Here it is! If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that Kat and I will be living off campus together this upcoming school year. My main reason for wanting to live off campus is because I want a sense of permanence, even if it’s only for the next two years (before I graduate!). Moving in and out of dorms at the beginning and end of every school year is such a hassle; summer storage is the death of me. With my own place, I won’t have to worry about that between junior and senior year. Living off campus is more affordable, especially with a roomie, because not only do we save money on housing, but we also save money on food, as we no longer have to be on the unlimited meal plan, the only meal plan option. Furthermore, we’re both Bryn Mawr College students majoring in computer science at Haverford College, so we don’t spend much time at Bryn Mawr anyway.
It’s been a process but I finally signed the lease and picked up the keys on Monday, so come on in and let’s have a look!
(For privacy, I’ve edited out signs that show the name of my apartment complex and also my apartment number from photos.)
Our apartment complex is really quiet, so I’ll have to be wary of singing with my guitar at odd hours of the night. We live at the very end of a winding hall, which might get annoying when having to do laundry in the basement, but otherwise isn’t too big of a deal.
This is our entire hallway. I may be exaggerating a little as the hallway sort of extends into the living room to the dining room, but on our apartment inspections sheet, that “sort of hallway” counts as living room space, so this (pictured above) was the only hallway to consider for our apartment inspections sheet.
If you follow me on Snapchat, you’ll already have had a little apartment tour and know that from the hallway, you have three path options: to the right is our bedroom with a closet, ahead is another closet and the bathroom, and to the left is our living room (our dining room is beyond that).
Our apartment complex has junior/medium/large sizes of these options: micro apartment, studio, and one bedroom. Kat and I are sharing a large one-bedroom, which begs the question of how we’re planning to split up sleeping space. We can either share the bedroom, or one person can take the bedroom and the other person can take part of the living room.
Off the bat, I said that I’d be happy to take the living room, because I like open spaces, and I was excited to block off my space from the living room with curtains. My mom got pretty mad at me for being so naive and choosing the living room, citing lack of privacy, and said that in most cases in the real world, roomies living in the living room pay a smaller percentage of the rent. Which made sense, and I bet the novelty of a curtained bedroom would eventually give away to lack of privacy, so Kat and I decided to hold off our decision until we saw the apartment again.
Now that we’ve seen the apartment, we’ve decided that Kat will take the whole bedroom, and I will take the whole living room. So here’s Kat’s room!
This isn’t a very modern temperature control system, but it works! Well, I haven’t actually tried it yet but I hope it works. Anyways, the upside is that the apartment covers heating and water for us, so we don’t need to pay for that, though we’ll still have to pay electric and for the a/c, but that’s only expected. We can’t control the radiator, but they will turn on the radiator for us when temperatures start dropping outside.
Our bathroom is kind of dank, but as long as it’s kept kept clean, I have no complaints. Also the doors to the bathroom don’t really lock. Oh well, it could be worse o.o *flashback to summer apartment horror stories*
We’re planning to install this GRÖNSKA shower curtain from Ikea.
I’ll be taking this closet in front of the bathroom as Kat has a closet in her bedroom. Pictured is the shelving, and next to that (not pictured) is space for me to hang clothes. I’ll probably store off-season stuff in here too.
And here’s my room! I’m so excited! So many windows, and I get the fireplace and everything!
Because my closet isn’t in my room, I’m planning to put this MULIG clothing rack from Ikea in my room, along with a SKUBB hanging organiser from Ikea, either with 6 compartments or 9 compartments.
I’m not sure where to put my bed though. I had wanted to get this HEMNES daybed from Ikea, but I think it may be too big for the room. Ideally, I’d put it against the wall, either on the left or right, but on the left is the radiator, and on the right is where our internet modem will be. Maybe I can figure out a way to fit the bed on the right with the internet modem. Maybe I can just get the FYRESDAL daybed from Ikea instead because it fits the aesthetic of the clothing rack I’m planning to get, but it’s a little too industrial for my taste. Maybe this simple TARVA bed frame from Ikea would be easier to fit in my room. I do have the option of putting my bed in the middle of the room, but I was hoping to leave an open space and perhaps put this SINNERLIG coffee table from Ikea there.
Here’s our puny little dining room! It’ll fit a two-person or maybe even four-person table with chairs but no more.
I’m planning to block off my room from the “hallway” to the dining room, and I’m considering to do it with these MATILDA sheer curtains from Ikea paired with these VIVAN curtains from Ikea because the first one is sheer but I love the texture. But these curtains are meant for windows so they’re not very wide, so I may have to keep looking for other options. Also, I’m not sure how I’m actually going to hang these curtains up, because I can’t exactly drill holes into the walls of our rented apartment for curtain rods.
Some of the apartments at our complex are renovated with stainless steel, but ours is not. It didn’t seem like a big deal to me at the time, but after living with Victoria in an apartment all summer, I’ve realised that having a stainless steel kitchen would make cleaning up so much easier. Ah well, I think we’ll live. Our kitchen is pretty cramped but it’s not like we’re MasterChef’s or anything.
I’ve done a lot of prep this summer, finding our apartment, figuring out payments, signing official documents, and looking at furniture, but there’s still so much work left to do. Just last night I finished moving all my summer storage boxes from my summer apartment to our new apartment, but I still need to get my bed sorted asap, get basic kitchenware (a nonstick frying pan, one of those Asian wood spatulas, and a microwave), and get my desk sorted before school starts on August 29.
Ikea, please sponsor me. ?