renting | Offbeat Home

This is Offbeat Home's archive of renting posts.

Most Recent Posts About renting

lots of lamps © by allielovestea, used under Creative Commons license.

When looking at places to live, there are certain things that just don't cross your mind. I never realized how important lighting was until I started to rent. Apparently, I need a lot of light to function. Or, rather, I like having the option of a lot of light.

Growing up, my dad was legally blind, so to help him see better in the house, he installed an 8 foot ballast fluorescent light in the dining room of our 800-square-foot trailer. That was all the light anyone needed in the common living area. That thing was bright! There were also four different windows that let in natural light throughout the day if you didn't want to feel like you were living in a science lab. I got used to this. When I moved to college I lived in dorms that had huge windows and fluorescent lighting as well, so in that sense I was right at home.

Then I got my first apartment.

Our search began with houses the size of our friends', but ended abruptly when we decided babies were most likely not in our future. Then, we looked at town homes and condos, only to realize that sharing a wall again was not ideal. Then, we looked at smaller houses, all of which had something seriously wrong with them because they were much older, as no one seems to be building modest-sized houses anymore. Then, our realtor said to me, "Ashley, you're going to have to be the one to pick this house. You're the woman, and women are the ones that play house." Direct quote.

We love the quirks about this home but are having trouble setting up a transitional space between the living room area and the kitchen.

It's supposed to be a formal dining room but meh. We want to turn it into a sitting room/extra living space but aren't sure how. We have an extra love seat in there so far and it just kind of looks awkward, like it needs something else.

How do we turn our pesky formal dining room into a bonus hangout space?

Our home in the convent brought together eight people united by the desire to work for social justice. When I lived in this house we were all fresh out of college and ready to fight poverty, the education gap, global warming, and anything else that stood in our way. Almost all of the occupants still work in urban education and live lives to limit our ecological impact.

Everyone you live with has something to teach you. I learned how to cook for eight, how to container garden, how to make homemade cleaning supplies work, and how to love urban biking.

Want a fireplace to bring the warmth, on a budget, in your apartment? It's totally possible, I promise! See how I installed a fireplace in my apartment for less than $200.

I had one of those spooky nights last week — one where I had too many scary thoughts and every noise was a serial killer or a monster coming for me.

Irrational fears aside, it made me realize I haven't taken any security precautions in my flat. I've lived here for a while, but whatever I do still needs to be non-permanent.

What can I do to keep my mind calm and my body safe?

…I would save myself the time of filling out rental applications over and over, and I would also make it clear that while maybe we looked weird, we were responsible tenants who had their shit together.

My solution? The rental resume.

There are elaborate romanticized dreams about how young and creative people live — but very few of us are in gorgeous abandoned industrial spaces. We can't all afford the luxuries of gentrified quirky spaces, and most of us have to make the most of what we've got.