Sneak Peak: the New Abode

Sorry for the break readers but as you can imagine, I've had my hands full dealing with movers, internet companies, plumbers, apartment management companies, and unpacking box after box of crap. Ok, most of it isn't crap, most of it is great stuff that we will use but it is amazing; we went a year an a half without most material luxuries and now that we're back to all of our stuff, I'm wondering what on earth we thought we needed it all for. There is a large pile at the moment in what will one day be the sewing room that will be making its way to Goodwill in the near future.

That being said, I am a hypocrite and a sentimental person, so there will be many things that, while unused, will not be making it to the thrift store anytime soon.

So, here it is! Sorry there's no picture of the exterior at the moment. I don't think it would work very well for my image if our downstairs neighbors, neighbors all around us, and the kids currently enjoying recess at the elementary school just two houses down were to see me in my bright pink French Kitty pajama pants.

The Living Room

(a.k.a the only really functional room at the moment)

Here we are facing the street. The French doors lead out to a sweet little balcony which will hopefully hold a little outdoor bistro table for some fresh air dining come summer.

I know the squished living room set-up looks a bit goofy but that's what happens when your tv is a mere 17" diagonally, you have to sit 5 feet away to discern anything.

 

Now we're facing the opposite direction towards the dining room and the backyard. Please, take note of the lovely dyson vacuum, box-o-tools and pie plate filled with random screws, hooks and picture hanging supplies.

This is the cat bed for the (hopefully) soon-to-be Reindl feline. The basket was a hand-me-down from the late and great Madigan, my slightly tubby but wonderful Siamese that disappeared this past fall. RIP wherever you are Maddie.

Oh, and the cushion is the first (and perhaps only?) project ever sewn by M. It is a puppy that could not be parted with so we agreed that it could stay as long as it had a purpose which will be to cushion a real cat.

The fireplace, which I am certain is in working condition but we aren't allowed to use it.

The Dining Room 

The current state of the dining room = disaster. Do ya think we need a china cabinet (*to be read in a sarcastic tone*)? I've been scouring craigslist.com for that perfect steal.

The dresser will not stay but was put there temporarily in an attempt to lessen the clutter. It didn't really work.

Here's a quick look into the kitchen from the swinging door in the dining room.

The Kitchen

It's still a small kitchen with not much more counter space than we were working with in France but the difference is that this one has lots of extra room and with a couple additions, I think this will be a very workable space. At least it has a gas range (4 burners!) and a dishwasher. 

Oh, and if you're reading this Ashley, I take back everything I said about not needing a dishwasher. After being re-introduced to one at our parent's houses over break, I am re-addicted to the machine that cleans my dishes for me.

What? A full-sized refrigerator for 2 people?!

Despite all the space in the refrigerator though, this is one area that I hope to improve storage wise. The little shelf to the right of the fridge (which is in dire need of some added screws for support and other tlc at the moment) will hopefully be replaced by some taller, commercial wire racks for holding all of our kitchen gadgets and perhaps some of the hoards of cookbooks that we own.

 Ok, it is larger than France but still not large enough for the two of us to work comfortably.

Here's another area of improvement; while I love my grandparent's kitchen table, there really isn't enough room for this kitchen to be eat in. So this table will be put to better use as a nice, large sewing table in another room and the space will be made more useful with a counter height kitchen island which will add more much needed counter space above and more much needed storage space below.

On a side note -- is that not the cutest paisley print broom you ever did see?

This is my new life motto. We got two of these bumper stickers on a spice run to the fabulous Penzey's Spice store.

The Hallway

Not terribly exciting but still worth noting. Please notice the peaceful Buddha perched in the little display nook when you come in from the entry stairway through that door just to the left.

As you look down the hall, the first door on the left (past the front door) is the sewing room, the next room on the left is the office/guestroom, the middle door is the first smaller bathroom which attaches with a pocket door (weird, I know) to the larger, master bathroom, the opening to the far right is the small hallway with a small linen closet and our bedroom, the door just past Buddha is the coat closet and the opening to the immediate right leads to the kitchen.

The featured photographer in the hallway is my brother Noah. These black and whites were take of the famed Wellsboro Diner years and years ago.

Our Bedroom

Please disregard the creepy stuffed animals on the bed. I'm still trying to figure out where things go.

And please ignore the fact that we don't have a bed at the moment and still have the mattress and box spring on the floor. This situation will hopefully be remedied in the near future.

 Nothing terribly exciting happening over this way. the door on the left leads back out into the hallway (the little door is the linen closet I mentioned earlier) and the door on the right leads to the master bathroom.

Here's another boring wall that is sorely in need of some artwork. That door that's open on the right is the hall door and the door behind it leads to our closet. That stack of plastic containers needs to leave the bedroom soon.

We've got lots of pretty windows in this bedroom...now what to cover them with?

We also need some sort of rug on the floor...too much wood everywhere.

The Master Bath

(And by master, I'm not implying that it's large, just that you enter it from the master bedroom)

Our lovely tub/shower; I really like it now that we bought that pretty and economical eco shower head, the old one was ridiculously high-flow. It felt like being sprayed with a garden hose without any sprayer nozzle. 

It's tight but it works just fine.

The Hall Bath

(Remember that this one attaches to the master bath with a pocket door)

This one is even tighter, but we don't mind. Neither of us really get the concept of having 25% of your square footage taken by by gigantic bathrooms.

Oh, and I'm standing in the shower to take this picture.

Here's shower #2, a small but useful stall shower. I used this one for a few days (and liked it!) until we got the new shower head in the other since the high-flow shower head in the other shower ate through all of our hot water after about 3 minutes.

The Office/Guestroom

Still a big ol' work in progress.

If the boxes still aren't unpacked it means they are filled with books.

Or in the case of all the milk crates, filled with cookbooks.

The Sewing/Knitting room

(I don't really know the eventual intended purpose but this is what I'm calling it for now)

 

 A large portion of this room is taken up by the Goodwill pile.

There you are people. Come visit us sometime, Chez Reindl. I promise I'll clean up by then!