Photos of Romania's Beautifully Practical Balconies

This article originally appeared on VICE Romania

In any big city, living space is always an issue. A few extra square feet could mean the difference between crawling up the walls and being able to more happily deal with your existence among millions of people who don't know or care about you in any way at all.

In Bucharest, people like to extend their homes outside – to their balconies. In Romania's many drab communist or post-communist building blocks, these small outside areas can feel like a bit of a refuge. For some, they're there for extra storage space, for others they act as a laundry room, and others deck out their balcony with flowers and plants. You can tell a lot about a person from how they treat that little space.

Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea is offering a cash prize for the most elaborately adorned balconies in the city. The balconies below probably aren't going to win, but do show how Romanians (sometimes illegally) improve their balconies however they see fit.