Downtown Livin'

You may have heard that I moved last Thursday, and, well, I'm actually sort of still in the process. My homebrewed beer and empty bottles are still in my car, waiting for a few more trips up the narrow stairs to the third floor, and I have a box or two left at my Collegeview home. But I'm ready to show you what I've got so far! If these pictures don't prove I'm a Cancer (we're known for our nesting), I don't know what will... Four days of heaving boxes, dragging furniture, and carefully organizing my tiny kitchen later, here's the tour! (There are lots of pictures, so if you're not interested, I won't be offended.)

I live at 14th and 'E' in the classy old William Penn building now, which is downtown, mere blocks from pretty much everywhere. Tonight I went out just for one drink, and I was gone an hour total, biking both ways. My commute to work, which used to be 15-20 minutes by car, is now less than 10 by bike.

Here is the view from my door. This is my living room. To your left is my futon, and to the right is a coat closet and the hallway to my bedroom.

Aren't the built-in shelves and nooks cute? The little shrine above the record player used to be for a telephone, but now holds incense and a lamp with a stained-glass bulb. The record player there, I may have mentioned, I picked up at a garage sale for a quarter! On the shelves you can see my hookah, my DVD collection, and the owl statue my (old) roommate Katie gave me. On the record player is a money tree from Laura and my fabulous stained-glass turtle lamp! Also, I absolutely adore that green chair. It's my favorite piece of furniture, and the only one I've paid more than $3 for.

To the left of this picture is the door. Here we have my hand-me-down futon (for when couchsurfers come to stay), free octagon end-table, tapestry from Angela, hand-covered-old-lady-footstool, and 70s painting from my friends at Collegview House.

Next is the little dining area off the living room. I've made it into a cute little office. Desk, homemade Eifel Tower lamp, pictures from Grandma and Grandpa on the wall, bookcase, plants. Nice, huh?
Another built-in bookcase, this one in the office, right next to the kitchen doorway.

Desk area, with a view of the street out the window. To the left of this picture is the doorway into the kitchen.

Tiny kitchen with a pretty old-fashioned tile floor. The fridge door only opens half-way because of the added counter (which is actually really helpful for prep space), and the stove is just a mini one.

There is only one drawer, and most of the cabinet space is awkward to get to. I either have to sit on the floor to get into the lower cupboards, or stand on a stool to reach the higher ones. Perhaps you can see there, just behind the coffee maker, that there is a little nook and a door--that's where they used to deliver the milk! The hole is patched over on the other side in the hallway, so it doesn't go anywhere anymore.

Fridge, window, counter, huge picture of Angela eating a burrito (good for the kitchen, no?) and bowl of fresh fruit.

Okay, now we've walked back through the office and living room into the little hallway between the living room and bedroom. If you're headed from the living room to the bedroom, to the right there is a door into a walk-in closet. Another door accesses that same closet from right next to the front door. It has lots of space, two shelves, and room for lots of coats!

Walk-in closet. See? Spacious!

And then to the left, across from the closet, is the bathroom. There's a little granite step up to get in. See the pretty old black and white tile floor? I matched the shower curtain to it.

Bathroom's tiny too; can't get to the toilet unless the door's closed. There's quite a bit of built-in shelf space in two little cupboards. Plenty of space for all my bathroom stuff, even without any drawers. I hope my ivy will grow all right there; there's a window in the shower, so there's quite a bit of light.

Now to the bedroom--straight through the closet from the living room. Here is the view from my bedroom door. Dresser to the left, closets to the right. East-facing window means lots of beautiful morning light, but the view is just of a roof. On the plus side, I can be naked with the window open whenever I want and no one will be the wiser.

The bedroom has two smallish closets, and I'm using that bookcase from Laura for makeup/jewelry/jeans/t-shirts. I'm taking the picture from next to the bed, with the door up there in the corner to the right.

This is my dresser and cool thrift-store mirror, looking back out toward the hallway and living room from the center of my bedroom.

That's it! So far, I really love it--living alone isn't too lonely (and I can and do walk around naked as much as I like), the location is perfect, and the apartment is super-cozy. So--tada! Here I am in my new, fabulous, much-loved apartment!