New abode

My friend Mar blogged about going home today and it reminded me that I wanted to share with you some photos of our new place here in Denver. It reminds me of our old place in Chicago, both in terms of the place itself and the locale. 

The decision to move happened around the holidays so I ended up coming out to Denver by myself for 3 days to apartment hunt. I looked at 20 places all over the city. It was challenging to pick a place in a city that I was unfamiliar with, but after looking at 20 places, I started to get a feel for the different neighborhoods. I found this 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and really liked it.

Originally, we wanted to get a 2 bedroom, because we figured we'd have visitors due to proximity to LA. But then it didn't make sense to pay up for occasional use by visitors. And I really liked the price point, location and feel of the place. You can kind of tell from the first photo, but the bedroom is a triangle shape. Also, we have a window that looks out onto the Rocky Mountains, which I love.

Even our layout resembles how we had our Chicago place set up. The building is a condo where most units are rented out. I like our unit because of the hardwood floors and large counter spaces in the kitchen. It also has a mini washer and dryer, which is nice.

Above is a view from the door. You can't really tell here but there is a view of downtown from our balcony. Another reason I liked our place was because it's only 1.5 miles from W's work. There is a shuttle that runs to downtown from our buildings, so W just takes that to work, which saves on gas and time! As you can see, W got a bike recently. He bought it on Craigslist for $40 and got new tires and a saddle for it. The bike trail, which runs through the city is pretty awesome, and it runs right by our place. I'm looking for a bike too, and I can't wait to ride.

Besides the shuttle, there are some other perks to our building such as a common use computer with scanner, gym, pool, sauna and washer/dryers on each floor at very reasonable prices.

The location has been fantastic. Not only does W have a short and carless commute, but we are close to everything - the art museum, central library and downtown to name a few. I can walk to coffee shops, the dry cleaners, the grocery store and a few bars/restaurants.

It turned out W loves the place just as much as I do. This is his first time not being so dependent on a car and he's been pleasantly surprised by how convenient it is.

Cards

The Christmas cards are up!

fern

about a week ago, i got this fern for our place. i told the lady at the store that i'm not very good with plants. she told me not to worry, that plants actually tell us when they aren't doing too well, and that they begin to droop if they need help.

yesterday i came home in the afternoon and the fern was seriously drooping. i rushed to give it water. a few hours later, it was perky. i think the leaves lifted up about 2-3 inches. amazing!

the main space

on with the house tour!  this is the other main area besides the bedroom/bathroom.  here is the best view i could get of the entire room.  it contains our living, office, dining and kitchen areas all in one.

here's the sitting area.  i picked light furniture as not to overwhelm the space.  we also have a futon so we could host guests (right).  

here's where we work.  will uses one of the dining chairs at his desk.  

and where we eat.

and where we cook.

and the place from another angle.

that's about it!  now that it's set up, i'm feeling more settled and good about being here.  it's amazing how much having the place set up makes a difference.  

the bedroom

you will see a common theme in our humble abode: IKEA, baby!  i assembled exactly TEN pieces of furniture from ikea with my bare hands, and i have the blisters to prove it.  you would not believe how mind numbing it was to twist the little ikea tool over and over again.  BUT, it is finished, and well worth it!

here's our bedroom.  the walls are a bit bare.  i'm trying to figure out what i want to do - whether i should leave it as is, or put some stuff on the wall above the bed.  will is against making holes in walls.  we shall see.

our home

some people have asked to see pics of our new home, so i will begin posting some.  it is still a work in progress, but we have worked very hard to make a home here!

it has definitely been an adjustment, living in a city.  to get into my unit, i have to walk through two sets of double doors, one set of which i use an electronic key, and then i have to ride up seven floors on a verrry slow elevator.

but the great thing is that public transport is very accessible!  here is our building from the outside.  it's the one on the left.

i've been in chicago for almost 3 weeks now.  it actually feels longer.  i am beginning to feel more familiar with the city.  i've figured out where to shop for what.  we go to the korean grocery store, the neighborhood market, trader joe's, costco, and an organic produce store.  the produce store has been such a great find.  they have really affordable and really fresh produce.  it's just as good as california produce!  i laid out some of the fruit and took a photo.

here they come

our registry gifts are arriving. the other day will sent me an e-mail entitled "what i came home to", with this photo attached. i think these are some gifts, and the big box is a sofa we ordered.




will is so busy he hasn't had time to set anything up. i can just picture a bunch of boxes strayed all over his place right now.


i can't wait to go over there, open all the boxes, and set it all up! i love assembling things. it gives me a sense of satisfaction to put something together and see the final result.

the apt

the fiance is living there right now.  some work needs to be done, to say the least.  right now the place looks like this...here's the bedroom, except with a bed (just the mattress + box) in the middle (from costco!):

and like this...

it is definitely on the cozier side.  you can get to the bathroom from the bedroom.  and the kitchen is where he was standing to take the second picture above.  that counter divides the kitchen and the living space.  oh, and we're on the 7th floor, which also happens to be the top floor.

we got a bunch of little things from ikea and other places.  we've also been stuffing the suitcase and taking things slowly from LA on our visits so we don't have to buy as much.  the bigger stuff we keep pushing back.  mainly because our first plan didn't work out so well.  we had planned to buy furniture off of craigslist, and saw some pieces we really liked, but transporting it would be a pain.  he has a two-door civic out there.  it's definitely different doing every day things without the network or resources we have here in LA.