friday is the day!

we get our keys this friday and i cannot wait! i'm going to miss my current apartment so much, but a nice fresh start in a new place will be a lot of fun. as soon as i get in there i will take lots of pictures and post them here. ciao for now!

we got the apartment!

it took a couple days for the management company to approve our application and do the credit check. then it was time to sign the lease! we submitted our deposit and finished the paperwork, so now we are waiting until july 15th when we can move into our new place! our current lease isn't up until july 31st, so we will have some overlapping time to gradually move the small stuff in our apartment and move our large stuff without the stress of doing it at the last minute. while it was annoying having to pay the extra two weeks of rent in the new place, we will certainly appreciate the ease of moving.

when we saw the apartment initially it was in the middle of being renovated. the kitchen had not been installed yet, so it will be a surprise to see what the finishes will be. we did see another unit on a lower floor that had a renovated kitchen, so we are assuming it will have either the same, or very similar finishes. we do know that it will have a full size fridge, oven, dishwasher and built in microwave! we have avoided buying a microwave for the first two years we have lived here so it will be a nice change to have a fast way of making food. most exciting is our ability to make microwave popcorn again! although jiffy pop is quite amazing and old school.

here is a photo of the dining nook and soon-to-be kitchen. we will probably remove the iron railing, but I love the little step up and the bay window. the kitchen will be on the right where the small window is. i'm anxiously awaiting the 15th when we get the keys to the apartment and can see it in a finished state.

we don't have a ton of large furniture pieces so we are already planning the layout of those items and trying to determine what else we need to make it a great space. we are planning on getting a large rug to help define the living room space and we plan on making a bookshelf that will separate the living space from the sleeping space. so exciting!

Welcome!

i moved to nyc almost 2 years ago with my boyfriend. he was attending columbia for his master of architecture degree. i had just graduated with my undergraduate degrees in architecture and construction management. job opportunities were scarce in seattle (where i am from) so i decided to try to find work in the big city. luckily i landed an internship in an architecture firm and i decided to make the big move. we found a beautiful apartment on the upper west side with exposed brick, a nice renovated kitchen and a great floor plan. it was a two bedroom apartment which we shared with another friend that was also moving to nyc. we have gradually accumulated furniture over the past couple years, but being on a budget has made our purchases very selective.

i am returning to school in the fall at columbia for my master of architecture degree as well. while both my boyfriend and i are in school we will be on a very strict budget. as our other roommate is going his separate way, my boyfriend and i have decided to move closer to columbia's campus. we have been searching for a studio or one bedroom apartment through various outlets including craigslist, the new york times, streeteasy and other no fee apartment sites. it is quite the feat to find a reasonably priced apartment without a brokers fee in nyc. however, we may have just found one! it is located close to campus, is in our price range and is currently being renovated so it will be totally fresh when/if we move in. it is a studio apartment that is a pretty good size - i think around 450 sf. it has three closets which will help keep us organized and clutter under wraps. it is a simple one room apartment with a small step up to the dining/kitchen area. we have submitted an application and are waiting to see if we are approved for it. then it's either back to the grind finding another apartment or time to start planning how to lay out our furniture and what new items we will need to organize the space! i will keep you updated!