apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sorry, all I can think about right now is my home state's pro football team...

;)

Luxury: appealing view in the heart of the city, from all rear rooms into green, landscaped back garden terminating in a leggy but tall cedar hedge.

Small walk in closet.

Laundry room (tiny, but with both machines) on the same floor as the bedrooms -- no schlepping of baskets!

Two car garage!!! (OK, I know I have a house, not a tiny apartment, but I have NEVER had a garage, so this is true bliss, especially in winter!)

Built-in PAX wardrobe system.
Private Balcony & City Views from all windows.
Rain-Showerhead.
2 bathrooms & 2 Bedrooms - with No Roommate!

My backyard/patio/garden.

I would do anything to have a laundry room in the building. Even a scary basement laundry room!

If it could be considered a luxury, I do have great water pressure, a toilet with a good flush, and the heat stays at a nice 80 degrees all winter.

But I guess the real luxury is a cheap rent-stabilized apartment on a nice block!

I totally agree about the laundry - I, in fact, went out of my way to find a portable clothes washer because I'm tired of schlepping to the laundromat or to the dark, dingy basement that is most apartment building washing rooms.

I love the water pressure and the great shower head in our place...in our previous rental condo, the bathroom was scary...putrid pink walls, fake 'marbelized' blue plastic dingy countertop and gry linoleum with a plastic shower too low on the wall and no water pressure with fluctuating water temp. all the time! It makes such a difference when motivating to get out of bed in the morning.

Having a laundry room, having an extra 140 sqft from where we used to be, kitchen cabinets! I think that's about it. I really love having a balcony off the living room where it lets in lots of light through our sheers, I just hate the clear view of traffic :/

A laundry room with a folding table would be awesome. We used to rent from someone with one and I fell in love with it. No more folding clothes on the bed.

A good desk/home office.

A walk-in closet with a dressing area and a little slipper chair.

We just got central air - never had it anywhere else we've lived and finally had it installed at this house...I can deal with heat, but not the humidity mid-summer. This is also the first place I've ever had a dishwasher.

Definately, definately the washer/dryer
...and the dishwasher
...and our A/C!

Those are things that I just couldn't live without anymore, I think!

like marie, i'm definitely thankful for our rent-stabilized apartment in beautiful newport beach, ca! being a few blocks from the beach is a luxury in itself.

Lots of hot water for baths, a bathroom I can actually turn around in, and lots of sunny perches for the kitties.

My favorite thing is my little patio area. It my last apartment, the front door opened onto the mail walkway and I had no outside area. Now I have a place for plants and a bench and I love spending time out there!

The next thing would be the included utilities. It is nice in the summer to not have to stress about how much I run the air and how much that will cost me. A big plus in Arizona. :D

A dishwasher. Definitely.

Honestly, I'm in such a rotten mood about my apartment that it's hard to see anything about it as luxurious- as far as negatives go, I've got the works (trickly water, single-pane windows, laundry-hog neighbors, no dishwasher, tiny oven, bad wiring, and terrible paint colors!)

However, when I take a deep breath I remember- I have a sunporch off the front of my apartment that looks into a really charming park. Sleeping out on the porch with all the windows open in the summer? That is my luxury.

I would die for a dingy basement and washer/dryer in the building! I have to walk 2 blocks to the laundromat!
However, cheap rent and a nice, laid back landlord who keeps giving me stuff from his basement makes up for it!

Hearing the birds chirp in the mornings.

A washer and dryer in my unit (!!!!).

Staring out into beautiful Oregon forest, but living only one block away from downtown.

My relatively large kitchen is the luxury in my tiny home. That and my shower. I love my shower. :)

My yard!

And I would kill for a laundry facility in the building. We rent the bottom half of a duplex house, and I have no dishwasher, no washer or dryer, and the square footage is teenier than any apartment I've ever lived in! But the yard is amazing, and means I can have a real garden, and roses!

I also have an old four bin in the kitchen cabinetry; it's pretty much useless space (currently stuffed with extra plastic bags) but it's so CUTE, and quirky, that I can't help but love it.

Even thought we had to buy them ourselves, and they are in the basement three floors down a dirty spiral staircase, we have our own washer and dryer. Such a luxury. :)

It's also rent controlled and just a five minute walk from my commuter train.

My dishwasher. Every time I run it I feel very actively happy for not having to wash any dishes. It's been 2 years and I'm still in love with it!

A huge glass wall that opens up to the patio.

Luxuries: A gas hot water system and the most incredible high-pressure shower; a bathroom and kitchen with all new fittings; lovely, well-underlaid, new carpet. (I would have preferred hardwood, but it does get damn cold in winter, and since this carpet is newly laid, there's less of the previous-tenant's-weird-stains ick factor. And walking around barefoot with snuggly carpet underfoot is a pleasure.)

I had to move quite suddenly two weeks ago, and at first I was very upset about losing my old house. But I'm so glad I found this one, since it's nicer by about a million and made me feel less sad about moving out!

