Apartment 4A

Apartment 4A is the primary setting in The Big Bang Theory, and is the where Sheldon and Leonard live. It is situated in an apartment complex at 2311 N. Los Robles Avenue. When viewed from the satellite photographics in "The Countdown Reflection" episode it appears to be located at 215 S Madison Ave. Due to the primary characters in the series, albeit Penny, being of the "nerd" social classification, the apartment has been dubbed as "Nerdvana" by Howard in season 1 episode 14 "The Nerdvana Annihilation".

Apartment 4A is located on the fourth floor of the building across from Apartment 4B, where Penny lives. 4A is known to be a corner apartment, being that it has windows facing outside on two sides.

Layout
The apartment has one living room, one bathroom, and two bedrooms. A hallway links the the living room to the bedrooms. The kitchen is part of the main living area.

Immediately upon entering, the wall on the right houses Sheldon and Leonard's desks and the TV. The wall ends in the kitchen part. This wall is rarely visible, being the wall that is the view into the apartment from which the episodes are filmed, and has only been shown on two occasions (one is in "The Euclid Alternative", S2E5).

The wall immediately to the left after entering the apartment has a long bookshelf that ends at a small closet, with the wall itself ending at a large window with a desk and telescope. can be seen from this window, which has been used on several occasions:
 * "The Tangerine Factor" (S1E17), Penny throws her ex-boyfriend Mike's out of it
 * "The Panty Piñata Polarization" (S2E07), Sheldon shows Penny that he hung her clothes from a outside
 * "The Einstein Approximation" (S3E14), Sheldon throws a out the window, causing the sound of car tire screeching and car horns, implying that there is a fairly large road just down the window and that Sheldon just caused an accident.
 * "The Ornithophobia Diffusion" (S5E09), a lands on the window sill outside, which upsets Sheldon
 * "The Countdown Reflection" (S5E24) Howard and Bernadette are married on a rooftop ceremony which is photographed by satellite.

After the window, there is a corner and the hallway that leads to the bathroom, as well as Sheldon and Leonard's bedrooms. The kitchen area is a small area that has an island with rarely used s since they usually eat in the living room area. A window is located at the end of the visible wall of the kitchen area (which can be clearly seen in several kitchen area scenes, one typical instance is in "The Loobenfeld Decay", S1E10, when Toby Loobenfeld talks with Sheldon in the kitchen area). Presumbly, this window is one of the two windows (the other being the large window described above) that Sheldon has stated "creates a cross breeze" when he describes his Spot.

Sheldon, at one point in time, had painted luminous arrows on the floor pointing to the various nearest emergency exits throughout the room. He shows them to Raj in "The Roommate Transmogrification" (S4E24), but gets rid of them before "The Friendship Contraction" (S5E15) when he explains that they were "wildly ".

Production-wise, the bathroom interior, Sheldon's bedroom, and Leonard's bedroom are actually filmed on a different set than the rest of the apartment. The actual apartment set ends at a corner in the hallway immediately after the bathroom door. This is for easier filming access and better view of the actors for the studio audience.

Bathroom
The bathroom is the first door down the hallway off the living room. The earliest views of the bathroom are in Season 1, Episode 1, (the aired pilot) when Penny uses the shower, and in Season Two, Episode 6, when Sheldon hides from Romona in the shower.

Items seen in the bathroom include
 * [pilot] shower curtain with the periodic table  printed on it. Sheldon has placed a  UV sterilization light there to stop his toothbrush from being infected by germs. Sheldon also has tape on the floor which serves to avoid splatter on the mirror from flossing teech, and to stop urine from getting on the floor when men use the toilet. Sheldon also has a squeegee to clean the mirror.

Also in the bathroom is a wooden toilet seat with cherry finish, similar to this Home Dynamix model, and a five-drawer rattan chest by Oriental Furniture . Various pieces of artwork and memorabilia also appear, frequently changing, including a color photograph of the McCandles space walk seen over the toilet in Season 2, Episode 6, and a super rare City of Heros poster seen in the same episode on the wall behind the door. The poster is an enlargement of the inside of the game CD, and finding intact posters is now almost impossible now that the online game is defunct.

The earliest views of the bathroom are in Season 1, Episode 1, when Penny uses the shower, and in Season Two, Episode 6, when Sheldon hides from Romona in the shower.

