4008 House

As you may know, J and I are considering flats for next year. Our requirements are pretty high - it needs to allow cats (as we have two now - cat post soon!). I also want a washer/dryer, simply because I clean up spills and things with rags and towels, not paper products, and I need an easy way to wash these. Additionally, I want to be able to line dry them, and this is hard to do when you have to carry heavy, wet laundry from the public laundry. And my last requirement was that it have lots of big windows. My current flat is windowless. I’m serious. There’s a total of four windows - one in each room, and honestly, three of them are useless. My roommate keeps his door shut because of the cats, so that’s one window. The kitchen window is tiny. And the living room window faces a wall. There’s no light in here! We’re living in perpetual darkness with oppressive artificial lights. Ugh.

Anyway, J ended up finding a house that meets all our requirements. The rent is a bit steeper than what I’d hope, but I have to admit it does have a lot of windows. J loves it - it has a yard and it’s in a decent area of town, so our new cat Sata can actually go outside. I’m still considering. This is a huge commitment, and a house is really intimidating.

So! Here are the pros:

1. It’s private. Apartments around here are ALWAYS full of university students, so they tend to be noisy, with an annoying university atmosphere. When I’m done with school, although I’m still going to be here working in Austin, I’d like to get AWAY from that kind of culture, at least when I’m at home. The house is private and surrounded by Real Families, which means I’d be away from the fraternity/partying/university culture.
2. It’s big. It’s not big for a house, certainly, but it’s much bigger than most of the apartments we can get for the same amount of money. It has two bedrooms and a spare room in the back, along with living, kitchen, and dining. This means we get to have a bedroom, study, and spare room for guests and whatever else.
3. It has TONS of windows. Seriously. Every picture of this place was sunny and bright, even the bathroom. Not a single room was window-less.
4. It has a yard, and a shed in the back. J insists he’ll take care of the yard, and it’ll be nice to have somewhere to relax in the morning. It has a slab of concrete in the back acting as a back porch, and we could put a little table out there to have our morning coffee. It’s not the prettiest, but it IS a yard, and the shed can act as extra storage for bikes and lawn mowers and whatever.
5. The kitchen and dining are separate rooms. I know this is really silly, but I HATE the trend these days of having the kitchen and the eating area be one room, or even opening up the kitchen and dining to the living room. My current apartment places the kitchen and dining in the living room, separating them by a bar over the counters. It’s really common and I hate it. I much prefer to have a separate kitchen, and a separate dining room.
6. Hardwood floors. Augustus, our long-haired cat, LOVES tile and hardwood because he gets so hot in the summer. I love hardwood because it doesn’t collect dirt and cat fur and it’s just beautiful, and trust me, when it’s 110F outside, you do NOT want carpet.
7. There’s an actual hallway. But at the same time, all the rooms are connected to each other. The floorplan is just really nice and accessible, and no room would go unused.

Here are the cons:

1. The rooms are painted god-awful colors. I’m not even lying. All the rooms are painted sage green except for the kitchen and bathroom - those are canary yellow. CANARY YELLOW. Just thinking about it makes me want to hurl. J is going to ask if we can re-paint the walls a more neutral color, like white or pale gray, but I don’t have high hopes. I think I could live with the sage green (green is by far my least favorite color, though). But canary yellow? Come on! It’s not the 80s anymore.
2. No curtain rods on the windows. Not a big deal, as the windows have nice molding around them, and the blinds aren’t mini-blinds, but bigger, lovely white ones. So even without curtains it wouldn’t be a big deal, but I’d still like the option.
3. It’s really big. I dunno. We just don’t need THAT much space. It is nice, but J has a tendency of buying stuff to fill up space, and I’m a HUGE minimalist. I want to have the computers and such separated from the bedroom, so I wanted a two-bedroom flat to have a study separate, but then we have one more extra room. Not sure what we’d do with it … I was thinking a guest room but we honestly would hardly ever have guests, and I don’t want one of the rooms to go unused.
4. It’s on the pricey side. Okay, keep in mind this is AUSTIN, where they have half a million dollar one-bedroom CONDOS downtown. Compared to that, it’s dirt-cheap. On the other hand, if we were to live thirty-minutes north, we could find a house to rent for 2/3 of what we’d be paying. I’d rather pay the extra money to live in Austin, but it still is pricey. It’s a big commitment, money-wise. I don’t want to jump into this.
5. The yard would take a lot of work. It’s really nice if we could fix it up - there’s a big tree in the back and a few trees in the front, but right now it’s sort of patches of dirt and a bit of grass. We would have to replant grass back there, and then we have to cut it and water it every few days in the summer. I’m really not a yard-work person. I don’t think I’d mind mowing, but trust me when I say the yard needs work.
6. No garbage disposal. Not a huge deal, especially because we could have a compost bin now that we have a yard and stuff where we can actually USE compost.
7. THIS IS SCARY! I’m only twenty-one! I know a lot of people around here rent houses, but it’s different when you’re moving in with your boyfriend and you have two cats and you’re not in school anymore. It feels so grown-up and scary!

