If you are renting......

Did you go crazy with painting and fixing things??? Our apartment is in pretty good condition...but I don't want to go crazy fixing things since its not ours but we want it to look nice. Just curious what everyone did..

BTW the landlords said we could paint anywhere we wanted and change fixtures etc

Re: If you are renting......

We did a little fixing up - but not too much.
For instance, we painted every room when we moved in, the landlord paid us back for all of the paint and supplies.

The next project may be a deck in the backyard, we'll see.

Re: If you are renting......

We are currently renting...may actually be in contract for a house very soon. However, we did what we could to make it "ours". We loved our apartment to begin with, but we kind of set a budget for ourselves and worked from there. Our walls are an off white color. We had wanted to paint, but figured that the color on the walls might actually make it look less spacious. It's a spacious one bedroom. Although we've only been here about a year, I am glad that we've done what we've done to make it ours. You still want it to feel like home, you know? Good luck!

I realized I forgot to say what we did! We bought a pot rack and an island for our kitchen to separate it from where the kitchen table would be. It makes it look more broken up. We bought a chandelier to replace the fixture they had in the kitchen. We also bought art work that would fit in certain areas.

Message edited 3/23/2006 9:54:54 PM.

Re: If you are renting......

We did nothing--I barely hung up things on the walls. I foudn no point in spending money on something that wasn't mine. If it was mine I would have done alot of work but it just wasn't worth it to us & we knew we would be out in a year.

Re: If you are renting......

Our landlord painted everyting before we moved in. Granted, the walls are white and really bland, but we hung up some pictures and curtains, so it looks ok. Can't wait for our own house where we can do what we want!!

Re: If you are renting......

We haven't hung anything on the walls either & it's been about a year & half, but aren't staying mroe than 2 years. We resued old curatains & just bougth LR & bathroom curtains & bathrom accessories ( rug, shower curtain,e tc)

We did paint the bathroom walls & celing, b/c after less than a year they were peeling & mildewy & it was easier to do it oursleves.

When we first moved in we painted some old furniture we had, but they we will obviously take with us. We recently bought a runner for the hallway & eve that I felt almost wasn't worth it, b/c it fits that hallway specifically & we plan to move soon.

We didn't buy any new furniture (expect a queen bed--no headboard or anything). . we were able to make due with things I purchased along the way for previously rented apartments.

ETA--there are a few thigns I would like to change, but won't b/c we aren't stayigntoo long--the ceiling fan needs to be replaced & several overhead light fixtures are brokwn & are just bare bulbs.

Message edited 3/24/2006 10:56:51 AM.

Re: If you are renting......

Re: If you are renting......

No way, aside from pics and some decor

Furniture was thge cheapest I could find. Its a waste of $$$. Take the $$ and put it in the bank

Re: If you are renting......

Yes.
I did.
We wanted to make it ours.
We took down the wallpaper, painted, etc.
It looks really nice.
The rent was cheap so we figured, why not splurge a little.
We will probably be here a while- we are basically trying out neighborhoods to see where we want to buy.

Re: If you are renting......

We're not allowed to paint. However we hung pictures and did our best to make it fee like home.

Re: If you are renting......

We painted right before we moved in - the entire apartment was this sunshine-yellow that was totally unbearable. We might not have done it if our landlord didn't offer to pay for it (we saved the receipts and he reimbursed us).

As for furniture, the only stuff we bought was a sofa, coffee table and accent table - everything else was hand-me-down's. We didn't want to spend money on apartment furniture...

Re: If you are renting......

oh.
we're probably going to get another light fixture in our bedroom.
We have gotten a lot of new furniture.
But it's nice stuff we can take with us anywhere (china cabinet, bedroom set, etc.)

Re: If you are renting......

We live in a large 2BR w/ a DR in Queens. We painted some of the rooms. We bought all the decor we wanted and we have all brand new furniture. We figure we can take it all with us if we ever buy a house. There are a few things that if it was a house we would fix like a ugly looking radiator, broken light switches, new rugs, etc. We always say we dont want to spend the $ cause its not a house, but we have lived there for 5 years already and we dont forsee having a house anytime in the near future.

Re: If you are renting......

When I used to rent, I put down a new floor in the kitchen (the self stick tiles) and did a few other things. I wanted it to look nice since it was my home.

Re: If you are renting......

Anything you can to make it feel more like home...do it!

The apt we're currently in we didn't do any painting, etc. because they just had it painted before we moved in.
The apt before the one we are in now we painted like crazy. I hate plain white walls....I wanted color and I got color.

Also, if the carpets are GROSS I would replace them...allergies and who wants to walk barefoot on that. Luckily the carpets in our new place are new and super clean.

Re: If you are renting......

We didn't go too crazy. We only painted the bathroom. Bought nice curtains, sheets and things to make it homey. But we didn't splurge as much as if we were furnishing a coop/condo/home.