The inhabitants of 156 Powder House Boulevard have done more than rent a house — they have fallen into an inheritance. Seniors Mike Brundage, Alex Nisetich, Ty Burdette, Missy Ricculli, Leah Resneck, Kailah Hayden-Karp, Travis Lowry, Ricky Zimmerman and Ned Berger are living in a two apartment house fit for a king — or in more true-to-life terms, an heiress.
For the past two years, previous owner Sam Bendetson (LA '09), of the family for which Bendetson Hall was named, lived with only one other friend in the first-floor, four-person apartment.
"Sam had it renovated. She tricked out this entire house, and it's gorgeous," Zimmerman said. "Our landlord showed us which rooms were actually bedrooms and then what the other rooms were being used for … I remember that Kailah's current room just had a giant TV and no seating."
Now the house is chock full of nine lively seniors who just can't seem to agree on the house's best feature. The inhabitants named the whole downstairs kitchen, the whole basement, the speakers built into the ceiling in the basement that no one knew how to use, the dimmers in every room, the wine cooler, the spacious upstairs bedrooms (one even with its own bathroom) and the pool table as the main sources of their bragging rights. And that is just the beginning.
Bendetson was not in favor of the musty, beer-soaked cement basements that seem to be the Medford/Somerville norm. According to Berger, Bendetson's father was able to easily renovate the basement, making it nicer than most living rooms in the area because he is a contractor. Now the large space is equipped with brand new carpeting and freshly painted walls — a complete transformation from its original state.
A few other perks were included.
"All these couches our landlord provided," Berger said. "He keeps calling us [to say] ‘I have another couch for you. I'll bring it over sometime tomorrow.'"
And, of course, previous owners leave treasures.
"The big screen downstairs was just left here by our subletters," Nisetich said. "They just left it here along with other gifts like Cheerios and loose change."
Burdette added his own little luxuries, replacing regular bulbs with blacklights.
"I have a bubble machine, and I have blacklight-reactant bubbles," Burdette said. "So it's like golden orbs that float around in the blacklight; they look like golden snitches."
The basement also has a small, state-of-the-art bathroom, which is dangerously close to the couches where the housemates hang out.
"If you go in there, you get timed" Ricculli warned.
But that doesn't seem to be a problem for the residents of 156.
"You have to be a little bit of an exhibitionist to live in this house," Burdette said. "Very few introverts live here."
Up one flight of stairs, the first-floor kitchen is worthy of its own special on HGTV.
"The kitchen, if I'm not mistaken, was redone three years ago, so it's got all these really nice granite countertops [including] an island in the middle. There's more counter space than I know what to do with," Zimmerman said. "My mom saw it and she was like, ‘I don't know if I have this much counter space at home!' That's funny that my kitchen at school is nicer than my one at home."
There's more to the kitchen than just the sprawling black granite, the jumbo-sized refrigerator, the island with stools for three and the massive size in general. The previous and present owners have kept the cabinets well stocked with a variety of extremely necessary appliances.
"All of the appliances are brand new," Nisetich said. "Our appliances include a blender, a food processor, a sandwich press, an ice cream machine, three coffee-makers, a waffle-maker and a quesadilla-maker. The quesadilla-maker makes fantastic quesadillas! I didn't know that I needed a quesadilla maker till I had one."
Most of the inhabitants love to cook, but more importantly they love how food brings them together.
"One thing we miss about living in dorms is the brunches in Dewick and Carmichael on weekends," Ricculli said.
Especially on Sunday mornings when everyone has those stories to tell," Resneck added.
They make each other French toast and eggs as they try to recreate the post-frat party morning. In fact, most of the residents at 156 have known each other since freshman year. During their sophomore year, Burdette, Berger, Ricculli and Hayden-Karp decided they wanted to live together. Their senior year, that dream became a reality.
"The four of us sat down one afternoon at the beginning of summer and made a draft of people [we wanted to live with]" Burdette said. "[We] crossed off people that were dramatic or awkward or high maintenance. Then we started making calls to see who could come."
So far, they seem to have picked the perfect group.
"I hear horror stories of houses [in which] people are fighting and … don't want to live there," Berger said. "We have a really good dynamic, and there are no issues. There's always a dance party happening. It's always lively. There's never a dull moment. [And] everyone here is so down to earth and drama-free that it has just been great."
"Except for Mike," Nisetich joked. "He's such a diva!"
In the top apartment, Burdette has upgraded from the basic television to a 72-inch screen, equipped with a Nintendo Wii, an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3.
But Zimmerman was quick to add that readers shouldn't get any ideas about sneaking in and enjoying the lavish house for themselves.
"[The house] has also got an alarm system," Zimmerman warned.
Besides, Burdette mostly found his finds on the free section of CraigsList.com.
"The trick to CraigsList free section is that you want to look by the area [the stuff is] coming from, and you want to look for Brookline, Allston or Back Bay," Burdette said. "You want to look for the most yuppie areas because it's normally 28 to 32 year-olds who are like, ‘Oh I got a job in another city, and [I don't want to move] all my nice furniture that I just bought from Pottery Barn last year … so take it.'"
Berger's bedroom is right off the living room, but it is nothing like a typical college crash pad.
"My room was the library, which has since been transformed into a bedroom. It has a lofted bed … and my desk is under it. It's such a great place to study or work because you feel like you're in [a library] … not just a regular library but the Fletcher Library," Berger said. "It's completely dark wood and it has all this shelving … there's so much space. And it has a balcony."
Sprinkled throughout the rest of the house are other final touches that set 156 Powder House apart.
"I … really like the unnecessary touches of our house," Burdette said. "Having a touch-screen washer and dryer is really good. It's not helpful at all; it just looks cool and is there."
The inhabitants of 156 are a sundry bunch of kids who have come together over pool, quesadillas and big-screen TVs. The range of personalities makes for a living environment that is always engaging and vivacious.
"There are a lot of good arguments, in the sense [that there are] different belief systems," Resneck said. "Such as if ‘dolt' is a word. It is. In case you're wondering."
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If you have or know of a sweet campus crib, email Alison Lisnow at alison.lisnow@tufts.edu.
