Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The GOOD

Renting certainly has its perks, including calling the landlord to fix broken appliances, and no strings attached freedom to move to a new apartment at the end of the lease.  Renting also gives you an opportunity to declutter with each move.  From a design perspective, moving to a new apartment gives you the opportunity to start over! With craigslist and ebay, you can sell your rugs and lamps and go in an entirely new design direction.  Even if you keep everything, your stuff will look different in each apartment which is very cool.  


Many rental apartments are large, white boxes so you get to exercise your design muscle to make the rental apartment a home.  I would never make structural changes to a rental apartment, but paint is an easy and harmless solution.  Just paint over when you leave.  Renting is a fantastic option if you find yourself living in a less than permanent location.  


My husband and I are from the North Carolina and Alabama, and there is a good chance we could leave NY one day.  Renting allows us to pick up and leave when the time feels right without worrying about selling or carrying an apartment in another state.  

The BAD


Finding a balance between doing enough to make your apartment feel like home and resisting the urge to do more can be incredibly difficult.  I would love to own a home, cultivate a design plan and obsess over the state of every corner.  Pinterest does not help the situation.  When you rent you have to really evaluate your design choices or you could end up spending lots of money between moves.  


You have to decide whether or not to hang a TV if you only plan to stay a year.  You have to decide if you want to buy a 5x7 area rug to use now even though you would likely replace it with an 8x10 rug in a larger space in the future (I sold my watermelon colored madeline weinrib rug on ebay last year and have not replaced the rug for this reason).  You have to decide on your bedding.  Decide if you want neutrals that could work in your current bedroom and a color scheme you select for your future bedroom, or if you want to go bold (I like white bedding.  Brought in colorful accessories and painted the walls).


Should you monogram the cheap euro shams to make your bedroom look more complete, or just replace them in the future? Do you want to buy a headboard or bed now or wait?  I am holding off buying a headboard/bed because my only option in NY would be a headboard (need space under the bed for storage, would never ever do a footboard in a NY apartment-no room), and I might rather have a full blown bed in the future.   


 So the solution I've found is to use paint for cheap but high impact fixes (painted bedside tables and kitchen table/chairs) rather than buying something now that might need to be replaced in 2 years.  And if you must buy something new, try to buy something that could work in a future space.  We recently bought a new sofa-clean lines, gray linen upholstery-should work anywhere.
   

The UGLY


Rent tends to increase.  Not so grand entrance: I am dying to have a front door (with an amazing antique knocker) that I can decorate with plants, trees and pumpkins according to the season.  My cable box is sitting on a shelf in the living room.  Cords are everywhere, and I draped a canvas drop cloth over the shelf to try to disguise them.  It's pretty hideous but more economical than having the wires hidden in the wall or buying a temporary piece of furniture.  I started blogging recently .   




 Best, Coby Kutcher from Orange Cashmere blog! 

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hi! I'm Jamie from the blog [kreyv]. Because of Mr. Hubs' medical schooling, residency, and fellowship, we have rented for nine of our eleven years of marriage. Here are my thoughts on the good, bad, and ugly.

The GOOD

 
I would say that my favorite thing about renting is not being responsible for major maintenance issues. If anything gives you problems or breaks, it's not your problem. At our current rental, the maintenance manager even prefers to change our light bulbs, so that the lighting fixtures don't break (which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world...more on that later)! Aside from maintenance, we love having a pool, fitness club, and clubhouse to use whenever we like.

We have found that most landlords/managers don't mind if you paint, which is a big relief, because chances are, I'm going to want to change the colors of the wall. Some places either charge you or ask that you repaint to the original color. However, if you are renting a private resident, many landlords will agree to let you change things at their expense. Our last rental was a single family home. We changed wall colors, bathroom vanities, light fixtures, and window coverings. Our landlord paid for all of it. We were able to make the home ours, and the landlord got free labor. Win win...for everyone except my husband who did all of the work!

