apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I was hoping this was more focused on common spaces internal to our apartments, for those of us who have a roommate who isn't our s.o.!

My new roommate and I connected on Craigslist and are moving in together in August. I'm not concerned about how we'll get along, but it will be interesting to see how our differing styles mesh in the common areas... I've been reading AT for several months, getting all sorts of ideas for the new place, and suddenly I'm realizing I may not get to put them all into action...

In AZ, it's hard to find apartments that have "indoor" entrances to the units. We have no hallways or common areas aside from the lounge area connected to the office (Which they just re-did, it now looks nice!). The landscaping at my complex is decent. The only thing I find strange is that the owner is super strict about the window blinds. Your windows cannot have anything (sun catcher, wind chime, etc) hanging in front of the blinds (facing outward)...so it makes for a very boring, although uniform, outward appearance. We actually got cited once for having a small (four inch diameter!) sun catcher in our front window!

a friend owns a place on CPW and the interior of her building reminds me strongly of my sorority house. carpet, credenza, table lamp, basket of flowers. very nice and welcoming. i'd love to live in a building like that.

My boyfriend and I put up a pair of framed photos in the little staircase-adjacent hallway of our little four-unit building (it's just us on the floor). The hallway itself is really, really drab. So far, no neighbors have complained about the decoration.

In our 2-story/8 apartment building, the common areas are right out of the 60's with ugly blue and green flowered carpet, cream venetian blinds and just bad brass light fixtures. I often try to err on the side of kitschy but it just doesn't go there. I believe a nice coat of paint and new carpet could add a lot of value to the space. I would ask our manager to fix it up but we are all still trying to get a common washer/dryer. Priorities! :)

My two apartments in NC and two in GA each had exterior entrances by way of an outdoor centralized decking area. As such, I have often dreamed of having an actual interior apartment door (like a hotel!).

A locked central area such as my boyfriends building seems much nicer and safer- easy to keep out wandering magazine sales peoples. Of course, he is bizarre one who displays chinese garden dragon statues on either side of his interior condo doorway- to his HOAs dismay.

Exterior entrances definetly have disadvantages such as hoodlums smoking directly outside your door, or finding empty wendy's cups stuffed into your carefully arranged shade-loving plant arrangment--- but I do get to have my very own doormat!

My condo is in a Deco-era building and must have been originally lovely. The management company, however, wanted to give it a "modernist" look and painted everything black and silver. It really ought to be pink, but no one likes that look anymore.

In NYC, I used to be on my co-op's committee for decorating the lobby and elevators. The rule of thumb is that the lobby should reflect whatever kind of apartment you should expect to find upstairs.

I lived for years in dingy walk-up apartments in NY where little attention was paid to the common spaces. If there was no peeling paint or piles of dust bunnies in the hall then it was a winner. I recently moved into a new condo development with a beautiful if somewhat cold lobby and it still feels strange. I feel like I'm coming home to a hotel, but I do love having a doorman because it's nice to say hello to someone when you come home or leave in the morning. A nice person to greet you certainly makes any space more welcoming.

The common space in most apartments I've lived in has included peeling paint, a stained carpet, and sometimes some sad and ugly art forgotten on the wall years before. I often have had to tell me guests that really, the inside of the apartment doesn't look like a crack house. In my current place, we have a shared yard complete with old bathtub, rotting wicker chairs and a display in the front that includes a mannequin leg, a mary-on-the-halfshell, and a large rabbit. But the inside is lovely, and my porch has a grapevine that blocks the view.

I'm just happy when I don't find random people sleeping in mine.

When I moved into my Chicago apartment building, the stairwell looked like it should have been haunted (dark, dingy, dusty, and u-g-l-y). The landlord gave me the old "oh yeah we're going to remodel the common areas real soon." Amazingly enough, THEY DID!!! They took up the faded linoleum that in no way matched the original tile that was left in one part of the entryway. They replaced it with beautiful ceramic tile that accents the original tile so nicely. They painted the hallway, put down new extra cushy carpet, and hung beautiful artwork, including a giant (maybe 4 feet by 15 feet) painting at the top of the stairwell which also happens to be right outside my front door. I love it. The big painting can be seen from the street at certain angles and it makes the building look interesting and classy! Like I said, I LOVE IT!!!

I added a grass floor mat at the common front door and one in front of my own, plus hang a small, kitchy, seasonal dealie on my door. (I've also added scented oil to combat the neighbor's fragrant shoes!) Still feels like a mausoleum.

In a previous building (6 apts. per), everyone hung framed "art" in their piece of the hallway. It made things feel less sterile.

A friend's rental stairway was decorated by the owner/previous occupant...who'd return occasionally to add to the work. It was like a fresh, surprise welcome.

The indoor hallways in my current apartment building are narrow yet people still put 2 inch thick doormats outside their doors. It's difficult to get my cart (that I haul groceries with) over them and I trip over them every third time or so.

In my new apartment building, our apartment door is in it's own alcove off the path of the main hallway. I bought a doormat since no one will be tripping on it and I'm wondering if I can put a plant outside my door.

i'm the resident manager at my apartment building. we try to keep the entryway looking nice and clean. there are also some cool plants there that we take care of. the property management company is open to any improvements we want to make to the building common areas, like painting the walls, cleaning the carpets, etc. we are proud of our building and that makes the tenants respect the place and want to live there.

When I came to look at the place, the lobby smelled like wet dogs. That's one of the things you probably can't complain too much about if you want a building that allows pets.

The interior hallways have gotten a lot uglier since I moved in. The first flight of stairs used to be marble, but they took it out, built wooden steps, and glued carpet remnants directly to them. They're in the wrong direction. Carpet has a nap, and they laid it perpendicular |||||, it's supposed to go horizontal. That's what makes it work as a tread. The next flight up has padding, and the treads are laid parallel, and so this lack of attention to detail bothers me.

There's the framing around the front locked door they repaired on the interior before or soon after I moved in and never painted. I've been looking at 2x4s, and they never came back to finish that project. This is an old building, I believe there should actually be some moldings over it, but nobody knows how to find moldings. They repaired the newel posts with squares of molding like this rather than proper kind, more like this.

Then! they painted the walls. They used to be powder blue which didn't match but it was just pale and light, doesn't really clash with brown. They painted the walls a sick dark caramel color, and went back to the banisters and painted them a creamy beige, not quite yellowish. Only the stairs are carpeted. I don't mind the old tile. The doors aren't wood, they're steel and painted brown, but they were always brown, and everyone has a different doorknob. They got some of the beige paint on a brown door. They refinished the wood stringers and left them wood! They installed awnings outside. Never came back to fix the frame of that front door.

It's really kind of bad when people who are making an effort to maintain and repair can only do things that make it worse. I try to wonder how I'd feel if they never came by. The property is nicely landscaped, they trim tree limbs, they plant flowers and shrubs, they mow and rake, they shovel diligently in the winter. They have a regular crew to sweep and vacuum the stairs and mop the tile, take out the dumpsters. So it's kind of senseless how they've managed to fuck up the look of the place, it's so haphazard and careless. It doesn't strike me as having to cost more to pay attention.

My family owns the building I live in, so I got to have some say in the colors the hallways were painted and what pictures went up (the puke yellow originally in the design plan was changed- eww). I am still not totally wild about the colors, but I prefer a more vintage look and this is very modern.

I do really like the entryway though, it has really nice tiles and the floor and ceiling without being too modern.