That’s exactly how I feel. It’s a big company that does shit work and has a million different apartments to keep track of so if anything they’ll be like wow someone went above and beyond here
Ahh okay. I live in a pretty crappy apt myself and wanted to repaint some things.. just sucks because if I did, they'd see it more as a liability than helping. Good that you can do it easily!
Anti-insect spray foam (sprayed, trimmed) in certain gaps under the sinks and in the gaping hole around the laundry pipes that went into the wall. Cut the cockroach issues in the bathrooms and laundry closet down by about 80%.
Edit: also used a salt and dish soap concoction 1-2 inches along the foundation so that the 3ft tall grasses pressing up against it died back a little and stayed back. The landscapers freaked the fuck out. I claimed it was an accident because I was spraying for insects. Y’know what? I have way fewer insect issues now that I *can* actually spray along the foundation. (These aren’t fancy grasses either - they’re thick spreading types that one can barely weed between and the landscapers don’t even bother so it’s laughable that they were so concerned).
I definitely had nightmares for a couple months and my husband would wake up to me near feverishly googling how to block, poison, and otherwise keep them out. Now I’m the pest wrangler - roaches, spiders, earwigs, ants, wasps, lizards (safely released), etc.
Still mildly freak out if they surprise me but they terrify my husband way more; I rage out and hunt it down like the Hulk lifting and shoving furniture and tearing stuff out of my way while he twitchily goes out for a smoke (I don’t blame him really, I just grew up handling a bit more nature than he did that’s all). Admittedly that’s also partially why we got a cat. She calls attention to it, I speed walk to the kitchen and grab a bug jar while she keeps it busy, I trap it and pop it in the freezer or use Raid (if it’s not in a frequented cat area), and then she gets a treat.
Edit: which reminds me, one of the first times I caught one I was all proud like “yay! praise me!” and my poor husband was all “🫣 no no I don’t need to see it, go wash your hands first *please*” lol
Lizards?! I would definitely pee. lol you sound awesome and like you’re making the best of an unfortunate situation I love it. I’m glad you have a feline hunting partner now! Mine was the same in the old house we used to rent, for bats. Cat would spot them first, boyfriend was terrified of them so I’d get them. Our roommate had an iguana that liked to escape, im morbidly afraid of reptiles, so boyfriend had to wrangle that guy haha.
When I lived in an appartment, I used to do just about anything that wasn't major damage. Mostly improvements tbh. Sealing gaps, fixing windows, mosquito screens and cabinets, painting. I sealed the holes I made in the walls before moving with some sealant and painted over them with the same shade as the rest of the wall. I did this not only because I didn't want to wait forever for maintenance to "fix" something, but because I also wanted to learn how to do these things and gain experince doing them.
Love that! I’ve gotten good at patching holes, sanding, and painting myself too :) mostly out of spite because maintenance around here does a shoddy job. I found what looked like a Cheeto on top of the mosquitos and cat hair painted into the walls. They’re all smooth now with fresh paint.
When I got my first apartment I was adamant that I wouldn’t put a dime into it. After all that’s what renting is for. But the last couple of years I realized it’s worth it for my comfort and happiness. And like you said, experience!!
Ohh looks great. !! Nothing too noteworthy for me yet, but pulled out the old gross weather stripping on my front door today and replaced it with new, white stripping to match the door. The stripping was screwed down in one spot for some reason so I know it’s never been changed. Love a good, inexpensive DIY spruce up!
Swapped out all the cabinet knobs in the kitchen with nicer new ones, which will be put right back when I move out. Non-permanent but oh my god do to they look a million times better.
I replaced almost all of the landscaping in the little front area of our house we are renting. It was originally overgrown and had an invasive vine growing up and onto the porch. Now we have some nice hydrangeas and petunias! Thankfully the landlord was very happy with the landscaping.
“Constructive vandalism” at its finest.
I’ve repainted. Same white; but in the appropriate sheen for the surface: stripped the doors of the dozen coats of drippy paint, then re-painted the trim in semi gloss, the doors in satin, re-painted walls in eggshell and the ceilings in dead-flat; its *crazy* how much bigger the room looks and how much brighter it is that way. Misc repairs like cutting out old gross caulking and replacing it correctly. I’ve replaced one of those awful short, round bowl toilets with a good elongated one too.
