Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I_Am_Wrong]

My apartment lacks life, it's stale. I don't want to spend time there, I dread even entering it when I come back from work. It's not a bad place...it just feels so boring. It's also dreadfully unorganized.
The tenant before me left me left two small plants in pimento jars. I tried to tend to them, I really did, but they died nonetheless. There's a spiderman 2 poster on the wall, also from the previous tennant. I hate spiderman 2.
I was thinking that I could buy a bunch of plants but then realized that I know nothing about what plants to buy. Not to mention the fact that it's too unorganized for plants at the moment anyways. So I thought fish might be nice. However, the type of fish I want require a fairly expensive investment and I do hate goldfish so much. Any fish I buy would probably when I go on winter vacation anyways.

-from the mind that holds the feeling of living in a cardboard box.

[krats1976]

My apartment has too much life. I have a cat, dog, long-legged spiders doing mogi patrol in the corners, and plenty of random crickets wandering in from time to time to keep my cat amused.

The color in the place works too. They were re-doing the wallpaper & flooring when I moved in so I chose colors that actually belong in a house (not the ubiquitous beige that makes me feel like I'm living in a yellow box). Plus, the colors in the living room actually match (green & brown being the predominant colors--reminding me of the nature that is so cruelly deprived us here). I have a lovely shefflera (sp?) thriving in a large white pot, though I can't seem to get my long-desired herb garden going.

A few scented candles from home & some framed prints & my house actually feels like a home.












....except for the mold (as I said... too much life).

[Fredbob]

I just got to a new place, nice officetel, pretty big, no bed, no furniture at all. After my first day at work I looked at the place an felt like I was in some kind of prison cell. It's a new job so who knows if it will work out so I don't want to spend a lot of money so I went to a bookstore and bought some picture books mix of b&w and vivid color art, Rothko, Picasso, MC Escher etc... Then I went to the stationary store and picked up some colored sheets of paper to paper one wall alla Museum of Modern Art style. Took about an hour and now the place has color and life, I think the total came to less than 30,000.

Tear down the SpiderMan 2 poster, for a decent price you can go to the kodak store and have a picture you like blown up to poster size from your camera. Or go to a fabric shop and hang some stuff from the walls, very cheap. If you a desperate and not that creative you can just go to a museum and pick up some posters from the gift shop.

Want to go really cheap, go to Home Depot-the Korean version-I don't remember the name, buy a few cinderblocks and a few planks, instant set of shelves.

Get creative.

[tzechuk]

Yeah... with a 22 month old toddler... there is a little too much life..

[Qinella]

What kind of grown man puts up a Spiderman poster on his wall? Did he leave his Hot Wheels collection behind, too?

[I_Am_Wrong]

[Ron Stevens]

i was a bit reluctant to spend any money on the place but i now realise this is necessary for reasons of sanity

i mean the trailer-like environment of the one room has twin fluorescent strip lights - felt like i was living in a 7/11. took me a while to find a store that sold some lamps of aesthetically ok design

[Boodleheimer]

my apartment has a cat that won't let me sleep!

[periwinkle]

Buy some hardy plants (don't forget to water them, either- just fill the water tray once a week if you're not sure how much to give the plants. Bamboo is cheap, looks good, and is quite hardy- since it lives in water, just make sure the vase doesn't dry out- E-mart has 1000 won glass bamboo vases in the Home Basics area....).

Get rid of clutter.

Clean your place- scrub the floor, clean the windows with windex, make your bed, remove the grease in your kitchen, etc. It'll look brand new, and you don't have to spend a lot of money to do it (you do have to spend some energy, though...).

Oh, yeah- get rid of Spidey. Put up a wall clock from E-mart in its place (it's only 20,000 won for a wall clock). E-mart's Home Basics area has some good quality, cheap, cute things you can buy to make your place look nicer....

Sorry I sound like an ad for E-mart^^ Salesclerks don't bother you in the Home basics area, so I think that's why I'm such a fan...

[cj1976]

[happygirl]

[Hater Depot]

Right now there's just a little too much of it in my vacuum cleaner, yes.

[oldfatfarang]

Here's some cheap (and portable) decorating ideas. First, a couple of pictorial calendars from your country, Plaster the monthly scenes in every room. A BIG flag of your country (reminds you where you come from, stand for etc). The flag is invaluable for long-term expats and travellers. Some plastic roses / flowers from the 1,000 won shop. (Flowers are arranged in Hite Beer bottle). Assorted shells from the local beach. A disused kimchi pot I nabbbed. Assorted furniture the neighbours have thrown out. Postcards from other Asian countries visited on your holidays. Candles, insense burner made of discarded plastic container.
Letters of appreciation from your students. Some pithy sayings/quotes/life experiences written on cardboard and plastered over walls.
All this stuff cost about $5 bucks. But it makes my apartment MY HOME. I get a hellova shock when I walk to school everyday as EVERYTHING OUTSIDE is Korean - for God's sake.

[Homer]

One of my appartments (back in good ole 2001) was literally crawling with life.
Life came out at night and scrurried across the kitchen floor even!

[VanIslander]

*beep* I forgot to water the plants again.

(on a long weekend out of town)