My final "good" is that there's not a huge commitment with renting. We have lived in four different states that, prior to moving, we knew nothing about. Finding a home to buy when you only have a weekend to look is completely scary. Plus, we don't have to worry about leaving an unsold second home when we move again.

The BAD

We are allowed to paint in our current rental, but here's the catch: we have to either repaint the entire thing, OR pay tons of money to have them repaint it. So, we've only painted the entry and the living room, and I just live with the ugly not my favorite paint in all of the other rooms.

I am obsessed with interior design and believe that paint color and lighting are both crucial elements to a good design, neither meet my expectations in our rental. We have no overhead lighting in our living room, which is common in rentals, and I hate it! I need light! We installed a track lighting in our living room, which helps, but isn't the same as good lighting. And, speaking of lighting, the light fixtures here are not one bit cute. But, when renting, you can't be too picky. I guess I'll live with the bad lighting in exchange for granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and good floors.

And finally, space and storage--or more accurately, the lack of. We are lucky to have walk-in closets in every room, which helps a ton, but we still don't have enough storage. It forces you to be very creative by adding shelves and exercising the art of organization.

The UGLY

 
Having a two year old adds some additional items to our wish list. I wish we had a yard. We are super close to lots of parks, but there's something to be said about a fenced in yard of your own. Besides the privacy, the worry of unknown dangers and strangers isn't such an issue. Other "uglies?" Knowing exactly what movie your neighbors are watching or what songs they are listening to, neighbors who add lawn ornaments, benches, and lighting to the teeny, tiny shared grass areas (we live in town homes), and people who drive around the parking lot as if it's a race track. 

I guess I could some up those last items by saying neighbors. Neighbors that are too close! Luckily, our immediate neighbors are wonderful. Thank goodness!

For now, the good outweighs the bad. I think that regardless of where you live, the important thing is that you make your house a home that reflects the people who live there.

Are you RENTING??
 
If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above!

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hello there! I'm Erin owner of Clementine + Olive as well as blogger! This week I'm here sharing my view on renting.


The GOOD

I live in an up and coming historic community so choosing a home was fairly easy because the historic part means that most homes in my area have incredible easy to decorate architecture like wainscoting and old world detail that you won’t find in a big city with out a big price tag. The up and coming part means that I get everything for an affordable price tag with out loss of culture and forced in to apartment living. Win-win. So why buy right now.

My landlord is probably the most easy going in town. Allowing me to up date the vanity to painting the front door. After putting my year in I realized I might just stay here a little while so I decided to conceal some big eyesores.

The BAD

Being a previous home owner knowing my funds beautifying a home that isn’t mine or paying rental money I’ll never see in my pocket again kind of bites a familiar bullet that makes me long for a home I can rip out the counter tops for some carerra marble.


Also another issue that comes with renting besides the obvious “decorating around” theory is buying furniture and moving issue. You are always left with furniture that doesn’t fit your space size well or compliment the era of the home. 

The UGLY

A major issue you always, see renting is the choice between settling for carpet vs. hardwood especially when you have dust allergies that can rule you life. I may have gotten everything I wanted out of my home but, vacuuming twice a day and professionally cleaning these nappy carpets every 4 months is a royal pain especially since I have twin babies which means a dozen coffee stains with in a month. 


The kitchen isn’t the worst of the worse but, it’s plain oak cabinets with vinyl flooring and although, I know my creative energy is hinged by it every time I walk through there. I know, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it and must let-it-go and be thankful of such a rad home for such a steal that offers my little family everything I could need.

 
 
If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment & an intro! Pls use the same format as above! 

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hey there lovelies, this is Eileen from A Creative Day.
I'm here this Wednesday sharing a little about my rental..

The GOOD

Renting has made me more creative in how I inject my design aesthetic into a place I can't really change. Do I want to wallpaper my entry? Yes. But instead I painted a wall graphic to add some interest but it can be easily painted over when we move out. It also allowed me to pitch to my husband why I NEEDED that massive 6 foot by 3 foot painting for my dining room... "See honey, I'm not going to paint so I really need a shot of color in here."

