I bought a condo! It’s my dream space and is located in my dream place (the same neighborhood I live in now) But more on that later.
I’m 150% excited to move into this new space and 100% sad to leave this old one. So today is an ode to my apartment. Before this apartment there was another. Me and Nick’s first place together was also my first apartment. It got the job done! It was a couple hundred bucks a month each, had a good location and was more space for Kaya (dog) who was used to living in a basement. I was commuting 45 minutes for my job so home was a little less important to me, it was literally where I ate and slept. When the pandemic hit and I was at home all day, I started to long for a space I was in love with.
A space that was bigger, full of charm. I wanted my hardwood floors and my balcony. I wanted the room to be able to breathe. This was also the year of my “spiritual awakening” if you will, so I spent so much time meditating and thinking about this next apartment. There was a corner that kept coming to my mind. I thought about myself meditating in this corner, facing the window. I pictured myself watching the snow falling, spring blossoming, and summer shining on my face until I was sweating. One day I was on Facebook marketplace and saw a listing for an apartment. It was where I wanted. Hardwood floors! BALCONY. I instantly messaged the girl and me and Nick toured the place that night.
Even though it’s up four flights of stairs with no elevator, and there’s not always parking, I convinced Nick we should move here. And I’m so glad we did. This apartment is where my interior design taste blossomed. Where I launched Sobriquet, started a new job, finished health school, kinda lost my spiritual practice, and found it again.
Oh, and I forgot to show you this. My corner.
No matter where you live, there are moments and ways to make it feel special. Each corner made me smile, even the piles of nicks piano sheets and my stacked boxes of art in the mudroom (not pictured for obvious reasons) It was such a thrill to buy this art piece I had admired for months for $500 but thrift both the lamps shown below for $3 and buy that vase on the side of the road for $40. I tried to negotiate the price to $35 and was immediately rejected.
I bought this authentic Noguchi lantern and felt like such a grown woman investing in pieces she’ll have for the rest of her life. I got that art for a huge discount with no idea how to actually hang it. My sweet friends Annie and Jordan helped me hang the art and the light, so this corner always makes me smile.
I sent my mom a photo of this coffee table in 2019 and she found it on Facebook marketplace the next day. Moving it up these stairs was so traumatic my dad almost disowned me and broke the original glass top. The black chairs were another marketplace find, and I had to drive around in circles looking for the meetup spot on New Years Day.
This mirror was my actual “big girl” purchase, a piece I saved up for and purchased when I worked at an interior design studio and made all the designers validate my purchase I was so scared to click purchase. It was displayed at my parents home and has traveled around with me and my stuffed monkey, Lester.
This apartment was here for every hair color, every season, and every change. Here’s the thing, whether you’re in your first apartment, your second apartment, or your dream space, the process of making it yours is so beautiful. Cheers to creating spaces we love to be in.
xx, Chloe
<3
Way to go Chloe! You’re on the right track!!! Keep up the wonderful words!!!
Ron