Tuesday, December 02, 2008

New Place, New Space

I'm moving to a new apartment. It's one of five units in an old Victorian house that was converted to apartments during World War II. It's a great apartment with friendly neighbors, and I'll think I'll be very happy there. Even though I'm not moving to a new city this time, or even to a new neighborhood, it's still an undertaking to transport your things and routine from one living space to another. Moving day is 10 days away, but my brain is already working overtime visualizing how my stuff will go in the new apartment. The current occupants are artists and clutter-monkeys, making it even harder to use my already lacking spatial reasoning skills.

Some pictures and initial thoughts ....

La Cucina... It's bright and pretty roomy, with lots of windows and natural light. The main drawbacks are that there is no dishwasher (I'll deal) and that there isn't much counter space. What I'm currently using as a desk is actually a kitchen table, so I'm thinking of putting that in the kitchen for now (it would go in the right-hand picture, underneath the silver star) and getting a new desk, one that's the right height for computer use. I also have a folding shelf and some stacking storage cubes that I might put in the other corner (where the block of knives is) and keep the microwave and/or toaster oven there.

Oh, the kitchen leads on to my...

Awesome Deck!!! Enough said.

Living Room. It's smaller than my apartment now, but it definitely has enough room for me to live as well as space for an office nook and my dining room table (there is no separate dining area.) I think I'll enjoy having the (non-functional) fireplace as a centerpoint to the room. I also love the built-in shelf!
Here is where I'm thinking of putting my "office":

If you can see through the clutter, I'm thinking of putting a little computer desk on the wall with all the paintings leaned up against it, and maybe a small bookshelf underneath the window. A new desk probably won't be my first priority, especially given that the "office" I'm sitting in right now consists of a papasan and a laptop and is more than adequate for my purposes. But, as they say, a place for everything and everything in it's place. This nook shares a wall with the bedroom; I'm planning to put my dining room table in the nook opposite that shares a wall with the kitchen (thank goodness I didn't splurge for all four chairs because I'll only have room for two!)

Bedroom and Closet. The bedroom is smaller, but definitely adequate for sleeping (and has two windows!). My current bedroom has lots of extra space that doesn't really get used. The closet space in the bedroom is about on par with what I have now (if a married couple has been sharing it for three years, I think it will be enough space for me), but it probably will take some work (extra bars, some hanging shoe and sweater bags, etc.).


However, there is no coat closet in the entryway or other additional storage space, so I'm going to have to get rid of some stuff and get creative. I'm a big fan of baskets and bins for storage - you don't have to be super-organized and things are still pretty easy to find without all the clutter. Mostly, I'll need easily accessible storage for all my tri gear, everyday outerwear like scarves, hats, gloves, hoodies, fleece, etc., which will hopefully leave room in the closet for stuff I use less often like luggage and camping gear.

For the quickly accessible stuff, I'm thinking of going the shelf with canvas bins route. For example:

Something like this:













with some of these:














Or ready-made, like this:














or this:














One day, I'll have cute entryway storage, like this:















I've also gotten used to having drapes, which my current apartment has (if you're wondering, I'm only moving because I have to), so I feel a little downgraded going back to blinds. I'm hoping I'll be able to spruce it up some with fun fabric to put over the windows. But, for now, I'm going to slow down, and not go nuts. (I promise I'll wait until I actually move in to make any purchases; I probably won't get anything until the new year.) I really want to make sure I have a good sense of how I'll use the space on a day-to-day basis before I go out and buy a bunch of stuff I don't really need. The closet and storage bins are probably the main priority, and everything else can wait. I've started an "apartment kitty," meaning I'm putting $20/week into a cookie tin (along with every Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupon that comes in the mail) so I'll have some cash to spend on new stuff for the apartment when I get back from Christmas.

When I get the key next Friday, I'll post more pics of the apartment as a "blank canvas." And, once I get moved in and settled, I'll post some "after" pictures.