On This Day In History: 11/06/07

On this day, one year ago, we moved into our current home, our lovely University Student Apartment, in the West Village.

While it is tiny and made of mostly cinder block, we really do love it. It's nice to have our own place and have somewhere that's "home". We've now lived here for most of our marriage and I love the memories we're making here.

Here are just a few improvements that we've made so far.

First there's the carpet, which I've already posted about. It really makes a huge difference. Somehow it opens things up more and makes it feel like a home. Brian especially loves it because the places he lived in Venezuela had tile floors all throughout, so he's happy to be done with that. I just love it because there's less floor to sweep and mop.

Then there's the shelves I've already talked about. I love having just a little more space to put things and having a mini-vanity for my hair & getting-ready stuff. :) Brian recently added the hooks on the sides to hang my accessories up so that it doesn't clutter the shelf any more than it already is.

Not to be outdone by... himself, Brian recently built us another shelf for the bathroom. It's an amazing shelf that is not even attached to the wall. It slides in next to the window and along with a brace on the underside, it is supported by the bike cables you can see here. (Brian is willing to make a similar shelf for anyone who would like one for a minimal charge. :) He also used a "green" wood sealant, which just goes to show how Eco-friendly he's turning into because of his studies.)

And this is what it looks like with all our stuff on it. As I don't usually take pictures of our bathroom because it's tiny and hard to get a picture of, you probably won't realize how much this shelf helped. We were able to put a lot more stuff up there and threw away a bunch of things so now our bathroom seems a lot more open. I love it!

And last but not least, my two favorite improvements to the apartment, our shelf above the window and our living room wall. Both of which were my idea, but I could not have completed without Brian's help. I can be fairly artistic in theory, but not creative enough to pull off the completed project. :) We spruced up the shelf with garland and extra baskets we had hanging around, as well as some of our engagement pictures that were used as center pieces at our reception.

The wall is probably my most favorite though. I can't take full credit though because the idea came from some show I was watching. I loved the idea of having a complete picture-wall, covered with tons of different pictures in all different kinds of frames and sizes. Right now most of the pictures are wedding or engagement but we did print off a few more recent ones. I love the puzzle effect of it and hope to keep expanding it as we go.


So there it is folks. Our home. I'm grateful that we made the decision to move here. We love our ward and the neighbors we have. We immediately felt welcome and think this was the best place for us at this time in our lives. Feel free to come on by if you want to see the place in person!