It’s tough to say. I haven’t actually seen the place yet. That’s going to happen today. I’ve just seen pictures. I was going to post them here, but the current residents are still there, and so the house still has their stuff in it, and I’m not comfortable posting pictures of other people’s stuff. The pictures make it look nice, and J insists it’s even more wonderful in person, but there’s so much to think about right now. And the sucky thing is we have to make a decision fairly soon, because it can and WILL get snapped up soon.

I dunno. What do you guys think? I’m really needing some advice and input right now. It’s hard to find a place that satisfies all my requirements - lots of windows, washer/dryer, allows cats. This is a really lucky find. But there’s really so much to think about. I just don’t know. Can you think of any other important questions I should ask the realtor before we make a decision? What would you do?

January 29, 2009 @ 9:35 am . Comments (4)

Future — Tags: apartment, Future, living

Looking forward

My life is seriously taking off. Within one day I feel like I’ve grown up a lot. I can’t give too many details right now, but I feel like I’m on my way.

Also, J and I are looking for Really Nice But Not Insanely Expensive Apartments downtown. So far they’re pretty pricey but we’re willing to pay a little extra for something that:

1. Allows pets. Period. There is no compromising on this because we are unwilling to even think about giving up the cat.
2. Has either big windows or hardwood floors, ideally both, because of Augustus and because I just like lots of sunlight (in Texas hardwood, even fake hardwood, is good because it gets so hot, and Augustus likes to lay on the non-carpeted floor when it’s summer)
3. Has preferably either a washer/dryer or a washer/dryer hookup. I hate doing laundry in laundromats. It feels so college-y.

We’ve already found a few contenders and we don’t have to move out until next year. I know, I know, it’s early, but we really want to start looking (not seriously) to see what’s generally available in what areas and at what price. It’s been interesting and kind of fun, actually.

Anyway, this is short but I’m so tired. I’m hoping for a redesign of this website soon - I’ve already got the layout, I just need to code it up. Alright, time to go snuggle with my boy and my cat.

December 9, 2008 @ 8:15 pm . Comments (4)

Future — Tags: apartment, Future, real life

A little bit of nature

Prepara’s Power Plant is amazing. I was being bored, browsing through random webpages when I stumbled across this. I don’t know how well it works but I like the design and I love the idea of being able to grow herbs and things inside my apartment without a lot of hassle. Actually, the fact that the shape is long and skinny is a definite plus, because it can fit on my windowsill.

I’ve been thinking for awhile that my apartment could use some green. Slowly, as I acquire pictures and furniture, it’s becoming a really nice place. I’ve had quite a few people admire it when they see it for the first time. Still, I feel like I really want a huge plant for the corner.

You guys don’t know what I’m talking about because I haven’t posted up pictures yet. But I promise they will come soon.

But growing my own food! That means I won’t have to buy it, which is a definite perk. That, combined with lining my (tiny) window with some nice green - it’s great. The Power Plant is a little expensive, though, but maybe I can find some similarly shaped pot (the less round, the better!).

September 12, 2008 @ 7:17 pm . Comments (6)

General — Tags: apartment, design

Keys

Just as I was getting to work this morning I realized I didn’t know where my keys were. I searched my bag twice and realized they definitely weren’t in there. Worried, I texted my roommate who informed me that she had noticed my keys in the apartment when she left this morning. Great.

My roommate’s mum is in town, and also she works, so she would be back at the apartment at 11:30, and then the only other time she would be there was at 9:00 in the evening. So I needed to get to the apartment before 11:30 or I wouldn’t be able to get in until 9.

I took my break early and ran for the bus. I was a minute late and completely missed it. I tried calling J to see if there were any other buses I could take, but he didn’t pick up. I ran all the way back to work, and he advised me on a different bus to take. I was off and running again.

Right as I got to the bus stop, I spotted my roommate heading back. Victory! I couldn’t believe my luck. We rode back together and I was excited that I could finally get my keys.

We arrived back at the apartment and began walking up to the door. Suddenly my roommate stopped, a horrified look on her face. Her mum had her keys. Her mum was not at the apartment, since she was out shopping.

We were both locked out now.

So, we spent about fifteen minutes trying to break into the apartment. Thankfully, no one called the cops on us. I wasn’t able to stay for very long, because I had to get back to work, so my roommate promised she’d put the keys in my mailbox so I could get to them.

All’s well that ends well, I guess, but this just demonstrates exactly WHY I’m such a pessimist sometimes.

August 7, 2008 @ 11:45 am . Comments (2)

Gaming — Tags: apartment, bad luck, real life

Moving in

Moving is done. The whole experience was funny and hot and painful and a million other emotions all mixed up into one. However, I do not have Internet as of yet - that comes on Friday. Which means the only Internet I have is at work. Which means I’m not going to be posting very often in the coming week. Which is okay, but kind of sad, too.