Sheldon's Bedroom
Sheldon's bedroom is located immediately after the bathroom. Sheldon usually keeps his bedroom locked, and rarely allows anyone inside. Sheldon's bedroom set is the "Princeton" set, in cherry wood, from Home Comfort Furniture and includes the bed, a 5 drawer chest and a 3 drawer nightstand. Like the rest of the apartment, the artwork and collectibles displayed in Sheldon's bedroom change frequently. Among items seen are:
 * Artwork
 * A poster of the Building of the Golden Gate Bridge, by Lieberman's Gallery, seen on the wall behind the door in Season One, Episodes 1 thru 15.
 * A poster of the Golden Gate Bridge During Construction, by Poster Revolution, replaces the above poster in Season One, Episode 16.
 * A miniature replica of the Golden Gate Bridge by Metal Works is often seen on the dresser
 * In S2E17, a poster for the Empire State Express (train) can be seen on the back of the door
 * Other items: used by Sheldon in various episodes, appear to be kept in the bedroom, rather than out in the apartment at large, including:
 * his Green Lantern battery and ring
 * his Klingon Bat'Leth War Sword
 * his Boba Fett mask
 * his Flip-Fold
 * Sheldon's Japaneese puzzle box, on his dresser, is destroyed by Penny in Season 2, Episode 17
 * Comic Books
 * Season One Episode 4: The Luminous Fish Effect
 * Green Lantern #8 (1961) framed above the bed
 * Superman #197 (1967) framed above the bed
 * another unidentified Green Lantern classic, framed above the bed
 * Strange Adventures #140 (1962) framed above the bed
 * Season One, Episode 11: The Pancake Batter Anomaly:
 * We see these volumes on the bookshelf next to the bed
 * Showcase: Superman Volume 1 : collection of 29 Superman comics which appeared between 1950 and 1963
 * Showcase: Superman Family Volume 1 : 22 issues of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, including Lois's first solo
 * Showcase: The Atom, Volume 1 : includes The Atom issues 1 thru 17
 * Showcase: Wonder Woman, Volume 1 : collection starts from issue 98 (1958)
 * Showcase: Martian Manhunter, Volume 1 : All the J'onn J'onzz stories from first appearance in 1955 through Detective Comies #304 in 1962
 * Showcase: The Flash Volume 1 : Covers late 1950's into the 60's through Flash 111
 * Showcase: Metamorpho Volume 1 : collection includes Brave and Bold #57, #58, #66, #68, Metamorpho 1 thru 17, and Justice League #42
 * We see multiple boxes of loose and bagged comics on the shorter bookshelf, including:
 * unknown issue of The Flash
 * unknown issue of The Spectre
 * The Tempest, December 1996 issue
 * In Season One, Episode 15, The Pork Chop Indeterminancy, the comics displayed on the wall above the bed change to:
 * Showcase #10 Featuring Lois Lane (October 1957)
 * The Flash, Volume 1, #139  (September 1963)
 * Secret Origins #1 (1961)
 * Giant Superman Annual #1 (1960)
 * In Season Two, Episode 6, Romona takes away Sheldon's Batman #680 (January 2008)
 * Sheldon is seen reading The Flash #247 (December 2008) ** need episode **

Leonard's Bedroom
Leonard's bedroom is the last room in the hallway. There is a ledge outside that runs by both bedroom windows. Sheldon uses this during "The Bozeman Reaction" to access Leonard's room because he is too paranoid to go out of his bedroom because they were burglarized earlier in the episode. Items found in Leonard's bedroom include:
 * Artwork:
 * Caught Again print by artist Eric Joyner (sometimes referred to as "Robot Lineup") seen above the bed
 * Limited edition Star Wars Rebel Alliance Defend and Protect poster by artist Mike Kungl, seen to left of bed
 * Just Another Day in LA poster by artist Eric Joyner - Godzilla, King Kong, Star Trek, etc. in one image!
 * Figurines:
 * Star Wars: Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise, 12-inch collectible from Sideshow Collectibles (limited edition of 2,000)
 * the Luke Skywalker from this set is seen on the bookshelves behind the couch in the living room, far left side, since "The Vengence Formulation"
 * Star Wars: Chewbacca Sofy Vonyl Model Kit, from Kotobukiya
 * Other Items
 * Leonard's green lightsaber (Leonard wields it after hearing a noise late at night in "The Big Bran Hypothesis", mocks Sheldon with it after the power goes out in "The Friendship Contraction", and Penny and Sheldon try a contest where they spin around it and then rush over to do a division problem while still dizzy in "The Re-Entry Minimization")

