Pie Apartment

[juldea]

Time for another episode of "Juldea debates an apartment" theater, this time starring a new upcoming star, the Pie Apartment!

Craigslist ad: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/fee/977224976.html

Gmaps Street View: front view, side view, back view.

So, let's get the really big glaring negative out of the way first:

It's the 3rd-floor attic apartment. It is small, and half of the walls are slanted. I am an idiot for not taking pictures, but I didn't. However, google image search helps me out here for me to say that the bedroom has the shape of this or this (although not as awesome as the second image, of course) except the slanted walls extend out far enough for the portion wherein they are vertical to be, hrm, 3 feet high? So some space that is intriguing as far as use. There were a couple of guys viewing the apartment as I did, and they left complaining they were claustrophobic in the space for being too tall. But... I'm not that tall. So the space is a challenge, but not a dealbreaker. It's not an apartment that will ever host parties, though, and tall visitors would have to be conscious of their heads. ;)

3rd floor. Moving will be a bitch, and I hate dragging my ass up two flights of stairs at the end of a long day, but really, that's me being lazy. However, no piano option here. Even if we could teleport it up the stairs, it wouldn't fit in the apartment.

It's not too clean. There's dirty carpet I'd want to either completely cover, or rip out and replace. (Bonus: such a small place means acquiring carpet remnants.) That said, the last tenant moved out yesterday, so the landlady hasn't had much time to clean.

Not a ton of cabinetry for all my crazy kitchen gadgets.

Now, that said, pros:

Location, location, location. It's about half a mile/10-15 minutes from Porter Square station, and is literally next door both a major chair grocery store and a laundromat. It's above a well-rated pie shop (yay, pie!), and there is both a burger joint nearby and a Chinese place of mixed quality next door. It's near to jmspencer and sectionchild, rigel and contradictacat, chaiya and hakamadare and crazybone, and both the commuter rail that takes me to Waltham and the subway that takes me anywhere else. So in short, the location is AWESOME.

Price. It's a 1-bd, not a studio, in that location, for $850. (When I first made the appointment to see the place, I was planning on asking, "What's the catch?" Now I know the catch is the size/shape, but... is it catchy enough?) No bills are included, but there's no gas, only electric, and the landlady claimed the previous tenant was paying only $50/month. The pie shop below grants heating assistance, apparently, which I'm all happy with. Even if I double that electric bill, it's well within my budget. She doesn't need any security or pet deposit, just first and last.

Basement storage included, and even - this is kind of awesome - the previous tenant had an agreement with the second-floor guy, who is apparently really cool, that she kept her apartment door and the basement door open all the time, and her cat wandered the stairwells all day long. She apparently even kept the litterbox in the basement, which is an AWESOME idea. (One of the big problems I had when viewing the space was, "Where does the litterbox go?")

Landlady has pink-streaked hair and blue mascara and owns the building with her wife, and is adamant about meeting and knowing her tenants and not going through realtors. Previous tenant was a nurse who lived there for seven years. Painting, ripping up carpet, etc etc is all fine!

Fixtures were all up-to-date. All outlets (and there were enough) were grounded, ceiling lights were new and working, water heated up quickly and water pressure was nice. Oven was small but clean, fridge fine, and cabinets that existed were clean and in good repair. One wall in the living room had built-in shelving.

I told her I was really interested, but I was going to sleep on it and get back to her tomorrow. I need to analyze how sad I will be if I call back tomorrow and she says someone else took it. I need to look critically at my furniture and how it might fit. I need to think about how much space I need in a living place, knowing that I spend so much time out of my house, and so much of my time in my house on the computer or in bed.

So, yeah. Ponderous. Anyone have any clever ideas? Have you ever lived in a space built like that, and if so how did you make it work?

Comments

[sandrylene.livejournal.com]

I could easily believe you can work around the weird space and supplement the cabinetry lack... I mean, you're resourceful. I'm guessing the biggest issue is bookcases? I mean, what else do you have that's crazy tall? Unless it's just that the space is small in general. The piano thing sucks. What would you do with it if you couldn't move in with it?

I lived in a space not exactly like that, but third floor with slanted roof at the PJL, but given how little time I spent actually being up there, and how little stuff I had at the time, I don't think it counts. /: I would warn, though... it's sounding like this space could get aggravatingly hot in the summer, and I know that's what I found in my third floor attic room.

The cool landlady angle sounds really nice, and I, too, have heard that Petsi Pies is made of the awesome. Also, being near the red line T is such a benefit... how I wish I were finding that sort of thing right now. /: (We're looking to move into a three person place, so I'm looking too. Endless fun, right?)

[anitra.livejournal.com]

I second the warning of crazy hot in the summer... third floors are prone to it even without major heat coming from below. However, you could probably deal with it if you can put one or two window-ACs in.

Climbing up two flights of stairs will be good for you :)

On the negative side, it could start feeling awfully cramped, and you'll miss the piano.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I will miss the piano. The point has been made, however, to just splurge and get myself an electric sometime. That way I don't have to worry about apartments and moving so much.

