I imagine that many of us live in rental situations. The lack of permanence is something that I've had to learn to deal with over the years, and that's hitting me again now. Do you have any special tips about living in temporary settings? Apartment life, if that's an issue where you are? Dealing with landlords? Moving often? Anything along those lines...?
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We've always rented, but we've been blessed with great land lords. In our most recent home, we offered to our landlord that if he bought paint and supplies, that we would provide the labor. He even let us pick out the colors. We painted the whole house to our taste at no financial cost to us. This may not be worth it to everyone, but it's made it feel more homey for us. Pictures also go a long way in making a place feel like home. There are very economical ways to mount pictures these days (just search pinterest!). I have created several things for the walls in our rental and hung them with velcro.
ReplyDeleteI have some paintings, decorative objects from back home that make our apartments seem more like home. I have my grandmother's china painted plates, boxes from my other grandmother's collection, a typical painting I found in the market at home in El Salvador. We paid to get them over here, but it was worth it to me. Those kinds of things give me and my kids a connection with our roots.
ReplyDeleteWe've been blessed to only move twice in 10 years here. Stayed 8 years in the first place.
Walls are important for some reason, aren't they? You both mention hanging things, and Alicia talked about paint. We've decided that we can usually do cheap wallpaper or paint, at least in the main living area. In our first few apartments we couldn't afford that, and I had this attitude of not wanting to waste money on improvements, because we'd just have to leave anyway. We finally decided that we could make small improvement for us, enjoy them while we were there, and then leave them. That has been nice.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm struggling with now is the emotional/mental part of it. It has been over 8 years and 4 apartments since we've left one willingly. I'm getting tired of being kicked out of places! This time has been especially shocking and sudden, and I'm reeling. I just want a place of my own. Of course, I remind myself of heaven and "this world is not my home" and all, but it's still hard.
I've had to keep wall decorating to a bare minimum because the walls are always cement, brick, or cinder block so hanging anything more than a poster is a major deal. And then throw in the fact that the paint is basically whitewash so ordinary tack and tape don't hold much up... I've learned to be creative and paint my windows, glass table tops etc. to make the place more ours.
ReplyDeleteSince we're working on the 9th place in 7 years... I guess we've gotten pretty good at that :o)
This is something I have really struggled with.
ReplyDeleteWalls are important.
The longest we've lived anywhere has been 2 years. :(
We have concrete walls and someone suggested we use command strips from the US to hang things. It has worked really well :) No tools required. We will be here 2 years. Don't know where we will go next. Pictures from home do help.
ReplyDelete