Studio 4, Apartment 106

So I've finally decorated my apartment enough that I feel comfortable showing it off here. All images can be viewed full-size with a clicky:


The entrance to the apartment. Note my Imelda Marcos-like hat collection. One can never have too many hats, I say. And these are just my baseball caps. My other hats are still at home to be brought up. I can't go to law school without a fedora, after all.


A close up of the entrance area. The table came with the place, but I'm not sure exactly what to do with it. Perhaps I could put more knick-knacks, but that may be too cluttery. For now, I've settled for the Ikea lamp and my digital picture frame (nice picture, Jack).

The view from the door. Instead of a table, the bar on the left serves as the eating surface. Not ideal, but I guess I don't really need a full dining table since I'm only one person (emo noise). At least the place came with stools. Now if I just had room for a small bar...

The kitchen. I don't know what I can really say about it, besides the fact that I didn't clean it before I took this photo. Yes, I'm that much of a neat freak. Take note, ladies. This should surely improve my market value in that regard. ;)

The candle on the counter should tell you what you already know: I'm Mexican.

Close-up view of the previous shot.

The living room area. The fan is a necessity since it's been incredibly hot (at least for the Bay Area) since I've been here. The high this weekend is supposed to be 100 degrees F. The Lakers banner is a placeholder--I except to put up an Angels 2008 Western Division Champions pennant once October rolls around. Calm down, Phil and Brandon, the Lakers banner stays, it just moves down the wall.

I was unsure whether to give Jack and Bobby their own wall and place them behind the couch. Seems like a waste of space, and I guess a California wall isn't too bad. Note my bass guitar behind the couch.

Speaking of the couch, if I had one complaint about the room, it's the fact that the couch situation is a bit awkward. The desk the room came with is pretty large, almost abnormally so. The desk actually sticks out into the space just in front of the right side of the couch. What's worse is I can't move the couch any more towards the kitchen without denying myself any room to sit at the bar behind it. Oh well.
My desk, with the requisite computer (set to Facebook, as always), TV, and PS2 (for The Show!) You can see my $741 law textbooks on the first shelf, along with the three most important books I own: Baseball Prospectus 2008, Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster, and the Bible. Note how large the desk is. It makes the ones in Governor's Corner look like the Dennis Kuciniches of desks. I also have my subwoofer and my printer underneath the desk (though only the subwoofer is really visible in this picture).

The always-present American flag behind my bed. I always keep that flag with me, no matter if I'm living at home or at school.

Yes, that's a spare mattress under my bed. That's actually the mattress the came with the room, but I was snotty enough to want to use my own mattress (one must sleep in comfort, after all). I should probably ask Housing to pick that up (mental note).

ALSO, THE LEAF IS BACK, MUTHAFUCKAS!

As you can see there's plenty of closet space, which I guess is wasted on me since I don't have too many clothes. One interesting quirk: the dresser is actually bolted to the closet floor. I had no intentions of moving it, but I find it pretty funny anyway. Were they afraid that someone was going to steal the dressers? I guess one inconvenience: because the dresser is stuck in the middle, you have minimal closet floor space alongside it. A better compromise would have been to put the dresser to one side of the closet to allow maximum roomage.

The bathroom. I know, so exciting. I plan on making the bathroom England-themed by filling it with mementos from my quarter abroad at Oxford. Unfortunately, I failed to think of this genius design idea while I was still at home, so I only have a handful of things to put on the walls. The Underground map and the Union Jack will have to do for now.

The toilet, presented without further comment.

I was actually a little disappointed with the room when I first walked in--I thought it was too small, smaller than I actually thought it was going to be, and I didn't have high hopes to begin with. But after living in it for a week, putting my own personal touch on it and seeing some of the other studios, I've come around on the size issue. It's a pretty decent sized room for one person.

Anyway, I'm not yet done decorating. I need more stuff to put on the corkboard (forgot to put more pictures I have up with me, actually). I need to decide exactly what to do with a leaf. I want to put a wall clock where the "Si Se Puede!" sign is now above my bookshelf. I need a new desk chair. A small table by the couch would also be desirable. I also want to buy an "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" poster to replace the "Hard Day's Night" poster next to my bed.

If any of you have design ideas, let me know, especially those of you who have already lived in your own apartment. One more thing: if any of you have pictures that I can put on my picture frame, drop me a line and send them to me!