Location: Fairborn, Ohio
Size/Type: Furnished 2-room efficiency apartment
Length of Residence: 1 year
My first and only year in the dorms of my university was a wholly unpleasant experience. So, despite the additional expense, I struck out on my own the following year and rented a furnished two-room efficiency, as it was called, in nearby Fairborn, Ohio. It wasn't very attractive and my next door neighbors had the loudest fights I've ever heard, but it was the first time an apartment was all mine so I loved it.
I happened to be in Ohio this spring and decided to see if I could find my old apartment one more time. I'm happy that I snapped photos of the outside of the building but I do wish I had some interior photos as well. In my mind's eye I can still see the green bedspread I used to cover the ugly sofa that came with the place. Sadly, I lived here 18 years and many moves ago (not to mention, pre-digital photography) so any interior photos I may have had are long gone.
What I loved about this home: Mainly, that it was all mine. Even though it was partially furnished with a fold out sofa and kitchen table, I made my mark on it by creating a refrigerator collage (covering the entire ancient, rusty fridge with magazine pages and photos) and upcycling found furniture. That's right, I was a DIY-er before DIY was cool! I remember my first DIY project for this apartment was covering an old TV cart with black and white checkerboard contact paper.
What changed when I moved on to my next home: Everything! After this small apartment, I moved to a one bedroom apartment with in-unit washer dryer and also took on a roommate (my first and last of one of those, too). That was also when I started DIYing in earnest, collecting old furniture and upcycling it to fit my stylish standards.
Best bit of advice for people moving into their first home: Patience, patience, patience. At the age of 19, I was so impatient to immediately have the home of my dreams that I was too hard on myself when i would look around at my meager little apartment. I'm still working on the patience bit, a dozen or so apartments later.
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Ohmigosh! I know that corner! Sign me, former Ohioan
I thought it said you lived there 18 years but I guess I just misread the post. In any event dorm life is so fun it seems a shame you wanted to give it up at an early age. I guess I was just too lazy to cook and preferred to live in a dorm for 4 years and then went to law school and lived in a dorm all three years in law school. I loved dorm life.
I admire your energy, but most of all you've offered perhaps the wisest advice ever given on this entire site: "Patience".
I can only wonder if you fled dorm life at the same university I attended in the area. If so, this little space was a great place to go!
I dreaded dorms because they were too much like prison. My friends who lived in dorms there told me horrible stories. I went straight from living with parents while getting an AA in a year to living in an apartment while getting a BA and MA as fast as possible. I was very fond of my modest apartments.
Yay OHIO! I totally know where that corner is and can guess the university dorms you fled. Out in that area, there isn't too many affordable glamorious rental so it was probably pretty sweet to have your own space.
Now we are getting real. The "student" apartments shown on AT a couple of days ago were way over the top. This is more like it. I also hated dorms AND roommates! Back in the day, I would have rather lived in a cave than had a roommate. Living off campus was a way for me to enjoy collage without it being my whole life. Some of my friends loved living in a dorm and did well being totally cocooned in the campus life - I didn't. Jason, love your "contact paper" story...we all start somewhere!
Indeed, I'm sitting here in Dayton and can definitely also guess the university dorms you fled..probably from my alma mater (where I also did not live in the dorms).