed right on your walls! Not only is it awesome for organization and creating new space in your room, you can also show off your decoration skills by placing the hooks or shelves on places that you think will look the best. You can also hang up your favorite pictures or memories to tell a story and make your room feel more comfortable.
Decorate your floors with rugs
Not that into the color, condition, or style of your rental flooring? Invest in a colorful decorative rug to add some spice to your floor! Here’s a secret, just because you already have carpet doesn’t mean you can’t add more to it! In fact, we’ve seen many great results with layering beautiful mats on top of carpeted floors, so here’s your chance to show off your home-decorating skills!
Add some life to your home
Bring nature home with you and add some greens to your San Francisco room! You don’t always need to have a backyard to satisfy your gardening needs when you can bring some planters and window boxes home with you. Place these indoor plants next to the window for some natural lighting and watch your room come to life!
We hope these ideas helped you make your space feel more like home.
If you liked this blog and want to learn more about room decorating tips, check out our other blog here!
If you are still looking for that perfect room to put these decorating tips into action, Urbanests is your go-to place! Check out our available properties on our website!
The Main TransitsBart: No we aren’t talking about the troublesome Simpson’s character, BART is a lot more than a cool acronym. Bay Area Rapid Transit ranges from SFO through the city all the way out to the East Bay. At times over crowded and a little bit smelly (as most public transit in big cities are), it is still the best way to avoid the horrendous traffic on the Bay Bridge on the way to work. And although you can hear a Bart train screeching to a stop from a mile away it is inexpensive and reliable.
TIP: late flight or partying all night in the city? Don’t rely on Bart because it unfortunately stops running at midnight.
Caltrain: Your safest and cheapest bet for reliable transport may just be Caltrain. Perfect for getting anywhere on the Peninsula, the train runs from downtown San Francisco to San Jose and beyond! Out of all Bay Area transportation Caltrains has the highest and best reviews. Nothing much more to be said.
TIP: it gets very bright on these trains so sit on the west side in the morning and the east side for the evening.
Muni: Looking to get around the traffic-filled streets of San Francisco? Muni has got your back. This historic transit system not only has the best logo in the Bay, but also offers travel by the always-classic Street Cars, Cable Cars, and busses.
TIP: try not to rely on Muni if you are on a time crunch as it can be crowded and sometimes requires waiting for the next cable car, bus, etc.
Ridesharing: We all know how easy Uber and Lyft are, but compared to other public transit the city offers, it is a more expensive alternative.
TIP: if you select a pool ride on each app, it offers a cheaper (but sometimes longer) trip.
VTA: If you are heading out to a 49ers game at Levis Stadium or going for a day of rollercoaster rides at Great America the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is the perfect option.
TIP: visit the 49ers Museum at Levis Stadium, it is opened Fri – Sun, 10:00AM – 4:00PM.
Ferry: Perhaps the most enjoyable transportation system, the SF Ferry Building can take you to Oakland, Angel Island, Alcatraz, and Sausalito to name a few places. Prices range differently depending on where you are going (Alcatraz is more expensive than a trip to Sausalito).
TIP: for the cheapest boat ride in the city, take the “short hop”, it takes about 10 minutes and runs from Pier 41 to the Ferry Building and back. $1.60 for adults/youths, $0.80 for seniors.
Scooters: To limit the reckless scooter riders, the abandoned scooters, and the endless complaints, San Francisco has allowed only Scoot (now owned by Bird) and Skip (both Bay Area startups) to rent scooters. A scooter ride offers a fun and quick way to make shorter travel distance a lot easier. They are also perfect for a cheap way to go sight-seeing in such a wondrous city.
TIP: in CA you can NOT ride your scooter on the sidewalk. Stick to the bike lanes and the roads.
Taxi: Tax? I? Never heard of one
Car: The reason this article needed to be written
Payment
Clipper Card, Clipper Card, Clipper Card. That’s all you need to know. Every transit system in the region accepts Clipper Card for payment. All you need to do is load money or select a monthly pass on your card and press against the card reader as you hop on.
And of course, you can always use cash or card to buy a single ticket, but who wants to go through all that hassle? Not me
Leaving Town?
The International Airports in Oakland and San Francisco are easily accessible from Bart and make the traveling process a lot less stressful. Additionally, if you are heading down to SoCal, the Megabus can get you there and has frequent stops in SF, San Jose, and Oakland. Lastly, for all those powder shredders, the Bay Area Ski Bus will take you straight to the slopes in Tahoe and also offers discounted lift tickets!
Hello June! In the blink of an eye, Summer is already upon us. The rainy weeks are over and the weather is starting to warm up, which means it is time to get out there and have some fun in sunny San Francisco! Lucky for you, you are living in one of the best cities when it comes down to the amount of diverse activities around the area. San Francisco is also the center for co-living or community housing, which means that if you choose to live in our affordable San Francisco rooms, you are sure to meet new friends and buddies that are happy to go on some Summer adventures with you! Without further ado, here are some of our hand-picked activities that are going to be happening in San Francisco this Summer!
Music Festivals
San Francisco is known for its diverse population and therefore has a wide variety of music all around the city. If you are a Jazz lover, the Fillmore Jazz Festival will be taking place on July 6th and July 7th this year covering twelve blocks in the Pacific Heights district. If you are an opera fan, the famous SF Opera will be having several shows both in June and July at the War Memorial Opera House. This year, there will be performances including Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, and many more!
There will also be several live music festivals featuring bands, singers, and more throughout the summer. One of the festivals is the Stern Grove Festival at the Stern Grove Park. These concerts will be happening every week starting in the middle of June all the way to August, and will have many popular singers and a different theme every single week! Best of all, admission is completely free! Another one of the biggest San Francisco music festivals is the Outside Lands Music Festival that will be happening during August 9th to August 11th. There will be over 70 bands performing for 3 days, including Twenty One Pilots, Childish Gambino, and blink-182!
