SNEAK PREVIEW OF OUR NEW APARTMENT + HOW WE GOT HERE

Well it’s officially been a little over a week since we moved into our new place. After 8 years in my old apartment, it’s going to take a little while to make my new place feel like home but I’m getting there. It feels so good to be settled in with everything pretty much in its place. Of course, there will always be tweaks to the decorating, art to be found and things shifting around as we live in the space but all of the big pieces are in and settled.

I wanted to share with you our apartment hunting process and how we are making this new apartment really feel like home.

First, let’s rewind to a January trip Trevor and I took up to Timber Cove. We were winding up along the coast and planning what the year ahead would look like. Trevor’s lease was expiring in April and I had been in my apartment for 8 years, plus our one year anniversary was also coming up in April. After both becoming bag people and carrying at least two bags every day for a year we were ready to simplify things a bit. But it wasn’t just about the bags, we wanted to take this next step together. So on that trip, we decided it was time to move in together. I explained to Trevor all of the nerves I felt leaving an apartment that had rent control, plus leaving somewhere I had been for the past 8 years. It seemed overwhelming and exciting at the same time.

From there, I started obsessively researching apartments. Since I hadn’t looked at places in 8 years, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much had changed in the housing space. One website I discovered was Zumper. Zumper makes it a little easier to navigate the overwhelming apartment search with awesome features like setting up alerts and neighborhood FAQs. However, one of my favorite features is their safety and verification. On other sites, it can get a little scary determining if the posting is real or not. The Zumper team actually verifies their listings to make sure they are legitimate, which really helps with piece of mind. The other feature I really loved was at the bottom of each listing, there is a rent trend chart (like an airline price tracker) so you can compare with other prices in that neighborhood to see if they are pricing fairly. Lastly, they have a chart showing transportation, schools and a walkability score at the bottom of the listing so you can see what it would be like to get around in the new location. All of these elements are such a plus when looking into a new place. Take it from someone who was very settled into her old apartment that these reassurances really help with a move.

So after researching like crazy and being very aggressive with hopping on apartments the minute they were listed (thanks alerts!!) we found our apartment. I have to say that this is not the apartment I thought I’d end up in. It’s modern, it’s in a huge apartment complex but I was convinced the moment I saw the washer and dryer. Ok that wasn’t the only thing but I do love all of the amenities a new place provides (not to mention Whole Foods is a block away). When you are looking for an apartment, you just have to keep an open mind and let things surprise you a bit (in a good way) This was only the second apartment we saw but because of my previous research I knew it was a keeper.

Fast-forward to today, one week out from moving in and it’s slowly starting to feel like home. Since I moved from a old victorian to a super modern apartment, I wanted to make sure that I added a lot of warm cozy textures, and details that made it feel homey and inviting. Nothing is worse than a cold, modern apartment. I wanted to share a little preview of a few things I did to make it feel warm and like us. First, I made sure there were LOTS of big cozy textures like braided wool rugs and warm wood accents. I also spread out my vast candle collection around the apartment to make it feel a little bit more lived in. On a side note, I think Trevor was surprised about just how many candles I had, but once I disseminated them around the apartment he gets it. One thing I am still working on are the stacks of books. After reading quite a few other blog posts about styling, everyone loves a good book stack. I do too! I am just searching for the right books that look good visually in the space.

Overall I am pretty darn happy with where we ended up on the new apartment and I can’t wait to show you future tours when we get everything into place.

Thank you to Zumper for sponsoring this post.