We've been talking about personal porches, yards and gardens, and earlier today, we asked about your favorite public picnic spots. But what about that gray area in between: the shared outdoor space? Are you an apartment dweller in this situation? Is it communal bliss? Or something a little less idyllic?
Do You Have a Shared Outdoor Space?
Our apartment in Chicago has a shared back porch, and many of our friends here have found themselves in similar situations.
We've heard some stories of friendly neighbors working together to create and maintain a lovely backyard or garden that is enjoyed by all. Tenants helping each other lay sod, plant flowers or build picnic tables. Dogs and children playing happily while the adults prepare food for a building-wide barbecue. This is how it's supposed to be.
Sometimes, though, these shared spaces can create a bit of tension. There are the neighbors who like to throw parties but don't like to clean up their messes. The condo association that can't come to an agreement on what to do with the courtyard. The tenants who get the sense that their landlords didn't really mean it when they offered free use of the garden and grill. The neighbor's not-so-friendly dog that's always roaming the yard.
Any of these scenarios – good or bad – sound familiar? Have your found shared space nirvana? Overcome a tricky neighbor situation? Or has neighbor drama sent you in search of the nearest park? If you've got a shared outdoor space tale, tell us about it in the comments.
Related: Proper Etiquette: On Sharing Neighborhood Fruit Trees
(Image: Flickr user chadmagiera, licensed under Creative Commons)
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i have a shared space backyard that has SO much potential, except my clutter-y landlord keeps messing it up! sunday i discovered a FRIDGE was plopped in the middle of the pavers, not to mention his soil bags, gardening tools, and pop cans were still left there from _last weekends_ tomato planting fest. i've attempted to pick up after him, drop hints etc, but nothing seems to keep him from using the back yard as his personal clutter-space. i was planning on having a few bbqs in july, but if the pile of 40 empty 5-gallon paint buckets do not disappear, i might reconsider. the clutter makes me feel anxious ... help!
view rebecca_f's profile
Technically the backyard to our apartment is supposed to be shared but my husband and I do all the yard work/gardening. So...get the hell out of my yard!! :)
view Nikita's profile
Our row of apartment buildings all have access to a shared roof. A few responsible folks (like myself!) have some container gardens happening up there. There are a couple of deck chairs for folks who like to sun and get some reading in. That's all well and good. But apparently somewhere in the building reside a bunch of irresponsible disgusting circus freaks with zero common sense. They have a fire pit. And they juggle fire. On the tar roof. There was also a massive party up there over a week ago. The next morning, I went up to water my plants and discovered beer and liquor bottles everywhere, thousands of dollars in amplifiers and instruments, multiple tents (with strangers inside), multiple grills, and among the stale, rotting food leftovers, 2-3 lbs of uncovered raw ground beef just sitting out in the sun.
At least they didn't clean up this party the way they did last time: by putting bottles and cans down our interior drain pipe, clogging it, and leading to two inches of water rushing into our bedroom via a rotted out electrical outlet and baseboard.
view thecynthesizer's profile
holy crapola - thecythesizer! That's the worst neighbor story I've heard in a long time. I'm pretty sure you should get them the F out of your building before they burn it down!!
view Nikita's profile
I have to admit, it felt good to vent.
We're actually trying to get ourselves out and into a condo. It's been over a month of looking, we've seen about 20 places, and so far we put in an offer on one place where the seller had effectively sold the place already but was still taking offers to bump up the value, and waited for two weeks for official acceptance on an offer for another place only to have the seller finally admit that he and his girlfriend were having relationship issues. He'd been planning on moving in with her, so with that out of the picture, is no longer selling his condo.
view thecynthesizer's profile