(no subject)
So the verdict is in: we are moving. And I am not displeased.
We found a very interesting red brick house about a block and a half away. It's located on North High Street right next to the Taj Mahal, and it's actually TWO houses in one plus a couple of ground-floor single apartments. The layout is ridiculously complex and hard to explain (or even fathom when you're actually *there*), but basically the gyst seems to be that we are renting BOTH sides of a freely connected duplex.
One side of the duplex has a riotous cow-themed kitchen (I am absolutely not joking here) and the other one is done up in polka dots. Both sides have a bathroom and a top floor that consists of a hugely long attic room and a smaller one across from it. The two sides are nearly identical with stairs that link both sides, so we have decided that the 6th person can use BOTH of the smaller rooms as a single room. One side can be the studio/study or something and the other side can be a bedroom, with the only real inconvenience being that they are not connected by a door.
The floors beneath the attic floor (where the kitchens and bathrooms are) are not exactly symmetrical. One side simply has two huge rooms, one of which will make a very big family room and the other of which will be a nice bedroom, whereas the other side of the house has two rooms separated by a hall-way. This means that these two rooms can very comfortably act as bedrooms -- rooms that, like all the others there, are at LEAST as big or bigger than my current room at Oakland.
One side of the house also has an unfinished basement with a washer and dryer in it. I rather enjoy the way it appears... it makes me feel as though there should be fine aged wine and mead down there. :)
The best part of all of this, though, is that we also have a COVERED PORCH, a very long balcony-like structure that is walled in and peppered with screened windows. It would be a VERY comfy place to chill out and do some homework, as well as a good place for having parties if we can find ourselves some deck-type furniture. I don't think we can put a grill in it because it has a ceiling, but surely we can at least put up some lights and make it festive.
So, yes, that's the story. It is 1650 for BOTH houses total and we are splitting it by 6 people -- Me, Weifei, Ashley, Kat, Michaela (yay!!!), and Henna. This means it will cost the same as Oakland does now (275 a month) but utilities will be less and we will have amenities like a dishwasher and a washer and dryer.
So, yeah, that's the story.
I don't want to leave Oakland, but I have a feeling this new place could be somewhere we decide to stay for just a bit longer. In my head, I see it as kind of cramped, oddly laid out, and mildly inconvenient to move around in, and yet, I can still remember saying "WOW!" repeatedly at the extravagantly spacious rooms, the entertaining kitchens, the sweet porch, the general feel. People make a home a home, anyway. I now have 9 months to daydream about the crowd I named above all transforming that house into something new. All I really need are plenty of windows, enough room to breathe, and a ceiling that does not remind me daily how much taller I am than all of my housemates.
Seriously, what's with me living with short people? Tell me you aren't short, Michaela! :P
*laughs*
Oh well, I'll worry about it more when the time comes. I realized today I still have 9 more freaking months at Oakland, which is definitely more than enough time to get settled and happy, gradually stir, and then spread my wings to fly off again.
For now, time to get dressed and respectable... a long day of running errands is about to end in a pleasant night of mischief with the housemates. Anji got stuck in Amsterdam, poor kid, but the rest of us are gonna see Memoirs on a Geisha.
:)
We found a very interesting red brick house about a block and a half away. It's located on North High Street right next to the Taj Mahal, and it's actually TWO houses in one plus a couple of ground-floor single apartments. The layout is ridiculously complex and hard to explain (or even fathom when you're actually *there*), but basically the gyst seems to be that we are renting BOTH sides of a freely connected duplex.
One side of the duplex has a riotous cow-themed kitchen (I am absolutely not joking here) and the other one is done up in polka dots. Both sides have a bathroom and a top floor that consists of a hugely long attic room and a smaller one across from it. The two sides are nearly identical with stairs that link both sides, so we have decided that the 6th person can use BOTH of the smaller rooms as a single room. One side can be the studio/study or something and the other side can be a bedroom, with the only real inconvenience being that they are not connected by a door.
The floors beneath the attic floor (where the kitchens and bathrooms are) are not exactly symmetrical. One side simply has two huge rooms, one of which will make a very big family room and the other of which will be a nice bedroom, whereas the other side of the house has two rooms separated by a hall-way. This means that these two rooms can very comfortably act as bedrooms -- rooms that, like all the others there, are at LEAST as big or bigger than my current room at Oakland.
One side of the house also has an unfinished basement with a washer and dryer in it. I rather enjoy the way it appears... it makes me feel as though there should be fine aged wine and mead down there. :)
The best part of all of this, though, is that we also have a COVERED PORCH, a very long balcony-like structure that is walled in and peppered with screened windows. It would be a VERY comfy place to chill out and do some homework, as well as a good place for having parties if we can find ourselves some deck-type furniture. I don't think we can put a grill in it because it has a ceiling, but surely we can at least put up some lights and make it festive.
So, yes, that's the story. It is 1650 for BOTH houses total and we are splitting it by 6 people -- Me, Weifei, Ashley, Kat, Michaela (yay!!!), and Henna. This means it will cost the same as Oakland does now (275 a month) but utilities will be less and we will have amenities like a dishwasher and a washer and dryer.
So, yeah, that's the story.
I don't want to leave Oakland, but I have a feeling this new place could be somewhere we decide to stay for just a bit longer. In my head, I see it as kind of cramped, oddly laid out, and mildly inconvenient to move around in, and yet, I can still remember saying "WOW!" repeatedly at the extravagantly spacious rooms, the entertaining kitchens, the sweet porch, the general feel. People make a home a home, anyway. I now have 9 months to daydream about the crowd I named above all transforming that house into something new. All I really need are plenty of windows, enough room to breathe, and a ceiling that does not remind me daily how much taller I am than all of my housemates.
Seriously, what's with me living with short people? Tell me you aren't short, Michaela! :P
*laughs*
Oh well, I'll worry about it more when the time comes. I realized today I still have 9 more freaking months at Oakland, which is definitely more than enough time to get settled and happy, gradually stir, and then spread my wings to fly off again.
For now, time to get dressed and respectable... a long day of running errands is about to end in a pleasant night of mischief with the housemates. Anji got stuck in Amsterdam, poor kid, but the rest of us are gonna see Memoirs on a Geisha.
:)