Each year, waves of young people move to Chicago to begin their professional careers, receive an education from one of the many colleges in the city or simply because the allure of living in the greatest city in the world is too great to resist. And when they initially move here, they have to find a place to live that offers the best value without being a complete dump. As a result, the first apartment most young people end up moving into ends up having a lot of the same features.
The flooring: Every apartment building seemingly has the same tan hardwood flooring design. It's almost as if every building designer in the city met up at some point and had an agreement that they were all going to install this specific type of hardwood flooring. There's also usually a random burn mark somewhere on the floor that the realtor showing you the place will insist isn't that bad and can simply be covered up with a rug.
Repurposed rooms: A lot of apartment buildings in the city are several decades old and have gone through changes over time. There's a even a chance your building might have had a completely different purpose in its past—one that didn't involve housing apartments. That's why you'll find things like walls in places that don't make sense, or entrances to rooms that have a random step leading up to them.
Small bedrooms: Apartment designers must have really taken the word "bedroom" to heart because most places have enough room for a full or queen size bed, a dresser, maybe a desk, and that's it. Hopefully you can arrange those things in a manner that at least gives you a walking path so you can access each of them.
Chicago art: Much like the walls of every college freshman's dorm room are adorned with the same Animal House and Bob Marley posters, pictures of Chicago landmarks are a staple for every apartment inhabited by someone new to the city. It could be a painting of the downtown skyline, a map of all the neighborhoods in the city, a design involving the Chicago flag or all of the above. If you live in Wrigleyville, owning Cubs memorabilia is practically a condition of the living agreement. Fortunately, since Chicago is such a picture-perfect city, it all generally looks good and will surely improve the interior of your place, even if everyone else is using the same decor.
The one thing that doesn't work: For the most part, everything in the apartment seems to work fine except for that one thing that just can't be fixed. Hopefully, it's only a minor annoyance such as a weaker level of water pressure than you would like. If you have the misfortune of a dysfunctional heating or cooling system during extreme weather months, then God help you.
That cool game room item you never use: Remember that awesome foosball/ping pong/air hockey table you bought with the intention of always using it for parties at your place? Yeah, that got virtually no use. You don't use it on your own or with your roommates, and on the rare occasion you actually have people over at your apartment, they never want to play it.
Creepy basement: Most buildings have a basement that residents can access for various reasons, usually for storage space and/or it's where the washer and dryer units are located. These basements, without fail, will always look like something out of a horror movie. It's dingy, the lights never seem to work and strange noises come at you from every direction. If you ever have to go down there, bring a flashlight and make your trip quick so you don't encounter the serial killer who has probably made the basement a storage area for bodies.
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