Presenting Curbed's Rental Redo, a Renters Week 2013 contest wherein creative, ambitious, and deserving renters are given the chance to score $2,500 to the home furnishings store of their choice simply by outlining what they'd like to do with their lackluster, hodgepodge, or underfunded spaces. Over the next few days, the finalists' entries and testimonials will unfold right here; on Friday, they'll face off in a countrywide poll. We'll crown the winner on Mon., Nov. 25.
Amy and Brian are just about to move from their one-bedroom apartment into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the city of Murfreesboro, Tenn., some 30 minutes from Nashville. "It is big and open, but it is just like any other rental house," Amy writes, "full of boring colors, old appliances, and lacking some serious interior design love." After some setbacks (Amy lost her job working in the mortgage industry and is now "climbing the corporate ladder" at a bank) the couple has turned a corner and is on the up-and-up professionally, hoping to save cash while also figure out how to turn the "random items we've collected over time"—"merging or very different tastes"—into a unified interior design scheme that's comfortable, stylish, and very "them."
Amy elaborates:
"We are COMPLETE opposites, but we amazingly were MADE for each other. This isn't just a rental house for us, it's a consummation of our very personalities. He is from the country, simple, strong, smart and adorably introverted man. I am a city girl, loud, self confident, and plow through life with my bulldozing personality. We both enjoy modern, sleek interiors, but he's all about some natural wood, and I'm all about some shiny metal and fluffy white texture. I think this could be an amazing mix to design our new house." Amy's Rental Redo Inspiration:
· All Renters Week 2013 posts [Curbed National]
· All Curbed's Rental Redo finalists [Curbed National]