Many of the new apartment's shortcomings we can overlook for a period: it's a small space (which we've lived with before, so no problem); yellowed linoleum (which we've largely covered with some area rugs) weird metal doors on all the closets, and fake wood cabinets in the kitchen (not much can be done about this, but oh well).
The place also has some redeeming qualities too - it's the most fantastic location, just a few hundred metres from the seawall on False Creek; a 15-minute walk to work for Scott, and I get to take the charming Aquabus across to Yaletown, followed by a 20-minute walk across town to my office. The front door is townhouse-style, so there's no need for elevators or stairs or extra doors into the apartment, and the back overlooks a large grassy yard, with trees and shrubs etc. Right now the rhododendrons are blooming pinks and yellows, and lots of birds hang out back there. It's quiet, and a much more pleasant outlook than our last place on noisy 4th Avenue.
But there were some things that we just couldn't live with, like the horrible rusty medicine cabinet in the bathroom, and the equally horrible plastic vertical blinds over the sliding glass door in the living room.
So we made the requisite trip to Ikea, and spent plenty of money trying to tart the place up a bit. Our biggest problem has become finding an appropriate desk for the computer (we're currently using a sidetable as a desk). Here's how the conversation went:
"We need a computer desk."
"How about this cool desk for many thousands of dollars?"
"Ok, but it doesn't make much sense to buy an expensive desk if we're not sure how long we'll need it."
"Right. Ok, how about this little cheap number?"
"Our computer monitor is too deep to use that narrow desk"
"Weren't we thinking about buying a new computer?"
"Yah... so maybe we should wait to buy the desk, and get something nice that we actually like."
"But that might be a while, shouldn't we just get something cheap to take us through?"
"Because! We should really be putting our money into things that are meaningful for us, that suits our lifestyle, that represents everything about us! Oh yeah, and it should also match our other stuff."
So you see, the quest for a simple desk for our aged computer became an entire question about who we are and what we want out of life. And after a full weekend of looking, we're still using the sideboard.
But other than the computer desk, things are going well. Here's the living/dining area, tiny, but livable:
Here's the bedroom, with the behemoth bookcase that I got and put together from Ikea:
And here's the fantastic new mirror and medicine cabinet that Scott installed in the bathroom. It's a huge improvement. (there was a giant hole in the drywall behind the existing cabinet, which is why they're placed so close together!!)