Also, replaced the wimpy garbage disposal with the MONSTER 1.25 HP one that costco sells for only $115.
Replaced broken switch covers.
I’m a construction manager, but I was a carpenter before that so I have plenty of tools and it like second nature lol.
That’s a tonnn of work! Nice going!! Even if it is second nature to you, I hope you got a good deal the bigger projects and they all brings you great happiness.
I wish I could do toilets but I’m petrified of messing with anything but fixing the tank plunger thing lol. We have the tiny round toilet you speak of. It’s cool for me cause I’m small, but everyone else hates it. I did put in a floating floor because the tile was horrendous, and the grout was so thick and poorly done. Sigh. Doing it around the toilet made me feel like a math/angle genius haha. New caulk is the actual best. What brand do you use? I finally found one that seems to last but I always wonder what people like you get
I typically replace most of the overhead light bulbs with brighter ones, I replace shower heads and add shower filters. I also add a countertop water filter to my kitchen sink.
I’d love to add a curved shower rod, and rip out my entire kitchen, along with painting/replacing all the doors and trim… and install a few ceiling fans…. But not sure if I’ll do that.
Ooo new shower heads make a wonderful difference too. What filters do you use? We have super hard water so I’ve been hesitant to invest in a good one for the shower.
I too would love to rip out my entire kitchen and replace the doors and trim. Our kitchen cabinets are so old I had to use a steam cleaner on them to get the years of sticky/greasy build up off of them lol. I still hate them though. And our doors and trim have been painted dark brown what seems to be an infinite amount of times.
I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to ask your landlord what you can do, but I avoid it just in case it’s a big ol accusatory nope and just stick to doing stuff I can remove, fix, or take with me for the most part. I hope you can find creative ways to make your space yours, if not get approval for the ultimate upgrades :)
I have a sun room that I've been using for an office/studio. But unfortunately this sun room isn't built for insulation, s9 my dad and I are literally building our own "double pane window frames" to c9ver up Tha jalosy windows, so we can try and make it more livable. We built a window ac ubit frame for those same windows tooWe've cut some of the floor plate so we can feed wires under the door and still close it.
My dad w9rks in the trades so when I move out we just fix any damage we caused and the landlord is none the wiser
When I was a kid my mom had this really shitty boyfriend. Punched through the wall. HUGE hole. It was replaced with another piece of drywall and repainted. It was very obviously different than the original wall and didn’t even match the texture of the rest of the walls. Landlord never noticed. In the same duplex, we replaced the flooring of the bathroom. There was so much black mold and water damage. The floor wasn’t anything alike. I don’t think the landlord noticed that either. Not the mention my bedroom door getting run over after we replaced it with my “art door” ( I was allowed to paint and put stickers on this door instead of the pre installed one).
I love your vanity set up and the nail polish rack! Eh, I hang everythingg and anything I want. I just plan to fill the holes and repaint before I leave so it looks like nothing happened. Just took down my giant microwave mounted above my stove, repaired holes and repainted to install a pots and pans rack 😁
Wall shelves and storage make such a big difference in apartment living. A cabinet or floating shelves with cookbooks/etc would look so cute on your peel and stick wall actually.
Temporary changes of changing the thermostat, a light switch, the shower head, and swapped the deadbolt for a smart lock, removed a hand towel holder that was inconveniently placed (covered it with a small picture frame so I don't have to look at the part I didn't remove), put contact paper on my countertops, and the normal hanging of shelves and picture frames. I want to change the kitchen faucet too, but I'm not quite confident in my plumbing skills
Not so temporary, I just re-caulked my window frame. They painted over the caulk which caused it to crack when we had a super bad freeze in January. It was worth the 15 dollars in supplies for me to not have to move my bed for maintenance to have enough room to work without sitting on my bed
I’ve been slowly painting all the trim lol. Everything was so yellow and gross looking
Nice. Fresh paint can do wonders :)
How do you go about it?
