If you’ve ever rented an apartment and then subsequently left in search of greener pastures—or because the rent got too high—then you may know how infuriatingly difficult it is to get your security deposit back.
Frustrated tenants have called out their landlords and property management companies online after they looked for the tiniest of reasons to keep the deposit in the event that any damage is done to the unit.
But a TikToker named Lauren (@nichelauren) knows very well that the alterations she did to her apartment would more than likely completely warrant her landlord keeping her security deposit—she painted the entire place almost entirely pink upon moving in.
Most tenants should know that in the majority of situations, they need to get permission from their landlord before making any significant alterations to the living space, which includes painting.
It seems Lauren presumably thought that this was a problem for future Lauren—which has now become present Lauren—who shared in a viral TikTok how she was going to get out of a sticky situation when her landlord asked for photos of the apartment.
So, in a bid to buy herself some time to paint the place back to its original color before leaving, she snapped some pictures in the apartment’s totally-pink state, and then Photoshopped the results to make it look closer to its original listing pictures.
@nichelauren house looking like the barbie dreamhiuse threw up
♬ Lacme, The flower duet – Léo Delibes
“My landlord just asked me for pictures of my apartment so I’m in Photoshop doctoring all of these images cause the very first thing I did when I moved into my apartment two years ago was paint everything pink,” Lauren says.
She continues how she had to make a trip to Home Depot to buy white paint because she’s moving and knows the walls have to be white before she leaves.
“But I have no f*cking clue what color white why are there so many white paints?” she says. “And they’re all so different. I’m regretting my decision to paint everything.”
The clip shows footage of Lauren working diligently on her laptop, showing what her apartment looked like before—a pink-laden interior design that would make any Barbie fan glow with joy—juxtaposed with the all-white, generic apartment design her landlord expects.
Some TikTokers offered helpful solutions to Lauren’s dilemma, like one commenter who recommended a great way to find the exact type of paint that she would need.
“Also you can go to your leasing office and ask for a ‘touch up paint to paint over a hole’ and it will say brand and color on it, then get a gallon!” the user recommended.
This was a suggestion offered up by another commenter as well, who wrote, “Go to the leasing office and ask which paint they use they should tell you this what i did before i moved.”
Another person said this might be a good time to rely on some neighborly love to help resolve her paint dilemma.
“If you have neighbours you’re cool with in the same apt complex, ask if you can hold the paint samples up to their walls,” they said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lauren via TikTok comment.
