14 Jun
That Apartment #3
Before I left, I finally got around to taking pictures of our apartment for a tour of our third place. You can see our first apartment here, and our second apartment here. We are slowly building up a collection of items we’d like to keep forever, and I’m forcing myself to be patient while we don’t have the money to decorate our rooms to a Pinterest worthy level. My mom has created a beautiful space in her home, and it’s hard for me to remember that she’s been working at it for almost 30 years, while I’ve barely been married for 3.
This is the entryway, where every guest is greeted by the jogging stroller. It takes up a lot of space, but sometimes I use it as a high chair so it’s nice to have it next to the kitchen. The little teardrop vase is from CB2 and filled with turbinado sugar. Random, but free, and That Husband likes to dip his finger in and have a little taste of something sweet every once in awhile.
To the right of the entryway is the kitchen. Kristin of Bien Living chose the green shade that we painted in here and I love how it brightens up the space a little bit. I want to have a kitchen space that is free of clutter and items littering the counter, but I can’t seem to get rid of enough space to make that happen!
To the left of the entryway is the guest bathroom/T1′s bedroom.
The speaker on the counter blasts white noise whenever he is sleeping, and the pitch black room helps him sleep longer.
Next our bedroom (which is technically not the master bedroom in this layout but we liked it better for our bedroom), with our bed still sitting on the floor. Maybe in Dallas we can get a cheap metal frame to set it on? T1 likes it this way because it’s low enough that he can climb up on top of it. My jewelry display to the left of the dresser was free (just hammered a few nails into the wall) and is so convenient.
Each time we move I put a new quote above our bed. This time it is If you asked me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I. The colorful square to the right of the closet is a picture of TH’s childhood home, and will look a little out of place until I order a second photo that depicts my childhood home. I thought that was a sweet little touch for our bedroom.
Our bathroom.
The room I like the least, the office. Why can’t we keep have it more organized? When we move to Dallas we plan to finally invest in some storage, instead of stacking things on the floor.
My desk to the left was $20 on officemax.com, and I think TH’s cost about the same. The changing table to the far left, and the matching cabinets/drawers in the middle were free from someone moving out of our building the same time we moved in. As you can see we change diapers right next to my computer desk. It stinks (literally). The baby prison keeps the baby out of our stuff while still allowing us to be in the same room we are.
The green wall is T1′s little corner. I’m working on getting some more stuff on the wall.
Whew! Let’s look at a much prettier and better organized room. Kristin is responsible for many of the beautiful pieces you see in this room that I’m excited to reuse in our next place. She chose the paint color, and linked me to the blue/white bowl in the left of the frame,t he rug under the dining table, the futon, the pillows on the couch, the white coffee table, and the blue table that sits next tot he couch that you can’t really see from here. 
Our last living room looked like this, and without Kristin’s house I think that’s exactly what this one would look like as well. Using her long distance design service* though, I was able to see the potential our living room had, even on a limited budget. I’m going to have her draw up a board for my office when we move because I think it’s time for me to be working in a space that helps me feel creative and inspired. Maybe That Wife will make enough money through advertising for me to help fund that little project of mine!
So that’s our Chicago apartment. What you can’t really see here, are the breathtaking views, which I’ve showed before here. Our next place won’t have the same views, but we do think it will probably be a HOUSE. I’m really looking forward to renting a house and having a backyard and a garage once again.
*Kristin is a friend (she was Mrs. Quiche!) and provided her long distance design services free of charge. She didn’t ask me to blog about this but I wanted to anyway because I liked it so much.
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
I love the living room space, and that rug is beautiful.
I also really like what you did with the guest bathroom/T1′s room. It’s very welcoming.
At what point do you think he’ll have his own bedroom? Once he is in a more traditional bed? Obviously the bathroom is his sleeping space and the office his day space but I’m curious.
We also didn’t pick the biggest room for our bedroom. We took the smaller of the two because it was adjacent to the bathroom and more practical when we have guests over.
I feel you on the house. I do love having a garden, being able to grow things and sit outside.
