See that? It’s the kitchen in the new apartment. Doesn’t it look peaceful? Doesn’t it look like everything is in place and as though I’m probably just out of frame, casually eating a banana? HAH!
This move has been both exhausting and comically fraught with problems. And we thought we’d planned everything so well. Nothing life-threatening, thankfully, but the kind of things that you start putting on a “to be resolved” list, and then the next thing you know that list has 300 things on it, and you don’t know where to start and people aren’t calling you back and everything you thought you could cross off the list actually needs to go back on again. Oh, and we’re still not done moving out of the old place. And I really should have taken more than two days off work. (Do I sound tired? I’m very tired.)
Another moment of peace, taken on the first morning in the new place. Chaos aside, I always love those first few days in a new place when stuff is in boxes and you can pretend to be the kind of person who, for some weird reason, would need a big empty room with nothing in it but a rug and a side table.
BOXES! This is the second move we’ve done with these Jugglebox crates. They’re awesome. Guys come and drop them off before your move, then they come and pick them up when you’re done with them. They’re easy to pack, they nest, they require no tape, they stack well, and they’re easy to carry. (There are a lot of companies out there that provide this service, so Google for “rent plastic moving boxes” if you want to find something similar in your area.)
I managed to unpack the last of these boxes the day before yesterday (let’s just pretend the contents of the last five are neatly put away and not just crammed into a closet), and the guys are coming to pick them up tonight. Just having them out of here is going to make a big difference.
This is the new view from the bedroom/upstairs window! If you look down, you see a bunch of garbage and broken furniture and stuff, so I’ve decided that looking up is really the way to go. Isn’t that a good tip for happy living? And how cool is that solarium?? I’ve always wanted a solarium. I can’t wait to see how it looks out there in the snow…
Bookshelves! Accomplishment! This is upstairs, in the loft area. It’s the short wall in photo #2 from my floor plan post. These are the same bookshelves I had in the last apartment and in the apartment before that. In the grand tradition of IKEA discontinuing all of their best stuff, these great steel brackets (EXBY OXIE) are no longer available. Typical! The poster is by the awesome Wasted Rita.
We had a really dumb idea to go mattress-shopping at IKEA on a Saturday right after moving. We didn’t take our old bed with us, so it wasn’t really an option—we just had to go. Totally worth the crowds! We’ve had a full size bed for years, so upgrading to a queen feels really, really luxurious. We went with the medium-firm MYRBACKA mattress. So comfortable. I really like IKEA mattresses. We have one at the house, too, and it still feels great after 8 years.
Now we just need a new bed to go with the mattress!
Fritz and Bruno are settling in really well, as you can tell. So helpful! If it were up to them, we’d keep the mattress directly on the floor forever.
More photos as soon as I figure out where I packed my camera…
48 Comments
A home post? I love it! I’ve been fretting for the last 8(ish? I’m guessing… I have no sense of time) months, waiting for a peek into your current living spaces. Keep us updated on this new gorgeous place!
Hi Kari, if you only want to view home-related posts, you can always click the House category or the Apartment category links. 🙂
“In the grand tradition of IKEA discontinuing all of their best stuff…”
Yes, like that rug. I know it’s been gone for a long time, but I still pine over it.
I know. :\ If I could go back in time, I’d buy three more.
It looks like they’ve brought back something similar, but I do like the smaller pattern ;-/
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30287821/
Unfortunately, that rug is pretty awful in person. It’s a synthetic pile carpet. 🙁 The discontinued one I have is wool flatweave, like a dhurrie.
I would love to know where your bedding is from! I have been searching for cute black/white polka dot sheets!
Hi Nicole, they actually have tiny plus signs on them! They’re from Target—you can’t see them in the main photo on their site, but if you look at the “color” options, this pattern is there. Very soft and very cheap!
Where is the blanket on top from? It looks great and also like it’s NOT knitted which means my dog can’t wrestle with it and ruin it…
It’s from a old IKEA PS collection! So…discontinued. Of course.
That rug ! So awesome ! But of course Ikea discontinued it…
It’s already looking so cute! That pink bowl in the kitchen is perfect! Can’t wait to come over and see. <3
Even unfinished it’s looking awesome… Can’t wait to watch the progress, that is such a COOL space!
(p.s. I really have to work on that jealousy thing and just be happy for other people…. lol)
That pink bowl in the kitchen next to the gray countertops is awesome!
That bowl was a lucky junk shop find! I love the color.
I meant to buy those shelf brackets so many times…and when I finally had an actual spot where they could go…they were gone. *sob*
Is that the grundtal rail attache to the bottom of your kitchen cabinets? I’ve been trying to figure out a towel bar situation in our kitchen but am loath to drill into our tile back-splash.
I know—I’ve learned my lesson the hard way with IKEA stuff. If I really like it a lot and it’s not too expensive, I just go ahead and buy it. Especially if it’s something easy to store for later like these brackets.
And yes, the rail is screwed into the bottom of the cabinets! I didn’t want to drill into the brick, and I think this looks a little cleaner, anyway. I did the same thing in the last apartment.
I knew you would emerge one day! Everything looks marvellous! But isn’t that the rug we had on loan for a couple of days, just to see how it would look? I don’t think it looks very good in your place.
Glad you’re happy with the IKEA mattresses….
We had one for about 5 years, and were very much NOT happy with it. It completely lost it’s shape — it went from being a rectangle in profile to something best described as a parallelogram. And the massive dents from both my husband and I where we sleep, it was awful. Very misshapen and very uncomfortable after just a few years of having it.
