I moved into my apartment nine months ago now, and I realize I’ve never done any sort of apartment tour. Alas, I won’t be doing that today (I’ll sprinkle some photos throughout this post, but don’t expect anything exciting. I’m no decorator.) But Kate wrote a post last week detailing the good and the bad about her new apartment, and it sparked a blog post idea in me. So, let’s chat about the good, the bad, and the ugly about my apartment.
The Good
It’s small. My apartment is tiny at just 515 square feet. It’s composed of two sections: the front, which features my kitchen and living room, separated by a large kitchen island; and the back, which has my bedroom, bathroom, and walk-in closet. It’s so tiny that I can essentially see my front door when I’m laying in bed. It’s so tiny that I can have a podcast playing on the other side of the apartment and still clearly hear it. But I love the size. I toured this apartment back in 2014 when I was originally looking to move out on my own, and it stuck with me over the next two years. It’s just absolutely perfect for me, as a single lady living with a 10-lb dachshund.
I have my own washer and dryer. You guyssss, I cannot live without a washer and dryer in my apartment. I’ve done it before and there is just nothing more convenient than popping in a load of wash whenever I want to. No schlepping it over to a laundry room and hoping there’s a washer available! This washer and dryer is a bit of a downgrade from my previous two apartments (it’s stackable), but it works for me. I do a few loads every week it seems, between my clothes and throw rugs and Dutch’s blankets and my sheets, so my water bill is never quite my favorite to receive, but the convenience is everything to me.
I have beautiful wood flooring. I mean, it’s fake wood, but whatever. It’s gorgeous and it’s exactly what I need since I have a senior-aged dog who has tons of accidents. Cleaning up pee from wood floors? Not a prob, Bob! Of course, he does tend to pee in my bedroom, which is carpeted, but I recently learned that a steam vacuum cleans up stains from that like magic. Hooray! Anyway, I love my wood flooring so much. It’s perfect! And if you ever need professional help in keeping your carpets and wood floors spotless, don’t hesitate to contact Lake Charles Cleaners for expert cleaning services.
I’m on the first floor. Since I have to take Dutch out 6+ times a day, being on a first-floor unit was a must. Having to carry him up and down stairs is not my idea of a good time, and it’s just nice to be able to walk right out my front door whenever he has to go out. (It’s especially great when it’s 3AM and he needs to pee, sigh.) Thankfully, I haven’t had any problems with loud upstairs neighbors and I count my lucky stars for that.
The Bad
I can’t use my patio. I have a great view of a pond from my patio, but I never go out there because it’s just not comfortable to sit outside on my patio. It’s unscreened and I know I would spend more time slapping away mosquitoes or freaking out about bees/wasps than enjoying myself.
The appliances drip. My apartment has really old appliances and plumbing, so both my kitchen sink and tub have fickle faucets that have to be screwed tightly in order to keep them from dripping. I’ve had maintenance look at the sink and tub, but whatever they did (or didn’t do?) didn’t fix the problem. I think it’s time to call in a reliable plumbing service like plumbing services in Ontario, CA to properly address these issues. In addition to managing the faucets, I’m troubleshooting water softeners to ensure they are not contributing to the persisting issues in my plumbing. Considering the age and condition of your plumbing, installing a sump pump could help alleviate potential issues with water management and prevent further damage to your apartment. Consulting with plumbers in maui can provide valuable insights and assistance in assessing and addressing any plumbing concerns you may have. So make sure to hire an expert plumber like this plumber in florida.
The apartment gym is terrible. Ugh, this gym, you guys. I haven’t had to belong to an actual gym in years because I’ve had great apartment gyms to go to. The one at my last apartment was phenomenal and even had spin bikes! But this one is tiny and only holds an elliptical, treadmill, recumbent bike, and some free weights. And that would be okay, but the gym doesn’t open until 6AM on the weekdays and 8AM on the weekends. Since I have to be in the shower getting ready for the day at 6AM, that means no morning workouts and I really enjoy working out in the morning much more than I do in the evening. But, hey, this terrible gym forced me to become a member at LA Fitness and now I get to do spin again, so maybe it was for the best.