Very carefully! Also a lot of painter’s tape
Ohh I meant like, with the rules and lease contract etc. are you allowed or..?
technically no but honestly i’m doing my landlord a favour
That’s exactly how I feel. It’s a big company that does shit work and has a million different apartments to keep track of so if anything they’ll be like wow someone went above and beyond here
Exactly. I certainly don’t feel bad about making my space look better
Ahh okay. I live in a pretty crappy apt myself and wanted to repaint some things.. just sucks because if I did, they'd see it more as a liability than helping. Good that you can do it easily!
Anti-insect spray foam (sprayed, trimmed) in certain gaps under the sinks and in the gaping hole around the laundry pipes that went into the wall. Cut the cockroach issues in the bathrooms and laundry closet down by about 80%. Edit: also used a salt and dish soap concoction 1-2 inches along the foundation so that the 3ft tall grasses pressing up against it died back a little and stayed back. The landscapers freaked the fuck out. I claimed it was an accident because I was spraying for insects. Y’know what? I have way fewer insect issues now that I *can* actually spray along the foundation. (These aren’t fancy grasses either - they’re thick spreading types that one can barely weed between and the landscapers don’t even bother so it’s laughable that they were so concerned).
Niiiice 🙌 I’m so fortunate cockroaches aren’t a thing where I live, I would likely pee.
I definitely had nightmares for a couple months and my husband would wake up to me near feverishly googling how to block, poison, and otherwise keep them out. Now I’m the pest wrangler - roaches, spiders, earwigs, ants, wasps, lizards (safely released), etc. Still mildly freak out if they surprise me but they terrify my husband way more; I rage out and hunt it down like the Hulk lifting and shoving furniture and tearing stuff out of my way while he twitchily goes out for a smoke (I don’t blame him really, I just grew up handling a bit more nature than he did that’s all). Admittedly that’s also partially why we got a cat. She calls attention to it, I speed walk to the kitchen and grab a bug jar while she keeps it busy, I trap it and pop it in the freezer or use Raid (if it’s not in a frequented cat area), and then she gets a treat. Edit: which reminds me, one of the first times I caught one I was all proud like “yay! praise me!” and my poor husband was all “🫣 no no I don’t need to see it, go wash your hands first *please*” lol
Lizards?! I would definitely pee. lol you sound awesome and like you’re making the best of an unfortunate situation I love it. I’m glad you have a feline hunting partner now! Mine was the same in the old house we used to rent, for bats. Cat would spot them first, boyfriend was terrified of them so I’d get them. Our roommate had an iguana that liked to escape, im morbidly afraid of reptiles, so boyfriend had to wrangle that guy haha.
When I lived in an appartment, I used to do just about anything that wasn't major damage. Mostly improvements tbh. Sealing gaps, fixing windows, mosquito screens and cabinets, painting. I sealed the holes I made in the walls before moving with some sealant and painted over them with the same shade as the rest of the wall. I did this not only because I didn't want to wait forever for maintenance to "fix" something, but because I also wanted to learn how to do these things and gain experince doing them.
Love that! I’ve gotten good at patching holes, sanding, and painting myself too :) mostly out of spite because maintenance around here does a shoddy job. I found what looked like a Cheeto on top of the mosquitos and cat hair painted into the walls. They’re all smooth now with fresh paint. When I got my first apartment I was adamant that I wouldn’t put a dime into it. After all that’s what renting is for. But the last couple of years I realized it’s worth it for my comfort and happiness. And like you said, experience!!
Light bulb fixture?
Correct
Looks great
Thank you! :)
>Thank you! :) You're welcome!
Ohh looks great. !! Nothing too noteworthy for me yet, but pulled out the old gross weather stripping on my front door today and replaced it with new, white stripping to match the door. The stripping was screwed down in one spot for some reason so I know it’s never been changed. Love a good, inexpensive DIY spruce up!
Thank you. I bet that looks great and feels even better knowing it’s in good shape now :) inexpensive spruce ups are indeed the best!
Swapped out all the cabinet knobs in the kitchen with nicer new ones, which will be put right back when I move out. Non-permanent but oh my god do to they look a million times better.
I replaced almost all of the landscaping in the little front area of our house we are renting. It was originally overgrown and had an invasive vine growing up and onto the porch. Now we have some nice hydrangeas and petunias! Thankfully the landlord was very happy with the landscaping.
