Wednesday, October 21, 2015

{ making an apartment into a home }

Dear Friends & Family,

When John and I moved to Berlin we had five suitcases between the both of us, two of them were the extra large ones, and all of them were filled with clothes and shoes with the exception of some books and framed photos. 

When we moved back to California we were able to sell what little furniture we had accumulated to John's coworker, so we were able to come back with the same five suitcases filled with pretty much the same stuff. 

The day we moved to San Pedro, there wasn't much to pack, but there was plenty to move! All of our things were in storage while we were in Berlin. I didn't remember what was in there except a bed...I knew we had that. I also thought we had a bed frame, but John reminded me we threw it away when we moved out of our apartment in Venice Beach to live with the Prindles six months before we moved to Berlin. Everything else in storage were boxes labeled with things like books (what kind of books??), photos (which photos?!), and appliances. I was confident I remembered which appliances I had. But three years to keep things stored makes for Christmas morning when opening them again. Or so I thought. I made a video for Amalie and Wendy in Berlin of me opening one of the boxes labeled kitchen, and it ended up being boring. Except I did get excited when I found a wok I did not know we had! 

During the first few days of unpacking John and I had to open all our boxes and filter out what we wanted to keep. Some things were easy to unpack like the kitchen and the office. Everything else is stored in the spare bedroom until we get more organized everywhere else. 

This morning John and I were taking photos of our apartment because the lighting is really great early in the day, and I took this photo as a test shot. As I uploaded this photo, I thought two things; 1.We need actual wine glasses, and 2. I HAVE WINE GLASSES! I just remembered there was a box in the spare room with two wine glasses that were given to us at my bridal shower. 

I was really happy to rediscover all the photos we have that we didn't take with us to Berlin. Right now they are off to the side until we get more furniture, and then we can decide where on the wall we want them to go. 




On the day we moved in, I grabbed this frame from my car and placed it against the wall out of the way of everything else we were bringing in. Now John and I can't picture it going anywhere else in the apartment. Not on the ground though...we'll eventually hang it up. 

I love having this built-in. All the mugs we collected during our travels are all displayed along with our travel books behind. The rest are our fiction books and cookbooks. I also want to use this area as a bar, but for now it's where we'll store our record player until we can find the cords and the speakers...





Another thing I look forward to is furnishing the dining area. It's connected to the kitchen, and I want it to be a space our friends & family can hang out and be comfortable. 





I love that we have a coffee corner. Although our kitchen was the first thing I cleaned and unpacked, it's not finished. We still do not have a refrigerator, and the only things I have in our cupboard are peanut butter, bread, and some seasonings. I feel so incomplete that our kitchen isn't filled. One of the things I look forward to is cooking, but I can't do that yet. YET. 

It feels good to have found a place we can slowly make our home, and I'm looking forward to writing more about our new neighborhood and being closer to friends & family. 
xoxo,
The Prindles.

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