We are pretty much unpacked and settling in at the new place. Since we ended up with a bit more time on our hands than we thought we’d have we started looking for ways to make this tiny apartment more functional and efficient. (AHEM, busy work)
We previously had 2 huge bins of guest blankets and pillows that took up a large amount of room in my closet so I decided to buy one of those spacebags for $20 to try it out. Wouldn’t you know, OMFG they work. Not only do they work, they are awesome and took about 2 minutes to use from opening the package until we had the stuff stored again.
Before:
With Matthew’s head for scale purposes.
During:
After!
The new storage system takes up about 1/3 of the old one. We bought a 2nd spacebag for the rest of it and now all of it sits in a spot smaller than one of the bins. A-MA-ZING. Highly recommend this product. A+++
I bought mine on amazon but I think they sell them everywhere. I think we will invest in more to store baby stuff…and maybe my winter clothes…and who knows what else.
Its all mushing together at this point. All of a sudden last week I became extremely uncomfortable which is funny because I thought I was pretty uncomfortable before. I think he is head down and by head down I mean GIGANTIC HEAD PUSHING AGAINST MY BLADDER AT ALL TIMES. Now it annoys me to sit for too long. Add that to walking for too long, standing for any period of time and bending and there isn’t much left for me to do comfortably and I still have quite a ways to go.
Know what’s kind of comfortable?Laying on the couch and watching tv. Unfortunately we are moving next weekend and have tons and tons of stuff to do so there’s not much time for that. I am very behind on TV. Please don’t talk to me about Grey’s.
Just today we:
Dropped off laundry
Donated 4 boxes and 3 bags to good will
Picked up a dresser and painting supplies from storage
Purchased additional supplies and odds and ends at Lowe’s
Bought 4 gallons of paint in various colors at the paint store (the special overpriced paint store cause its the only one that had what we needed)
Stopped at new apartment to drop off all that crap
Brainstormed how we will make this disaster of a kitchen work for us*
Answer: we will rip out some of the cabinets and install shelves. Open plan kitchen here we come! We can take out the cabinets because they are held in by 4 screws apiece.
*the floor has already been redone by the landlord and looks great! I know it seems tiny but its bigger than our current kitchen. They are also delivering a new fridge this week.
We went back over to the new apartment this week to take another look and some measurements. We realized that I didn’t walk into the baby’s room for more than a second and that one entire wall is built in shelving and cabinetry (perfect!) and that Matthew didn’t look in ANY of the closets.
We are taking over the apartment May 15th with a plan to move over memorial day weekend. They have to repair the kitchen floor which will happen by the 17th and we offered to paint the place during the same time. The current walls are white so we don’t need to prime, and we really wanted to use no-VOC paint and knew they would just coat the place in toxic slop if we didn’t offer to do it ourselves.
I’m really liking the colors at YOLO. Since the place isn’t the brightest with its exposed brick and ground-floorness we know we have to go really light on paint.
We’re thinking something like this for the main room (one big LR/DR/OFFICE with open bookcase partitions)
I know! We are so crazy with our just slightly off-white. The problem is that we love the paint in our current living room. Benjamin Moore Natural Wicker. Like seriously love it. I just don’t know if I’ll still love it at the new place so we may need to do a little paint test.
It looks kind of dark in that sample but I think its incorrect.
Anyway this is a decision that can’t be made until mid-may so why bother worrying about it now. What I CAN worry about is the fact that we desperately need a new rug for our bedroom. Our current rug is 6 years old and has already survived 2 moves. It was less than $100 at home depot at it shows. Its fraying around the edges and is pretty disgusting. After searching and searching I got my heart set on this:
The Jackson Stripe rug from Crate and Barrel. After cringing at the price and stalking it for about a month it went on sale! Yes, only by $100 but I have a few gift cards and then got some cash for my bday to put towards it and it works out to under $300. So I ordered it! Its so plush and lovely and since the colors are so versatile I think it can last for a few rounds of decorating whims. Our bed is all white, and our furniture is dark brown so it helps bring a bit of much needed color to the room. I can’t wait for it to get here.
One of the things keeping us busy around here is the fact that we decided to move before the baby arrives. Our lease is up in July and we just feel a little squished. Plus I hear the little babies make lots of laundry and we don’t have a washer/dryer – or even space for a portable in our teeny kitchen. For those of you who have never been to our apartment here are some pics the realtor snapped after giving us about 10 minutes notice
We started looking around for something a bit bigger, or at least more open, plus an eat in kitchen because I couldnt imagine walking to our dining room to feed a baby, not to mention that there isnt even anywhere to put him down in there!
Matthew really wanted somewhere to put a BBQ and of course, a washer/dryer would be a HUGE bonus, but we were open to buying a portable one if necessary.
In talking to my current landlord about looking for a new place she mentioned that the garden apt in her brownstone was becoming available. Its a 2 BR with a large open LR/DR, private entrance, washer/dryer and backyard.
