Category: Apartment Living

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now

It’s storytime…

Last Thursday we walked through two apartments in the affordable midcentury-hipster-chic neighborhood of North Park, here in San Diego. We’d found the units on Craigslist and coincidentally they were right next door to each other. The first, a recent renovation (recent as in, the paint was still wet) was decked out with fabulous carpet and a brand new custom IEKA kitchen and white quartz counters that had me drooling. The problem was that it was move-in-ready, like, within the next two weeks (our lease here goes until the end of September). The second unit was part of a triplex next door that was seriously ancient, disgusting, and awful. Both units cost over $200 less than our current space, but were also significantly smaller–up to 200 sq ft smaller.

We drove around North Park, Normal Heights, and University Heights jotting down “for rent” numbers with stars in our eyes. We came home with every intention of putting in our notice and planning to hire movers for late September. I left to meet up with a blogger I found through her home tour on A Beautiful Mess, and Doug was going to go downstairs to have a pow-wow with our leasing office.

I came home a few hours later (Jen and I had a great time!) to ask Doug how everything went. I found him asleep on the couch. The pow wow with our leasing office never happened. Then something strange happened… we agreed that after touring those apartments and very seriously entertaining the idea of moving next month, we both felt like the extra 200 sq ft was reason enough to stay. To make sure it wasn’t just cold feet, I searched CL a bit for larger units and two-bedrooms in North Park and found that they cost the same amount we are paying right now. Then, we did some calculations in regards to a) doubling up on rent for two weeks, b) coming up with a security deposit, and c) paying movers, etc… and it just makes sense to stay put for the next 10-12 months, even with a medium rent hike ($40). Even though my gripe list with our current apartment is very long, the noisy summer partiers (my biggest frustration) have moved on and things are just comfortable here.

After hanging art

With that resolution agreed upon, we decided to put down roots here. We’re going to make more holes in the wall. We’re going to sell some furniture and buy some other furniture. We’re going to make the rooms right, as opposed to okay for now. We’re going to have people over more often and finally turn our temporary cookie cutter into our home. 

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.

Under the Sink

I like to think that I run a tight ship as far as cleaning products are concerned. I’ve found that a few products are enough to handle most jobs. Case in point: underneath my kitchen sink:

Under the Sink

Pictured:

  • Method hand soap refill packet,
  • paper towels (we swear by Bounty),
  • Arm & Hammer pet stain and odor remover,
  • Glad trash bags,
  • bleach pen,
  • germ-x,
  • IKEA mineral oil for cutting boards,
  • Febreeze (hiding behind the divider),
  • dog food,
  • Oxy-Clean, Windex,
  • Method grapefruit all-purpose cleaner,
  • dishwasher tablets (Finish brand),
  • Swiffer furniture polish spray
  • (Laundry detergent and dryer sheets are kept in the bedroom closet next to the hamper)

I know that for the majority of my life, that is, taking into account my parents’ house and my prior two living spaces, “under the sink” was something I avoided thinking about at all costs. Terrifying visions of avalanches, suspicious chemicals, and the possibility of bugs (which I always associate with dark enclosed spaces) made me avoid thinking about it–and subsequently avoid cleaning and organizing said space.

News flash: the only way to improve the quality of a space is to clean it! Get rid of all the products you hate or never use. When we moved last fall, I didn’t relish the idea of transporting cleaners and chemicals across the country. I had the notion that heat and elevation changes would result in a moving truck full of exploded cleaning agents. This probably wouldn’t have happened. We used up all we could and gave the rest of our cleaners to the new residents anyway.

When restocking the cleaning supplies, we relied on past experience and only got what we knew worked. I’ve been happy with all these products (with the exception of the pet stain remover, which is fine but not my favorite) and haven’t had to spend needless amounts of money on “the next amazing cleaning product.” I think it helps that I surf the internet with AdBlock engaged and we don’t watch TV (just Netflix and Hulu) so our exposure to commercials is pretty limited.

If I were to add two items to my arsenal, it would be white vinegar and a Mr. Clean magic eraser. They’re going on the grocery list right now.

Got any favorite products I need to know about? And hey, thanks for weighing in on my last two moving-related posts. Lots of great food for thought there.