post off: where’s the strangest place you’ve lived?
I have a friend who once lived in a hallway. It was so hard to find affordable housing, he ended up paying for a loft bed in the hall of an apartment, sleeping above the comings-and-goings of his roommates. Yes, you guessed it, this was in Manhattan, but I’m sure that there are other odd stories out there. Anyone had an extreme living situation you’d like to share? –Mary T.
Photo by Sachin Ghodke
In college, I lived in the dining room of a house two other girls were renting. It was a huge space, but the heat did not circulate to it properly, so I slept under and electric blanket in the winter (it was in the mountains). I remember waking up all toasty warm, and then exhaling and seeing my breath.
I lived in a closet on the outside landing of a 2nd floor brick row house apartment. I had to walk across a public landing and unlock the apartment to use the bathroom and kitchen. The space was approximate 8ft x 5 ft – enough room for a single bed and my drafting table – the walls had ornate moulding so I couldn’t add a loft bed or wall shelves…
I lived in one room with my mother and sister for at least a year at my grandmother’s house. I currently live in my mother’s living room and have been sleeping on the couch for about a year.
Right out of college, I lived in a basement apartment in North Dakota. The apartment ended up being invested with fleas. Interesting.
My husband and I lived in the “converted” attic of a hundred year old house chopped into apartments. The downstairs neighbors were all aging ex-cons and one, I kid you not, was a dead ringer for Flava Flav. You had to stoop to stand in the bathroom because of the pitch of the ceilings and the kitchen had only one square foot of counter and two cabinets. The funny thing is I actually miss the place.
sophomore year of college, i lived in a fraternity house. and yes, i shared a bathroom with a dozen or so grubby dudes.
When my financial aid didn’t come through and I couldn’t afford to return for my second semester of college, my parents threw me out of the house. I wound up living in this gross little illegal studio above the machine shop of the auto parts store I worked at. I used to catch the the creepy machinist lurking outside my door (the apartment was up a flight of stairs), listening for who knows what. There was only one window in the place, but it was up so high on the wall that I could only see out it if I stood on a chair. I put my twin-bed in the closet so I could pretend my gnarly studio was actually a one-bedroom.
I was really happy to get the hell out of there.
[...] You haven’t always loved your homes. Some of you have indeed had some extreme living situations. Simone says: “I lived in a closet on the outside landing of a 2nd floor brick row house [...]