My building always has some kind of super-boiler, so nearly-instant hot showers is a luxury (given how iffy that is in older buildings). So is the included heat in the rent and how warm it gets on the third floor.

My one other big luxury is not having a roommate!

Oops, meant to say, "My building has some kind of super-water boiler. I consider nearly-instant hot showers a luxury (given how iffy a steady supply of hot water can be in older buildings).

I have to say that the fact that the landlord let us paint our place... we painted the master bedroom a soft yellow, and the living/dining room a medium grey with brown undertones (Called 730D-5 Village Square by Behr) It's so warm and inviting, especially with white or black items against it!!!

I'm going with Dishwasher (WOO HOO!), Central AC, high vaulted ceilings in the living room and NO ROOMMATE!!

I live in NYC and I have a WALK IN CLOSET! It was the selling (or er...renting) point for my apartment. My closet is bigger than my kitchen!
Jaime

let's say... where to begin? I love my place, mostly because it's the biggest and nicest I've ever had :)
I love that I have 2bdroom to myself, from almost all places I see trees and no other houses/streets etc. (so I can even walk almost everywhere around naked if I only wish to do so), I wake up to the birds singing... The place is clean, no bugs, ants or anything other like that. And I have also a very good management - they repair and take care of everything right away.

- washer/dryer in unit
- hardwood floors
- balcony
- central a/c
- be able to paint !
- dishwasher
- walk-in closet
- office
- more counter space in the kitchen

these are dreams of mine

Dishwasher, for me, is not a luxury- it is a necessity.

Luxury: I greatly miss my old balcony. I had two balcony apartments while in the South, and I had a small balcony garden each time. Basil, fresh tomatoes, seventh floor... nuff said! It was like my own personal outside space.
Here, though, I'll settle for the luxury of the walkable neighborhood! 8 minutes to my gym, 7 to the grocery, 5 to the library, and somewhere in between for restaurants and cinema!

the house we rent now has solar panels. if we're not running the A/C or heater, the meter runs backwards.

Ocean view, nuff said.

Off street parking!!

Two bedrooms, a balcony, washer/dryer hookups in the apartment, 10 foot long closets, etc.

I'm kind of surprised that in the US it seems people in apartments don't own their own washers and dryers.

We live in a pretty small apartment but have our washer in the lock up garage (down three flights of steps). We are looking at buying and it seems most apartments here in Brisbane have a spot in the apartment for a washer/dryer, usually behind a screen or door so it looks like hallway storage.

Luxury for me would be a dishwasher and a dryer or a real washing line. We share a line just big enough to hang one set of sheets between 12 apartments and due to body corporate bylaws we are not allowed to hang washing on our balcony.

For us is that we own and that is the biggest luxury of our apartment.

I live in an old 1 bedroom apartment - the building has all original plumbing and apparently couldn't handle the commercial grade washers so the laundry room was taken away. I recently purchased a portable washing machine (thank you AT for the idea - didn't even know these existed!) - and it has changed my life! I love having a washer in my unit. I also bought the spin dryer and a drying rack, so those are my luxuries! and a beautiful balcony!

I used to participate in a thing called showplace properties. Basically the huge multimillion dollar homes that had been on the market for extraordinarily long period of time they would rent for a drastically reduced price. It was not unusual for me to be living in a 3million dollar home and paying 1200 a month for it.

While I was doing this I got to experience all sorts of luxuries I normally would not. The things I loved the most are these in this order.

2 upright washers and 2 upright dryers (this was so nice! All of my laundry done in an hour)
Incredible kitchens.
mountain top views of the whole city
floor to ceiling windows
jacuzzi
outdoor kitchens

Currently, it's the second bedroom. So nice to have an extra space to relax, watch tv, get away from each other. Also, lovely views up on the the third floor surrounded by trees. It's been like living in a tree house.

Our new 4th floor apartment (closing on Monday!) has amazing city views from all rooms, with skyline view from the bedroom and the huge outdoor deck. But the best luxury: an actual laundry ROOM in the apartment, complete with utility sink and built-in drying rack. I still get fluttery thinking about it. And there's a dumbwaiter to reduce the schlepping of things up four flights of stairs!

The view of a beautiful river from my living room and being able to get up in the night to listen to the nightingales calling each other.

At this time of year: a balcony. We dont have one and i miss it when spring comes around.
The luxury I have is a fairly big apartment for 2 and a central location. It's not the most quiet but I love to be able to walk everywhere I need to go and not have to depend on public transport (we don't have a car).

My luxury is something I never knew I was missing: our roof terrace is the size of our small studio flat. In London, space is such a premium, so this flat space does just the trick. It doubles as a garden, a private park (for picnics), a private beach (for sunbathing), a reserved seat for fireworks, and an outdoor office (w/wifi).

We have our own dedicated washer & dryer, even if they ARE in the dark, dingy basement.

We also have an adorable little screened-in porch, with views of tons of mature trees that fill the neighborhood.