Street Festivals
When we talk about festivals, we can’t forget about all the amazing street festivals that San Francisco has that features all different kinds of food and entertainment. The North Beach Festival is one of the biggest street fairs that has been taking place taking place for more than sixty years. This year, it will be happening on June 15th-16th and will have more than 20 food vendors, over 100 arts and crafts vendors, a kid’s chalk area, and Italian street painting. There will also be live music and entertainment at four different stages at the festival.
If you fall in love with North Beach and would like to have a place to stay, don’t forget we have many single rooms and double co-living rooms available in North Beach today, and you can check them out on our website!
371 Columbus Residences at North Beach -provided by Urbanests
524 Columbus Residences of North Beach -provided by Urbanests
If you are more of a fan of Union City, then head over to Union Square Live, which is happening now until October! The diverse street fair will be featuring free dance, theater, music, and other performances and entertainments in San Francisco’s Union Square Plaza every Wednesday at 6pm and Sunday at 2pm. Since this part of the city is close to all public transit, the fair is only a bus or BART ride away! Urbanests also has many housing options available near Union Square, check out these rooms!
1010 Bust St, walking distance to Union Square -provided by Urbanests
Pyramid Residences, walking distance to Union Square -provided by Urbanests
Another fun and diverse festival is the Haight Street Fair of San Francisco! This year marks the 41st Anniversary of a festival that celebrates the diversity and history of the Haight-Ashbury District and will be happening on June 9th. There will be more than 200 booths with food and crafts for sale as well as live music for everyone to enjoy while at the fair.
Fill you Summer with fun from all around San Francisco this year by checking out some of these amazing fairs and festivals! Whether you want to go somewhere with live music, food vendors, or just a place to hang out with your friends, San Francisco definitely has it all!
We at Urbanests are always dedicated to providing all of our tenants with a warm environment in the heart of San Francisco, and we are proud to welcome students and interns from all over the world into our properties!
We know how hard it is to move into a new place, especially in the big city of San Francisco. Therefore we always try our very best to provide the most welcoming environment at all of our residences where you can meet new friends and easily integrate into your new home.
Recently, our property hosted a pizza party where all tenants were invited to join. Dinner was provided for everyone and there were also lots of games for residents to play on a Saturday night!
Our wonderful Resident Manager Ben Elias organized the events for our residents and lots of people came to enjoy pizza, soda, and fun games at the 1080 Folsom property.
If you are outgoing and would want to make lots of new friends, then our property is definitely the one for you!
Tenants came together to enter a Pictionary Contest because it was so much fun when it was offered in our last event! There were also other games such as Monopoly, cards, puzzles, drawing, and anything you can think of!
Of course, what’s a game without prizes? Many mystery prizes and surprises were given out to the winners of these games!
It’s never too late to join our fun and welcoming community where people come from all over to join the students living in San Francisco and meet friends that could last a lifetime. Like our motto says, we strive to create communities one friend at a time and will always be there to make you feel at home.
If you are interested in our 1080 Folsom Residence, where the event took place, we have singles, doubles, and triples available!
We also have room available all over San Francisco, such as our 1010 Bust St Residence located in the prime location of Nob Hill!
You can also check out our website by clicking here to see a full list of all of our properties!
San Francisco is a city that is always full of life, and if you are one of our tenants living in our affordable San Francisco rooms, then you already know the never-ending list of activities you can do in this city. If you aren’t living in our San Francisco housing, don’t worry, you can still book one of the fully furnished single rooms or affordable shared rooms on our website! Today, we are going take you beyond just your average SF housing group and guide you through a tour of the famous beautiful and mysterious science museum of Pier 15: The Exploratorium!
The Exploratorium is a ceaseless learning laboratory that features over six-hundred exhibits in the museum. You are also free to explore any of your subject of interest as the laboratory features galleries and showings based on phenomenons such as making your own telescope, making a battery from a penny, and even turning garbage into gold! There are an endless number of fun activities to do in the museum and we are going to reveal some of our favorites!
Distorted Room
Are you a fan of Alice in Wonderland? If you are, then definitely take a peek into this seemingly normal room and you’ll see how people seem to get bigger and smaller as they walk around this exhibit, just like in the movie! This unusual room is made to give of an illusion of an average square room, but in reality, the ceiling on one side of the room is actually twice as high as the other! Don’t forget to bring your camera for some unforgettable pictures in this wonderfully bizarre room!
Colored Shadows
In this exhibit, make your shadows come to life in all sorts of different colors as you stand in front of the wall. You can make these colorful shadows walk, jump, or even dance in hues of purple, red, yellow, green, and blue. Just because you are in a museum, doesn’t mean you can’t have your own little dance party!
Spectral Meadow
Another colorful phenomenon, the Spectral Meadow is a piece of art that consists of various arrays of lights created by a rather unusual but famous artist… The Sun! Sunlight itself, after being filtered through diffraction gratings on the windows above the gallery, shines on the floor as well as the walls of the exhibit in beautiful colors. Being in this exhibit truly feels like you are immersed in the lights of a rainbow.
The Tactile Dome
Are you up for a challenge? The Tactile Dome is one of the most popular and loved exhibits in the Exploratorium where you have to walk, crawl, or climb your way out of a path completely covered by darkness! Heighten your senses to a maximum and challenge yourself to a maze completely in the dark!
Remember, the Exploratorium has hundreds of different exhibits available for all ages and these were only some of them. If you want to check out the rest of the fun activities, you can visit their website here.
