Friday, June 15, 2012

Apartment Make Over :) (Pinterest Friday) Long Post..

It is that time of year again.
The time of year when Matt and I start looking at apartments because we're not happy with our current one. Last year at this time, we went out looking at apartments and decided, you know what...we like our current one more, so...we stayed :) 
We have now lived here for 1 year and 4 months. This is our record for staying in a home. 
We chose this apartment for one reason. I said, I don't want to move anymore...the next time we move, it is to an apartment where I can see us starting our family. 
So this brought us here, to our 2 bedroom/2 bathroom + den/nook 1,200 sq ft apartment that for the most part I am in love with.

That is until.....Mr. I Want Everything I Own To Be The Coolest Ever (Matt) started bursting my apartment bubble ; )
Things I hear:
"I'm so sick of our cupboards not closing without bumping each other, we should move."
(maintenance can fix this if I just ask them)
"If our neighbor throws his cigarettes down from his balcony one more time..."
(I agree, this is annoying)
...oh I can't think of any more, but Matt really wants to move. He finds things wrong with it.

I agree, the neighbor situation right now is not ideal. We live in suburbia. It's like Wisteria Lane from the 90's in our community inside our community. But...because we live in the apartments, there are still some crazy weirdos. I'm pretty sure the guy who lives next to us and above us is a drug dealer. I watch from the blinds in our office. Matt does it too. Ha. There are different men coming to the door all the time. They look around all suspicious, go in, and then come out quickly always looking to see if anyone is watching them. Duh! He's got to be dealing drugs. Awesome! I'm on a mission to catch him. I'm also an idiot and Matt keeps telling me I'm going to get killed because sometimes when we're walking in from our car to the apartment and someone is waiting to go in (usually teenager/college boys) I always yell a quick "I know what you're doing!"before running in the house. Ha. Am I 5? Maybe. But I want them to stop. Or I will give the evil glares. 

Anyyywwaayyyssss....Matt and I have been saying "When this lease is up, we're OUT." 
But...really, when I think of being anywhere else I get sad. 
I know I'm weird when it comes to babies, but sometimes when Matt and I are working in the "office" I already daydream of when there is no longer desks in there but a crib and glider and beautiful dressers and the most perfect little baby sleeping so peacefully. We got this apartment because of that.
We got it because the bedrooms are huge. Our closet is huge. And, we have an area off of our kitchen separate from our kitchen, living room and dining room that we call our "nook". It's about a 9x10 space that we currently use for nothing. BUT..that space will eventually be our office/playroom. 

Sorry I'm rambling.
Okay...getting to the point.
After talking with Lance & Mel about all of this. I am putting my foot down and we are staying here. At least one more lease. 
No other apartment is going to give us this much space. We also have a "yard". 
Done & Done.  :)

BUT...there are some changes that need to be made.
I am now on a mission to make this home.
We are going to suck it up and be patient and I am going to get over the fact that I want our future baby to be born in our future house. We can save so so much living here, enough for a huge down payment which in the long run will get us a huge house in the Highlands and I love the sound of that :) 

So, here are some things I've been pinning to do our Apartment Make Over.

One of the issues we have here is that there is not enough storage space in the kitchen. We have a big kitchen, but the layout is weird and doesn't offer enough space for casserole dishes or baking dishes. I want to put something like this (or this actual one) in the nook as extra storage. This will solve one of my stresses here.

Two of our chairs broke and are now in the dumpster. Our dining room is on cushy carpet and it makes our chairs wobbly. They have been in the garbage for a good 6 months now and we haven't gotten new ones yet. I have no idea why. Maybe because we're lame and eat dinner in front of the tv...I told Matt this will be changing because dinner is when we should be spending quality time together. We have such great space to eat together and we don't use it. I hate making dinner and working hard and then just sitting on the couch with it in my lap. I want to enjoy it more and enjoy good conversation with Matt. So, anyways...we need new chairs. I think it would be fun to cover these seats with some fun bright fabric.
 One thing we are awful at is keeping our apartment clean. Matt has ADD and I have undiagnosed ADD (for sure, no doubt!) so we get sidetracked really easily. We read that the divorce rate for couples with one having ADD is 50%. Couples with 2 having ADD is well, you're screwed lol. We are definitely going to beat those odds :) I will admit that it's tough though.  They say the reasons are because you get frustrated about things not getting done. Ex: "Chelsea, did you take dinner out to unthaw?..." "uuhhhhhh.......". Ex: "Matt, you forgot to let Cogsy out and now he pooped." "uhhhhhhh....." Ha. No joke. That's everyday here. Not Cogsy pooping lol, but both of us forgetting important things at least 3 x's a day. We are both horrible at setting our tasks and goals for the day and actually sitting down to do those things. It's only going to be harder to stay on top of chores when we have a baby. I know what you're thinking...YOU are like that and you own a business? You see, I have extreme motivation for things I LIKE doing. That is like the number one trait of ADD...you get stuck on stuff that you love and then can't concentrate on anything else. Me= Dance, babies & houses. Matt = Disney, sports, checking the news.....Anyways. 
I've been making a crazy conscious effort to load the dishwasher every night. Unload it every morning and to put my dishes into the dishwasher when I'm done with them. I also have been chasing Matt around throwing away all his water bottles and picking up his socks that he leaves in little balls everywhere lol. I'm really proud of myself for doing this. We get so annoyed when our apartment smells in any way. DUH...do the damn dishes and it won't. We always say,"Ugh, it smells here. I hate this apartment!" HA. Vacuum so it doesn't smell like dog & do the dishes. Easy. Done. (Also..I'm hiring a maid next month lol...shhhh) ; ) I need one for the time consuming things that I just literally don't have time for (well, I guess I could have done them instead of blogging...but, my time for myself is important so that I never hate my job for taking over my life.) Wow...So...staying on top of cleaning. Important. Check!

Our desks are going over to the studio. This will be perfect in the nook.
 The nook always feels cold and blah. I hate going in there. The tile floor is cold. A good rug will be the perfect thing to make that a cozy space for studying (Matt) and reading (me) :)
 We. Love. Maps. I say we because Matt has gotten me really into loving them. We want a huge world map like this. Like a classroom one (this is a classroom one) on our wall. I am going to transfer our gallery wall to the one across. I'm also painting our wall back to the original taupe color because I hate the teal wall. I feel like I'm in a playroom or a kids room. I'm going to do that before summer is over. This map will add good color :)

Last and the one I'm most excited for...a pot rack! Again, great space saver and I love the way this one looks with the book shelf on top for all of my cookbooks that are currently sitting on the kitchen counter taking up prime cooking space. 
HOLY LONG POST.
Damnit...see what happens. 
I told myself. Okay, you can take a break from work for 15 minutes to blog.
I've been writing for 40. I gotta go!! :) 

Have a good day everyone.
And since it's no secret anymore lol, we are going to the Giants game tomorrow and I'm so excited!!! I LOVE baseball games!! Yay :) No seriously...I do. It's like the only sport I get. ; )

-Chelsea-

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