With the model that you describe, you take on all of the risks of the renovation.

Anyone had any success with a partnership in which person "A" buys a piece of property for potential rental and person "B" pays for renovations.

BUT the seller has been doing some major renovation work (new bathrooms, plumbing, electrical) but without Chicago permits. 

If you are accredited investor just think about investing with a proven sponsor on a larger value add deal with more equity growth potential for your share of investment.

I did have an incident when doing a light renovation.

We obviously need to keep it economical, but I would like to do something creative, and I'm bored with our past designs (generally they consist of a larger field tile with horizontal accent stripe).

Use funds from outside the exchange to make renovations and then finance out some equity or lease the property for a few years and then sell it and be eligible for another exchange.  

IMO those problems are much larger in proportion to the size of community.

I'm actually finishing up renovations on a duplex that I will be listing for rent soon and was looking into photography.

My business partner and I might start on our first home renovation (fix/flip).