OUR NEW PLACE!

We found our new home here in Norfolk! On our first day of looking at places we saw a for rent sign outside of a great old apartment building right in the area of town we wanted. The next day, without knowing anything about the place we were walking into, we looked at the apartment, loved it, and spent the rest of the day thinking about it. We decided to take it later that day and signed the least the next day, October 3 (my birthday!). It had a lot of the big things that we were looking for, feels so cozy and safe, and is within walking distance to so much stuff. I have so many favorite things about it, but mostly I love that it's a place I can't wait to settle into with Douglas. 

We love all the details that come with an older building. I love the glass doorknobs, gorgeous wooden floors, and the super wide moulding around the windows. There's always these things about getting to know a new place, like what patterns the light will make on the floors during different parts of the day.

Two of our rooms have beautiful exposed brick walls on one side. It's a detail we loved about the first apartment we looked at - but that was about its strongest point. So we were really excited when it showed up in two rooms here - and we like these older looking bricks better! 

We have a cute, little black and white bathroom. I'm forever obsessed with black and white, so I love it. 

One of our favorite details - a beautiful stained glass window in our hallway looking into our bedroom...well there's not much stained glass here since it's mostly clear with light blues and greys. But it's an unexpected detail and the textures are really pretty. 

We have a huge balcony. It's the first apartment we've had where our outdoor space is somewhere we'd want to spend time. I can't wait to maybe grow some herbs and get some new covers for my parents' old butterfly chairs. 

This is what it looks like out of our back door. I love the white brick with the natural bricks. I think I just love everything about this place. 

Our living room has these columns in the big doorway. These lights here aren't permanent but we had to have them here for our first night in the new place. These lights are always in our bedroom, so I couldn't have our first night without them. 

We even have a cute, little non-functioning doorbell. 

All these pictures were taken with the original wall colors - dull, darker neutrals...not our thing. Or at least my thing. Luckily, Douglas is the best and had no problem with painting the walls. We started this weekend, and slowly but surely our walls are becoming bright and white. So excited to see the change it makes in the whole place. But let's get real. Picking out white paint is tough stuff. 

Okay and let's get real with this. I love our new place so much, but this is the air mattress, no furniture, minimal belongings situation that exists in here right now. The moving truck is supposed to arrive with our stuff sometime this week, so until then we are living like this. Luckily that gives us time to paint and not ruin all our furniture with our many paint splatters. I like having my things organized and living in some sort of order, so this, along with the stresses of a new place, gets to me more than I'd like. But I know that in no time we'll be all settled, and I'll be worrying about how to decorate the walls. So for now I'm trying to enjoy this exciting, scary, stressful time we are sharing together. We are lucky.