The Different Types Of Apartments There Are

Dec. 1, 2011
Steph is a former editor at Thought Catalog and a current writer at Gawker Media. Her work has been featured on ...

The minimalist apartment. This apartment is what happens when the Stainless Steel Fairy gets food poisoning in a 400ft ² studio. An overpriced cell for the overachiever, the minimalist apartment gets its name because its inhabitant either a. doesn’t have space for frivolities like, say, anything larger than a twin-size mattress or b. cannot afford furnishings due to spending over two-thirds of their income on inflated rent/ mortgages. Stainless steel doesn’t grow on trees, you know?

The railroad apartment. Does the sound of footsteps passing through your bedroom at night lull you to sleep? Have an hour to waste while your roommate empties his pipes in the neighboring room? Enjoy traversing through the hallways of your apartment complex in a towel, or less? A railroad apartment is the perfect home for two (or more!) apartment hunters who have no concept of societal boundaries. Oh, and they’re also great for couples and people who have their lives together and no longer require roommates.

The loft apartment. A former sweater factory/ pornographic film studio/ metal shop, the loft apartment is now destined to host experimental art students interested in experimental art shows that showcase experimental art. There are anywhere between 3-17 bicycles hanging from the wall at any given time.

The rent-controlled apartment. Forget senses of humor, great jobs, accents of the European persuasion, attractive pets, decent teeth, and healthy familial relationships: a rent-controlled apartment might as well be a golden ticket into the hearts – and pants – of AMERICA. We’re talking manifest destiny here, folks. Mention your rent-controlled apartment the next time you’re running game at the bar and see if your ROI doesn’t shoot through the roof.

The studio apartment. The best way to get to know someone quickly is to visit his studio. The scent of the last few meals she’s cooked, the laundry pile he’s curated, her favorite deodorant/ shampoo/ douche, the books he reads — soak it up. This is the new getting to know someone. Facebook don’t got nothin’ on studio apartments.

The squatters’ apartment. Squatters were in the wrong place at the right time and now they’re rewarded for it by paying no rent. The apartment may be a loft, a basement, a would-be condo had the economy not tanked – the only unifying characteristic is that someone, somewhere, screwed up. If you find yourself living in a building with no Certificate of Occupancy, you too can squat it up. Dance through those loopholes, young sprite. Fight the system while the rest of us wonder where we went wrong.

The god-must-have-spent-a-little-more-time-on-this-apartment apartment. This reasonably priced, geographically desirable, well-designed, cinnamon-scented carpeted two bedroom with a backyard and washer-dryer combo and walk-in closet and seriously, unless you saved a pack of blind puppies from a brushfire, you don’t deserve that apartment.TC mark

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image – kenny_lex

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  • Markhamf

    I have a studio and the description is completely and totally spot on. I am super selective about who I let come over because it’s like seeing me naked.

  • http://twitter.com/kaimcn Kai

    My studio apartment reveals all my secrets and I had to put a dressing room in my kitchen to avoid being a naked in the living/bedroom.
    So worth it to live alone.

  • Anonymous

    Women still douche?

    • Anon

      Idiot women apparently do

  • Ronald

    Feel like duplexes, quadplexes, single-unit houses, apartment complexes, high-rises, guest houses, cabanas …. feel like so much has been left out.

  • Anonymous

    At first I thought the “railroad apartment” category would describe my current living conditions, since my apartment building is nestled directly beside a freight yard. I see a lot of graffiti penises while washing dishes.

  • Tina

    I have the last apartment……. Oops.

  • Catt Stearns

    I have the first apartment and my ex had the last…I probably stayed with him for a little too long because of that.

  • yulia

    my brother had the squatters apartment on the Upper East Side. Chris Noth was his neighbor and yet he paid no rent because shortly upon moving in, his neighbors informed him that there was no certificate of occupancy and he couldn’t be forced out. God smiled on him. until he realized that high carbon monoxide levels from the boiler room were making his cat sick and that shit could get real if it decided to explode one day.  

  • http://www.nicholeexplainsitall.com EarthToNichole

    How is carpet a plus? Wood floors 4 lyfe!

    • http://kylelamar.com/ Kyle LaMar

      I don’t get carpet. Unless you like a giant sponge that covers your entire floor, gathering bullshit that falls off your body and life.

      • http://www.nicholeexplainsitall.com EarthToNichole

        I do, however, own a rug. It’s kind of cool because sometimes I spill drugs and they blend in and months later I’ll find a random Klonopin in the rug and it’s like a beautiful surprise.

      • http://kylelamar.com/ Kyle LaMar

        I’m alright with rugs. At least you can pick it up and beat it.

      • http://www.nicholeexplainsitall.com EarthToNichole

        Favorite TC reply ever.

    • http://twitter.com/tannnyaya Tanya Salyers

      fo sho, wood floors are way better, and cleaner!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1363230138 Michael Koh

      maybe she meant to say it’s plush

  • http://twitter.com/spencercniemetz Spencer Niemetz

    And then there are the apartments OUTSIDE of Brooklyn.

  • http://twitter.com/S_amplified Samantha Amplified

    I’m so glad I stayed in a railroad apartment last time I was in New York or I’d have no idea how to understand that. 

    … I’ve got the last apartment currently, but I worked hard to be able to 1. FIND 2. AFFORD it! 

  • http://twitter.com/tannnyaya Tanya Salyers

    What happens if you have the last one on the inside, but the outside is suuuuper hood?

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