The Unveiling

Let me take you on a tour of my and Jason’s apartment (why does that sound incorrect?). Voila!

Upon entering our humble abode, you are in the living room.



This room is a favorite morning hang out of ours (second only to the back porch in warmer weather). The room is warm and sun lit in the first half of the day, inviting one to lounge, to read, write, create, do homework, whatever. See that couch there, the one that looks like it matches the chairs? I bought the material and made those cushions. It took about a week’s span of time, but if I’d worked on it straight through, it may have been a few days. Let me tell you, I’m investing in a zipper foot for my sewing machine after this project. The frame we found outside our house the day we moved in. In total, this couch cost - $180 (it took about 4 bags of stuffing for EACH of those cushions, ree-DONK-ulis). The chairs were given to us by Jason’s parents. Everything is firm with just the right amount of smush for comfort. Two more things to do before this room is complete – curtains (which will be dark brown and the length of the ones seen here (I’m dying those)) and the art program.

Next, we stroll across the tv/book shelf area not shown in this photo of the living room to walk into the kitchen.



Out of all the accent walls, this one is our favorite. Jason balked at the suggestion of a yellow for the kitchen. About a week later, he came home with paint samples that included a yellow even warmer and brighter than I’d intended! (I love how my subtle hints and ideas take root and grow in his brain until he likes them so much he pretends they are his) Notice we do not have a lot of cabinets, so we were forced to put stuff out on shelves unless we wanted to crowd the pantry. Now, I love the set up. The kitchen feels so functional to me. I love our pantry (which also couldn’t make it into this shot) and having everything in the open.

There are two options out of this room. One leads to the back porch and the basement steps where our laundry machines reside. The other goes to the office.



In the corner of this photo you can kind of catch a glimpse of my boudoir area. There is this tiny nook with a three drawer dresser on which I keep my make up, jewelry, and some photos. It is tres chic. Not much to say about this room…what you see is what you get. The little red desk was donated to me by my loving and giving and ever caring brother Brian (who previously found it on the side of the road…do you see a family trait here?). Jason built the storage unit in the corner which is now home to all our camping gear. I know, I hardly believe it either – I own enough camping/hiking gear to require storage.

We’ll veer quickly to the bathroom from here to take a little pee break…I mean just to glance at where great ideas are born.




The deep, claw foot tub was one of the selling factors for me on moving here. And luckily, we have a fan to ventilate this room since there are no windows, the one down side. From here we’ll cross through the office to enter the bedroom.




When we first started unpacking, we never thought we’d be able to maintain the openness of this apartment. We both like space, color, and simplicity in décor. Both Jason and I are hardly pack rats, but the amount of random stuff we have was more than we expected. The apartment’s other down side is its lack of storage space. Literally, there are two closets – one full size the other about 1/3 that size – and that. is. it. Somehow, we managed. Jason built the bed platform shown here, which gave us 2’ of storage space underneath it. THANK GOODNESS!

All in all, this apartment feels cozy and completely ours. My stay at 14 Liberty in Somerville felt like home too, but in a different way than here. There, the people made it a home. Jason, Justin and I got along so well and would hang out together when we could. We ate each other’s food then replaced it. We looked out for each other and did things to help without always needing to be told/asked. Justin loved to fix things there…before he broke up with one woman to start something with another woman to never be seen at 14 Liberty again until we’d moved out. I never wanted to invest too much time or money into the place because of the discord between me and the landlady. I felt she treated the place like crap and didn’t care about our needs (though the big kicker is she did pay to have the kitchen remodeled…poorly insulated and with inefficient lighting withstanding…it was a pretty fly kitchen). This did not encourage me to want to improve the place.

Our new place feels like home, a physical place I want to be. Our space. A place only we share, so if it is fucked up, broken, or doesn’t work, there’s only us to blame. The landlady paid for the painting of all the walls, bought us a new stove, and seems genuinely to care about keeping everything in working, clean order. I like her. She likes me. It’s the start of a beautiful relationship.


ps. i realize now the bedroom photo looks like an aerial shot...I'll try to get some more unique looks at the place posted soon for all y'all who won't see this place fo' real any time soon.