Nissa22's Profile

I did the combo thing too. Moving overseas, I both needed the money AND I needed everything to be gone quickly. I had a garage sale where I invited friends over for tea and drinks to make it more sociable than me sitting in my driveway like a loner, and then at the end of the day everything got packed straight into our cars and taken directly to the charity shop. My rule was that once it left the house (i.e. being put on the driveway) it wasn't allowed back into the house! Then, my friends got to have their pick at the end of the day too :-)

I live in a rental in Amsterdam and am currently renovating without any financial input from the landlord. Here in the Netherlands it's standard to move into a rental property that is completely empty -ie no flooring, no appliances, no light fittings. We had to put down carpet in the bedroom, buy our stove/oven and instal it, and the lighting was simply wires hanging from the ceiling (and still is in the dining room as we could not decide on a fitting). It is also very common to rent your whole life and not buy eve r -my partner's grandparent rented their apartment for 54 years. We'll be raising or family in this rented apartment, so we will be sure to make it as lovely as we can. There's also a great sense here of enjoying your home rather than seeing every decorating decision you make as a good or bad financial investment.

You can safely inject full-on colour with a fantastic patterned area rug. Choose one that has some blue in it, and some green, and heaps of other colours too - it'll tie the whole spacetogether. Try urban outfitters for great designs but inexpensive prices. You'll also benefit hugely from grouping your pictures together - aim for no more than two inches apart. It'll make the space seem much bigger. And I agree with the random comment about the Murphy shelves. If it's too costly to replace the shelves, try papering then with a dark colour (wrapped around) - this would balance the Billys on the other side.