Long before the “Jersey Shore” guidos and the promiscuous teenagers from “Skins,” MTV hosted a show called “Cribs.” A camera crew would explore the homes of the rich, famous and quirky to check out their lavish lifestyle and reveal their at-home secrets. Celebrities would show off their fancy whips, fully stocked refrigerators, endless shoe collections and indoor spas.
Well, here at the Spinnaker, we are reviving the long-forgotten show by bringing you two Jacksonville Beach houses, one male’s home and one female’s home. While they may only have one car and share a bathroom with their roommate, these UNF students prove that you don’t need a cotton candy maker or an indoor gym to make a house interesting. All you need is some ingenuity.
Brian Robertson, a UNF exercise science senior, lives with two girls. Luckily, he resides in a separate, private section of the house he calls “The Rage Cage.”
Robertson said that’s his favorite nickname, though it’s often referred to as the “Man Cave” or the “West Wing.”
“It’s nice because if the girls want to have a party and play loud music, I just close the doors between our places, and it’s dead silent,” Robertson said.
Robertson said what makes his house unique are his neighbors — many fellow friends and UNF students — who are young and close by.
“We are two to three vortex throws from the beach and the beach bars,” said Robertson. “After the bars close, everyone comes over here to keep the party going.”
The living room and bedroom provide enough space to store food, surfboards, a desk for studying and a massive T.V.
“My big screen, aka the brah-screen, is a 60-inch projection — not plasma — that is fully loaded with the original X-box and a broken DVD player,” he said. “For what it lacks in quality, it completely makes up for in quantity.”
Some of the quirkier things in Robertson’s home are the word magnets on the door, which can be moved around to spell out sentences, such as “You’re the best looking money donor,” to more detailed ones, like, “I know that I want what’s mine but you are the sunshine and I know this dance and I’m the guy taking off my astronaut pants.”
The coffee table is uniquely decorated by drawings and designs Robertson’s friends have drawn over the years.
Robertson’s backyard is a fun place for friends to gather because of the homemade fire pit, hammock and slack rope that hangs between two trees.
Though Robertson’s house is filled with games such as Apples to Apples and corn-hole, to a mini fridge stocked with Redbull and a makeshift art studio, he said his favorite items in the house are his Sock ‘em Boppers.
“They’re more fun than a pillow fight, and you can quote me on that.”
Julie Soluri, a UNF advertising senior, lives with one other girl just a few streets away from Robertson and a literal hop, skip or jump away from the sandy shores.
Soluri’s house has the typical beach vibe, decorated with mermaids, pictures of shells and exotic fish, and some of Soluri’s personal artwork.
When asked what her favorite item is, Soluri chose a piece of clothing: a crochet top she named “Sasha.”
“‘Sasha’ is my pink sash, and I get a lot of compliments on her,” Soluri said. “I have three different ones, but Sasha moves like a goddess and lets me breathe.”
It’s Soluri’s roommates that make her home unique, she said.
“Me and my roommate are usually busy, so we’re not home a lot,” Soluri said. “We haven’t had any cat fights … yet.”
Soluri’s room, located at the end of a long hallway, was covered in clothes and accessories.
“My room is messy because I can’t help it — it is a physical disability,” she said. “I try to be neat, but I like clothes, so I hoard them.”
When asked how she feels about being messier than a boy, Soluri said, “The real question is, ‘What does that say about the boy you’re interviewing?’”
Next to her bed, Soluri keeps a photo of her grandmother, along with a photo she took and her medal from the recent Gate River Run.
Despite the plentiful amount of items, Soluri said the best part about her room is the door that leads outside.
“If someone ever came into my room to stab me, I could escape,” she said. “I don’t have any weapons in my room because if that person was stronger than me, they could just kill me with my own weapon.”
Soluri has lived in several houses since moving to Jacksonville and will soon be leaving again to study abroad in Italy this summer, so she won’t have to worry about house troubles for a while.
“The worst thing about our place is that the neighbors park in my alleyway and take my space,” she said. “I park where I want, people.”