1I get why you are doing it, but having my baby sleep next to a toilet is just icky to me. Maybe it is the germaphobe in me, but I would not like to sleep next to a toilet, I would not do that to my child.
Jenna Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 9:35 am
You also wouldn’t try to eat your own poop in the bath though, would you? He does.
Besides being a germophobe is not good for your kid and his immune system!
And last, what is going to happen because he sleeps in there? It’s a largely unused bathroom. Are germs spontaneously going to fly up and attack him while he is sleeping?
R Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Ha! I was so about to post “Cue Baby Sleeping Next to Toilet Wank”
Jax Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 11:52 am
This response made me laugh:) SO TRUE!
melissa Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Believe me when I say, I am not a clean/neat freak. My kids get plenty dirty and I don’t run after them with hand sanitizer… I don’t have to build their immune system by having them sleep in a sewer either. And no, my kids never ate poop out of the bath because they never did that in the bath…
The thought of sleeping next to the toilet is just gross… it is.
Such a lovely home! I love so many things about it! It looks so peaceful! The quote and canvas(?) photo on the way are so sweet. I would love to do that. My favorite one (and so overused!) is “…And they lived happily ever after.” I have the quote on a piece of art (from an arts and crafts fair) in our guest bedroom. It’s a nice reminder to me that no matter what happens, it can always end with a “happily ever after”.
Are you really moving to Dallas? Yay! I (sort of) live near Dallas! Y’all lived there previously, right? You can probably find an inexpensive bedframe for $50 or even a whole bed w/ headboard and/or footboard! There are so many great resources around here. I would love to organize a playdate for the kids and/or a shopping outing for us!
3I love getting this peek inside your apartment! My favorite part is all the windows. So much beautiful light!
4We are doing Dave Ramsey’s Financial Freedom class and he talks about how our generation looks at our parents and want everything they have right now..Regardless of how much it costs and what we have to do to get it (usually charging or poor budgeting). “Oh! you’ve been married 20 seconds and you don’t have _______”
I’m trying to remember that we’ve only been married 2 years and slowly we are adding to our lives. It makes me upset sometimes because I look at my mom or nana’s homes and wish mine looked that way. But then I remember they are 53 and 69 years old and I am 24. I have plenty of time to decorate and accumulate things that will make wherever we live feel warm and welcoming.
Thanks for the reminder!
R Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 10:47 am
Totally agree! My mom always says the same thing - and she thinks my sibling’s marriage was doomed (they got a divorce in the end) in part because they didn’t understand this.
Katie Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
This is EXACTLY what I see in a lot of my friends. I grew up in a very upper-middle class suburb of Chicago, and I see so many of my friends buying brand new cars that are out of line with their salaries, renting brand-new, trendy apartments with more space than they need, and upgrading their toys (computers, cell phones, handbags) ALL THE TIME. Even if you can afford to, it’s so wasteful!
Thank you Jenna, for decorating your place responsibly. I’m the same way, and while I would love to snap my fingers and have a super-cute home decorated floor to ceiling, I realize it’s not in line with my values on consumption or my budgetary goals!
Andrea Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Totally agree! I recently commented to my husband that I don’t understand how so many of our friends/peers can afford all the fancy cars/trips/whatever that they’re all purchasing. We make a very good living and it was bizarre to me that all these people who make around a similar level, or in some cases considerably less than us, seemed to have so much more (don’t get me wrong, we live very well, but we don’t buy anything until we can pay cash for it), and at a relatively young age.
My husband reminded me it’s because many of them they are living off credit (they have talked to him about their heavy debt loads - I’m not just making assumptions here!), whereas we live off cash (save for our mortgage). It’s just so scary to me that so many people have all this “stuff” but absolutely no financial safety net. Different strokes for different folks, but this wouldn’t work for me!
I live in Dallas!! Yay for blistering hot summers and freakishly cold winters where no one knows how to handle snow and ice =)
There are lots of places that sell furniture in the metroplex, and I always see tons of listings on Craigslist, so I’m sure you’d be able to find a nice bedframe for your budget. I splurged on a nice wooden one from Rooms-to-Go for $400, but I expect it to last me YEARS.
