- Joined
- Jan 3, 2010
- Messages
- 971
- Purraise
- 34
Mike and I want to move badly but are coming to realize that it's going to be a bad idea - mostly because we are hoping to be in a position to buy a house in the next year or two. It doesn't make much sense financially to put all that money into moving and getting set up in another place when we'd just be moving again in a year or two and have all that financial stuff come up again, along with the expenses of buying a house.
We have come to a compromise. We will stay where we are for now, declutter a lot and do some small renovations around here to make the space "ours" until we can move.
Once we declutter we're going to put in a work order so that they put new kitchen cabinets and counters in our apartment. It's bad, it was supposed to be done when I moved in here 3 YEARS ago but wasn't, then the building was sold to another company and we never filed the paperwork because it was too much hassle and I was looking at moving then.
We are also going to put a work order in for them to fix our bathroom. There is mold growing along the mirror when the old company replaced it and never filled in the 2" gap from the old one
, our building manager is aware of it and told me to file a work order to have it fixed - but I never did it. She did give me some stuff to spray on it that will kill the mold but obviously the problem is just going to keep happening until it's properly fixed.
Once those two things are done we're going to do some things around the apartment to make it more us. Mainly painting stuff - the spare bedroom which is bright orange right now will be repainted to beige or offwhite. We have to do that anyways before we move so we figured we'd do it in the next few months so it's not another expense when we go to move. We're going to paint a brighter colour along the wall where our tv is in our living room. It's the biggest wall in our apartment and we both think it will make it much more livable. We will have to repaint over it when we move, but it's only one wall and we're just going to use one of the cheap paints from walmart when we move (it shouldn't cost more than $20, the colour doesn't have to be completely covered, just basically primed).
One thing we want to do, which I know the company will not let us, is to replace the carpeting in the apartment with laminate floors. I was in a pet store a few months ago and got talking to the owner - he told me that the store had carpeting throughout but since he was renting he couldn't replace it. Obviously being a pet store, carpets aren't good to have. He put something waterproof over the carpet and laid laminate overtop of that. He said that the carpet acted like a subfloor and while it was a little "softer" to walk on than regular laminate flooring it did the job and looks nice. I wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't told me. I was thinking that we could do that here, with cheap laminate flooring, and either just leave it when we move or take it up and bring it with us to use in a room when we buy a house. Would this be a problem? Our carpet is very old, very worn down, very dirty (despite numerous professional cleanings) and is pretty much like walking on the tile parts of our floor. I realize that it would raise the floor a bit between the livingroom and kitchen/foyer and the hall to the bathroom, but I don't think that will be a problem. They will be replacing the carpet when we move, it's something that was also supposed to be done when I moved in but wasn't.
We're also going to replace most of our furniture over the next year - we need a new couch and loveseat/oversized chair. We're tired of having college dorm room furniture.
Any other suggestions on what we can do fairly cheaply to make this place more livable? Or any comments on the flooring idea?
We have come to a compromise. We will stay where we are for now, declutter a lot and do some small renovations around here to make the space "ours" until we can move.
Once we declutter we're going to put in a work order so that they put new kitchen cabinets and counters in our apartment. It's bad, it was supposed to be done when I moved in here 3 YEARS ago but wasn't, then the building was sold to another company and we never filed the paperwork because it was too much hassle and I was looking at moving then.
We are also going to put a work order in for them to fix our bathroom. There is mold growing along the mirror when the old company replaced it and never filled in the 2" gap from the old one
Once those two things are done we're going to do some things around the apartment to make it more us. Mainly painting stuff - the spare bedroom which is bright orange right now will be repainted to beige or offwhite. We have to do that anyways before we move so we figured we'd do it in the next few months so it's not another expense when we go to move. We're going to paint a brighter colour along the wall where our tv is in our living room. It's the biggest wall in our apartment and we both think it will make it much more livable. We will have to repaint over it when we move, but it's only one wall and we're just going to use one of the cheap paints from walmart when we move (it shouldn't cost more than $20, the colour doesn't have to be completely covered, just basically primed).
One thing we want to do, which I know the company will not let us, is to replace the carpeting in the apartment with laminate floors. I was in a pet store a few months ago and got talking to the owner - he told me that the store had carpeting throughout but since he was renting he couldn't replace it. Obviously being a pet store, carpets aren't good to have. He put something waterproof over the carpet and laid laminate overtop of that. He said that the carpet acted like a subfloor and while it was a little "softer" to walk on than regular laminate flooring it did the job and looks nice. I wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't told me. I was thinking that we could do that here, with cheap laminate flooring, and either just leave it when we move or take it up and bring it with us to use in a room when we buy a house. Would this be a problem? Our carpet is very old, very worn down, very dirty (despite numerous professional cleanings) and is pretty much like walking on the tile parts of our floor. I realize that it would raise the floor a bit between the livingroom and kitchen/foyer and the hall to the bathroom, but I don't think that will be a problem. They will be replacing the carpet when we move, it's something that was also supposed to be done when I moved in but wasn't.
We're also going to replace most of our furniture over the next year - we need a new couch and loveseat/oversized chair. We're tired of having college dorm room furniture.
Any other suggestions on what we can do fairly cheaply to make this place more livable? Or any comments on the flooring idea?