The BAD

My degree is in architecture so all I want to do is rip down some walls, open up our floor plan and do a little happy dance with all my eames chairs. My landlord and husband say no. Also, said landlord is fighting replacing the black and white wallpaper in the bathroom that totally doesn't match the black and white tile in the same room. I guess what frustrates me the most about renting is not having the control. I want to be able to decide if I want to replace the cabinets in the kitchen or paint my bedroom navy, and renting requires the opinion of another person who most certainly might not agree with what you think needs to be done.

The UGLY

The outer space "I really belong in a Star Trek movie" chandelier that was in our dining room. Period.

Interested in sharing your place??? 

If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above! 

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hello All! Whitney here from Whitney Kaye Styles sharing my thoughts on apartment living.

THE GOOD

 
Temporary living is great when you are living a life that is changing every few months or couple of years. It's nice to save money on a one bedroom apartment for just you and your spouse and then move to a two bedroom when you feel the need for extra space for an office or your first child. With your career still developing you could be looking at relocating for summer internships or a new job and being able to pick up and move when and wherever is a nice option. It is also a nice way to test out neighborhoods. The decision between city living or suburbs isn't so stressful when renting allows you a type of "trial period" to acclimate to your surroundings and see what you like. 

This temporary living also works in favor of finding your own style. With changing lives comes changing needs and comforts and it is so easy to change out pillows, reupholster chairs, paint furniture or swap out accessories in different colors when everything you own is portable. Most people would probably say their style is constantly evolving and being able to change a room in a weekend or with a few small projects is easy and non-committal. Big projects like painting walls or building a wall here or there isn't an option when the walls aren't yours. 

THE BAD
You do have very close neighbors who you sometimes feel might actually live in your apartment with you. You have the American Idol wanna be belting Kelly Clarkson every morning at 7am just on the other side of your bedroom wall, the pot smokers across the hall and the upstairs neighbors who are doing who knows what and sending the foulest smells through the air vent into your apartment which requires layers of paper and tape over your air vent.

Let us not forget that having common areas to share isn't always an added perk. Having to wash your clothes in the ten washers and dryers that are shared with the ninety nine other tenants doesn't always make you feel like you got your clothes the cleanest or many times you doubt the quality of the appliances. And the study downstairs where anyone can hold social gatherings. That furniture has been down there for 30+ years, and it smells like it, and who knows if any of those couches, tables or chairs have even been cleaned or wiped down in their lifetime.

THE UGLY
For me it is the literal "uglies" of fixtures and finishes. Cleanliness always wins out over looks, which means I will pass on the old dirty charm and take the newly renovated apartment. Let's clarify, newly renovated on a graduate student budget means low pile navy office carpet, disabled support handles on every wall of the bathroom, creamish-brown bathroom tiles and random columns smack dab in the middle of the kitchen. You know your apartment was renovated to withstand many different tenants for many years to come, but you wish that someone would have gotten one more opinion before deciding to forgo the bottom cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom limiting your storage space and leaving you with ugly dust collecting areas.

Make sure you know what you will and will not compromise on. With renting, you can almost never get your perfect apartment, but having a good idea of what you can and can not live without will most often leave you with a satisfying renting experience.

If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above! 

Renting: The Good, The Bad, the Ugly

Hello Made By Girl readers! I'm Myrna and I write a blog called For the Love of Black.  At this time I'm living in a rental basement suite & now I'm here to share my experience!

The GOOD 
 
I have rented A LOT in my life as well owned a few homes so I think I know the pros & cons pretty good by now!! One of the best things about renting is not having to come up with money for the repair man every time an appliance breaks down or save for a new roof & so on. It's all taken care of!! I also love the ease of knowing I can pick up and move fairly easy if I'm renting on a month to month basis. This tends to keep me more organized. I don't accumulate much stuff or things I don't need, since I don't have an attic or basement to store things in for years and years!!

