A “Love Our Home” List

An update on the “are-we-aren’t-we moving” front:

Things have quieted down here–no parties until 4am lately… and the endless searching of the perfect apartment on Craigslist is turning up very lackluster results. I think the deciding factor we’ve sort of settled on is whether or not the management hikes up the rent or not (and by how much).  If the rent goes up too much, we’re gone. If it’s reasonable, well, we know the days of the obnoxious summer vacationers are numbered.

It’s nice to know we have options; we are on a wait list for another (smaller) apartment less than a block from my favorite dog park in the neighborhood of Ocean Beach. There are always less expensive options in the hip (and up to ten degrees hotter) neighborhoods of Normal Heights and North Park (but now that I’ve lived by the coast so long, I am spoiled).

If we decide to lock in for another month, however, I have created a “Love Our Home” list… ways to show our apartment some love and make it more like “our own.”  I always have ideas swirling around in my head and writing them all down at once really helps me focus.

• Buy 4 matching chairs four our dining room table (maybe get these, and stain them?)
• Update our outdoor furniture situation
• Paint legs of my computer desk gold
• Create a seamless walnut-stained top for our media unit
• Experiment with removable wallpaper (one of these!)
• Paint a wall (our complex has colors to choose from and will paint a wall for $150; this cost also covers them painting it back for us when we move out).
• Utilize an elfa system to create a semi-built in bookshelf under our kitchen bar overhang

Many of these things are semi-permanent, or at least lean that direction. If we lock in for another 12 months I am going to have to make some changes that are more purposefull and lasting than just rearranging furniture. Because things like built-ins and paint really go a long way toward making a place feel like home.