It's Official: I'm Moving to a New Place!

You might have heard: I'm moving! I wasn't actively looking for a new apartment or intending to move, but when the "right place" pops up in a favorite neighborhood at a reasonable price... well, you go for it! During the next month, I'll be packing up and cleaning up my current place and then moving in and settling in to the new one. There will be plenty of packing, cleaning, and moving tips and stories to come, but first I wanted to share a little bit about my new digs.

Here's a chart I whipped up to compare the two places:

And here's a comparison of the floor plans. The one on the left is my current place and this is a very accurate floor plan that I drew up after measuring everything. The one on the right is a very rough estimate of the new place. It's not totally accurate and it's definitely missing a couple closets, but it gives a reasonable idea of the extra space. 

There will be several challenges in the new place. 

Teeny Tiny Bathroom

In all honesty, this bathroom probably isn't really that small. I've been spoiled in my current 15x10 bathroom – it's huge! And I've enjoyed taking bubble baths in my antique clawfoot tub. So it will definitely be an adjustment to use a much smaller bathroom with a standing-only shower and no tub. My current place I have more bathroom storage than I knew what to do with; this place will require some creative organization. It is a decent sized vanity with cabinets overhead though!

Mini Fridge

The place doesn't come with a full-size fridge. I'm welcome to buy one down the line if I decide I want to, but I'm going to test out using a mini fridge first. I rarely fill up even a third of my current full-sized fridge – and much of it often goes to waste. With a mini fridge, I'll save on floor space (even though the kitchen has plenty of it) and I won't be so inclined to live off of frozen meals. Hopefully I'll be more inspired to eat fresh and waste less. The most common reaction I've heard so far is: What about the ice cream?! I'm actually not much of an ice cream eater, so as long as I have room for a six-back of beer in my fridge I'll be fine. 

Slightly Less Closet Space

The new place seems to have less closet space, but I can't be sure. Hopefully by downsizing my stuff before moving in, it won't be much of a storage issue. 

More Money Spent

Because of the extra space, trendy location, and a few additional utilities in my name, I will definitely be paying more for this new place. I've done the math and I can definitely afford it, but I will have to cut back on other areas of my spending: like splurging on Starbucks coffees (I can brew java at home), shopping Target clearance aisles (for things I really don't need), and dining out (I'll have a kitchen I'll actually want to cook in). It's totally worth the extra cost.

There are many, many perks to the new place.

Favorite Neighborhood

I fell in love with this area of the city when I moved here. G and I spend almost every weekend there – grabbing a lunch a the market, trying new beers at the bar, browsing the bookstore and antique shops. It will be wonderful to walk five minutes to our favorite spots and only fifteen minutes to one of our favorite breweries. The neighborhood is not only a growing, thriving area for arts, entertainment, and community, but it's also safe and quiet. 

Front Porch

This might not sound like a big deal, but my current place really offers no outdoor space. I can (and have) went around to the front of the house to hang out on the big wraparound porch, but it's kind of awkward since I live at the back of the house and have no other reason to be on that side besides my mailbox. In the new place, I'll have an adorable little front porch to drink my beer/coffee/wine on and pet the neighborhood kitties. (Well, when spring comes at least. Iowa's winter is about to set in.)

Extra Space

My dining table and chairs will go in the kitchen, since it's so large. That means the dining room will be open. At this point, I'm planning on putting my desk and bookshelves in there as office/blogging/writing room. I'll have my sofa, chairs, and tv in the front room, which is the living room. Or maybe I'll switch those rooms around? Either way, I'll also have a small second bedroom to use. Since I have a lot of clothes and shoes that might not fit into the closets, I'm thinking about putting my dresser in there and creating a dressing room or boudoir of sorts. In my current place, my kitchen/dining/living room is squished into one room. Here, I'll actually have an extra room that I'm not quite sure what to do with. It's a lovely feeling. :)

So there's the breakdown of my big move. (It's actually not so big; I'm only moving 2.5 miles.) I'll share photos in about a month when I start moving into the place. The current tenant is actually moving upstairs, so all the photos I took have her belongings and moving boxes in them. I'd rather respect her privacy and wait to post pictures until she's moved upstairs. But I have a feeling that this month will be a fast one and you'll be seeing pics very soonly!

Photo at top by Reg Natarajan via StockPholio.com (I only wish I had my stuff all packed up in boxes already. Haha.)

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