New Place!

About two weeks ago, my husband and I moved into a new apartment. And by new, I mean new to us–the apartment itself is pretty old. When we were contemplating whether or not to move from our old apartment, there was a long list of specific things I knew I wanted in the next place. Here's an example:

• Lots of windows.
• 3-flat or similar building.
• Vintage building.
• Formal dining room.
• Kitchen with room for a table.
• Large bedrooms (for the city at least).
• Hardwood floors.

I really didn't think that these would be all that difficult to find within my price range, but it took a lot of searching to find the perfect place. The "perfect" place that we ended up choosing was actually pretty imperfect by rental standards and has turned into kind of a fixer upper... that we don't even own! 

I suppose this is the price you have to pay when moving into a vintage building. To me, the original woodwork, hardwood floors and built-in hutch are gorgeous and something to treasure. However, to the previous tenants (and perhaps the landlord as well), these assets were just there and probably ignored. Because of this we have beautiful woodwork that has been covered by years of dust and paint from sloppy paint jobs. It's definitely frustrating, but I know the potential for a beautiful apartment is there. 

So this is the forum in which I will share all my trials of trying to make this place into what will be our first real home. Feel free to read, look around and comment as you please. Here are a couple photos of the place before we moved in... just so you know what we're dealing with.