The BAD


Having to be quiet!! It's so hard not to turn up that favorite song on the radio or that movie you've been dying to watch. Even walking or doing laundry or banging pots and pans has to be done quietly!!  Also hearing the people who live above, below or either side of you can be drag especially, you know.... (AHEM) okay, I wont go there!!!!

The UGLY

 
The UGLY is when I have to if I can paint my place and then be told NO!! It's the way I put my stamp on my place and make it feel like home. I've found that the majority of times I do ask, and then other times  I just paint....because it's easier to ask for forgiveness then permission, right?? Ha! And besides, I just paint it back before I move :) Also, flooring or other fixtures can be a pain to live with.


There's pros & cons to renting. However, as of right now, I'm happy to rent. Decorating and making the space your own as well as surrounding yourself with the people you love is really what it's all about!

If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above! 

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hello MadeByGirl readers! I'm Elizabeth Sullivan- Interior designer & blogger over at Modern 24/7 blog! This Tuesday, I'll be sharing my rental experience with all of you!

THE GOOD

I have always lived in rentals. I have a nomadic nature and I love to move every six months to a year. I also sell everything from my apartment when I move and start over with a different look. Being able to change things up because you are not obligated to anything and you have so little space to fill. 

You can try out different styles and furnishings and not feel like you have to keep them forever. You are not responsible for any problems with the apartment and can just call the super to fix things. You usually have great security and amenities in a rental as well. 

If your landlord lives in another state like mine does, you can pay them via Paypal & never have to see them at all!

                                          
                                        
  

THE BAD

Now, the unfortunate part of apartment living: you are paying for someone else to build equity. You are literally paying another person's mortgage. 

You could probably find a home to own where your mortgage would be the same as your rent and you would be building equity and putting your money somewhere you could get it back out.      
                                                

THE UGLY

And the super ugly of renting – like several people have mentioned, living in a building with hundreds of other people is just gross. Someone on my hall is smoking or cooking exotic food every day and I have to smell it when I come home. There is also the noise of the garbage chute and the general dirtiness of the building to look at.   

But all in all – the pros outweigh the cons for me. I love the FREEDOM renting affords me. Wishing you the best of luck on your rental adventure in the city! You are going to have an amazing time! 

If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above!

-images by elizabeth sullivan

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hi MadeByGirl readers! This is Dorkys from Dry As Toast here to share the good, the bad, and the ugly sides to renting in New York City

The GOOD

Aside from the obvious perks of saying you live in NYC, renting an apartment here gives you the freedom to try out different neighborhoods with relative ease. Once your lease is up, you can move to another borough and get to know a whole new ethnic enclave.

While it'd be great to have a home to call my own, I'm glad I don't have to deal with a mortgage or maintenance and that if something falls apart, I can always run downstairs to ask my super to fix it. I think of renting as a test drive to maintaining a home before buying a house someday and a blank slate that challenges you to truly make it your own.

The BAD

One of the biggest downsides to renting in NYC is the price tag on location. If you want to live in Manhattan, expect to fork over a pretty penny for the zip code. Those who don't mind a slightly longer subway ride can find better deals - and much more space - in the outer boroughs.

Other cons include limitations on what you can do with your apartment's layout, architectural features, and, most importantly, your neighbors (mine has delusions of channeling Mariah Carey whenever she sings) and the noise levels around you.

The UGLY

There are so many details I would change if I could. The exposed radiators painted in metallic grey, the ugly gate to secure the window to the fire escape, the lack of space in the kitchen area, and the fact that all my windows face another wall of windows limiting the amount of sunlight that gets in each day. 


But I've compensated on some of those drawbacks by draping sheer curtains over my windows to let in light while shielding the view, having an extra cabinet installed in the kitchen, and using a pantry cart as a movable island for food preparation. It's all about the little things you can do to make this into a comfy home.