History
In "The Staircase Implementation", the story of how Leonard and Sheldon meet is revealed. Sheldon places an ad for a roommate after his former roommate named Sebastian is driven to the brink of madness from Sheldon's antics. Leonard encounters Sebastian on his way to the interview with Sheldon, and he tells Leonard to run away. Leonard is accepted by Sheldon as his new roommate and inherits Sebastian's former room, only to discover that Sebastian wrote "DIE SHELDON DIE" in red (like in a ) on the wall.

At this time, the apartment also had significantly less furniture in the living room. Sheldon's only placement was two s and s as the TV stand. Even at this point in time, Sheldon's lawn chair was placed in the exact spot that he claims later on the couch. Their first major addition in furniture to the apartment was the leather couch, in which Leonard buys for a $100 from tenants on the first floor who were moving out; which is a great deal, since a new Moroni Havana sofa retails for around $1,500. Careful watchers may recognize the style of sofa; while the boys utilize the full 3 cushion sofa, defective detective Adrian Monk from the series "Monk" sports the smaller, two cushion model, of the line.

In "The Bozeman Reaction", the apartment got burglarized. Some of Sheldon and Leonard's game systems and various games were stolen. The police were also called to the apartment in "The Zarnecki Incursion", when Sheldon's World of Warcraft account was hacked.

In "The Staircase Implementation", an "apartment " is mentioned as a small blue flag with a on it of a gold lion  on a  on it. Flipping it upside down signifies that the apartment is in distress. In "The Roommate Transmogrification", Raj was given a version.

List of known items in the apartment

 * Kitchen
 * [pilot] Large bamboo cutting board with drip groove
 * [pilot] Arch napkin holder in nickel/satin finish
 * [pilot] OXO Good Grips Uplift tea kettle (Sheldon loves his tea. The set features a blue kettle for Season One, switching to an orange one starting in Season Two
 * [pilot] microwave, fridge, stove
 * [pilot]
 * [pilot] toaster oven (destroyed by the guys' battle robot in "The Killer Robot Instability")
 * [pilot] Petre Devos poster
 * [pilot] Bamboo Cutlery Caddy by Vanderbilt Home
 * [pilot] Brushed nickel Oster blender, Model 6855
 * [pilot] Satin nickel mug tree by Hold N Store
 * [pilot] Modernist Cuisine cookbook set, seen on top of the fridge
 * [pilot] Oggi 4 piece stainless steel canisters with acrylic lids, usually seen on top of the microwave
 * [pilot] Zevro Dispensers, usually seen holding cereals on the counter
 * [pilot] Stainless steel papertowel holder from The Kennedy Home Collection
 * [pilot] Rogar gourmet half dome pot rack with grid
 * [pilot] Spectrum banana holder in satin/nickel
 * [pilot] red ceramic frying pan by Walter Drake
 * [S01E02] Simple Human stainless steel step trash can
 * [S01E03] KitchInspirations bamboo bread box
 * [S01E07] periodic table fridge magnet
 * [S01E08] McCormick spice rack (to the left of the stove)
 * [S01E12] Batman cookie jar - given to Sheldon by Leonard in "The Bat Jar Conjecture "
 * made in limited edition of 3,600 - hard to find but they pop up on eBay once in a while
 * wooden tea chest from WatchMaterial
 * Batman lunch tote with cape


