"The Owners Saw the Result and Raised the Rent." A Couple Rented a "Granny Flat" and Transformed it for $700
"Those who don't own their own place have to put up with either someone else's unsuitable renovation or someone else's excessively high rent. Minsk residents Karina and Alexander decided to live by their own rules: they rented an inexpensive apartment and renovated it so aesthetically that they made it look like an expensive one. The young people told Onlíner how much the renovation cost and why this solution is more profitable than overpaying for an already finished comfortable interior."
"We wanted to live affordably and save for our own house"
Karina and Alexander are a young married couple who faced the question of housing after their wedding.
— Our story of searching for an apartment began right after the wedding, — Karina recounts. — Well, basically, like many young families. For a certain period, we had the opportunity to live in Sasha's grandparents' apartment because they leave for the village from April to October, leaving the apartment empty. So, we had about six months to calmly and unhurriedly look for rental housing that would suit us perfectly.
The most important search criterion was the city district. The young couple admits that not all areas of Minsk seem comfortable for living to them. The second crucial point was the price.
The couple wisely planned to spend little on rent to simultaneously save money for their own place — currently, the couple is gradually building a house near Minsk. The third criterion was comfort. As is well known, today's youth do not want to live surrounded by yellowed wallpaper and Soviet furniture. The trend for aesthetic interiors has affected everyone.
As often happens, housing was found through acquaintances. A one-room apartment of 44 square meters became available near Loshitsky Park.
Acquaintances had lived in this apartment before and paid a very attractive price for current realities — 600 rubles.
— The option didn't impress us at all from the video. And when we came to see this one-room apartment with our own eyes, it turned out to be, to put it mildly, 'tired.' There was an old renovation: torn wallpaper, broken furniture, no atmosphere. Some windows had no curtains. In the kitchen, there was just a bare light bulb instead of a lamp. As for furniture — ancient Soviet cabinets. Our impression was very negative.
Nevertheless, the couple realized: apartments for rent for $200 don't just grow on trees. They sat down, did a cold calculation, and decided to make lemonade out of lemons.
— The apartments we had seen before and liked cost from $300 and up. But they still weren't 100% ideal. They had drawbacks: either a location far from the center or a small area. We decided it was more profitable to take an inexpensive and large apartment in a good location and change it. To make it exactly how we like it: choose the wall color, conveniently place outlets. Create our own coziness.
It's better to spend money once and then live comfortably for a long time for a small amount. This is more profitable than overpaying every month for a good apartment.
"The owners said: 'You need it - you do it'"
The renovation took a month and a half. In a short period, the young couple did a colossal job. They painted the ceilings, re-wallpapered all rooms so that the spaces echoed each other in color scheme, and completely replaced the furniture. Karina found inspiration on Pinterest.
— One of the most expensive parts of the renovation was the laminate, — the girl notes. — We laid it in the room because the linoleum there was so old that there were even holes in some places.
— We also had to tinker with the electricity. This was the dustiest part of the work because we had to make chases for the wiring. There were no outlets in the bathroom at all — how do you dry your hair or simply plug in a washing machine? By the way, it used to be connected to an outlet in the hallway, with the cord running through the doorway. We also added extra outlets in the hallway for the router and vacuum cleaner. Naturally, we added them in the kitchen too.
Karina considers the resulting kitchen her main pride. The couple spends most of their time there — eating, relaxing, working. It was critically important to make this room as cozy as possible.
— In the kitchen, we changed the wallpaper, painted the ceiling, and repainted the cabinet fronts. We miraculously found a new countertop on a website for reselling used items. It only cost 100 rubles. Moreover, the countertop was new and perfectly matched the color. Half an hour after the ad was posted, we were already on our way to pick it up. The sink with the faucet cost about 200 rubles. For the backsplash, we used leftover old tiles that were lying around at the dacha. It's now fashionable to have an open shelf in the kitchen — we bought one. Now we put all sorts of beautiful things on it; I'm a fan of aesthetic tableware.
Some of the furniture was also bought secondhand. Aesthetic sofas, a TV stand, and a wardrobe appeared in the apartment. Karina draws attention to the olive-colored wardrobe in the hallway and the burgundy display cabinet with glass doors.
— We bought the wardrobe for 150 rubles. We saw its potential because it looked decent initially. We repainted it, and made new handles. It fit perfectly into the niche, which made us very happy.
— We even got the display cabinet for free. We put it on legs, repainted it burgundy — it looked like new. Now it holds beautiful dishes and bottles of alcohol. It turned out to be an impromptu bar.
All the interior updates ultimately cost 2100 rubles.
How did the owners react to these metamorphoses? Karina recalls: they immediately said they were not going to participate in the plan and would not include the costs in the rent.
On the contrary, after all the transformations, the rent even increased slightly.
— They told us: 'You need it — you do it.' When they saw the result, of course, they liked it because the apartment had changed. But there wasn't any kind of strong reaction. Now we pay $300 for rent. But we have never regretted doing such a renovation. We still came out ahead in many ways, — Karina is convinced. — Many of our mutual acquaintances who had been to the old apartment before come now and are amazed. Because, essentially, it turned out to be a completely new space, nothing like the previous one. The conclusion is: comfort can be created even with little money.
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