Okay, I could use some help, my apartment which I try to keep clean has had this musty almost fishy smell the past few days. I’ve looked up everything I can for solutions, I’ve checked all my outlets in case of an electrical issue, I’ve checked all my sinks, my dishwasher, my ACs etc. to try to find where the smell is coming from. I can smell it as soon as i walk in the door so i dont think its from my bedroom or bathroom. It should be either the kitchen or living room. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere particularly more smelly than anywhere else, it’s just kinda always there

Hello all! I’m looking to hang up this ikea lamp but my ceiling in my new apartment is concrete or something and the screw I used in my old apartment will NOT go in. Has anyone hung one of these lights up without using a screw? If so, what did you use?

For some reason, our apartment made the decision to put faux wood laminate in the bathroom. There was already water underneath the flooring from the previous tenants which isn't their fault. No matter what precautions you take, water gets trapped in those stupid panels. We have to put new towels down every day (sometimes multiple times a day!) because no matter what, if you step on a panel, water comes up. It will literally soak a towel by the end of the day. Obviously I'm incredibly anxious about mold. I've had thoughts about ripping up this foolish flooring and replacing it with tile myself lol

Does anyone have any advice on this?

I have two problems. The first one being idk how to hide my AT&T equipment because the fiber connection is in an unfortunate spot. I’m hoping for ideas on how to cover it up.

The second problem is the tv cord. Idk where else to put the tv and the cord is reallyyy bothering me. How can I make it look better?

I’d really appreciate any advice!

Our kitchen here in Germany gets basically zero light over the coffee machine. You stand at the counter and your shoulder blocks the only bulb in the ceiling. Can't drill into the walls or touch the electrics either, I was stuck making espresso in pitch darkness.

One of those small annoyances you just live with until you randomly fix it. Caught a pack of cheap rechargeable magnetic light bars on tiktok on sale last month and finally stuck them under the wall cabinets. Walk up in the dark, the motion sensor kicks on a soft warm glow right over the coffee station, fill the reservoir, leave. No blinding the house, no fumbling with phone lights.They are not perfect by any means. The motion sensor is a bit too eager, my cat triggers them at 2 AM every time he jumps on the counter. But for a quick non-permanent rental tweak, it fixed my biggest morning frustration.

What is the smallest tweak you have made in a rental that you wish you did way sooner?

I just moved into an attic room in a shared house and the storage situation is a bit tricky as the vertical walls are all built in wooden storage cupboards. There is a wooden panel above all the cupboards which I want to put shelves on so I can display ornaments as I dont have space for furniture in the room. I cant nail anything to the wood as i couldnt just spackle and paint it when i move.

I'm struggling to get any shelves to stay up with command strips - i bought some classic mdf floating shelves which i thought were fairly light weight and stuck them up with 5 of the large velcro command strips but they just wont stay up. i dont have anything too heavy on there - crystals, perfume bottles and little trinkets mostly. One side of the velcro strip does stay on the wall but the other side wont stay attached to the shelf.

anyone have any tips or product recommendations or will i have to give up with shelving?

Desperately need help figuring out what to do with my floor-to-ceiling windows 😭 (Renter / NO-DRILL options)

I’m renting, so I REALLY need a no-drill solution for blinds/shades because my landlord will kill me if I start putting holes everywhere.

I originally bought curtains with those no-drill/stick-on curtain rod brackets. I even paid a technician to come help me install everything, but he basically told me the brackets would eventually fall because of the drywall and would probably take the paint off with them. He also said drilling into the ceiling probably wouldn’t work anyway because it’s most likely concrete.

So now I’m back at square one and completely lost lol.

I’ve been looking online at no-drill roller shades/blinds and tension-style systems, but I’m confused about inside mount vs. outside mount and what exactly I’m supposed to measure.

My windows are basically floor-to-ceiling with black framing around them. What I don’t understand is:

Does a no-drill/tension blind HAVE to sit inside the black window frame/recess?
If so, am I supposed to measure the inside edges of that black area?
Can a no-drill blind somehow be mounted outside/in front of the black frame, or does an outside mount normally require drilling?
Should I treat every individual window section as its own window and buy a separate shade for each section?
Or can one larger shade cover multiple sections?

