Starting to Feel Like Home

We have our apartment! And after many hours on Craigslist, and two (incomplete) trips to Ikea, it's beginning to feel like we actually have a home! All we need now is our stuff...and for it all to fit.

Want to know what a New York apartment looks like?

Here is our bedroom and closet (which is actually pretty big...and we'll need it!)


Our lovely windows in the bedroom


Kendra standing in the kitchen, with half the living room in the foreground (we didn't get too many pictures of the empty place)



One of Kendra's favorite things to do here is to make friends with Craigslist sellers, since we still don't really know anyone else yet (looking for apartments and jobs doesn't leave much room in the social calendar). We sold all our furniture in San Diego, so we're starting over with everything. We search for sale items on the Upper East Side that we want/need, and then we stop by, pick up our new furnishings, and roll them down the street on the fold-up dolly. It's really fun!

That's me with our TWO air conditioners for $75


Kendra and our $20 microwave


And an Ikea chair with matching ottoman, the only thing we had to sit on at the time.



We moved all this in one day and we included in Ikea trip. The closest Ikea is in Brooklyn and they have their own ferry (a NYC water taxi really, but it's a ferry) that takes you straight to Ikea's own dock.



It was like going to an amusement park: long lines, so crowded, and they have their own transportation! We spent a while in Ikea (about 3.5 hours) and made sure we picked out everything we wanted to get later. That was Sunday. On Tuesday Kendra's cousin, Tyler, helped us out with a ZipCar (they describe it as car borrowing) and we made one more trip to get our beds, a table, bookcase, rugs, and a few other thing we couldn't take home on the subway. We are starting to understand how people move in New York: Once...that's it.

Here's the Zip Car all packed...


...and me in the back seat!



So after many days of shopping, carrying big bags onto the subway at rush hour, and one dropped television, our apartment is furnished! Well, almost...we still need our boxes from San Diego...but it looks like someone actually lives at our new home. Very exciting!

Here's our bedroom with our cute rug that we're going to try and keep clean


Our Ikea chair and sofa bed so when we have visitors they'll have a place to sleep (and the mattress still has the plastic on it, so it was a safe Craigslist buy)


We got this 32" TV from Craigslist for $65 and as we were bringing it into the building, we dropped/set it down on the curb because it's so heavy

We're thinking it's a little too big, but it will do for now...and it's smaller than the 42" TV that Kendra originally wanted

And our miniature kitchen! The microwave had to go on top of the cabinets, and we also got a kitchen cart for some added counter space, since it's almost non-existant.



That's where we are now. Waiting for our things to arrive and thinking of ways to make it all fit. We're doing well for only being here two weeks. It's been a great move so far.