 * Superhero/Comic Collectibles
 * Leonard's bat signal (mentioned by Leonard in "The Recombination Hypothesis" but previously Stephanie supposedly threw it out in "The Vartabedian Conundrum")
 * Hulk Hands (Raj gives them to Sheldon in "The Psychic Vortex")
 * Sheldon's Green Lantern lantern, seen on the bookshelves behind the couch for most of Season 1, then appears to have gone back to Sheldon's bedroom
 * Batman cookie jar - given to Sheldon by Leonard in " The Bat Jar Conjecture "
 * Superhero Figurines;
 * the apartment sports most of the DC Direct 13-inch character collection, including
 * Batman ,
 * Robin ,
 * Captain Marvel ,
 * Green Lantern ,
 * Aquaman
 * BatGirl ,
 * Black Canary ,
 * Superman
 * SuperGirl figurine appeared in S1E14, 10 inch figurine by Japanese manufacturer, Kotobukiya
 * Bizzaro figurine appeared in S2E12
 * Batman figurine, from Arkham Asylum series 1, appears on the shelf behind the front door in S2E13
 * the DC Direct ReActivated Superfriends Collection, seen since Season 1, Episode 15; Superman is on the trunk by the fridge, Wonder Woman and Batman are on the bookshelf to the right of the front door, unknown location for The Flash from this collection
 * DC Comics Justice League Build-A-Scene; All Star Batman and Robin, seen on the bookshelf behind the couch, top shelf next to the plasma ball in S2E2, The Codpiece Trilogy
 * DC Direct Infinite Crisis 2 series, Firestorm figurine, seen on top of the bookshelves behind the couch since S2E12, but spends most of the season on top of the bookshelf behind the front door
 * Batman, Gotham Knight statue, seen on the shelf behind the front door S2E13

Living Room 


 * Artwork
 * Forbidden Planet poster (1956 sci-fi film)
 * Captain Future poster, left of the front door
 * Electromagnetic Spectrum Chart, seen leading from living room into the hallway
 * War of the Worlds poster by Frank Paul, in the hallway
 * The Final Blow by Eric Joyner (called "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots by some)
 * Robots Exploring Desert by Michael Saul. Located at right of front door
 * Nikola Tesla lab poster (1899 photo) located to the right of the closet
 * The Incident by Eric Joyner, framed at the top left of the bookshelves behind the couch
 * Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula - print from the Hubble Space Telescope; seen in the alcove
 * The Helix Nebula - print from the Hubble Space Telescope; seen in the alcove
 * Orion Nebula - print from the Hubble Space Telescope; seen in the alcove
 * The Whirlpool Galaxy M51 with companion  - print from the Hubble Space Telescope, seen originally in the alcove, but quickly moved to the message center on the side of the fridge
 * Furnishings 


 * ​ Glass coffee table (where the gang usually eats and plays various games on)
 * desks (for the laptops and iMac near the back window)
 * Moroni Havana Leather couch (with Sheldon's spot)
 * Ektorp armchair, from Ikea
 * Better Homes & Gardens Candlestick Lamp with Silken Toast lampshade
 * bankers chair
 * 30 drawer library card file
 * "The Thinker" bookends, seen on Leonard's desk and in the bookshelves behind the couch
 * Blue "Button Down" pillow, seen on the couch in the pilot and early episodes
 * Blue cashmere throw blanket with tassels, seen on the couch in the pilot and first several seasons
 * Pillow Perfect Roxen Striped Pillows, seen since Season 1, Episode 14
 * Gurli Orange throw pillow, seen since Season 1, Episode 17, usually on the Ektorp armchair
 * Sheldon's Desk
 * black mesh pencil cup, by Rolodex
 * silver mesh pencil cup, by Design Ideas
 * silver mesh pencil cube, by Design Ideas
 * silver mesh desk organizer, by Design Ideas
 * college-ruled composition books, by Meade Products
 * 3-D Space Navigator mouse, seen since Season 1, Episode 8
 * Bazic large desktop calculator model 3001-48
 * Smeagol figurine, special item included with the Lord of the Rings, Two Towers DVD


 * Gaming
 * dart board (on back of the front door), which is never seen used in the show because, as Leonard explains in "The Itchy Brain Simulation" (S7E08), they had played dart once (obviously off the screen), and Leonard broke the window that is opposite to the door.
 * Rubik's cube tissue box (seen in many episodes but featured in "The Rhinitis Revelation" where Leonard holds it out to a sick Sheldon)
 * Halo 3: Legendary Edition Master Chief Replica Helmet  (on an end table/mini-bookcase in front of rear desk by living room window)
 * Various consoles: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super NES, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation (1-3), Xbox, Xbox 360
 * Rubik's Cube cookie jar.
 * Star Trek 3-D chess (S1E11)
 * Razer Orca Pro Gaming Headset  (usually hanging on the Apple iMac monitor on the desk near the rear window)
 * Game titles
 * Clone Wars X-Box 360  (S1E1)
 * Dance Revolution X-Box 360 (S1E2)
 * World of Warcraft (S1E3 and others), Sheldon plays a night elf rogue
 * Halo 3 (S1E7)
 * Wii boxing (S1E15)
 * Age of Conan (S2E3), Sheldon plays Cimmerian character "Sheldor the Conqueror"
 * Wii Sports (S2E11) - bowling
 * Guitar Hero - various


