Who has the best pad at TCU?  This is the question that THE VOORN PROJECT aims to answer.  TCU students live in a wide range of domiciles, from dormitories to apartments and from houses to tents.  Which place is the coolest?  Take a trip with us as we explore the places that we call home away from home.

Week One:  The Cockrell House

Geoff, Dustin, and I moved into the house on Cockrell Avenue in mid-August 2002.  It's a small house, built in 1934 in the neighborhood directly south of TCU campus.  The neighborhood itself is decent - mostly students, with some restaurants in the area, such as Fuzzy's Tacos and the 24-hour Seven-Eleven, for all your thick chocolate milk needs.

The thing about rental houses in the immediate vicinity of TCU is they're all old.  When Adrienne visited for the first time, I recall her calling it "a dump."  She obviously didn't go into it with an open mind.  What was she expecting exactly?  Something comparable to the house she's grown up in, a brand new house three times this size cleaned by my mother?  That just isn't possible around here.  So sure, my room's a bit drafty, the hardwood floors are painted over, and cats live under the house, but it's still a home away from home.

The virtual tour:

Here's the front of the house.  It's not much, remember, only about 1400 square feet.  The yard is small, and it has bushes and trees.  The best part of the house's front is the porch.  It's roomy enough for a table and chairs, and possibly a swing if we so desired.  It looks pretty cool in a "snowstorm" too.

The Interior

The living room of Cockrell is quite large.  Unfortunately, it was built before the age of televisions, so it's a little awkward arranging the couches to where the room can be both a.) social, and b.) easy to watch TV.  In this photo, Geoff demonstrates just how easy it is.  We have three sofas in the living room, all obtained free of charge (the best type of furniture).  None of them match each other, or the rug, or the Coughlin painting on the back wall.  This doesn't bother us, but I'm sure it grates on Tara, who's an interior design major or something.

The painting was done by Brian Coughlin, the RA of Clark Third South in 2000-2001.  He was Geoff's and my first RA when we were freshmen at TCU.  It's supposed to be an abstract painting of the St. Louis freeway system.

This is the "green room."  It goes by many names, such as game room, study, den, library, guest room, or make-out room (thanks, Thad).  It's got cool wood-paneled walls with hunter green trim.  I do homework in the green room, and we have a stereo, foosball table, and dartboard in there as well.

The kitchen is also pretty small, which is fine by me, since I don't cook.  I live on three staples:  peanut butter, ramen noodles, and sandwiches.  If it's meat between two slices of bread, I'll eat it thrice daily.  There's a fridge, stove, microwave, blender, coffeemaker, and a Foreman grill.  The floor is that really cool commercial tile that evokes memories of Marcus High School.  There's also a breakfast nook with a table that has seated up to 6 people.  If you look out the window, you can see Tim's room.

There are three bedrooms, but Dustin's and Geoff's were not suitable for photographing for TCU Cribs.  Here's the one you really care to see, mine.  It's a large room, space enough for my computer desk, where THE VOORN PROJECT comes to life.  I also have a bookshelf, dresser, and two of those plastic drawer things.  My bed is full-sized, which was a refreshing change from the twin beds I'd slept in since I was of bed-sleeping age.

The best part of my room is the stuff on the walls.  I've already run out of space.  Above the dresser is a real Union Jack that Hans bought in a flag shop (in the London flag district) in Britain, in the 70s.

Above my computer are two full sized posters of musicals and dozens of small handbills that you get for free in NYC and London.  The question I get most is, "have you seen all these musicals?"  The answer:  no.  I've seen some.  Above my bed is a GANGS OF NEW YORK poster, courtesy of Miss Beth.  I have a MOULIN ROUGE poster, photos from Worth Ranch staff, family photos, a calendar, a Sopranos poster (TV show, not singers), my Vigil sash, and Dodgers and Carolina pennants.

Some parts of the house were not photographed.  Those include:  the bathroom, the abnormally large hallway, and the backyard.  We have bamboo growing in the backyard.  Weeds, too.

THE VOORN PROJECT
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