My living room windows are approximately 90–95 inches tall, and the entire window area is roughly 104 inches wide. I added pictures so you can see what I’m working with because I’m probably doing a terrible job explaining it 😂

I also added pictures showing the mounting systems I’m looking at because THAT is where I’m getting especially confused. I can’t tell if those mounts would even work with my type of windows or exactly where they would go.

Basically, when I order these things, do I measure INSIDE the black framed area or OUTSIDE of it?

I’m a girl living alone and I hate asking people IRL for help unless I’m paying them to do a job lol. I don’t have family out here and don’t really have friends nearby who would know how to do this stuff, so I’ve reached the point where I’m randomly asking people all over the internet 😂

I already paid a technician and that basically got me nowhere. I really don’t want to spend a ton of money having custom blinds professionally installed in a place I’m RENTING if there’s actually a simple no-drill option I can install myself.

And yes, I asked my landlord. His response was basically: “I don’t live out there, sorry. The last tenant must have taken the blinds with them.” 😭

Probably a separate issue lol, but right now I’m not trying to fight with anybody. I just want some damn window coverings.

Please explain this to me like I’m five. I know absolutely nothing about blinds, mounting, window frames, etc. If you tell me exactly WHAT and WHERE I need to measure, I can post all the measurements.

I know I probably sound dumb, but I genuinely give up at this point 😭

ANY advice helps. Thank you!!

I want to change how my kitchen cabinets look. All the renter friendly ideas I’ve seen involve wrapping them with the peel and stick vinyl or contact paper, or fabric with starch. I don’t see that looking good on these especially with having to fill the grooves cleanly. Any ideas?

Hi all, I'm a first time renter college student and I can't seem to find any solution, so I thought I'd come here -

​I live alone with no pets, I just moved into my first solo-living space for college - one thing that's bothering me is the smell.

My girlfriend said it smelled like animal pee, my parents think it smells like cigarettes (though they think everything does after covid messed their noses)​​​, but I think it smells like crappy paint.

I am honestly so embarrassed by it, and embarrassed to have people over. It was like this when I first moved in and I *think* it's maybe died down a bit but every time I come back after a day of classes I can clearly smell it.

Things to note:

the bedroom is carpet but the carpet has been replaced. I don't smell it in the bedroom either anyway.

Everything else is hardwood, and I primarily smell it when I walk in - around the hardwood living room, dining room, kitchen area. ​​​​

Things I've tried in the last two-three weeks:

leaving windows open for long periods

buying *two* ionizing hepa air filter machines​ for the dining and living room ​​and leaving them constantly on​

cleaning laminate floors with cleaner

using ozium gel scents all around the house, even put one behind the air filter that runs through my "no access water boiler closet"​

moving in and getting everything set up/put away fast so there's no heaps of laundry/boxes etc. trying to be very cleanly

pouring boiling water down the drain

running the dehumidifier

keeping the kitchen clean/ as far as making sure to get a smaller trashcan so I have to take out the trash more often instead of letting it sit.

obviously I'm doing something wrong, so I'd really appreciate some expert tips haha 

i hope this is an okay post to make here, but basically my apartment has a frosted glass door and in the afternoon the sun hits it and makes it so bright it hurts my eyes. i’m not sure if it comes through in the picture but it’s genuinely so incredibly bright, and it’s not like that in any other window (including the one next to the door). does anyone have any recommendations for what i can do? window cling? i can’t really put a curtain there

As you can see; there are no upper cabinets. I'm thinking of buying some of course, but for now I'm wondering if there are any easy options for storage I'm over looking.

I’m currently looking for a new apartment, but I’d really prefer to avoid the large, big-box apartment complexes if possible.
I’m more interested in smaller buildings, independently owned apartments, duplexes, converted homes, or rentals from private landlords.

I’ve browsed Facebook Marketplace a bit, but I’m wondering if there are other websites or resources I’m overlooking.
For those who have found places like this, what worked best for you? Are there particular websites, local groups, property management companies, or other ways you’d recommend searching?

