- Nnedinma Obiwuru, 31, does not leave the rental preventing him from living in the house of his dreams.
- Obiwuru transformed his rental apartment into a white box into a chic oasis via DIY projects and event finds.
- Some millennials flow for time and money in the renovation of rentals when the purchase of the house seems out of reach.
If Nnedinma Obiwuru will rent, she will do it in style.
Obiwuru, a 31 -year -old marketing specialist, and his partner spent $ 7,000 to transform their rental apartment in Austin into a Parisian inspiration. Its objective: take the $ 3,000 per month unit of two bedrooms in a white box at a chic charming hotel.
His inspiration for the primary bedroom – with her vintage carved bed frame, a hand -of -the -lives of the grandmother of her fiancé, and a chandelier of $ 130 from Amazon – was a sequel to the famous Reais Christine de Paris. The 18th century mansion rooms have become a luxury hotel with decorations in an extremely decorated manner for about $ 650 per night. For the guest room, she made red velvet bench chairs by hand and a DIY bar that can fall back and be stored in a closet when not used. The projects in the space of 1,300 square feet took a total of five years.
“Our guests are still panicking when they visit,” said Obiwuru. “Whenever they come, there is something new. People are usually for at least six hours.”
As the American real estate market remains historically dear, some young Americans have pushed or abandoned their dreams of home ownership. Instead, they redirect their resources to the renovation of their rental properties. They can spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars, as well as a lot of time and effort, to reflect their house.
She bought the chandelier of the room at Amazon for $ 130 and spent two days assembling her herself. The bed frame was a workforce. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
In Austin, where Obiwuru saw, the prices of the houses have dropped but remain well above the American median. The high cost of home ownership has led many residents to opt for long -term rental.
“Having a house in Austin is more like a 10 -year -old dream,” Obiwuru told Business Insider. “Rental is the place where I am, and many of my friends are in the same situation. This is why I focus on my place to feel at home.”
The guest room took the most DIY work
Before the renovation, the guest room looked like another standard room that you would find in an apartment – nothing special, with natural cream walls and a beige carpet.
The guest room when Obiwuru moved. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
Now, a space on the theme of the bar and catering, Obiwuru and its fiancé, John, have built most of the furniture themselves. The red, wood, foam and fabric velvet stand costs $ 700 to create.
“It was the first piece of furniture I have ever made,” she said. “I would not necessarily recommend it – it was a lot of work. But I really wanted restaurant style seats, and everything that was online was more than $ 4,000, and I just couldn’t justify spending so much so that something could sit.”
Obiwuru spent only $ 80 to build a foldable bar based on “just plywood and hinges. She went to Home Depot, if the workers had cut the wood, then added woodwork outside and painted it herself.
Board of friends on the theme of Obiwuru restaurant. With the kind authorization of Paige Newton
She said she stores the bar in her closet and usually made him come out when she made drinks and welcomes friends.
“What is cool is that all I build and that I understand in the apartment is suitable for tenants,” she said. “We think we can later move the bar in our living room or our kitchen. It is easy to move and leaves no trace.”
Renovating a space to appear high -end should not be expensive
Obiwuru’s design style is deeply shaped by her love for travel and hotels she has visited.
“I am a first generation Nigerian-American,” said Obiwuru. “My parents provided everything we needed, but with five brothers and sisters, the trip was not an absolute priority. When I started exploring the world and staying in hotels, I really started to feel more like me.”
It is recently focused on Maison Metier, a five-star hotel in New Orleans where the rooms cost around $ 250 per night, such as a plan to superimpose pieces of furniture and apparently eclectic art.
Obiwuru describes its design style as a mixture of traditional elegance with a touch of flair. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
Obiwuru said most of the homes in his home are fulfilled in local stores and cost between 49 cents and about $ 20.
However, she made follies on a few larger items, such as the large brown leather sofa in her living room, which cost $ 1,000 in Wayfair.
The couple saved this console table for only $ 25, and the central paint on the wall is actually a TV with Samsung frame. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
The gallery wall in a bathroom wall is also bordered by saved items.
“I love it when I go to a bar, and I feel like I was transported elsewhere,” said Obiwuru. “The bathrooms or the bathrooms are the place where designers can really be creative because they contained spaces. I knew that I wanted to fill mine with frames.”
Art framed on the walls of a bathroom reflects the interest of Obiwuru for the rebirth of Harlem and the era of the prohibition. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
With a budget of only $ 100, she and her fiancé visited several goodwill stores in the Austin region, where they found 51 images. To fill them, they provided illustrations of the rebirth of Harlem and the era of prohibition, extending from the 1920s in the mid -1930s, both in line and in the city.
She has some renovation regrets
Obiwuru likes his house, and many others do it too.
She told Bi that an interview worker of her apartments complex pointed out: “He is the best apartment he has ever seen.”
Obiwuru said that she did not need her owner’s approval for her projects because they leave no permanent damage. Whenever she moves, she added, she will leave the apartment as it seemed when she moved.
This coat chimney was bought on Amazon, and Obiwuru customized it by adding molding and painting it to correspond to the aesthetics of the room. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
However, she would do some things differently knowing what she knows now. She painted rooms before having a complete design plan in place.
“I had no complete vision when I moved and I designed on the basis of the atmosphere I had at the time,” she said. “I learned to move more slowly.”
She also mentioned that the renovation of an apartment while living next to the neighbors has its challenges.
“I am a rising column, so I want to start my projects at 5 am, but it’s just not possible,” said Obiwuru. “You have to work around regular hours, and this is the difficult part to do strong projects while living near others.”
During the renovation, she began to document and share parts of the process on Instagram under the username @Everylastlayer. It now has more than 38,000 subscribers, and some of its projects are sponsored by brands.
Obiwuru has teamed up with Behr to paint the door of his room and add the molding as a final touch. The “562” pays tribute to its regional hometown code near Los Angeles. With the kind permission of Nnedinma Obiwuru
However, Obiwuru and her fiancé plan to continue to rent in the long term.
“We can absolutely save for a house, but our priorities are more experiential, at least for the moment,” she said. “We prefer to travel and spend our money for things like daycare for our dogs to save for a deposit.”
She added: “The majority of people I am in which I rent are in the predictable future. I think that the stigma that surrounds it disappears.”
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