I am slightly worried about the cramped. The balances to that are that I have found myself being more social and going out more, and since I work so much, I'm getting out of the house often enough.

But yeah, bleh on the exercise. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Cabinetry lack isn't so much of an issue; I can work around that. And you're right - the only really tall things I have are my two bookcases. I do have a shelving unit on top of my bureau right now, but they're two separate pieces that could perhaps be set side-by-side on the floor. But yes, the space is also small in general.

If I couldn't move the piano, I'd try to find someplace that wanted it for free and if not, just dispose of it. It's not a family heirloom, and it's not in the best condition.

Aggravatingly hot in the summer is not as much of a worry to me as cold in the winter is. I am a southern girl still, and I prefer being overhot. Being hot I can solve cheaply by being naked and drinking water; being cold I solve by spending money on heating bills. So I'd much rather make that trade.

[outlander.livejournal.com]

Think about contacting local churches & schools--they may be interested in the piano & able to use it.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

This is the part where it is beaten up and out of tune. I mean, sure, I'm going to offer, but mostly (as far as I know) places prefer something more playable. ;)

[tkitch.livejournal.com]

my old place had angled ceilings, granted not quite to the 3' level. (I think mine were about 4-4.5',) Put shelving of some variety right in front of it. I used wire cubes stacked as high as they could go and still fit, sorta thing. THis makes use of (relatively) unusable space, and leaves you the most open space for other stuff.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips, I'll look for wire cubes.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

That sounds awesome. And gives me an excuse to go to that area more (I keep meaning to head out and adventure more in that area- and if you are where I think you are, you're also on a fairly straight shot into Inman Square and a host of other cool places. I'm personally all for it, even setting aside the fact that I'd have a Juldea close to me! ^_^

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Correct about the straight shot to Inman, it's right down the street! And with me that close it helps out our plan to join a farmshare together, right?

[goldbug.livejournal.com]

I think it sounds awesome! If it is still available, I'd say go for it. (If it's not, tell yourself that it wasn't meant to be.)

I think that as long as there's adequate space for your bed and desk to be used properly, the slanted walls shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'd recommend some 2 or 3-shelf bookcases to line the slanted walls for storage. You can put stuff other than books on them too.

You should probably check into the summer temperature and a/c issue that sandrylene mentions though.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

My bed is one thing I worry about, but only because I both have a tall headboard and like to put my bed up on cement blocks to have storage underneath. I guess if I have basement storage space, I don't need to worry about that as much, right? And can ditch the cement blocks. I just don't want to put the bed right in the center of the room along the tall area, because that's where I'll want the most walking and standing to occur.

The summer temperature issues I'm really, really not concerned by. I've always preferred it warmer to colder, and I solve being hot with cheap solutions (being naked) and I solve being cold with expensive solutions (turning up the heat). I have a window A/C unit and a standing fan, and just really don't think it'll be much of a problem.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

The pie shop will still be providing extra heat in the summertime, which might mean more air-conditioning (or heat-annoyance).

Kes and I do quite well with odd-shaped slanty walls. They are good for short bookcases or storage boxes. Not being able to stack stuff really high can be a blessing in disguise, because it makes it easier to get to stuff. Also not bad for beds in many cases, unless you stand up in bed a lot for some reason.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I don't get very heat-annoyed. I always prefer being overwarm to overcold. :)

Another blessing of not bieng able to stack stuff - weeding out possessions for the important things.

[nightskyre.livejournal.com]

As I've learned in my house, three prong outlets != grounded outlets.

Just a random warning, if you care.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I do care. I assume there are testers for such things.

I am completely clueless as to the simplest of hardware things. I might be asking you dumb questions in the coming month.

[nightskyre.livejournal.com]

That's cool. The device is a little doohickey you can get at Home Depot. It's got two lights on it and two wires. If you pay more than $3 for it, you're paying too much. It's usually in the same aisle as outlets and stuff - electrical section.

You stick one prong in one side of the outlet and the other prong in the other outlet. That will tell you if the outlet is live (the light will light up)

If it is, then pull one prong out and stick it in the ground. No light, no ground. For double checking purposes, check with both wires (pull one out, check ground, put back in so light goes on again, pull other out, check ground)

It's really easy. If the house has been built in the last 40 years, it is likely they're all grounded.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

It is unlikely the house has been built in the last 40 years, but very likely it has been rewired in that time (for the pie store).

[freerange-snark.livejournal.com]

Find out if the landladies mind if you mount stuff to the wall. If they don't, you can get creative with shelving/storage if need be, in which case, doooo eeeet!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Well, so far she hasn't batted an eye to my thoughts on painting and ripping up carpet, so wall-mounting is likely to also go well. I assume it's a "don't ruin anything and you're fine" idea, and hakamadare and I discussed some interesting ideas for opening up the space with things on the ceiling... :)

[laura47.livejournal.com]

oh hey, r.f osullivans! peter and i are fans, we can meet you there for burgers and drinks!

[laura47.livejournal.com]

(read this when it came out, was rereading to fill peter in on the details)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Awesome! It's a plan.