The Dime Tour

Since I haven't been posting much lately, I thought I'd take some time out tonight and fill you in on why I've been so busy. Aside from working 8 days straight (got done with day #6 today), this past week has obviously been dominated by the move into the rental house. Just to summarize, I've now moved in with Chris (the guy I moved out here with and lived with for the first six months) and Jeff, who is a friend that lived with Chris in the meantime. Since Chris and I have the same employer, there are times when we can carpool, which is a major convenience. We did just that today.

Monday was the last day of the lease at the apartment, and I met with the maintenance guy and did the "walk through" that morning. That's when I turned in the keys and said goodbye to the place forever! The apartment was pretty nice and was located in a nice area in Henderson, but to put it simply, it was TOO SMALL....especially for the price that Mikey and I were paying for it! I believe the square footage was listed around 1000, but its even difficult to believe that. I know very well that the cost of living in Bowling Green, Ohio and Las Vegas, NV is very different, but regardless, I was paying more per month for the right to squeeze into a small apartment in Henderson with Mikey than I was paying for an entire place to myself in Bowling Green!! As I think you're about to see, I've pretty much corrected that situation!

Our new place is listed at just a little under 3000 square feet, but it seems so spacious to me that sharing it with two other guys seems like nothing compared to sharing the pad in Henderson with just one! Just a couple of perks of renting a house compared to the apartment is a very small backyard in which we can grill out and a nice garage to get the car out of the sun (at least 2/3 of the time).

Below is the picture tour of the place. To give you insight on our agreements, Jeff and I pay the same in rent, while Chris pays a little more. This is because he bartered for rights to the master bedroom upstairs. But aside from paying a higher rent, he also springs for the entire Direct TV bill every month as well. So for at least this entire year, I will not be paying any cable at all, yet enjoying all that Direct TV has to offer in nice high definition via my entertainment center! Jeff has a regular bedroom upstairs and his own full bathroom. I took the small bedroom downstairs with the 3/4 bathroom down there. However, I also pretty much have complete control of the entire first level of the house, as well as use of the extra spare bedroom upstairs! Another plus is that my rent is around $75 LESS per month than the apartment, yet the quality of living shot way up by moving in here! Yes, the utilities will be higher, but will be split three-ways, so it'll be close to a wash I think.

Here's a picture of the garage. I've seen bigger, but it's fairly spacious. My car is on the right while Chris' blue car is on the left. Jeff's is obviously not pictured. Each of us have an opener now, so basically if there's a open spot in the garage when we get home, we take it. If not, there's parking on the street out front.

This is the little laundry room off the garage. I've taken over half of it (the right side of the pic) as an extension to my bedroom closet.

Here's the storage area underneath the stairs. It's pretty big and actually extends to the left back there where all of my boxes are sitting. Even though the house is a little too big for us, its nice to have this space so we didn't have to just ditch the stuff in the dining room or someplace tacky like that.

Once you walk up the stairs, you can get a bird's eye view into the living room where my entertainment center is hooked up and my old sh***y furniture from the apartment is located.

This is an area that kind of confuses us. It's in the hallway area upstairs, but we're not quite sure what to do with it. I guess if a whole family was living here, it could be used for a desk/computer or maybe a little play area or homework area for the kids. For three dudes renting, its a mystery area that probably will be wasted.

This is just a view looking out of Chris' room upstairs. The view is had by looking over the edge there, the mystery area is to the right and Jeff's bedroom is in the upper left of the pic. That other door to the right of Jeff's is a very nice/large linen closet that Jeff has claiming rights.

Here's the main part of Chris' gigantic master bedroom. That's him sitting at the computer and that's my computer chair in the foreground pointed at his enormous big screen HDTV! The reason my chair is in here is due to the fact that the playstation is hooked up to the monster and I've been known to use it every so often.

This is the "sitting area" of the master bedroom. Chris just put his bed in there. That's my chair in the foreground.

This is looking into Chris' bathroom from his bedroom. I guess that would be me in the mirror, ha ha.

As you turn left in his bathroom, you come upon that separate little toilet room and then the walk-in closet.

And here's his walk-in closet.

Here's Jeff in his bedroom. It's a pretty nice sized room, but obviously not nearly as big as Chris'.

Across the hall from Jeff's room is his full bathroom. Pretty nice.

Okay, now on to my stuff. Here's a picture I took of my bedroom while I was basically standing inside of my closet. Mind you that my closet is NOT a walk-in closet. As you can see, the room is pretty tiny compared to the others, but its just big enough to fit my queen-sized bed, nightstand and computer desk. As you can see, I've prioritized my computer chair upstairs while the cheap piece of plastic lawn chair is being used in my bedroom. I'm sitting on it right now as a matter of fact! I might switch the two, but for now the plastic chair actually fits better in here.

As you walk out of my bedroom, there is a very small hallway as you pass the laundry room on the right and come to this 3/4 bathroom that I have sole use of. The stand-up shower is just off to the right of the picture. Once again, its a very small bathroom but it'll do.

So if you happen to be feeling sorry for me for getting the smallest bedroom and smallest bathroom of the three, here begins the compensation. In addition to the fact that I pay less rent than Chris and get free cable, I also have complete use of this spare bedroom, which is located right next to Jeff's room. I guess I could have used this as my bedroom, but the three of us put heavy importance on each of us getting our own bathroom, so that's why I'm holed up downstairs. As you can see, I just have some pictures laying around in here that I haven't gotten around to hanging up yet. If anyone has any ideas on how I should use this room, let me know. I'm pretty much stumped. It's just one example of the place being just a tad too big for only the three of us.

This is the walk-in closet for that spare room. I just have some luggage and a bunch of random stuff stored in here since I couldn't fit it in my closet in the bedroom. However, I WAS able to get all of my clothes hung up in my bedroom closet and/or the half of the laundry room that I've claimed. So I won't be having to walk upstairs to fetch any clothes.

Here's the pretty awesome kitchen. The kitchen at the apartment was TINY!!!! Seriously, Mikey and I could NOT be in the kitchen at the same time! This one is a significant upgrade!!!

This is the formal dining room. It falls within the area downstairs that I have control over, but it also falls under the category of "what the f**k do I do with it" space! If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

This is the major perk of my end of the agreement. It's the main living room of the house where my entertainment/surround sound/furniture is set up. In the old apartment, I'm willing to bet that Mikey used all of this stuff more than I did. It wasn't a big deal, but now I have it all to myself!!! My area downstairs is basically an apartment within the house. Its made possible by the fact that both Jeff and Chris are basically hermits who hardly ever leave the comforts of their respective bedrooms. In case you're wondering, that white couch is not mine, but Chris is keeping down here for the time being while he decides if he's gonna buy a new couch for his bedroom/TV room upstairs.

Here's just a different view of the downstairs. It's taken from the front door as you'd see it when you first enter the house. The neglected dining room is straight ahead, my stuff is on the left, the kitchen is in the background and the stairs going up are on the right.