So much space, so many possibilities...
October 20, 2014 7:26 PM Subscribe
Help me figure out a wonderful, fun thing to do with our unfinished attic space. Difficulty level: renters with grad student incomes.
My boyfriend and I rent an amazing early 1950s house. It was designed for an age when space was plentiful and land (in our particular city) was cheap. As a result, not only do we each have our own office/library, we have a huge unfinished basement and an unfinished attic at the top of a very safe, semi-secret staircase.
I love the attic. It's easily 25 ft x 15 ft. It has so much potential. Right now we keep a few items in it, but not much. I'd really like to use it for something, but can't figure out what.
My first idea was to start some kind of reading series and host it in the attic. But I think we could also just make it a nice space, and am open to ideas. For instance, if either of us were into yoga it'd make an amazing yoga room (we're not into yoga). I've considered indoor camping. Are there things I'm overlooking?
FYI: We're renters. We can't finish the attic. Also, it gets hot as hell up there in the summer and freezing in the winter. Is it crazy to consider this?
My boyfriend and I rent an amazing early 1950s house. It was designed for an age when space was plentiful and land (in our particular city) was cheap. As a result, not only do we each have our own office/library, we have a huge unfinished basement and an unfinished attic at the top of a very safe, semi-secret staircase.
I love the attic. It's easily 25 ft x 15 ft. It has so much potential. Right now we keep a few items in it, but not much. I'd really like to use it for something, but can't figure out what.
My first idea was to start some kind of reading series and host it in the attic. But I think we could also just make it a nice space, and am open to ideas. For instance, if either of us were into yoga it'd make an amazing yoga room (we're not into yoga). I've considered indoor camping. Are there things I'm overlooking?
FYI: We're renters. We can't finish the attic. Also, it gets hot as hell up there in the summer and freezing in the winter. Is it crazy to consider this?
A few of my friends in a similar situation turned the spare room into a permanent blanket fort with the help of some coat racks and wall hooks. It was decorated with string lights and contained a mini-bar (well, a spare minifridge). It was full of pillows and stuffed animals and a mattress and was good for drinking whiskey in. Highly recommended.
posted by pemberkins at 7:49 PM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by pemberkins at 7:49 PM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
Well, given the ebullient tone of the question and the answers above, I hate to be the Voice of Doom, but....
When you say the attic is unfinished, how unfinished is it? The first thing I would think about are the floors: in my childhood home, the unfinished attic basically just had boards over the insulation: a wrong step and you would fall right through the ceiling of the room below! I think in many older homes, the attics are built to withstand a certain amount of stationary weight (e.g., boxes of Christmas tree decorations) but not people moving around. You might want to look into this.
There are other, rarer, dangers lurking in unfinished attics such as asbestos based insulation and other nasties.
As nice as an attic can be, I would make sure it is safe before I invited groups of my friends to come over and hang.
posted by girl flaneur at 8:06 PM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
When you say the attic is unfinished, how unfinished is it? The first thing I would think about are the floors: in my childhood home, the unfinished attic basically just had boards over the insulation: a wrong step and you would fall right through the ceiling of the room below! I think in many older homes, the attics are built to withstand a certain amount of stationary weight (e.g., boxes of Christmas tree decorations) but not people moving around. You might want to look into this.
There are other, rarer, dangers lurking in unfinished attics such as asbestos based insulation and other nasties.
As nice as an attic can be, I would make sure it is safe before I invited groups of my friends to come over and hang.
posted by girl flaneur at 8:06 PM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
Yeah, for god's sake don't host a party in an attic space that's likely not engineered as a living space. If it's got windows, you could use it as a chill reading space, but I wouldn't put a whole lot of effort into it if it's only going to be usable for 4 months out of the year. I mean, there are people in 4-season locales who spend 10s of thousands of dollars on outdoor kitchens and living spaces despite the fact that they can only use them part of the year, but these are not people on grad student incomes. On grad student income your outdoor kitchen/living space is a Weber grill and some plastic chairs, amirite?
Obvs., do some sexytimes for the sake of variety.
posted by drlith at 5:57 AM on October 21, 2014
Obvs., do some sexytimes for the sake of variety.
posted by drlith at 5:57 AM on October 21, 2014
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Crazy to consider using that awesome space?? You'd be crazy not to use it!
You could:
- build a lego city or a giant rube goldberg device
- put some huge pieces of foam up there and make it a wrasslin' attic
- set your friends on a scavenger hunt and have them end up in your attic for a party
- get a cheap projecter, host movie night with friends (themes, costumes)
- put a ping-pong table up there you bozo!
anyway, definitely do something, and have fun!
posted by stinkfoot at 7:37 PM on October 20, 2014