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hello! I'm Anna from A Newfound Treasure Blog, and today, I'm sharing my current rental experience on Jen's fabulous blog.

Not too long ago, we happily moved from Florida to South Carolina, but we had difficulty trying to sell our home. This forced us to find renters for our FL home, as well as, search for a SC rental to move into. Now, we're on both ends of renting, which has caused me to be extra mindful of our landlord's property while still trying to create a home reflective of who we are. South Carolina is where we want to be, so we can suck it up to be in our "happy place," right?

The GOOD

Renting allows you to be flexible. Last minute moves or job changes, that perhaps cause you to move from one end of the country to the other, can (hopefully) be less stressful. (ie. Vegas to NYC) ;-) You can have a "no strings attached" approach to where you are, which can be freeing in and of itself. A rental is the perfect option for an ultra spontaneous person that could up and move at the drop of a hat.

It is also great if you're moving to an unfamiliar place, because you can really shop around for your perfect part of town without committing to an area right off the bat. The great thing about our rental is that we have an abundance of space, being that we're in a house, not an apartment. 

Also, when things need to be fixed, it doesn't come at our expense -- major perk! All of those little things add up, and it's so nice to know that if something goes wrong, our landlords are just a call away.

The BAD

There are plenty of things that aren't ideal when living in a rental. Most of what the house is probably isn't your first choice. Wall colors and light fixtures can sometimes be total eyesores, but you must remind yourself that the time and money investment to change out chandeliers and repaint the walls aren't always worth it.

Instead of focusing on the actual home, try to incorporate art, fabric, and furniture that draw your eye away from the things you dislike the most about your home. I chose to use bright colored furniture and fabric that hopefully distract you from noticing the pukey-beige walls that coat the entire downstairs of our home.

The UGLY

Gracious, I have a list of things that I would do differently if we owned this home. Why the tacky carpets? I wish more than anything that linoleum wasn't a word in my vocabulary, but it is all over this place. The kitchen, the bathrooms, the laundry room… it's hideous. Rugs have been a lifesaver for me. 

With 2 little boys running around, rugs are essential in preserving the carpet. More importantly, rugs do a great job of grounding a space while hiding that ugly carpet or linoleum!

 
If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above! 

Renting: The Good, The bad, The Ugly

Hello everyone! This is Jackie from York Avenue blog, I'm here today on MadeByGirl talking about my rental experience! 

Renting in a city like New York has a ton of ups and downs. There are many challenges that come with living in, and decorating, a rented (and tiny!) space, but I think the happiness to be gained by living in a city you love far outweighs the downsides of being a renter!

The GOOD

Living in a rented apartment forces you to find creative solutions to the dilemmas that come with your space. If you can't paint, you have to bring in color in different ways. If you can't put down carpet, you have to use interesting area rugs in varying configurations. And on and on. It really opens up your creativity and forces you to think outside the box! Another thing I actually enjoy about renting is not being responsible for every single thing that happens. When something breaks, I can call my building maintenance staff, instead of needing to find a repair person on my own. Of course, this varies depending on your situation, but when I think about owning I just think of so many things that I would be solely responsible for, and forced to deal with all on my own, and then I feel happy about being a renter! One more upside: if I lived in my own space, I would feel a lot of pressure to make it perfect and renovate every inch. As a renter, if something is ugly and there's nothing I can do about it, I just learn to live with it. It actually turns out to be a good thing-I've learned to be flexible and not demand absolute perfection from my space. I've learned to do what I can (which is a ton), and be happy with the less-than-perfect bits of the rental. These things give it personality, I say! 

The BAD

Of course, the big downside to being a renter is that you are stuck with those less-than-ideal features of your rental. I have an odd window situation and not very much light in my apartment-it's not what I would have ideally chosen, were I buying, but again, you find ways to manage. Another downside of renting a small space is the urge to decorate every inch of it! It's so easy to go overboard and want more, more, more, but I've found that in a tiny space, keeping things simple and airy is a MUST.

