This weekend was a pretty momentous occasion in my life. And I am sure that most of you know that, as well! Yesterday, I moved out of my parents' house and into an apartment with my darling friend from high school, Leah. It's been something that I have wanted to do for a while, but not because my living situation was tumultuous. I, like many twenty-somethings, wanted a feeling of independence and a feeling of making something of myself. I really love my family, I truly do, but it was time to move on.
And as someone who is introverted (does that surprise you all?), I knew that I could live on my own, but that -- having gone from living in a house with four other people to an apartment of one -- it would be a difficult adjustment to be completely on my own. For as much as I enjoy my personal space, I know how lonely I would be without someone to share anything with. Leah was looking for a roommate, and it worked out so that we were both able to find a new apartment in the complex Leah already lived in (we're literally a building over from her old apartment).
Moving out is a surreal feeling, really. For as much as I built it up in my head to be this monumental experience, it really felt rather ordinary. Granted, yesterday was insane between packing and unpacking and moving boxes and bags, but thanks to the help of some of my wonderful friends and our amazing families, we were able to physically move everything in an hour and a half. And soon, we began unpacking boxes and building furniture. Our new place -- that we've nicknamed The Lit, due to the fact that both of us are English majors and insane book lovers -- is coming along really well, for having only lived here for twenty-four hours!
And now, onto the process of packing, unpacking, and LOTS of before/after photos that I am sure you all want to see. ;)
So this is what you would have seen upon entering our apartment during move-in day! As you will see in these photos, we have a LOT of boxes (some still hanging around here, which Macey -- Leah's cat -- really likes to curl up in) and bags. What's really nice about this apartment complex is that our new place is laid out the exact same way that Leah's old apartment was, except that there is the addition of an extra bedroom and bathroom.
So this was our kitchen pre-cleaning/organizing looked like. ... we have a lot of stuff.
This is our living room! :)
So, in our apartment complex you have a choice between a solarium and a balcony. Leah and I decided that a balcony would be wasted space for us -- you can't have grills, and we wouldn't get much use out of it during the summer months because of the heat and humidity. We opted for the solarium and thought about how we would like to decorate it. As I said earlier, we are HUGE bookworms so we're planning to design the solarium as our own personal reading nook.
We have a comfy futon and Leah's reading chair set up there already. And all of my books are still in their bags and suitcases in the corner until we get a bigger bookshelf to hold all of our stuff. (We have a LOT of books, combined!) I can already tell that I'll be retreating to this area of the apartment -- it's really nicely lit and will make for a great reading area. :)
This is the view from our solarium of the rest of the apartment. The open door to the right is my bedroom!
Pre-television set-up!
The view from beside our barstools into the dining area and kitchen, pre-cleaning and organizing.
This is my new bed from Ikea! (All of the furniture in my room is actually from there.) I got a mattress from the Sears outlet, which was a memory foam one and is SUPER comfortable. Honestly, I don't know that I'll ever leave my bed. The bedspread was actually a set from Target that was on clearance. It was an 8-piece set that had a comforter, bed skirt, shams, pillowcases, and a sheet set for $35. I felt pretty accomplished.
The little nightstand is also from Ikea and I adore it. :)
View from the bathroom door of my bathroom! I went with a teal/aqua color pattern. (Minus the random yellow towel that I actually got after our Winter Park 2-mile race this year which is serving as my hand towel until I go buy one.) Everything decorative-wise is from Target -- the shower curtain, the towel, and the rug!
My vanity! Which is actually clean, for now. I wonder how long this will last... (The Keep Calm and cute box that my nail polish is in is actually from Karlee. The soap dispenser is from Target, as is the toothbrush holder.)
This is mainly to show off the adorable "J" which was made by Karlee. :)
I've never had a walk-in closet before and now I do AND IT IS AMAZING.
There's a little corner right outside my walk-in closet that I didn't quite know what to do with, but I decided to take it and turn it into my little jewelry corner. I ended up putting thumb tacks in the wall and using them to hang my longer necklaces. The collage you see above there is actually a piece of fencing that my sister and I painted together years ago. I really like how it turned out! And obviously, I had to hang up the Community poster that my brother gave me last year. ;)
View from my jewelry corner. You can see my Paris poster, bed, part of my dresser, and the collage of Italy photos my friend Jenn took. :)
So this is the other corner of my room, beside my window. I got the six-drawer dresser at Ikea, which -- sidenote! -- is the same dresser that Ben has in his room in Parks and Rec, except that his is in black. I LOVE the dresser because it has so much space. Obviously my television is atop it, as well as some other photos and candles. On the wall, I found a home for my signed "Modern Warfare" script and a photo collage of me and my sister.
View of the room, looking at my closet and jewelry corner. You can see I also found a home for my adorable Julieta print! :)
I knew I wanted my framed "Hello Sunshine" print to hang above my bed and that's exactly where it went!
My little nightstand area is complete with a plethora of People StyleWatch and InStyle magazines, a photo of me, my sister, and mom from Italy and Jaime's beautiful cross-stitch! (Also, there's a closer view of the Italy collage I mentioned earlier.)
The view of the living room, right outside my bedroom. :)
Our kitchen when it was nearly completely cleaned! We got even better from here, don't worry. ;)
Our boxes are now all completely put away or at least stored in our solarium.
So it's home sweet home and I am excited for all of the fun, the adventures, and the laughter that will occur while I live in it this year. <3
On a non-apartment note, this week kicks off our #SummerRewatch of season one of New Girl. So, if you're bored this Tuesday night at 9 PM EST and want to join in, be sure to get your hands on a copy of the pilot and join us as we re-live the adorkable beginning to this series. And be sure that you return to the blog on Wednesday morning to check out my review of the episode!
Until then, folks! :)
I used to have the exact same Hemnes bed from IKEA...it's so wonderful! I love your apartment! Congrats! :)
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