Remember when I announced last year that we had sold our house ? I also told you that I’d share more about our new place once I had wrapped my head around the move, but then I never did. So, I hope late is better than never.
One year ago today, we moved from our two-bedroom house to a one-bedroom duplex. Yes, we lost some space and an extra bedroom, but there were some more important things on our priority list: location (we’re in a nice neighborhood, much closer to my work now), central heat and air (you can’t survive the Sacramento summers without central air), a private patio or backyard (we got so used to having our own outdoor space!), an off-street parking spot (even better a garage with a driveway), and a washer and dryer (I really didn’t want to go back to using the laundromat).
The duplex has what I would call 1.5 stories. The bedroom and bathroom are on the second floor above the garage, the rest of the rooms is downstairs, so it’s not a true 2-story building, but I like that it feels a little different from a one-story apartment. We were lucky enough that we found something affordable that had most of our must-haves before the close of Escrow. Our timeline for the house sale was very short (just four weeks) and we had to find something quickly.
Without further ado, a little duplex tour just for you. (This rhymes and what rhymes is good – who recognizes this quote?).
Our front porch + front yard
I love that we have a gate and that the front entrance is set back from the street a bit.
Our living room
The living room can be a little dark at times, but I love the big corner window by the front door. During the summer month, we can keep the front door open quite a bit, because of the gated front yard area and get some extra light.
Our bedroom
I love sleeping on the second floor and having a window to the street. The bedroom has a nice-size closet as well. The cool thing about older apartments/houses is that there is often a lot of built-in storage space, like this big closet (+ drawers) in the hall way.
Our kitchen
I traded my beautiful kitchen for a small, older kitchen with much less counter and storage space (sad face) and old, squeaky cabinets, but I am not trying to think about that too much. Jon will tell you that I regularly throw in a “I miss my kitchen” for good measure, but I am mostly really okay with it. The apartment otherwise almost ticked all the boxes on our list. And as a wise friend said to me: a kitchen is just a kitchen.
(No it’s not!! Haha.)
Our backyard
Our backyard is relatively small, but it has enough space for our patio set and I have really enjoyed sitting out there this summer. Most apartments don’t have a patio space at all or, if they do, you have share it with other tenants. I feel very lucky that we found a place where we have a private outdoor space all to ourselves, where we can barbecue and have people over.
That’s it. This is our not-so-new home. As we say in German, “klein, aber fein” (small, but nice) – another rhyme :)
I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2019