The UGLY

Then there are the really ugly things in a rental that you simply can't do anything about. For me, this would be the unattractive, dated kitchen cabinets. No chance of a total kitchen renovation when you're renting! But as I mentioned in "the good," I've learned to live with this imperfection and embrace it. As Deborah Needleman points out in her book The Perfectly Imperfect Home, (which is the best design book I've ever read, by the way), every home needs a little bit of ugly!

If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above! 

 

Renting: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Hi Everyone!! I'm Kim, and I write a blog called Design Thoughts and am so excited to share my Apartment living, Highs and Lows with you today!!!!


The Good

I left my home in MI (yep, that we own!!) to move to NY, into an apartment, 8 yrs ago!! Can you imagine?! To be honest, it took me many years of apt living, to find the good! (Sad, right?) But now that I have embraced it, there are so many great things about apt living!

The first, although, not glamorous at all, is that if something breaks (i.e. Dishwasher, washing machine, and furnace) you don’t have to pay for it to be fixed!!  Not having that stress is a BIGGIE for me.

Second, you can LEAVE whenever you want!!  It is SO great, knowing that if we are no longer happy living where we are, we can move, just like that, no strings attached!!

And Third, This won’t be everyone’s story, but for us, we have been VERY lucky that our landlord ROCKS!! We have been able to rip up carpet to expose hardwood, paint walls, and hang artwork, so we have been able to make this our HOME even though it’s an apartment.  It took me a very long time to accept our apartment as our home, but the minute, we left the hospital with our baby boy, everything changed.  I want to make this apartment special for him, not just a place we rent. So...that’s what we are doing, little by little, knowing that one day, we won’t be here anymore, but the time we spent here, we enjoyed, by surrounding  ourselves, with things we love!

The Bad

I’m an Interior Designer. SO, it’s very difficult, not being able to “renovate” a space, that may not be my style or preference. ( I’m talking, moving walls and re-locating plumbing) When we moved in, our bathroom had pink tiles and pink walls, and not super cool, hip, see it on the pages of Domino(yikes, old reference)  Pink, but like, no one cared EVER, pink. We had to wait, until the upstairs apartment flooded (um... 5 yrs AFTER we moved in) for our landlords to remodel the bathroom.  Our Washing Machine is in our kitchen...Lucky to have a washing machine, yes, but to have it RIGHT next to our clean dishes…Not so great. That has been BAD. So many things I would change or remodel if this was a home we owned, BUT, along with the freedom of picking up and going anytime you want, also comes the fact that you are TIED to whatever awful design elements are there.

The Ugly

Ohhh the ugly...sigh...Okay, I am going to state the obvious here, because truly, it’s the worst thing.  Other people, not your family, literally are living one wall, or floor, away from you.  Even the coolest neighbors, whom we have had, are so close, you can hear everything that’s happening, which means, of course, they also, can HEAR everything that’s happening in your home!  It’s not cool, but, you learn to live with it! The other very obvious, you are paying someone else, every single month, for a place, that’s not yours...ouch! It stings, I’m not gonna lie. I hate sending that check, BUT see the “Good” above...it evens out ;)

I have to say; even though I can’t wait until the day we OWN again, living the “apartment life” has been great! Especially in New York…EVERYONE lives in apartments, so it’s the norm!! The key is making it your HOME, not just a place you rent!

Thank you!
Kim from Design Thoughts blog

Resources: 

1st picture, this living room use to have grey, commercial carpet and bright yellow walls, so ugly!
2nd picture,( real life in the Salter House) , my son Liam, enjoying hot chocolate in our "home"
3rd Missoni picture wall

If you'd like to share, the good, the bad, the ugly of living in a rental, email me your submission with 3-4 pictures of your apartment! Pls use the same format as above!