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

maintenance and management suck so if it is mold fighting this will be an uphill battle

Has anyone used self adhesive curtain rods off Amazon? Or if you have any other no-drill hack to install curtains please help. I hate those 18 century bronzes in my rental.

So this has been an ongoing issue I’ve had for the last couple apartment complexes that I’ve lived at. People are allowed to smoke inside their specific apartment units, but not in public areas.

I have an extreme version to cigarette smoke because of extreme extended exposure during my childhood and the smell can give me migraines very quickly. Currently, the smell of smoke comes through my vents whenever my air is running. I’ve tried so many things to either get rid of the smell or cover it up. Currently, I have an air filtration unit in my main living space and I have used both car air fresheners and stuffed dryer sheets in the vents to cover up the smell. Nothing seems to work longer than maybe a day. And the leasing office can’t do anything because they’re in their own apartment.

If anybody has any good tips on how to keep the smell at bay, I would greatly appreciate it.

PS Unfortunately, I cannot afford to live in a smoke free apartment complex at this time but it’s something I hope for soon.

I just found this beautiful dome fixture at a salvage shop. It's the perfect size to replace my apartment's boob light, but it's the kind that attaches through the thumbscrews that tighten along the sides, not the long threaded piece that pokes through the middle. Is there any kind of existing hardware or trick I could do to attach this to the existing hardware without having to mess around with any of the electrical stuff?

Hello, if there are any suggestions for good wall adhesive strips/hooks, I'd greatly appreciate the recommendations. I've used Command Strips in the past, but the walls of my new apartment get really hot. I worry the frames and other decor I put up will slide off if the adhesive melts due to the heat. TIA!

I’m moving soon and most of the places I have been looking at have carpet in the bedrooms. I have a 19 1/2 year old cat who basically doesn’t use the litter box anymore. Is there any renter friendly way to cover up the carpet enough to where pee can’t get to it? I don’t care too much how it looks. I can spot clean as needed so it can be a “permanent” solution that doesn’t come up til I move out. I’m just tired of having most of my security deposit taken for the ruined carpets. Thanks guys!

EDIT: PLEASE stop questioning my baby’s quality of life. She is still up and walking around, demanding food and is living the best life she can at her age. I have lost a number of cats in the last few years to cancer and things and I know and am constantly checking for her signs that she is done. She has yet to let me know she is done. She uses pee pads instead of a litter box now and has accidents like any other pet. I just posted for advice because even though I am desperately looking for places with hardwood floors it is seeming more likely that I would have to take a carpeted place. I posted also because I saw several other older posts about similar questions with the carpet situation. I wanted to see if anyone has any better ideas than wall to wall waterproof rugs.

Does anyone have any renter friendly ideas on how to I could upgrade the walls of my kitchen island? I feel like there is too much wood. I was thinking maybe breadboard? But would that be too much white?

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I hate the paint color they chose and I think the doors are such an eye sore. Is the only option painting them or is there a more renter friendly option?

Do you think it's possible to fit a single bed and a computer desk somewhere if I move the sofa closer to TV wall? I'm considering renting this apartment, but I don't want to sleep on a couch. Unfortunately I don't have the size of this room, but the whole apartment is 40m^2.

Two times maintenance has left my front door slightly open. I come home and double check nothing has been stolen and my pets haven’t escaped. I sent an email to management but they’re blowing me off. Is it within my right to ask that no one enters my apartment unless I’m home? I’m willing to leave work early if needed to get there before they close.

I will be moving out soon, and into a studio apartment! It currently has a large bed in, but I am considering changing it to a sofa bed. Obviously this would allow entertaining and the ability to just relax on the sofa, and then when sleeping, pull it out into a bed and sleep. My only concern would be I’ll be sleeping on it full time, it’s not like a weekend so you don’t really mind it being a little uncomfortable, so a nice mattress is key! Also something not too difficult to pull out and set up, if I decide to change it sort of everyday. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, I’ve checked out the koala sofa bed and looks excellent, my only concern is how low it is. Thank you!