In our weekly series, What I Rent, we take you inside people’s rented properties to see how they’ve turned the spaces into places that feel like home.
This time we’re chatting with Rukmini, 35, a blogger and marketing professional living in Mumbai.
Rukmini rents a one-bedroom flat with her husband and their two cats, ‘who control us fully’.
Here’s how she rents.
Hi, Rukmini! How much do you pay to live here?
We pay 26000 rupees or $345 per month but the bills run double that.
But we kind of don’t stop ourselves at anything. We are a double income no kids family so we splurge once in a while.
And what do you get for what you pay?
We have a tiny loft- about 550 sqft and we have two rooms – a bedroom and a living room. We have two bathrooms as well; a guest and a master.
What I love about this home is however the amount of light it recieves because of balconies. We have four balconies in total!
Do you feel like you have a good deal?
With covered parking – yes. Without that, maybe not so much.
We have also been staying a ridiculous amount of years in this house and the best thing about this place is our landlords. They are totally cool!
Do you like the area?
I stay in Navi-Mumbai or New-Bombay and I think it’s the best place in the whole world.
The area I live is a bit far from the main city and we love it here. Probably because of where it is.
How did you find this property?
We found it on a real estate app called NoBroker.
How have you made this place feel like home?
That is a long story, really!
When my husband and I came to see this place it was rather drab and dull and dreary.
It took me five years and a few months but it does feel like home now. I changed the wall colours, customised the window trims, added a bath tub and more.
Have you found it difficult to decorate when renting? Is your landlord happy with you doing bits?
Strangely enough, they love it. Or maybe because they trust me to fill the holes on the wall when I move out.
It was slightly difficult because most of the kitchen wall is tiled and we couldnt install an open shelf but we found our way. We created extra storage on the kitchen counter with movable boxes.
Do you feel like you have enough space?
We have started to feel that maybe – especially now that we are both working from home – an extra room wouldn’t hurt.
But we are also exploring minimalism and whether we could give away/sell few things to create more space.
Are there any problems with the home you have to deal with?
It’s got shoddy wiring. A fairly new building but very shoddy electrical wiring. But that’s about it.
Do you have plans to move again any time soon?
It’s been five years so yes, we are looking at moving the next year – a slightly larger place perhaps and further away from the city given how crowded its all becoming
Do you want to own a place some day or are you happy to rent?
We would eventually want to own a place someday and we are working towards it, but it’s not going to be in the city for sure.
We are cash-loading so we could buy what we really like, where we really like.
For now, we are incredibly happy to rent.
What I Rent is a weekly series that’s out every Tuesday at 10am.
Check back next week to have another nose around a rented property.
How to get involved in What I Rent
What I Rent is Metro.co.uk’s weekly series that takes you inside the places people are renting, to give us all a better sense of what’s normal and how much we should be paying.
If you fancy taking part, please email [email protected]. You’ll need to take pictures of your kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom, plus a few photos of you in your bedroom or living area.
Make sure you get permission from your housemates! You’ll also need to be okay with sharing how much you’re paying for rent, as that’s pretty important.
We’re not just after the prettiest places out there, by the way. We want the reality of renting, so if you’re currently renting a place you hate, we’d love to see that too (and sympathise greatly!).
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