When I got married, I was over the moon ecstatic! Anyone who knew me could tell you I lived on cloud 9, Heck, I OWNED cloud 9! I was marrying my best friend and love of my life. He was everything and more than I'd ever dreamed of in a man. We were moving to not only, sunny California, but Monterey California, the most wonderful place to live in the world. My life was a fairy tale come true in every way. We rented a ridiculously overpriced condo, that needed some work, and I got right to it. To me, improving the space even though it wasn't mine made complete sense in my newly married brain filled with cloud nine cotton candy goodness. Every person that came to visit our one bedroom 1960's love nest, said the same thing, "Wow! This does NOT look like a newly wed apartment! This is gorgeous!"
That's right I thought. That's just how I roll.
I repainted....The walls. The ceiling. The doors. The trim. I replaced all the hardware on the doors and lighting. We even helped pay to have the kitchen redone because I couldn't stand not having any drawers that opened. I bought furniture and bedding and curtains....and the rather impressive nest egg my husband brought into our marriage got fried up and served for dinner at our new kitchen table. We inhaled that delicious little egg.
Oh, but look how blissful I am! Painting my landlord's door...(To add to the absolute bliss I got pregnant a month after we got married so now we can throw some oxytocin into the mix along with sleeping every night with prince charming, so who WOULD'T smile because they were painting. (With non-voc paint of course. We can't blame fumes on anything here!)
The reason I am sharing this is that a lot of time, when people rent they feel restrained. The property is not theirs and so they hold back, thinking making improvements is not going to help their pocket book and they have to leave anyway, so what's the point?
The point is, you have to live there. I'm a firm believer in creating a beautiful home wherever you are, whoever owns the home. The immediate blessing is the joy of creating and nurturing your creativity. You will also gain important skills and experience that will be a benefit to you when you DO have a home of your own. It will also help you form very solid ideas of what you like. Life really is too short to deprive yourself of beautiful surroundings just because someone else owns it, and remember you are the steward. Just as God put us on this earth and made us the stewards of it, we are also stewards of the dwellings we inhabit. While I believe and strive to live this, I think there is a balance.
There is a part two, to my high in the sky eating love pie story, and it is well worth the read in our quest to understand where we stand as renters. See you tomorrow!
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