Paying $200 more in rent would not be for 'a home you can call your own'. Ideally you'd wanna be paying half a months salary for rent. I know this is often impossible in NYC, but perhaps you can start with that rule of thumb.

You might want to weigh the costs of everything.
Having a pet in itself costs you. Food, toys, vet care etc. So add that onto the extra $200 you would be paying for this other apt.
If you can afford it, go for it. But if your looking to save, then maybe wait this one out.

Agree with jimmie. You will still be renting. If I remember correctly, "they" recommend trying to contain rent/mortgage payments to less than 30% of post-tax monthly salary. May I suggest you continue to save the $200 and wait? You can then indulge in getting nice pieces of furniture once-in-a-while with your savings (which *will* be your own) and which may satisfy you till you find your dream place. Or buy nice art with some of the money you save now to cover your bland walls and take it with you when you move.

Why don't you just paint the walls anyways? You may save money in the long-run if you just paint your current walls and then pay someone to just paint them back when you are done. I live in a co-op that will not let us do structural changes to the inside of our rooms. I am still putting a hole in the wall between kitchen and living room - and will seal it off if/when I leave.

I kind of agree with everyone else and not Max - sacrificing your savings is not worth it. When I'm out shopping and I want to control my spending I always ask myself "Do I want this bag/skirt/sweater more than I want to not have to eat cat food when I'm 76?" There's really not much that gets through.

What about hanging fabric or painting big canvases and putting those up? That would hide a lot of the white.

Beware of black and white thinking. There are lots of ways besides paint and pets to make a place your own. Try dottilicious from wallcandyarts.com. Get a Venus flytrap. And there may be lots of ways to save that you haven't thought of. Give up Starbuck's, for starters. Even if you can only afford to save fifty dollars a month, if you put that money in an index fund, the miracle of compound interest will do its thing and you'll have a mortgage before you know it.

I think MGR's point is valid, if you can really afford to pay more for a place where you can do what you want, but its a big IF with prices in NYC. Another option which some of my friends have chosen is paint anyway, perhaps just an accent wall or some such. When it is time to move you repaint it to bland white again (it's also only courteous for the next tenant with a different design sense). Or if your landlord/super is agreeable optionally forfeit your security and the landlord will repaint. I think their main concern is not having a color that will scare away potential new tenants (or spending their own money). Or do I have that reversed ;). I also think Deepa's idea is excellent to use your saved money to invest in some nice furnishings that you can move along to the next place. It's incentive not to squander your savings at Starbuck's.

I think living in an apartment you enjoy spending time in can radically change the way you spend money. If you're so inclined, you're more likely to cook at home, entertain at home, etc., so there's potential for savings there. (Of course, if you're doing these things already, or are unlikely to do them regardless of where you're living, there's not much $ to be saved.)

I say move into the nicer place. I'm about to make the very same leap-- bigger space, 200 bucks a month more, closer to the office. Although if it's only the "tenement white" walls, Ruth's right about canvases. I just started experimenting with one that's 4 feet by 5 feet. It's harder than I thought it would be, but I think it'll be cool to customize some color panels for my walls. Not the same as painting the whole wall, though, is it?

If you live with a pet "in flagrante" for a while, the landlord can't hold it against you (how flagrant can one be with a cat, anyway?). Remember, its a pain in the butt to evict somebody in this town, so if you're polite and reasonable about it, you may get away with things. So, get a pet, paint the walls, and kiss your deposit good-bye. How much could that cost you in the end? You have to add moving expenses to the equation. If your landlord is litigious, you could put the $200/month into a "lawyer fund".

I say save up for something you REALLY want- - - even if in the next place they don't let you paint walls BUT they let you have a pet, you can still win. You can always get around the wall color dilemma (with fabric or decor) but if you really want a pet companion that bad, some sacrifices must be made. Especially take in the point about that $200/month for pet supplies. I have that delimma- I'm not allowed to paint my walls (so I used my decor to give the illusion that different areas of my house are different colors), BUT I get to have my cat. I feel I still win =) Good luck making your decision!

The best thing to do is make a list of your real priorities, and be honest with yourself. Life's too short to be unhappy. How much time do you really spend at home? If you're at home much of the time, then obviously your apartment is a priority and you should live where you can be happiest. If you are rarely home, enjoy expensive dinners out, travel a lot, well, you get the picture.

