The challenges of renting

Occasionally, I'm reminded of how darn hard it is to rent.

I was reminded yesterday, with our bathroom.

Our bathroom, which is very teeny, consists of:

• tanish linoelum (which, I must add, ALWAYS looks dirty, even if it's not)
  
• oak-colored cabinet and drawers (this is what the sink sits on)
• bluish countertop. It's something that is softer than formica, but not wood.
• off-centered mirrored medicine cabinet above the sink. Yes, off-centered. It'd be much easier to work with if it was centered....
• oak-colored 5-bulb line of vanity lights.

Ok, this isn't BAD as far as bathrooms go. But to make it "nicer" is challenging, since we RENT. One redeeming quality is the toilet. At least that's nice, white porcelain with a curved lid (no crazy-colored cheap monstrosity).

But, you can't rip the medicine cabinet out and center it. You can't put in new flooring. You can't put in a new countertop.

Ahh, the challenges of renting. Make it nice, but make it removable.

I've long read and admired Apartmentherapy.com. But sometimes, I see these apartments. They're small, yes, BUT, they are well-laid out (which is somewhat of a rarity), and they obviously either own or have lenient landlords. Paint! Construction! Renovation! It's all fine and dandy, but what about the rest of us? Those of us with fugly shag carpeting and linoleum that looks dirty? And kitchen shelves that are dying to be painted and updated. And light fixtures you don't DARE leave on while you're away due to questionable wiring?

What about those people?

All of a sudden, the perfection seen online is much more difficult to obtain. I think they need to do a category, entitled something like "apartments that are poorly laid out with strict landlords." Then, we would see massive creativity.

Now, I'm not saying I'm a genius when it comes to renovations. I'm not. There's a reason why our house is cluttered oftentimes-- we are not the best at figuring out what works. But, I am pretty darn good at getting rental deposits back. So, perhaps as I'm figure out a) what I like online and b) what works, I can maybe mesh that with getting rental deposit back.

Before and after pictures of the bathroom are to come. How bad is it in there right now? Well, let's put it this way: I did not shower this morning... because I could not get to the tub.