Our Home

I still believe that EVERYONE should have to go through all of your belongings and put each item in one of three categories:

1. I don't need this anymore.  (garage sale, donation, or give away to family and friends who want it)

2. I can't live without this and it would even go with me if I had to move to Australia.

3. I can live without this for a few years as long as it is safe and accessible in storage for when I need it again.

My guess is that when we move back in a few years, we will be going through this process again.  It is amazing how you accumulate "stuff" throughout your life and hold on to it for some ounce of "I might need or use this someday."  I'm telling you now, the majority of those things, I bet you won't!  We learned this very quickly.  I hope that by living over here in our quaint little home, with only our bare necessities and a few extras along the way, that we will be much better at living this way when we return.  We'll see!

So now that we finally received our last piece of major furniture, we decided it was time to share pictures of where we call home these days. 

When you walk in our front door you step right into our living room.  We somehow fit both of these comfy plush couches in here with the ottoman- after moving and relocating a few times.  We are still looking for some unique artwork and other items we can hang and then have to bring home with us someday. Pretty exciting for me since this is something Luke never let me do in our house in Shawnee because of all of the new paint and work we had to have done when we first moved in.  Yeah, Australia!!!  J (the bright side here is that we didn't have any cool or unique artwork or pictures that were on our walls there that "we couldn't live without" or that "had to go to storage") 

We finally were able to pick out a table and chairs.  It’s very nice to sit at the table for dinner now instead of using the coffee table and sitting on the couch.  And the view’s not too bad either!  One of the chairs can even double up as an office chair for Luke until he decides if he really needs one to go with his desk. 

We love having a balcony with doors that can slide open almost all the way across.  We are still looking for 2 chairs and a small table to put out there and hopefully a small grill.  The door is open for the majority of the day so it will be nice to actually sit out there, too.  Guess what?  Two dining room table chairs fit out there just fine for now though!  If we were up a little higher in our building or didn't have those big trees in our view, we would be able to see much more of the harbour...not complaining though- it still beats the view of the crazy orange deck on the house behind us in Shawnee!!  ;) 

Our kitchen is a little tight for both of us to try cooking at the same time.  It is best for us to decide who will be cooking because it can quickly lead to an unnecessary fight if we are both in there!  Sometimes it is a tag team effort and we have to take turns.  This seems to be working smoothly.  Instead of cabinets we have drawers that pull out and house our glasses, plates, bowls, platters, and all other dishes.  We were lucky to have enough space in this kitchen for all of our pots and pans we brought over.  We also have two spacious pantries.  We're pretty happy about the counter space we have considering the set up of the kitchen.  The large window is great but we have to keep the blinds closed because of the heat. 

We have a decent sized bathroom with a lot of counter space, too.  A second sink would be nice but we have adjusted.  Having the washer/dryer in the bathroom has been a nice space saver, too.  There is a drain in the shower but also another drain right outside of the shower in front of the toilet.  In each of the temporary apartments we stayed in we had the same issue...the shower leaks.  Apparently this is on purpose considering the location of the extra drains.  We purchased a small bamboo mat/tile thingy that sits up over the drain. (Luke loves how I explain things in a technical way like this!) 

We have two bedrooms.  The office recently received a new desk and bookshelf.  All of my school and tutoring items are in here, too.  Luke’s “built in” is in this room.  Closets are called “built ins” and many apartments and houses don’t even have them so we felt very fortunate to have two very large ones here with mirrors.  The office still needs a few things but it is finally usable. It is so great to see your faces in frames all over our apartment finally! 

Our bedroom has just enough room for our queen size bed and might have a bedside table one day.  My “built in” is in here.  We were able to fit all but one of our large suitcases up in the top of both built ins.  We would have really liked a place with a little more storage but we’ll manage. We’re pretty impressed with ourselves for using all of the space we have available.    And yes, that's our fan that we have on nonstop everyday!  It moves from the bedroom to living room when necessary.

We enjoy our many windows and the views that go with them.  We are able to see some of the harbour and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Our apartment building sits up on a hill and is far enough from the road that it always seems quiet and peaceful.  Having the little park and sport club next door is an added bonus. 

All in all it is beginning to feel more and more like our home each day.  And we realize that possessions aren't the only thing that can make it feel like a home-though they do help!  So start that spring cleaning early, ok???