DC Loves Studio Apartments

"It's perfectly normal to have a party in your bedroom!"  --Rachel

The studio apartment - a prominent hallmark of single city living.  One room, many purposes.  As is the case with most major cities, finding affordable housing in a desirable* location is an arduous task.  So what is a young, single DC professional to do to keep a roof over his or her head without being relegated to the wilds of Northern Virginia or Montgomery County?**  The answer is to sacrifice space for place.  The answer is the studio apartment.

Granted, one can find housing on the cheap without living in a glorified shoe box if he/she is down with the roommate thang.  You can find plenty of rooms for rent in very nice row houses throughout the city, but if you're looking for your own place, the studio is the way to go.  The challenge, of course, is how to turn 400-500 square feet (or sometimes less) into "home."  Some things to consider:

• Natural light can really open up a space.  Look for places with lots of sun-facing windows.
• Total number of square feet is less important than how the space is laid out.  450 square feet can look a lot different from one building to the next.
• Keep in mind that you probably are not going to be spending that much time in your apartment anyway.  Between the 9-5 job you work to pay the rent for that apartment, the gym, happy hours, dates, and various social activities, the vast majority of your time inside those four walls will probably be spent sleeping.

My "Living Room"

I think I've done a pretty decent job with my studio in creating distinct spaces (e.g., a "living room" space, a "bedroom" space, a "dining room" space) to minimize the feeling that I live in a single room.  It may seem silly, but psychologically, it makes a discernible difference.

Warming my "house" - April 2011

I also don't let my tiny abode prohibit me from doing one of the things I do best, hosting parties.  While it may seem odd at first to host moderate to large groups of people for gatherings in your studio, it's not quite as weird as you may think.  At a holiday party I hosted back in December, one of my guests joked about how it was *so* DC to throw shin-digs in the room you sleep in.  "It's perfectly normal to have a party in your bedroom," she said.  And she's right!  With so many of us in the same residential boat, it's a non-issue.  If anything, it brings everyone closer together (literally!)

Who says you can't have a fondue party in a studio apartment?

*Desirable can mean either or both of these things: (1) proximal to the places you like to go and the people you like to spend time with, and/or (2) a notable shortage of crack dealers on the corners.

**I kid.  I have plenty of friends who live in NoVa and MoCo and they're both fine places.  :)