I woke up rather early on Saturday, excited and rather nervous about the move. On Friday evening I had packed most of my stuff up, like books and art supplies, ready to go. At 10:30, my mum came and we began the move. Basically, most everything came from J’s place, where I had been storing it for the time being, but a few things had to come from home, like my table and TV.

The most fun was when my friend Thomas came and we had to move a huge Ikea bookcase. Even after taking out the shelves it was really heavy, and the three of us had to carry it down three flights of stairs. Thank goodness my new place is on the first floor.

The worst part was the heat - it was about 103 degrees the entire day. NO MERCY.

Now I’m all moved in and everything’s happy. On the first night I had some moving out anxiety. I was scared and lonely and frightened. I wanted to just go home. I don’t know why - I’m used to not living with my parents - but the first night was kind of scary. I didn’t sleep very well, but I lived through it.

Then on Sunday we moved in a bit more stuff - mostly little things. Mum bought me a BEAUTIFUL microwave and my place looks great. Now I can make ramen and go to bed at three in the morning and drink lots of beer and live the typical college student life!

Just kidding. Ugh, I shudder just thinking about it.

Anyway, pictures later, but no guarantees when - after all, I don’t have Internet until Friday.

August 4, 2008 @ 7:30 am . Comments (2)

General — Tags: apartment, insecurities, real life

A barber

I realized today that I’ve become an impromptu barber - the only one in town who bikes to your house at 9 o’clock in the evening to give you a trim. I slice, I dice! I even do sideburns!

It’s a really happy thought - a really good feeling to be biking around the city at night. Despite it being 91F at 10 at night, it’s still a gorgeous night. Stars shining, beautiful city noises, the feeling that takes your breath away. It’s the whole freedom thing - definitely not overrated.

Tomorrow J and I are going to the art museum. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a month. I love looking at the art in museums - I feel like you’ve got to go more than once or even twice to get the full effect of all the art. You’ve got to go slowly to absorb it all, too. It’s inspiring and I hope to discover things for my own art.

Then starts the big move-in. I hope to take a lot of pictures so I’ll have a bunch to post. I’m nervous, but excited. We’ll see how it goes.

July 31, 2008 @ 10:22 pm . Comments (1)

General — Tags: apartment, real life, relaxing

Hot, Busy Day

Today’s been busy and fun. Here’s what I did:

1. Faced with our bed dilemma, we went to Ikea this morning to purchase a bed. We found a sofabed - I like it because it folds up, giving me more room, or I can just keep it open too.
2. I headed back to J’s and snoogled the cat, Augustus. He’s not quite nine months and a little terror. I love him so much.
3. I payed rent for the new apartment. This is the first time I’ve ever paid rent. It was kind of scary.
4. I dropped my other major. A few hours ago, I was a computer science and Chinese major. Now I’m only a lowly computer science major. My plan is to continue working on my Chinese and brush up on some French in the hopes I can do some traveling for any job I might get. Majoring in Chinese, though, is overkill. It would require me to take another year to graduate, and frankly that’s another year I just can’t afford.
5. I visited my computer science counselor. After this coming semester I just need four more classes to graduate. Thank goodness.
6. It is HOT outside. The temperature is 97F. So all of this stuff I just listed I did on my bike. I came home drenched in sweat and heat.

Now I’m going to play some more Mass Effect. I think I’m going to take J out for dinner tonight. Don’t tell him, though. It’s a secret.

July 28, 2008 @ 3:09 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: apartment, computer science, real life

Disorganized

I’m moving out in less than a week.

I still don’t have a bed.

July 27, 2008 @ 6:02 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: apartment

Moving

I’m in the process of moving from my boyfriend’s flat to a flat of my own. No, we didn’t break up. No, there’s nothing wrong. It’s just that it’s not my place - J has a roommate and I’m just renting for the summer. It’s complicated, as you can see.

Regardless, I’m moving. It’s a struggle. My parents’ house, which I continue to think of as home, is thirty minutes away. I have furniture there AND here. Without a real place of my own (I just have a bedroom here - J already has furniture so there’s not really room for mine), I’m stuck swimming in furniture that’s stuck in the hallway and random rooms.

Two weeks, I have to keep telling myself. Two weeks.

On the plus side, today I got a settee. It’s goldish green and really a lot more beautiful than the color would lead you to believe. It’s modern and traditional all rolled into one and I feel like it’s really me. Fortunately, my new roommate is kind enough to let me keep the settee at the new place even though I don’t live there yet. I’m really, really, REALLY happy about that. It would be ridiculous if I couldn’t put it there, as J lives on the second floor and Mum wouldn’t let me take it home.

Getting all this stuff is both overwhelming and liberating all at the same time. I’m developing my own style and preferences, something I couldn’t do in my parents’ house because I didn’t have a living room to decorate. I’m finding out what I like and don’t like and all the things it really takes to have a home. I’m trying to be really careful as to not buy more than what I need.

By the end of this I may be in a looney bin. I feel the sanity slipping away already. Moving out… is HARD.

July 22, 2008 @ 5:53 pm . Comments (0)

General — Tags: apartment, Future, real life