Home Sweet Home (for now)

Greetings from our new flat! Woo hoo! There is no better feeling in the world than unpacking after 2 weeks of living out of suitcases.

Wait, scratch that. There is a better feeling, unpacking all your suitcases while drinking Gin + Ginger Ale and stealing your new neighbor's wifi.


What's not such a good feeling? The morning after consuming multiple Gin + Ginger Ales while unpacking. Why hello Hangover, it's been awhile. Although, I can't really say I've missed you.

Now onto the goods, a photo tour of our flat. I feel like I'm on MTV Cribs, except instead of bottles of Cristal, rooms where "the magic happens" and pimped out rides, Sean and I have filtered tap water, a galley kitchen, and a TV from 1973. Oh yes. Get excited.

I was going to start with a picture of the building from the outside. Then I realized that probably isn't very smart of me. People might want to come steal our sweet 1970s era TV from us and then where would I be? Just close your eyes and visualize: it's brick and cement and has windows and a door. All very posh looking, I assure you.

First up, the inside entrance from our door


Immediately to the right of the door are stairs that lead up to the rest of the flat. To the left of the door is the bathroom, which means the loo is on its own floor away from everything else. This makes me incredibly happy. If any of you have ever lived with a boy, you can understand. Ahem, boys and bathrooms. Need I say any more?


While we are down here amidst all this bathroom talk, I'll show you a few interesting "European" things that we don't usually see in the States.
The first time I saw pictures of the flat, I asked the realtor when the rest of the shower door was going to be installed. It isn't, this is the way it is supposed to be. I think we should just use all the wasted space the rest of the bathtub is taking up and turn it into a hot tub or sauna. Great idea, no?
This is going to be one of the more difficult things for me to get used to. We have a washing machine that is fantastic. And our dryer? Well, you are looking at it. The high heat setting is when I make Sean stand in front of the drying rack and breathe heavily on the clothes.

I realize the drying racks are common in Europe. Sean had them in his flat in Ireland and I've seen other London bloggers talk about them so I'm going to need to put my big girl pants on and get over it. Who needs warm, fluffy clothes out of the dryer in 45 minutes anyway? Pssshhhh overrated.

The outlets are different for a couple reasons. Obviously the prongs and voltage are different. Trust me on this one. Trust me and my smoldering, smoking blow dryer.

There is another interesting aspect to them . See the two switches in the middle? They are On/Off switches, so when you want to use the outlet, you need to flip it on. I like this because it saves electricity. However, it takes some getting used to. I spent 10 minutes last night bringing a lamp outlet to outlet cursing it for not working before I realized I hadn't flipped the switch on any of them. FAIL.

Okay back to the good stuff.
Our flat came furnished. Including this amazing apron. It might just be our favorite part.

Well, that or all the sweet cooking utensils.

It also came with this fabulous Ikea table. but no chairs. Riddle me that.
We will have to order some online and get them delivered. This area is going to serve as my study room/dining room/we need some space from each other before we kill one another room.

The living room is huge and has some amazing features that make it worth paying the astronomical London rent alone.
After spending the past 2 months living in a basement apartment, the size of the windows make both of us weep tears of joy. This morning I found Sean curled up in the fetal position on the floor beneath this window basking in the sunlight. Just kidding. That'd be hilarious though. Hilarious and slightly creepy.


The fireplace is great. It's gas and turns on with a flip of a switch. I think I like the idea of telling people we have a working fireplace more than actually using it. Gas is expensive, yo.

Now try not to let your envy get the best of you with this next photo. I know, we have a pretty fanfreakingtastic entertainment center here. This TV is top of the line. I especially like that the antenna is shaped like a Christmas tree.

Last, but certainly not least is the bedroom. I actually really love our bedroom. It has THREE closets (um what!? If I had known that I would've packed at least 3 more suitcases worth of clothes!) and another huge window for us. I even like the funky wallpaper and matching curtains. Go figure.



So there you have it. Home Sweet Home, for now at least. This apartment may not be perfect, but we love it because it is ours. For the rest of our lives, Sean and I will look back on this flat with warm thoughts. Although we've lived together all summer, this is the first space we've picked out together and moved into together, and that means something to us. I know 10, 15, 20 years from now, we'll look back and talk about this time in our lives and smile. We won't remember how tiny the kitchen is or how ridiculously small the TV was (okay maybe we'll remember that), but instead it'll be nights like tonight...making dinner, listening to the rain outside, curling up on the couch, and enjoying each other's company. awwwwwww.

Just in case you haven't gotten enough pictures yet, I'm going to include some from this morning at the Borough Market. It is perhaps the most amazing Farmer's Market I've ever seen. I'll explain more about it another time, but for now I will leave you with the food porn. Enjoy at your own leisure.







Okay, I'm done now. Really. Thanks for visiting our flat. As all the famous rappers say, "You don't gotta go home, but you gotta get the heck outta here". (They probably don't say heck. They probably drop the f-bomb and say biatch at the end instead, but you get my point)