 * Science-related
 * 17 Base Pair DNA Double Helix Model molecule model from Indigo.com - what you see in the show is actually TWO of these stacked on top of each other
 * Periodic table shower curtain  (in bathroom)
 * Space shuttle Atlantis - 1/100 scale model from Tamiya (kit)
 * Plasma ball (on bookcase behind couch)
 * RS Media robot from WowWee - usually on the cardfile in the alcove
 * Transparant celestial globe by American Educational Basic (on bookcase behind couch)
 * brass armillary sphere - on top of the card file  (S1E15)
 * Sheldon's reverse osmosis machine
 * telescopes: the original cheapy model was eventually replaced with a Celestron NexStar 102 SLT Computerized Telescope ** need to identify which episode**
 * WMAP Beachball - from the Astrophysics Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center (read more. .)


 * Star Wars
 * Leonard's green lightsaber (Leonard wields it after hearing a noise late at night in "The Big Bran Hypothesis", mocks Sheldon with it after the power goes out in "The Friendship Contraction", and Penny and Sheldon try a contest where they spin around it and then rush over to do a division problem while still dizzy in "The Re-Entry Minimization")
 * Boba Fett helmet (worn by Sheldon in "The Ornithophobia Diffusion" as he approaches the bird on the window ledge)
 * Action figures
 * Han Solo & Luke Skywalker, Heroes of the Rebellion in Stormtrooper Disguise Sixth-Scale Figures, Han is in Leonard's bedroom, Luke is on the bookshelves behind the couch
 * Chewbacca Soft Vinyl Model kit
 * In season 7 on the book case behind the sofa in the living room is a replica of the Yoda Lamp from The Empire Strikes Back. (First shelf down, far right side in the Scavenger Vortex episode. These are available from the manufacturer .)


 * Other film and television and pop culture
 * Dr. Who: a black dalek appears on the shelves behind the couch in The Nerdvana Annhilation
 * Game of Thrones: "Longclaw" sword (Sheldon and Leonard buy it at the comic book store in "The Russian Rocket Reaction") - see this blog by the maker,Valyrian Steel,  regarding their sword's appearance on the show
 * Lord of the Rings; Weta Gollum figurine - seen on Sheldon's desk  ** "The Gorilla Experiment"  **


 * Technology
 * Amazon Kindle (seen in "The Pants Alternative" and "The Gorilla Experiment" )
 * [http://a Apple iMac]
 * cordless phone
 * Logitech S-0217A iPod Audio Station - on the bookshelf behind the front door
 * Dyson bladeless fan/air multiplier
 * Spirit of St Louis "regular" radio model - on bookshelf to the right of the front door
 * Spirit of St Louis "two valve" model - on top of bookshelf behind the couch
 * computers (Sheldon and Leonard originally both had Dell XPS M1710s --Sheldon's was in limited edition red--but both were stolen in "The Bozeman Reaction" and replaced with an Alienware M17 Nebula for Sheldon and a Dell XPS Adamo for Leonard)
 * Playstation Portable - seen played by Sheldon in S2E6


 * Miscellaneous
 * Sheldon's model trains (Sheldon gets an HO-guage model railroad starter set in "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation")
 * Various books and computer software on shelves
 * Leonard's high school yearbook (read by Amy in "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation")
 * Sheldon's and Leonard's whiteboards
 * stuffed animal "Timmy", the ThinkGeek.com monkey, can be seen sometimes on the end table next to Sheldon's spot, other times on top of the bookshelf behind the couch
 * Robosapien figurine, seen since Season 1, Episode 8; usually in the bookshelves behind the couch

See Part 7: Shedding Light on Dark Matter of the book Unraveling the Mysteries of the Big Bang Theory by George Beahm (2011, BenBella Books, ISBN 9781936661312) for more fantasy, sci-fi, pop culture, and other items mentioned on the show in general.