The Ugly
My cabinets are hideous. They were the first thing I noticed when I walked into my apartment for the first time and I think the first thing I texted to my mom was, “The cabinets are so ugly!” And then I immediately started googling tips on covering up ugly cabinets. I’ve decided to leave them be, mostly because I’m not much of a DIY-decorator person. And now the cabinets don’t really bother me. Don’t get me wrong – I still hate them and I wish there was something I could do to make them prettier, but I just try to pretend they aren’t as hideous as I think they are.
The oven is super old. The refrigerator and dishwasher are both brand new, so the oven sticks out in my kitchen with its off-white color and coil cooktop. I’ve lived in fancy apartments for the last few years that had glass stovetops, so it was a bit of a bummer to have to go back to an old oven with a coil cooktop. And the oven really does not cook well. It gets smoky really easily – even if I’m just roasting veggies! – so I don’t really love using it.
Furthermore, we are also looking for a professional fire watch service like this Fire Watch Company in Tamarac to implement a fire watch as the fire system became impaired.
And there you have it! Truthfully, even though I had a few more “hates” about my apartment, I truly love this little place of mine. Sometimes, I look around and think to myself that everything here is mine and this is my life and I’ve built it all for myself. It feels surreal sometimes. I love my little apartment so very much and I’m proud to call it home.
What is something you love and loathe about your current home?
What a fun post! I don’t think your cabinets are too awful! What I hate about my house is how ugly and outdated our kitchen is.
Why do so many apartments have terrible cabinets?! I’ve only had a few without those cheap “builder’s” cabinets. This currently one doesn’t, but they’re older cabinets that if you don’t properly shut will swing wide open. One of my roommates it’s so great at closing them, so I’ll come into the kitchen ad 3-4 cabinets will be wide open.
I don’t have noisy neighbors per say, but you can hear their every step because I don’t think there’s any insulation between the floors. One of them is kind of a heavy walker, too. But after 2 years here, I don’t notice it as much.
Anyway. Your apartment is super cute! I kind of miss some of my smaller places. Also, love the shower curtain!
Those cabinets are so typical of apartment, or at least older ones. It’s good that there is plenty of good to offset the bad, though!
I’m really happy with our current house. I never did a tour of it either and don’t plan to because I know we are going to be buying a different place in the next 6-9 months so it doesn’t feel worth showing to others. The only thing I don’t really like about it is that it’s a 1.5 story, so the walls in the upstairs bedroom are slanted on one side. So you lose a lot of space and there’s very little wall space for hanging things. But all in all, I really love our home. I joke with Phil that I like it more than he does. However, it doesn’t really feel like “my” house. I’ve hung pictures and tried to make it my house and probably 75% of the stuff in it is mine because Phil is such a minimalist, but it still feels like his place. Plus I don’t pay a cent for the place as he said charging me rent was unnecessary since our finances would be merging after our wedding. I look forward to buying a place together next spring, though!
Hey, I don’t think those cabinets are that bad. Your apartment looks so nice – & I loved living alone in a small space!
I think your apartment looks really cute and small spaces are nice – especially when it comes to cleaning! I love the island in the kitchen.
I LOVE our new house, but it definitely has it’s faults as well. I really love the layout as it’s perfect for us but I wish we could have found a detached house with a layout we loved and a price we loved so we didn’t have to share a wall. But other than that, our house is pretty great and I look forward to living there for several more years!
When I lived alone I liked the smaller size of my apartment, too – anything more would have been too much for one person to keep clean and I know I would have tried to fill the empty space with stuff I didn’t need! Your place looks great, and being on the first floor is such a bonus.
Our current apartment is in an old heritage building and I absolutely adore the high ceilings, wood floors/trim, and our sunroom/patio garden. I’m not as big a fan of not having much control over the temperature in the apartment and the bathroom could definitely use an upgrade, but on the whole I really like our home and I think we’ll be happy here for at least a few more years while until we’ve saved enough to make a down payment on a house.
I loved when Kate blogged about this, and I love that you picked up the idea and shared more about your apartment with us.
I’ve never had the opportunity to live completely by myself and sometimes I feel like I missed out. You have a very cute apartment and even if it has some downsides, it looks like a really cozy place overall! 🙂