Owning and renting

Today's post is illustrated with pictures of houses I want to buy, but won't. Probably.

I've just re-packed my car with boxes. No room for cats; just boxes. Television, computer, kitchen stuff, clothes (two people's worth), miscellaneous boxes of things I can't get rid of (what DOES one do with the development tanks that are obsolete, but go with your antique aerial camera?). Taking a break before packing the trailer too, then driving down to get an early start on the apartment walk-thru in the morning.

S and some friends will load up trucks and drive down tomorrow, then the storage-unit emptying begins! As well as seeing the full extent of the damage my furniture sustained (NEVER USE MOVERS.com!!!!).

I'm not very excited to go to an apartment. I should be. OK, in some ways, I am. I look forward to possessing space again. I look forward to unpacking my books in my new office. Moving into a 900 square foot rental apartment? After owning a 2900 square foot AWESOME house? I'm not sure how I will do with that transition. How will I live with a regular, white bathroom? Where is the character? Where is the vintage charm and functionality?

Just like thrift shopping gives me a thrill, house hunting/watching is a blast. I want to own lots of houses. Or at least, look at all of them. No, it's not true. I want to collect them. I covet them. There are beautiful details foolish, capitalist-infected owners will rip out to replace with something new and made in China. I can't allow it!

So, I have been hunting. Even though I'm about to sign a one year lease, I am hunting. Only now, I have to think about what someone else would want, what his needs are. It's weird. And sometimes hard. For example, I covet that blue wallpaper room, but it is too much for him. As it is in the "master" bedroom, that means I can't simply say, "fine, this will be my office and you can never go in there!" 

So we prepare for our apartment, where I don't plan on putting anything on the walls, because I don't want to patch nail holes in a year. We will have no garage, continue to have half our stuff in storage, and have to have a cat-box in a bathroom (ick!). But I also have an appointment to look at several houses on Monday. And I'm also looking at "commercial" properties, so I can separate out the art stuff from the house stuff. I also found some hybrid properties with a house and a building. You know, so I can make bigger installations and push that side of my career forward. I'm excited about it, but also terrified I won't use it.