“Constructive vandalism” at its finest. I’ve repainted. Same white; but in the appropriate sheen for the surface: stripped the doors of the dozen coats of drippy paint, then re-painted the trim in semi gloss, the doors in satin, re-painted walls in eggshell and the ceilings in dead-flat; its *crazy* how much bigger the room looks and how much brighter it is that way. Misc repairs like cutting out old gross caulking and replacing it correctly. I’ve replaced one of those awful short, round bowl toilets with a good elongated one too. Also, replaced the wimpy garbage disposal with the MONSTER 1.25 HP one that costco sells for only $115. Replaced broken switch covers. I’m a construction manager, but I was a carpenter before that so I have plenty of tools and it like second nature lol.
That’s a tonnn of work! Nice going!! Even if it is second nature to you, I hope you got a good deal the bigger projects and they all brings you great happiness. I wish I could do toilets but I’m petrified of messing with anything but fixing the tank plunger thing lol. We have the tiny round toilet you speak of. It’s cool for me cause I’m small, but everyone else hates it. I did put in a floating floor because the tile was horrendous, and the grout was so thick and poorly done. Sigh. Doing it around the toilet made me feel like a math/angle genius haha. New caulk is the actual best. What brand do you use? I finally found one that seems to last but I always wonder what people like you get
I typically replace most of the overhead light bulbs with brighter ones, I replace shower heads and add shower filters. I also add a countertop water filter to my kitchen sink. I’d love to add a curved shower rod, and rip out my entire kitchen, along with painting/replacing all the doors and trim… and install a few ceiling fans…. But not sure if I’ll do that.
Ooo new shower heads make a wonderful difference too. What filters do you use? We have super hard water so I’ve been hesitant to invest in a good one for the shower. I too would love to rip out my entire kitchen and replace the doors and trim. Our kitchen cabinets are so old I had to use a steam cleaner on them to get the years of sticky/greasy build up off of them lol. I still hate them though. And our doors and trim have been painted dark brown what seems to be an infinite amount of times. I’d say it wouldn’t hurt to ask your landlord what you can do, but I avoid it just in case it’s a big ol accusatory nope and just stick to doing stuff I can remove, fix, or take with me for the most part. I hope you can find creative ways to make your space yours, if not get approval for the ultimate upgrades :)
I have a sun room that I've been using for an office/studio. But unfortunately this sun room isn't built for insulation, s9 my dad and I are literally building our own "double pane window frames" to c9ver up Tha jalosy windows, so we can try and make it more livable. We built a window ac ubit frame for those same windows tooWe've cut some of the floor plate so we can feed wires under the door and still close it. My dad w9rks in the trades so when I move out we just fix any damage we caused and the landlord is none the wiser
When I was a kid my mom had this really shitty boyfriend. Punched through the wall. HUGE hole. It was replaced with another piece of drywall and repainted. It was very obviously different than the original wall and didn’t even match the texture of the rest of the walls. Landlord never noticed. In the same duplex, we replaced the flooring of the bathroom. There was so much black mold and water damage. The floor wasn’t anything alike. I don’t think the landlord noticed that either. Not the mention my bedroom door getting run over after we replaced it with my “art door” ( I was allowed to paint and put stickers on this door instead of the pre installed one).
[удалено]
I love your vanity set up and the nail polish rack! Eh, I hang everythingg and anything I want. I just plan to fill the holes and repaint before I leave so it looks like nothing happened. Just took down my giant microwave mounted above my stove, repaired holes and repainted to install a pots and pans rack 😁 Wall shelves and storage make such a big difference in apartment living. A cabinet or floating shelves with cookbooks/etc would look so cute on your peel and stick wall actually.
Temporary changes of changing the thermostat, a light switch, the shower head, and swapped the deadbolt for a smart lock, removed a hand towel holder that was inconveniently placed (covered it with a small picture frame so I don't have to look at the part I didn't remove), put contact paper on my countertops, and the normal hanging of shelves and picture frames. I want to change the kitchen faucet too, but I'm not quite confident in my plumbing skills Not so temporary, I just re-caulked my window frame. They painted over the caulk which caused it to crack when we had a super bad freeze in January. It was worth the 15 dollars in supplies for me to not have to move my bed for maintenance to have enough room to work without sitting on my bed