Over the weekend, I somehow stumbled upon this YouTube channel and have since watched almost every single one of her videos. In her major series, “My Rental Reno”, she’s making over her entire apartment in a renter-friendly (ie. mostly reversible) way – and she lives here in Toronto!
I loved watching her put the spaces together with things that seemed so simple – a plant here, a decorative basket there. Her major message was to find beautiful versions of the objects you use every day (like a dish towel or bath mat) and add cute touches to areas we forget, like door knobs and entryways.
The results were always simple but beautiful, and it left me wanting to update and tweak and find lovely things for my own apartment. I changed a few small things right away and immediately felt a fresh burst of energy and affection for my apartment, despite its limitations. Strangely, it also made me feel much more appreciative of the wonderful one-of-a-kind pieces I’ve already thrifted over the years, which suddenly jumped out at me.
I was reminded that so often in life we think we need a big change – a new city, a new job, a new apartment – in order to be happy. We discount little changes that can make a huge difference in our happiness.
Because it’s also true that after an initial period of setting things up in our lives, we tend to stop actively working on it, leaving tons of room for improvement on the table. I remember once hearing a story about a woman who was moving apartments, but realized that she should have cleaned up and spruced up her place years ago because suddenly it had a new life and she wanted to stay in it.
Even though I still have dreams of one day living in an apartment with gorgeous outdoor space, I am inspired to bring more life and love to the place I already have. I know that there is more I could be doing to make it feel cozy and homey and intentional, and I’m excited to do a rental ‘reno’ of my own.