I love our floors-- old original hardwood throughout (well, throughout all non-kitchen-&-bathroom-rooms), and adorably black-and-white-checked in the kitchen. Also lots of closets, even if they are on the small side.

I do wish we had central air, a dishwasher, or even a garbage disposal, but the luxuries we've got will do for now. :o)

Having countertop space in the kitchen! My last place didn't have any (it was tiny), only a two ring cooker beside a small sink with drainer. I lost more than one electric kettle to meltage when I turned on the wrong ring on the cooker (the cooker was the only place to put the kettle).

Oh but I also really really appreciate my instant shower (not having to wait for the water to heat up has totally altered the pattern of my day) and my fabulous and sunny back garden.

I second the garage. It takes so much of the frustration out of our mornings.

And the screened in porch - what a luxury right now.

My bedroom is always magically a few degrees cooler than the rest of the apartment. Having had stuffy bedrooms in the past, I really appreciate how comfortable it is to drift to sleep in there.

When shopping for homes recently, A/C, a dishwasher, laundry, and 2-car garages were all considered necessities.

With the place we bought (closing Friday), the luxuries are:
- enormous master bedroom and bath
- patio, back yard, and garden
- tree-lined parkway
- two bathrooms upstairs (and a third in the basement)
- large egress windows in a few of the basement windows

The trade-offs were:
- only two bedrooms up (it's impossible to find three up here in the Twin Cities)
- the washer/dryer don't work and need to be replaced
- no closet in master bedroom
- lots of wood paneling in the basement

But, obviously the pros outweigh the cons. And the luxuries are just icing on the cake.

For a studio, I actually have a great amount of storage space. 2 8ft closets and a lot of kitchen cabinet space. I have access to washers/dryers downstairs in my building. It's shared among quite a few people but at least I can schlep down in my slippers, a luxury in Queens, NYC.

owning my own condo is a big luxury, and a roof top deck overlooking lake Michigan, great place to hang with friends in the summer and have met lots of great neighbors...

I'm looking for a man who can keep me in hot water -- in ever sense.

in unit washer and dryer
beautiful hardwood floors
dishwasher
sunroom that looks out onto a huge pine tree
sitting in the sunroom watching the seagulls and cute little
birds living it up
living 1.5 blocks from the train
living on the southside where people, parking and traffic
are easy
free heat that is never less than 80 degrees in winter
$735/ month rent
my awesome landlords


I love my home. I feel like I'm on vacation when I am there. I am so grateful. Maferefun gbogbo Orisha!

Our south facing patio with loads of sunshine is my luxury - it helps beat with the winter blues in Portland.

Two to three exposures in every room -- lots of light.
Large, south-facing backyard with tall trees for privacy.
Laundry room big enough for two large drying racks.
Original hardwood floors throughout.
High ceilings.
Dishwasher.
Good neighbors.

My luxuries are that I have a balcony and a view of the city, is reasonably spacious by inner city neighborhood standards, is a 1 bedroom and has very good light from the west and north in the main living area, north in the bedroom and both are bright during the day.

Having my own hot water tank so I always have hot water even though the water pressure could be better but is not bad and my rain shower.

I also live within walking distance of downtown Seattle and can walk to the store and other amenities here in my neighborhood, sadly no washer/dryer or dishwasher though in unit although I do have 2 washers and 2 dryers and the dryers actually WORK, something not always found in apartments w/ communal laudryrooms and my other luxury is a small storage locker and a counter to fold laundry in the laundry area (the building was built in 1960).

Man, right now I would kill for a working fridge. Mine has broken twice this week. Fixed it the first time and only lost some pork chops in the freezer. But now, it is dead and so is my wallet from having to go shopping again to replace all of the food that went bad.

On the positive side, this apartment has a killer toilet which I can rely on to never ever have problems. A step up from my last place! Yay!

A sauna.

Living outside of Finland, I now realise how spoiled I was that almost all apartment buildings had saunas in them (usually a single one in the basement that you were allocated time for).

Even when I look at flats and small houses to buy now I find myself scoping out rooms near the bathroom to see "hmm...maybe I can put one here..."

Other than that, hardwood floors, tall baseboards, and efficient kitchen storage would be lovely. :)

This is a good mood-lifter and reminds me to be grateful:

1. Hardwood floors
2. Original stained glass windows
3. Central air
4. 2 car garage (clean, so we can fit both small cars)
5. Basement for storage and projects
6. Dishwasher (for the first time in my life, no joke) - using it still thrills me!
7. Cute little 1930's details (round window in front door, built-in bookshelf with glass front)
8. Walking distance to parks, shops, library
9. Enclosed back porch with heat/ac, even though the floor is slopey (is that a word?) - so sunny and nice.

We have the best of old and new! Of course, I would change/add a few things, but I feel content as I type this.

Underground wires.

Honestly? I just consider having a bathroom with working plumbing a luxury. Using chicago portable toilets to take care of business is not what I consider good living.