*Bush '04*
10-30-2004, 02:23 AM
The white plastic miniblinds are a pain to clean. Your favorite painting requires a wall anchor. And if you have to stare at four white walls for one more minute, you're likely to scream.
Ah, the woes of renting.
It's frustrating to personalize your apartment or rental home when landlord restrictions get in the way. The easiest – and least expensive – ways to decorate are to paint the walls and put up pictures. Unfortunately, typical rental agreements ban paint and demand nothing bigger than a quarter-inch finishing nail – barely strong enough to hang a poster.
Such rules didn't stop Anita Wiklem, whose tiny apartment is in the heart of Toronto. She took one look at the institutional dcor of the apartment and headed straight to the landlord with ideas of her own – new flooring, countertops, paint and plenty of holes for pictures of all sizes.
"As long as you can convince your landlord that you're adding value to the space, it's easy," she says.
Changes Come Out of Your Pocket
Of course, you likely will need to pay for the changes yourself – a pill that might be easier to swallow with low-cost paint rather than high-cost Corian counters. But it depends on your situation.
"I hope to live here until I buy a house, so I have a four-year plan in the back of my head. The investment was worth it to have a home I love," Wilem says.
Click to enlarge.
Even painting one wall can make a huge impact.
Sarah Vizenor, an apartment manager with Gorman & Co. of Madison, Wis., says Wiklem has the right attitude. In Vizenor's 84-unit, affordable-housing complex in Sun Prairie, Wis., she actually encourages tenants to make the apartments feel like home.
"Looking at four white walls forever reminds me of a hospital or a prison," she says. "If they can decorate to their liking – whether it's painting in pastel colors or doing border wallpaper or screwing anchors into walls for bookshelves – then they're more likely to stay here longer."
It's much more cost effective for her to patch or repaint a wall than it is to bear the expense of vacancies and finding new tenants, she points out.
"Even if you paint one or two walls, it can make a huge impact," Wiklem says. She suggests choosing paint colors based on what you already have – a hue from your rug, a pillow, a picture.
Get Permission From Your Landlord First
Vizenor warns apartment dwellers not to make changes like these without talking to your landlord first. You need to detail what changes you'd like to make, how you plan to pay for them and how you plan to change things back once you do leave, she says. Such conversations can really pay off. For instance, if the carpeting in one of her units needs replacing, tenants who speak up can choose from several colors instead of having Vizenor make the decision for them.
"If they have kids, I want them to tell me that cream is not the best carpet color for them – that blue will be easier to take care of," she says. When tenants want ceiling fans or paint, Vizenor often can help them get the products cheaper and get them installed easier.
Vizenor's outlook no doubt comes from the fact that she's lived much of her adult life in apartments. "What bugged me the most was just looking at four white walls, especially when my kids came along. There are so many great things you can do to liven up a kid's room with stencils or wallpaper or cute curtains, but we couldn't do that in most of the apartments we lived in," she says.
Vizenor, who once was a daycare worker, lives in the complex she manages. On a budget herself, she doesn't envision a house purchase anywhere in her near future, which makes the itch to decorate all the more insistent. Now that she's in the catbird seat, she loves passing on the luxury of decorating to her tenants. "We have a sign when you drive in that says 'Welcome Home.' I want our residents to feel like we really mean it."
Ah, the woes of renting.
It's frustrating to personalize your apartment or rental home when landlord restrictions get in the way. The easiest – and least expensive – ways to decorate are to paint the walls and put up pictures. Unfortunately, typical rental agreements ban paint and demand nothing bigger than a quarter-inch finishing nail – barely strong enough to hang a poster.
Such rules didn't stop Anita Wiklem, whose tiny apartment is in the heart of Toronto. She took one look at the institutional dcor of the apartment and headed straight to the landlord with ideas of her own – new flooring, countertops, paint and plenty of holes for pictures of all sizes.
"As long as you can convince your landlord that you're adding value to the space, it's easy," she says.
Changes Come Out of Your Pocket
Of course, you likely will need to pay for the changes yourself – a pill that might be easier to swallow with low-cost paint rather than high-cost Corian counters. But it depends on your situation.
"I hope to live here until I buy a house, so I have a four-year plan in the back of my head. The investment was worth it to have a home I love," Wilem says.
Click to enlarge.
Even painting one wall can make a huge impact.
Sarah Vizenor, an apartment manager with Gorman & Co. of Madison, Wis., says Wiklem has the right attitude. In Vizenor's 84-unit, affordable-housing complex in Sun Prairie, Wis., she actually encourages tenants to make the apartments feel like home.
"Looking at four white walls forever reminds me of a hospital or a prison," she says. "If they can decorate to their liking – whether it's painting in pastel colors or doing border wallpaper or screwing anchors into walls for bookshelves – then they're more likely to stay here longer."
It's much more cost effective for her to patch or repaint a wall than it is to bear the expense of vacancies and finding new tenants, she points out.
"Even if you paint one or two walls, it can make a huge impact," Wiklem says. She suggests choosing paint colors based on what you already have – a hue from your rug, a pillow, a picture.
Get Permission From Your Landlord First
Vizenor warns apartment dwellers not to make changes like these without talking to your landlord first. You need to detail what changes you'd like to make, how you plan to pay for them and how you plan to change things back once you do leave, she says. Such conversations can really pay off. For instance, if the carpeting in one of her units needs replacing, tenants who speak up can choose from several colors instead of having Vizenor make the decision for them.
"If they have kids, I want them to tell me that cream is not the best carpet color for them – that blue will be easier to take care of," she says. When tenants want ceiling fans or paint, Vizenor often can help them get the products cheaper and get them installed easier.
Vizenor's outlook no doubt comes from the fact that she's lived much of her adult life in apartments. "What bugged me the most was just looking at four white walls, especially when my kids came along. There are so many great things you can do to liven up a kid's room with stencils or wallpaper or cute curtains, but we couldn't do that in most of the apartments we lived in," she says.
Vizenor, who once was a daycare worker, lives in the complex she manages. On a budget herself, she doesn't envision a house purchase anywhere in her near future, which makes the itch to decorate all the more insistent. Now that she's in the catbird seat, she loves passing on the luxury of decorating to her tenants. "We have a sign when you drive in that says 'Welcome Home.' I want our residents to feel like we really mean it."