His, Hers & Ours

I am  happy to report that Jared and I officially have an apartment in Langley!

As many of you know, Jared and I have spent the last couple months hopping from apartment to apartment, adopting the gypsy lifestyle in an attempt to avoid signing any long term leases. Most of our possessions, including the majority of our lovely wedding gifts, are boxed up and stored at my parent's house, ready to be moved. We've basically been living with what we can fit in our car (fortunately, we have a minivan...so it's quite a bit ;) which means we have our clothes, bathroom stuff, food, a camping worthy selection of kitchen stuff and a mattress on the floor. It's been an interesting experience living with just the basics, and would be very do-able if it weren't for constant "Do you have_____?" "Yeah! Oh wait, it's packed..."

For the past two months, we've settled in a basement apartment generously rented out to us by some friends. It's really a lovely space, plenty of windows, nice carpet, finished walls--unfortunately, it doesn't have a kitchen. We have our own refrigerator, microwave, and food storage area, but no sink, stove, oven--all those things that make a kitchen lovely and useful. And I need a nice kitchen--one that is all my own (and Jared's too, since I'm pretty sure he cooks more than me :), because I don't like sharing kitchens. Even in my past apartments, sharing the kitchen was always the hardest part of living with a roommate for me. So our current situation--using someone else's kitchen, bringing our dishes up and hoping that the sink is empty of their dishes, sharing a stove and an oven at dinnertime--is driving me crazy.

But now, I'm finding some comfort in the future. Because in less than two months, we will finally have our own kitchen. We'll finally be able to use our beautiful new dishes, our spotless and lovely new pan set, our shiny red blender and beautiful, cheerful table linens and fresh, clean wash cloths and gleaming new silverware and sharp new knives.While Jared was in Langley a couple months ago, he toured several apartments and reported back to me. We decided on this one together, and are both very excited. Check out these pictures of our new apartment!

Our kitchen, complete with a dishwasher and a pantry cupboard--I've never had one before, and I'm thrilled! And we even have a window that is just begging for some curtains :)

 

Our living room area. This is kind of an odd shaped room, but we like that it isn't just a long, rectangular room. This will most likely be a challenge when it comes to setting up furniture, but I'd rather have a challenge than a bla-room.We're a little curious about the overhanging kitchen counter-- I'd love to hear ideas for how to make that a useful space in the comments section! Maybe we'll add some shelves like in my friend Amanda's kitchen?

Here you can get a little better of an idea of the shape of the living room. The futon was left over from some previous tenants, we have the option of using it if we want. We're hoping to find a nice couch once we move out there, but in the mean time this might come in handy. And who knows, with a nice cover and some throw pillows, it might be just right for the next couple years. And ideas for a quick futon cover?

 

And these are the doors to our two bedrooms, the master bedroom on the left and the spare room/ office is on the right.

We consider ourselves very lucky to have found this apartment! It has plenty of storage space (I didn't include pictures of the two big hall closets) almost new appliances and, best of all, it's ground level. In Langley, the apartment complexes we're so accustomed to in the states don't really exist. Instead, people build apartments in their homes, usually in their basements, to help them pay their mortgage. These basement suites are pretty much the only form of affordable lodging in Langley, but many are afterthoughts, poorly planned, dark, or a bit dodgy. We are lucky to have one that is so nice, with great land lords and our own private entrance.