Apartment Anguish

A few posts back I mentioned I had a melt down and that our new apartment was the source of it.  I also promised to give more details.  So here it is.

While the Clarion Hotel was perfectly lovely, after three and a half weeks life in any hotel can start to lose its novelty.  Although I can’t really complain about having a maid every day.  That will never lose its novelty!  However maid or no maid, the pressure was on to find an apartment.  We were both desperately in need of a home cooked meal and a chance to get some laundry done.  In addition the pending arrival of our 13 boxes that we shipped from the US fueled our fire to make a decision.  We couldn’t very well receive a pallet of boxes in our hotel room! 

I spent about a week and a half and viewed at least a dozen apartments.  Nothing was really quite right and the situation was looking bleak.  That is until Adam and I went to view a top floor one bedroom.  This place was on the South side of the river, very modern, and very clean!  In addition it had a huge rooftop outdoor space.  I was totally sold and excited about the prospect of moving in.  And then we got the bad news.  Unlike the advertisement which stated that the apartment was available immediately, we were informed that the current tenant would not be out until April 1^st.  There was no way we were going to wait three more weeks to get into an apartment.  Even as I type this post it’s only March 30^th.  I can’t imagine still being in a hotel.

So if I’m not in the hotel where am I?  I’m in the second choice apartment… the distant second choice.  It couldn’t be more opposite than the first choice that didn’t work out.   It’s on the North side (up the hill, and apparently the "less desirable" side of the river) OLD (we’re talking 150+ years) and dirty!  Did I mention the pressure?!  Well, we signed the lease and there is no going back.

The first few nights I cried sobbed and sulked about making a stupid decision.  The dishwasher was broken, one of the heat registers wasn’t working properly,  there are scary cracks in the ceiling, bubbled paint on the grimy walls, the main hallway into the building is dark and kind of smelly, refuse collection is not included in the rent, and neither is parking, and the décor left little to be desired. With all that wrong why the hell did we sign on the dotted line?!  I was wondering the same thing, but now after almost 3 weeks and a lot of elbow grease (I’m quite certain the apartment had not been cleaned since the building was erected in the 1850’s) the reasons why are starting to show. 

If you can make it through the smelly hallway and into our front door, look past the cracks in the ceiling and the dingy red patterned carpet in the bedroom, you may just be able to see the charm. We have 15 foot ceilings, three huge south facing windows, a beautiful arched stained glass transom, two marble fireplaces, granite counter tops in our updated kitchen, crown molding, built in bookcases, and by European standards this a pretty big one bedroom apartment. 

So without further ado here are few pictures of move in day.  Please keep in mind these are the BEFORE pictures! I plan on putting my fancy design education to work, even if on a budget!  I am looking forward to showing off the changes I’ve made in the next several posts a la Young House Love style. So keep checking back!

Past water damage.  The leak is fixed, but the ceiling sadly has not :(