Sidenote: I think he leaves stuff out sometimes because he knows it will make me crazy and I'll put it away for him....but maybe not because I often put things away and forget to tell him where I put it...ah the joys of being married.
It's amazing how well our stuff fit and looks in this house. Everything we put away, it was like "wow...that was meant to be there." If we'd had any more furniture than we did, it wouldn't have fit. If we'd rented a bigger house, it would look weird and empty. This house is just the right size.
AND THE WALLS AREN'T WHITE!! WAHOO!! Our stuff matches the walls well (especially considering we didn't intend or purchase anything specially to match). I suppose it helps that our landlord isn't color blind---she put decent colors on the walls. Which leads me to reflect on my previous rental experiences:
My first apartment had many problems (including ants, mold, and a leaky roof), but a quirky feature was the hideous yellow bath fixtures. In fact, every unit in the building had a different FUN color! Like Pepto Bismol pink. Candy mint green. Ew. But the master bedroom window faced full west with an amazing view of the Olympic mountains. And the location was pretty awesome, too.
My second apartment was much nicer, but it was a daylight basement apartment with windows facing the entrance to the parking lot. Which meant every resident walking to their car would walk past my window. Kind of creepy for a single woman. But it was also a sweet location, and it had a pool. Nice for a first year teacher with no life.
Our apartment in Chicago was an unknown until we pulled into the alley with our moving truck. I had seen pictures online and it looked ok, but we had a contingency plan to drive right back out of Chicago to a campground and search the next day if the apartment was no good. Turns out the apartment was fine, and as a bonus, we were three blocks from a beach on Lake Michigan. Very handy in the summer.
(view from the rooftop patio looking southeast)
