Windows and Discovering That You Don’t Hate Your Apartment

On my (extensive) DIY-To-Do list has been to cover one set of our windows with fabric. The window in question looks out onto the neighbor’s porch which is

1. weird for us
2. weird for them
3. just generally weird.
   

BUT being me and with life and work and love getting in the way, I haven’t gotten around to it. (Or a “round toit”, sold here).

I got the inspiration for this project from the rather marvelous Daniel at manhattan-nest.com. You should look at his blog. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. But don’t leave me for him, just because he loves Eames more than I do.

Aaaaanyway, haven’t done it yet. Haven’t found the fabric, haven’t found the time, yadda, yadda, yadda. BUT it turns out that this is GOOD news because (sound the trumpets) we’re getting new windows! That’s right, our landlord decided to put money INTO the apartment and give us new windows.

I suspect that they will be new, energy-efficient windows so they can get the tax credit currently offered for installing them. I have to say though, sometimes (a lot of times) it’s kind of nice having a big, professional company manage your apartment complex. I mean, sure, they don’t care about you, and unless you’re there forever, you can forget about seeing your deposit back, and the rent is more ridiculous BUT… but but but—they do get stuff done sometimes. They have money, they see the big picture, and they make good when you first threaten to sue over something so you don’t have to go through the motions of ACTUALLY doing it. Because, really, who has the time?

We were thinking about jumping ship because of the electrical violations… but you know what? We can deal.

We went to look at another apartment that was SLIGHTLY bigger and a townhouse to boot, but the SLIGHTLY bigger was entirely taken up by staircase, the half bath and the full bath added together weren’t the size of our current (admittedly amazing) bathroom, and the place just seemed smaller.

On top of that, there was no dedicated parking, which is RETARDED in southern California. Retarded, I tell you. I mean, my current dedicated parking place is in an alley which I walk past a couple of dumpsters and a gate that the entire apartment complex is in a war with (I’ll tell you about it sometime). BUT when I get home, I know where my car is going to go. When I get up, I know where I put the car. That’s huge.

Another aspect that was originally a pro that quickly degraded to a con was the “painted accent walls”. You don’t pick the color, they’ve just randomly painted two walls accent colors for you. The one in the living room was ok, it’s a non-obtrusive brownish color that would neither go with nor clash with much of anything. But in the bedroom the accent wall was SCARLET. Bright-red-freaking-wall in the BEDROOM, people. Who can sleep with that? And when I asked if we could paint over it, the lady said “Sure, as long as you paint it back red before you leave”. This is NOT the same as requesting you paint shit back to white when you leave. This is a brand-specific color that we’d have to find. No. No, I tell you. I will not!

Also, the neighborhood was pretty much on par with ours. So instead of “movin’ on up” we’d be, as the hubs said “moving a step over”.

Anyway, new windows! And, I’m going to paint our fabulous bathroom. AND I’ve finished TWO of the projects in the DIY waiting room. Yay!

Have a lovely day.