Repair cannot be completed - it can only be stopped. And sometimes repairs cannot be started for a banal reason - there is no money for it. Or just not up to it. But there are people for whom this is important, because there are moments when modern renovation and a beautiful interior become extremely important. For example, when you are going to invite guests.
"Grandma's" interior without carpet
An old friend (classmate) told me how she recently met another of our classmates, but somehow everything turned out awkwardly. They met at the supermarket right next to her house, and it seemed like it was on the tongue to invite her to tea (at least now, at least later) to chat in warmth, and not in the cold. But she did not dare, for a good reason: the house had not been renovated for a very long time, so the apartment is in a state of “you won’t look without tears.”
I was at her house about 5 years ago (we live a stone's throw from each other), so I understand what she is talking about. The cat tore up the wallpaper and upholstered furniture, the parent dog undermined the baseboards, interior doors and corners, ceiling tiles are coming off in different places, there are traces of the old bay by neighbors in the form of bubbled wallpaper. However, there is no carpet on the wall for a long time, which distinguishes the apartment from the classic "grandmother's".
Repair on credit as the norm of life
As a person active on rental sites, I sometimes wonder how expensive and rich people furnish their apartments, spending fierce hundreds of thousands on a beautiful and fashionable (in their opinion) interior. They usually give their cats and dogs to good hands later, because pets do not know the cost of laminate and furniture, which they, of course, will gnaw on as before. A real thriller unfolds when this interior is accidentally spoiled by neighbors.
Last year, a real drama unfolded in my entrance. A neighbor from the fifth floor had freshly installed batteries, so she spilled all her boner. It was especially hard for a single mother from the third floor, who recently moved in and took out a loan for repairs. I carefully watched this situation through the peephole and through her sobs I heard that she only had stretch ceilings worth 30 thousand, and the loan had not yet been paid.
My parents have a friend who is a professional repairman. He said that repairs on a grand scale have become an absolute norm, even if he is objectively unaffordable. Often, even working pensioners take hundreds of thousands of loans to completely transform an apartment. And there is only one reason - so that it would not be embarrassing to invite someone to visit.
He talked about one order where a woman aged 60+ asked for a cool and modern bathroom renovation (combined with a toilet) that she saw at a friend. Photos showed that it was no worse than hers. Money does not matter - I will take a loan as much as necessary.
Inhospitable apartments
Partial renovation in my apartment was exactly 15 years ago, and some points have remained untouched since moving in in the late 80s. The apartment, to be honest, just begs for a major overhaul, but I don’t have the funds for it, and, fortunately, no one asks to visit me. I have already forgotten what “live guests” are, because all meetings naturally migrated to catering spaces.
On New Year's Eve, I had to call a plumber who was supposed to solve the problem in the toilet after the onset of frost. He lamented loudly that the toilet was very old, that they don't make them like that anymore. I cautiously noticed that nothing had been updated in the apartment for a long time. He, not embarrassed at all, agreed just as loudly: “Yes, I see that there has been no repair for a long time. Ahahahaha!" It was terribly uncomfortable and embarrassing. Well, I wanted to hit out of resentment.
Let's go back to my friend. I mentally put myself in her place and realized that I would feel exactly the same way. I wouldn't invite her either, because I would be ashamed of the lack of a good repair.
But something tells me that it's not even about repairs, but about my own position and self-confidence. Well, in a person whom you call or do not call. There are simple people, absolutely not sensitive to other people's ruins. Others will snort and then carry their impressions in the wind, frapped with wooden windows with peeling paint.
Would you be shy about apartments without renovation?
