Trying Cheap and Easy Renovations
You don’t have to be Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor to give your new spot some minor upgrades. Even though you’re just renting the place, there are still many cheap and easy home improvements that can help to make a tenement feel like a brand new condo. Head over to Home Depot and, for a small cost, you can hide those light boxes your landlord put in with some more attractive fixtures. Is your shower low pressured? Install a high-pressure shower head. Are your doors creaky? Spray some WD-40 on the hinges. Do the lights give off an eerie glow? Switch the bulbs to compact fluorescents. Other cheap and easy fix-er-ups include replacing cabinet knobs, door handles, and toilet seats. Just remember that you’re still renting, so don’t go too overboard. Also, ask permission from your landlord before making any major adjustments, and make sure to keep the old bits and pieces so you can reinstall them upon your exit.
Here are some tips for sprinkling a little DIY magic around your first crib...
So Fresh and So Clean
Before you start any renovation, the house is going to have to be clean. And I don’t mean kick the dirt under the cabinet clean, but a deep, professional job here. Technically, landlords are supposed to have this done before you move in, but they frequently don’t, and even if they do, they’ll usually just go for a guy with a dirty mop and a dustbuster. Unless you feel like scrubbing five tenant’s worth of crusted soap scum and hair from the inner railing of your shower door, probably best to hire someone to do it for you. Professional cleaners usually offer a few different services, but the higher-end companies like MerryMaids will run around $25 /hr per maid. One should be enough to tackle all of the places where you don’t want to go: around the toilet, the shower, the fridge, the stove, the sink, etc. On the cheaper end, you could check sites like CraigsList or the classifieds to find anybody that’s strapped for cash and doesn’t mind doing some dirty work.
A Basic Toolkit
It’s always good to have a toolkit lying around the house just in case you need to put something together, take something apart, or play handyman with your girlfriend. A basic toolkit should include
- A screwdriver set with small, medium, and large flathead and Phillips screwdrivers or a cordless electric screwdriver/drill
- A pair of needlenosed, lock-jaw, slipjoint, and lineman’s pliers
- A hammer (to hammer in the evening all across this land)
- A roll of duct, electrical, and masking tape
- A utility knife with a set of extra blades
- A set of vari-sized screws and nails
- A handsaw (with a wooden handle)
- A level
- A measuring tape
Baby Steps
All too often it’s the little things that make a difference in the way a rental apartment feels. Replacing preexisting appliances and structures is very costly. Fortunately, it’s often also completely unnecessary. Below is a list of cheap and easy mini-renovations that can fundamentally change the way an apartment feels. Prices are given for most items as found at retail stores. Even better deals (and more interesting hardware) can often be found at antique stores and flea markets. Also, flip to the back of Domino magazine to the Domino Deals for uber-hip hardware at very good prices.
Cabinet Knobs
Most knobs ($1 – $2 a pop from Home Depot) have a standard-sized hole so you won’t need to replace the back screw. Just keep the bolt steady from the back of the door with a screwdriver and unscrew the old knob by hand, then screw on the new one.
- Be careful – Apartment owners love any excuse to pocket some of your security deposit, so make sure that you have permission before starting in on any major project and don’t put any holes in the walls that you can’t cover up.
- Spick and span – Give the apartment a good scrubbing before making any renovations. If cleaning toilets and scraping five years worth of muck from behind the sink isn’t your thing, you can hire professional cleaners to do it for you.
- Equip yourself – Make a detailed list of the tools and equipment you’ll need for the particular job you have in mind ahead of time. You should always keep a basic toolkit tucked away somewhere for when you need it.
- Little changes, big difference – Sometimes all that’s necessary to turn a drab, prison-cell apartment into a sick pad is a few changed light-bulbs, different doorknobs, and new ceiling fixtures. For more ambitious (and expensive) renovations, however, a paint job usually does the trick.
- Need extra help? – Beyond this guide, the Do It Yourself Network has instructions on how to do almost anything to your apartment that you could possibly want to do.
