While Sampson Dahl’s ex-boyfriend thought the old laundromat he considered a potential new apartment was “disgusting,” he saw the potential for a great workspace. He moved in a month later.
“I don’t think space should be a perfect representation of what the simple mind wants,” Dahl told CNBC Make It. “I think a place should be an imperfect representation of the people who were there at that time.”
The 27-year-old production designer is no stranger to living in commercial spaces; he used to live in a warehouse in Chicago, so he knew when it came to apartment hunting he wanted to repeat that experience.
“I like the freedom of commercial space, even if the tenants have fewer rights,” he said. “There’s something more ethical about moving into an empty storefront that’s been empty for years than taking an apartment in some residential neighborhood you don’t know.”
Dahl found a former laundromat in Maspeth, Queens, on an online forum in 2019 and has been living there.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
Dahl found a former laundromat in Maspeth, Queens, in an online forum in 2019. A former tenant added a small kitchen that gave Dahl enough space to have a sink, stovetop, and toaster oven. The laundromat has been defunct since 2005.
When he first moved in March 2019, the rent was $1750, and he paid two months rent up front and a security deposit of $875. In 2021, her rent will be $1850, and she will pay an average of $120 for electricity and $60 for internet.
Dahl in production design, and one of the perks of the project is access to a lot of free furniture after the project is completed, so that he can use it to decorate the space.
“This space allows for some [my] hoarding tendencies, but I try to be as decorative as possible,” said Dahl. me.”
Dahl slept on a loft bed that cost $25 to make.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
For Dahl, his favorite part of living in the former laundromat is the sense of community he gets from his neighbors because it reminds him of his childhood. The 27-year-old grew up in a commune in Texas that he described as “not a cult. [but] a non-profit humanitarian organization that does disaster and homeless relief.”
“I really think about it printing this kind of open door privacy I have and maintained my adult life. My mother always lived like that,” he said.
Because of this philosophy, Dahl was made to keep his living space open to others. They even have a fridge and a communal swing out front. That sense of community is important to Dahl, especially after a robbery in the neighborhood a few months ago.
“People are looking out for me more than I am looking out for myself, and that is the true community. I knew the true community as a child, and I know it again now,” he said.
Dahl has a space divided into different areas like “songwriting” and “piano station” because it aims to be a place for creativity.
Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
Although Dahl loves the space he created, which also includes a songwriting and organ station, he says he only lives there because it’s what he can afford right now, but hopes to move out and continue as a collaborative studio space.
“It’s just going to be an open shop for anyone who wants to come in and learn to paint or continue painting or learn to record a song or continue a song. It’s for beginners and people who are passionate about what they’re doing,” Dahl said. said.
“Life in the storefront has taught me resourcefulness in a way I never knew before. I really can’t be too picky about what comes my way; I just have to make the best. And that’s the best skill I can. get, he added.
“There’s nothing I can teach myself, but you can only learn from life. It’s really in line with the philosophy of life that I’ve come up with.”
Register now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter
don’t miss:
73-year-old pays $370/month to live in a plane he bought for $100,000 from the yard: ‘I don’t regret it’