When my boyfriend and I decided to move in together, we wanted two things in a flat; space so we didn’t feel crowded (a surefire way to ruin a perfectly good relationship), and for it to not look like a students’ apartment (which we very recently no longer were). I wanted to decorate, which I’d never been able to do living in a dormitory, and I wanted to have matching furniture to entertain our friends in the kitchen. I could picture what our flat would look like in my head, but with budgetary restrictions, the space proved difficult to find. So when a good friend (with a really nice place) told me her neighbour had been evicted we naturally jumped at the chance to claim his spacious, one-bedroom flat.

I’d spent enough time at my friend’s place to know that the location, price and space was everything we wanted. So, even though the previous tenant had been a convicted criminal and, well, insane, we were willing to look beyond the rough bits (blood on the walls, holes punched in the window screens, onion skins everywhere, for some reason) in favour of the flat’s finer points (wooden floors, multi-paned windows, crown moulding) that would make our dream home.

The walls were brown, there was cat food in every nook and cranny, and we found remnants of the previous tenant’s ‘line of work’ in the depths of our enormous bedroom closet. Three full days later, however, we had swept, scrubbed, bleached and painted the place from top to bottom. We were exhausted, but when we were done, there was no longer a trace of the before. The place had gone, magically, from ‘his’ to ‘ours’.

Not every flat should require as much work as ours did, but there is merit in renting a fixer-upper. A high-class space doesn’t have to mean paying high prices; prioritizing the qualities below when flat hunting can mean having an ideal home that meets your less-than-ideal budget:

Good bones

Wooden floors, decent kitchen cabinets, well-built doors, and windows that open and close. While they might look hideous now, you’ll be able to perform a swan-like transformation. Difficult-to-replace things, like outdated cabinets or (ugh) old carpets makes it harder for your flat to look pretty and polished- even after that first coat of paint.

Location

Being remote doesn’t have to mean suffering inconvenience. The commute might be longer, but living away from the hubbub of the city can mean lower rents, more space, and nicer neighborhoods. We live near a park, two fruit markets, and I’m never afraid to walk home after midnight. As long as you have the staples like grocery and transit are nearby, there’s no reason why you can’t leave the hustle and bustle of the downtown core behind.

Storage

Minimalism is an interior design favourite; it’s modern, clean and fresh- the opposite of what a lived-in space actually tends to be. It’s difficult to live, day to day, in a space and have it looking like the front cover of a magazine, but it’s impossible to do so without storage. One of the big sellers for my apartment was that its closets and cabinets aren’t only deep, they’re high as well. This allows me to tuck any assortment of clutter-causing items away at any time without having the entire flat bursting at the seams. You also don’t want to throw yourself into creating your perfect living space only to find that you’ve outgrown it in a year. No matter how gorgeous your flat is, hold storage above and beyond any aesthetic qualities; your marble kitchen counter won’t look so chic when it’s covered with appliances.

Building rules and regulations

Before you get all giddy with the potential of your soon-to-be great place and sign the lease, carefully review your tenant agreement. Make sure that all the glamorous changes you have planned are actually allowed (painting, unauthorized renovations, even simply hanging pictures on the wall can all be forbidden in some buildings). Also ensure that the tenant agreement establishes your landlord’s responsibilities regarding unit repairs. Don’t let yourself get stuck in a fixer-upper with a contract clause that bans nails in the drywall. Know your rights!

{Photo: Melanie Tata}