I spent a lot of time and money last year painting a beautiful, large apartment. I loved the colors and the apartment, but grew to hate the fact that I had loud neighbors, it was very hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and I was paying a lot. Moved to a very small, funky place with white walls. But it's $500 cheaper, quiet, neither too hot nor too cold, and in the perfect location. I try to make it as comfortable as I can, and art and colored canvases are on my list of things to do. It all comes down to priorities.

(However, I have to add that I do have animals, and they are my top priority. I can't imagine a life without them, and I've been lucky enough to find pet-friendly places. Do keep in mind that animals are not cheap -- besides food, etc., large vet bills tend to pop up when you least expect them. Are you miserable living without animals? Would you be home enough to spend time with them? Can you commit to keeping them for many years? Would volunteering at the humane society be enough for now? Only you can answer these questions.)

opps...I said house. I live in an apartment...no paint allowed but because of that there will be a lot of patching to do when I decide to move! ha

Thanks for all the input. Since $200 (before pet fees!) is nearly a 20% increase in rent for me, I decided to stay put. I mean, although I love dogs, I am only 23 (and completely financially independent from my parents), and my apartment is pretty sweet despite a pet-hating, blinding-white-paint-loving landlord. Plus, I was lucky to be able to find a spacious 1-bedroom I could afford, and I realize I should hold onto it so as not to tempt the apartment gods.

The pet rule is non-negotiable (esp. since a dog would be pretty hard to sneak by the landlord's son, who lives downstairs, and the super, who is always sitting on the stoop across the street). I have resigned myself to living with that until I can really afford to pamper my pet.

I've decided also that I will paint/decorate how I please and return it to original condition when I move. Not sure if I will put something in writing for my landlord saying as much, or just go ahead.

First project is my bedroom, but I really don't think that will be done in time to post pics for the contest. Awwww...

And no, I would not be as into decorating/design if not for this website. It's an incredible resource. Thanks guys!

ooo I'm interested in seeing how your painting/decor comes out. Post pics once it's finished! And I hope you get your dog eventually =) Since you're 23, you have lots of time to find a place you'd enjoy with a dog.

Is your apt small enough to be entered into the small apt contest?

Hey Molly. Good call staying put. Saving $200 bucks is huge especially at 23,k imagine if I'd been saving $200 for the past 8 years...sigh.

Anyway, about painting the current place - don't ask, don't get anything in writing. I know this kind of goes against common sense but by not asking, you are not giving your super the opportunity to say no. If he says anything just brush it off quickly by saying that you will return it to the original condition upon leaving and ask for the details on the paint color. That has satisfied all of my supers to date.

Good luck!

One thing you can try is what friends of mine did - buying large sheer fabric panels at Ikea and hanging them up with clips. Hot pink and lime green.

We even stuck black on white drawings up with surgical tape on the walls behind the fabric, and it looked great.

As much as I love my cat and my red-red walls, I say stay put. You're better off saving up than moving into a place that you can barely afford. Trust me, I did this one right at the end of grad school and being $200 broke-r will make you that much more miserable.

There are a couple tricks to getting nice canvas that they taught us in art school. First, those stretchers you buy in stores are nice but really expensive. You can de-canvas a piece of bad art, or build your own frame out of 1x3s with little luan corner pieces and keys on the back. Second, when you staple the fabric down, first staple a diamond with the points in the middle of each side. Then move out towards the edges, skipping every other one so you stagger the stretching around. You'll still end up with wrinkles, so take some hot water in a spray bottle and just spritz the fabric down. You can add some startch to the water if you think you need it. Most fabrics will shrink slightly. If you're using vinyl, try using a hair dryer on gentle heat.

You've all missed the simplest solutions. 1) get some cheap fabric (colored, print, pinstripes) soak it in a bucket of starch, stick it on the wall, smooth it using a wallpaper brush. When you leave, pull it off and wash down walls. 2) staple fabric to wall along the top of wall, cover staples with matching ribbon and double stick tape. Fabric can be flat or shirred (softly gathered, nice & girly look). You can patch staple holes with white toothpaste or spackle.

My partner and I are in a 8oo sq foot one bedroom wih a parrot and we need to paint our place. Can anyone recommend paints that are pet friendly and safe? Or even a website that can help us. Our concerns are mostly with fumes and odors. Even our parrot Sumo, who is as colorful as a rainbow, is tired of the bland colors in our pad. Please someone help us!

Thanks in advance.