And good for you for building up T1′s immune system! I hear so many moms saying they don’t let their child play around dirt and are constantly cleaning, and while it’s good to be hygienic, if the child is never introduced to germs they can’t build up antibodies!
6Thanks for showing us your place! I LOVE seeing other people’s spaces. And after 7 years of marriage I’ve finally gotten a house I love and am having a blast designing it! (it makes the interior designer in me very happy. And it helps that after 7 years we’ve collected enough furniture pieces that I feel like we’ve finally moved out of the ‘newlywed mis-matched house’ phase) I’m trying to finish up a handful of little projects soon so I can take pictures for my blog. Oh, and like you guys our office is ALWAYS a mess. If you see a picture of it and it’s clean know that it was cleaned specifically to take a picture:)
7I know what you mean about wanting to move into a house! I’m pretty decent about decorating on the cheap and so I can’t wait to have a house to fill up with photos, plants, paintings, etc. Though I know we won’t be able to afford real art for a while. Our apartment is much, much tinier than yours but I guess one good thing about that is it we don’t have any blank spots on walls - they are all used up!
Jackie Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Not saying you have big blank spots…just you got me thinking about having a house v. apartment and a small apartment is easy to decorate. Even if we have dark brown wood panelling, dark brown cabinets, and dark brown carpet. Gross. Also - the chimneys on the roof of our apartment are teal. How weird is that?
LifeOnMulberry Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
We bought a bunch of artwork during our travelling years. In Dallas and San Francisco, it hung all over and we even framed some photos of us because we still had wall-space to spare.
Now in NYC, we have more windows than walls, so all the art is sitting and collecting dust, taking up space. I am glad we had it for the other apartments, but I am more hesitant to frame anything going forward!
is it common to have a baby sleep in one of those pack and play things? What exactly are those things for anyway? Sorry, I don’t know much about babies. Is that thing better than a crib?
9also, I’m jealous of your apartment. We have lived in a house the past 4.5 years and I can’t wait to get out. I’ve been looking at apartments in LA and Cambridge UK the past few weeks. My husband has interviews in both places! I’m excited to move and go back to renting.
10I don’t have a problem with the bathroom bedroom per se, but I think soon it could (not will, but could) be a problem. T1 could try to launch himself out of the crib via the toilet seat- and then you’ve got a host of dangerous problems- water in the toilet (drowning hazard), electrical wires and plugs, turning the water on in the tub. I think the bathroom bedroom is actually a brilliant solution until a certain age, but judging by my own babies’ climbing/escaping/danger attraction abilities, I think you MIGHT have a problem within the next year. Babies seem to have this incredible desire to touch dangerous things….
11Aww, great post! I would love to help you with your future office…though if I refuse, does that mean you’ll stay in Chicago instead of move to Dallas?!
12Gorgeous rug! Where’s it from?
13Thanks for sharing the photos! It’s cool to see how other people arrange their homes.
Also, I love the rug in the living room.
14I love your practical sensibility, and am in love with the fact that T1 sleeps in the guest bathroom in a Pack n’ Play. I would do the same. The very same.
15The toilet in the guest bedroom…are my eye deceiving me or is that a really wide seat? It almost looks like a toilet built for two! (Ew, lol)
Jenna Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 9:30 am
I think it’s probably stretched due to the lens I was using
Oh, haha! I was thinking, “no wonder they don’t use that one often, they would fall in!”. Cute apartment! I am visiting Chicago for the first time next weekend (my best friend lives in boystown) to see the Pride parade. Can’t wait!
17Jenna, I totally sympathize with wanting to decrease kitchen clutter but just not having the space. We keep a locked box in our stairwell with extra kitchen “stuff” (slow cooker, bigger pots, etc) because our kitchen is so small. I always feel like I have clutter!
18Your son is 14 months old and you keep him in a pack and play in the bathroom?? That’s horrifying, especially since 1) this is not a third world country and 2)you have a perfectly respectable 2nd bedroom. it is not hard to buy black out shades.
19