Baaahstan

So Paul is in Boston for a few days this week moving out of his old apartment and cleaning our new apartment. While he was there I asked him to take a few pictures with his phone because I honestly forgot what the place looks like. I asked him if it looked as he remembered it or if it looked better (knowing he wasn't 100% sold on it in the 1st place). He answered that it was worse. Sad Panda.

Anyway, once I received the pictures I realized a few things I hadn't remembered when we 1st saw the place that sucked, but I also noticed a few good qualities I hadn't remembered. So I say, I'm still happy with the apartment and I still hope that once we have our own furniture and art up there it will feel like home.

Without further babbling, here are some of those phone pictures!





This is the view if you are standing in the dining room and looking into the kitchen. Believe it or not, I actually love the color of the walls. It's like a seafoam green with a lighter green on top. I like that it has character, even if it's not necessarily my character. Those dark brown ancient cabinets aren't the prettiest, but it's okay. We'll make due. The great part is the washer and dryer in the corner (next to the newish fridge), the dishwasher, and gas range. They aren't new appliances but they are good working appliances. The floor tiles aren't slowly coming up, and the counter, though dated, is nicely kept. I can't say the same for our current home. I think a cute piece hung on each side of the hallway entry on the right will help give it some more umph. And yes, I kinda do like that light fixture in the dining room. Had this been my owned home, I'd likely change out the cabinets for a white and paint the fixture white as well, but alas, this is a rental and we make due.



This next one is looking into the living room from the same spot in the dining room. You get another look at that light fixture. So those mirrors.... the landlord seems fairly attached to them. As they are, I don't think I like them, but I think if I gave those frames a nice coat of white and distressed it a bit, or even a cream matte finish, I'd prefer them. I'm going to ask what he thinks of the idea once we are a little more settled and get to know him better. If he disagrees with painting them, maybe we'll just take them down completely, and put them in storage. You get a nice little peak of the bay window in the dining room. It's a nice size with a southern exposure. I already see my plants loving the sun they can soak up. What you don't see is there is a little crack in the glass in one window. I noticed it, but it didn't bother me that much. It's in the part of the window that doesn't open, I believe.



Here is a shot of just that window. You can see the ledge. It's not as deep as most bay's but it's not shallow either. Paul has already decorated with his blue handblown pumpkin. I have a matching orange one. We'll need to find our beautiful pumpkins a home... which i'm hoping will be a box in the closet till fall.

Here you see the livingroom windows. If you look at the pictures above, you can get a sense for the layout. I'm happy with the amount of windows and light you get here. I'm also glad the apartment is already equipped with custom sized blinds. I still hope to hang curtains in some of the rooms but I'm unsure what and where yet. There is another little nook on the right by the triangular window. I great spot for a small plant, or a book nook, or a display. I love the amount of light this area gets. The street has virtually no trees which is odd, but it allows for tons of light to enter the apartment. Per Paul, it wasn't too hot in there either. Likely because the blinds have stayed down.


To the side of the living room is what the landlord called the master bedroom. It seems odd as a bedroom but large. It does however have a walk-in closet. We've considered making this either an office/craft room or turning this into the living room and making the true living room into the office/ craft room. We aren't sure yet how we'd like to set it up. I do however like the shelving already up. It would be beneficial to house some craft and office supplies. And that closet can be used to a multitude of things.

Here is another view of the master. It has 1 side window and this 3 paneled front window. I don't know what's going on with the center shade, but no matter. This is one of the rooms I'm sure to want to put some sheer curtains in. Those lower shelves are odd, we'll have to think about that a bit. That door to the right leads to the walk in closet.

Here is what I've dubbed the ugly brown room. That dark brown paneling is pretty ugly and makes the room so dark. I think because it's my least favorite room of the house, I'd like it to be the guest room. It therefore will be the room used the least. I'm going to look up some ideas on how to brighten up this room without having to paint it, because I'm sure we aren't allowed to paint the space.


Here is what I've dubbed the blue room. It's obviously smaller than the "master bedroom" but it's still a nice size. I think the shelves in this room are adorable. I'm thinking I'd like this room to be our room. We don't spend a lot of time awake in our bedroom. We prefer to be in the living room together. Our bedroom has no TV, just our bed, some lamps, dressers and a few nicnacs. It's a place for rest. And therefore, we don't need it to be huge. We just need it to be comfortable, and of course functional. Paul's biggest concern about this space is the closet sizes. The "master" has the biggest closet and the other room's closets seems minuscule. I'll have to see it in person. It may be a situation where we store our rarely used clothing items in another area of the house and keep our frequently used items in the small closet. We can work it out. After all, when we lived in Manhattan, we had 1/2 our wardrobe in the dining room closet!


And here is the ugly bathroom. It's quite dated and the colors are dark, but the bathroom is clean. There is no more need for a shower curtain as it has shower doors, which I'm glad for. No more PVC crapo plastic shower liners in the landfill (no I haven't stopped using those yet). The sink doesn't LEAK all over the place like our current one, and the bathroom is CLEAN! I love that... truly I do. I'll take clean over ugly any day. And frankly, our bathroom now is UGLY!


So there you have it. In addition to what the photos show, there is also a back porch that was enclosed. It therefore acts more of a storage closet. We are still unsure about he moisture and insulation control in that space, but if it remains dry, it will likely hold our snowboards, camping gear, and other items. If it gets damp, we'll likely not use it to store anything of value and maybe just keep cleaning supplies and other items that can be packed in airtight containers (that are not sensitive to the cold).