I will say that IKEA was happy to honour their warranty on it and gave us the option to exchange it or get a full refund. We took the money and ran as fast as we could to a real mattress store for the best bed we’ve ever had.
I think there’s probably a vast difference in quality depending on which mattress you choose. We’ve had good luck going with either the most expensive or second-most expensive model they offer. Also, annoyingly, IKEA is constantly changing the models, so it’s almost impossible to buy the same mattress twice. Fingers crossed this one holds up like the one at the house!!
We just moved house so I know that feeling of how nice it is before all the stuff arrives to mess it up, but I have to say that with those green boxes even your mess looks stylish! Every so often I mourn the fact that there is no IKEA in NZ and wish I had brought more. I love those shelf brackets that look like a bit like string shelves. Sigh. But, I am lucky enough to have two of the triangle rugs after spotting one in a dusty heap in a friends garage. The previous tenants had left it behind and they didn’t want it. Score!
Glad to see you in the Bloglovin feed…
just keep swimming!
I applaud you for braving Ikea on a Saturday! Looking forward to more new home posts.
maggie
I think my only worry is those low ceilings in the loft would make me feel a little claustrophobic, but I’m sure when you’re actually there in person it’s a totally different kind of thing. It’s really beautiful! All your stuff is perfectly suited to it.
Your new apartment looks so cool! I can’t wait to see it all decorated
Great place! Can hardly wait to see how it develops into home.
Reusable boxes for all of my belongings? Bacteriophob as I am, I use cardboard boxes, they are recycled afterwards.
Ombia, they disinfect them between uses. Bacteria is not a concern.
http://juggleboxmoving.com/faqs
“We use an air compressor and disinfect all Juggleboxes after each use so they arrive clean and in great condition. Used cardboard collected from different sources carry risk of bacteria or critters (think roaches and bed bugs).”
First, it looks great! I moved 4 times (+baby+dog) in two years, and it gets better after the first month. Good luck with everything!
Those green moving boxes are genius! I just helped my dad move and, even though I made sure the cardboard boxes landed in recycling, I still felt weird about the trees that were felled to make them in the first place. This would have eased my enviro-nerd guilt. I’m so keeping this in mind for future moves. Can’t wait to see how you make the apartment into a home, Anna. You always pull things together so beautifully.
That brick is dreamy! What are the black horizontal beams for on the wall, reinforcement? They look very cool.
Love those exposed brick walls!
Look at all those lovely Marrimekko mugs. I had one of those black and white ones but it broke just last week.
Anna, can you please come and organise my life, I feel you’d be good at that? sorry I’ve gone off topic, and I should caveat my comment with I’m not a crazy stalker in a dirty raincoat, I’m just awfully disorganised!
New apartment looks great, which is really all I should have said.(now I seem even more crazy stalkerish)
I can’t even get my own life in order, Berns, much less anyone else’s!
Thank Anna! You are much more relaxed then I am about this.
I won’t even start what I replace the first day in move into a new apartment – toilet seat, desinfect all the door knobs and light switches and so on. But I got much better! I don’t even want to start what I used to do in the hotel room.
Hi Anna. Can you give me a Smeg fridge update. I’m about to make the plunge but have heard that the seal on the door either doesn’t work or is too “tight” and whole fridge moves when you open it. I’m torn between the yellow, lime green or white…
Hi Wendy, I haven’t had that problem with the fridge at all. The only issue I’ve had was with the lower hinge loosening, which caused the door to not seal properly. We’ve since fixed that, though.
What an awesome space! And a pretty cool view looking up! Ive always wanted a solarium too, they seem so fancy! Good luck with unpacking 🙂
Looks great already! Can’t wait to follow the process 🙂
And solarium in Swedish is sunbed – had to think twice about why on earth you would want to have a sunbed. Haha. You learn something new every day.
Thanks for the info. Would you do the Smeg thing again? Is it working otherwise and was it hard to get service? I’m a designer too so I don’t mind absorbing a repair as long it generally stops food from spoiling etc…
Wendy, we just tightened the bolt ourselves—it took a few minutes. No biggie!
Not sure if you are looking for recommendations but we currently love both the beds we have. One is the Ikea Mandal bed – without the headboard. (I like how the knots in the wood pop against the black accent wall in our guest room. Also it’s super solid once you build it. The individual pieces of the bed fit together beautifully – mitered corners! My one quibble is that you have to be careful with the drawer fronts when moving. Ordinary use is fine but don’t accidentally bang them against a door frame.) Our other bed is the Dodu bed by Blu Dot. It has a nice thick headboard for leaning against or leaving your book on. It’s impossible to stub your toe on because it’s upholstered! Also it gives our older dog a little step to climb up in the middle of the night when she gets cold.
Psst…we already bought the Mandal bed! 😀
I can’t get over how great your new place looks. Loving that exposed brick and the warm industrial feel it gives. I could totally picture myself in that apartment, painting some wild abstract paintings in my platinum blonde bob, bright pink lips, and round glasses. So, if you’re ever looking for a (sub)tenant for one of the upstairs closets…just sayin’. 😀
Btw, what’s our dog doing there? Took me awhile to realize it’s Bruno and not our (soon) 8-year-old bichon havanese, Dino.
What is the name of that eames chair? Leather DKW is the closest thing I can find from googling.
Hi Casey, it’s an upholstered DSW (D = dining, S = side, W = wood). The upholstery is vinyl, not leather. Upholstered Eames shells are either Hopsack fabric or vinyl (or a combination of the two).
Also, I should add that the chair pictured is vintage. I don’t believe Vitra or HM are still manufacturing the shells with vinyl upholstery, only Hopsack/fabric.
The place looks so nice! I love the brick wall! It has character! 🙂