tenant uncommon
I rent an old, old Colonial-style home (you could probably even refer to it as a workers cottage) in Toowoomba that has been renovated by the owners a few years ago. It was a great renovation for such an old, rambling house but its getting to the stage where it should be re-renovated. Luckily, the owners are fantastic and the real estate agency that represents the owners are great, and any requests for repairs and maintenance usually get attended to quickly. The house has a natural personality to it - its cosy and comfortable, but its getting a bit tatty, like an old eccentric woman who wears furs and pearls but has lipstick stains on her teeth. It has chandeliers and peeling paint in almost every room. I love it.
Although I’m leaving the renovations to the owners - I’ve never picked up a paint brush to paint a room in my life - I’m starting to redecorate the place to inject a little of my personality into the home. I’ve never put too much thought into decorating a rental home before, despite always having a strong interest in interior design and decoration. Usually its because, unlike owning your own home, you are restricted by what you can and can’t do.. and in the end the house isn’t “yours” so why bother? It is extremely frustrating wanting to do something simple like hang a picture but having to get permission first from the agent, who has to get it from the owner - a process that can take a week or more! It means I’ve always been a little disconnected to my home, and constantly on the hunt for something better, which bothers me because I’m a bit of a homebody - so to not like the place you’re spending so much time in gets a little depressing!
With this house though, it is different. As I mentioned before, the owners are brilliant and friendly, and as long as I don’t blow the place up or knock a wall down, they’re pretty much happy with any updates I want to make. I still have to let them know what I’m about to do, but despite the real estate middleman they employ, I have the owner’s mobile phone number and they’re happy for me to speak directly with them. So much easier!
So now, as I am about to have my second child and go on maternity leave, my imagination is filled with the possibilities of what I can do to make this house ‘mine’ (and my family’s of course!) without actually owning it. The decorating I am about to undertake has to be both of the following:
1. Affordable - with a new baby and an older daughter starting school next year I’m hoarding money like a squirrel hoardes acorns for winter;
2. Portable - when we finally DO take the plunge and buy our first home, we want to be able to take it all with us without leaving this house in disarray (despite having great landlords, we still need to abide by the rules and leave the house in the same condition we found it).
I can’t post any pictures yet, because unfortunately my camera is dead, but I’m getting another this Tuesday, so I’ll take some “Before” pictures to start the ball rolling, and get a little more in-depth of what I want to do. Trying to haul-in my scatterbrain tendancies, I’m going to concentrate on one room at a time.
Looking forward to it!
