January 22nd, 2017

We got an apartment!! 🏘

So I never really made a post to announce it (both because we were waiting to tell our families first and also because we've just been so busy lately), but in case you didn't already know... As of today we were officially assigned an apartment and move-in date!

Let's start with some details, shall we? ;)

Our apartment is located in Woodridge at the Windsor Lakes apartment complex. Our move-in date is February 5th. There are eighteen different buildings, only about 10-15 people per complex (if all the rooms are filled), so that is definitely nice. Three floors per building. Our particular building is one of the newest ones and was recently refurbished. Meaning, there have been very few tenants before us and it'll be very up-to-date! So that's exciting. The clubhouse is one building away and comes with a ton of perks. As mentioned, we'll have access to a beautiful pool all summer long as well as a hot tub! They have a workout facility that the two of us will definitely be taking advantage of, as well as some office spaces that I could come use to do homework if I wanted a nicer, more professional space to work. They have an indoor half-court for basketball and a billiards room to shoot pool. Our building is right next to the cute little park! We also have tennis courts on the property that we can go use whenever we please. Just a short walk away, two buildings down, is that breathtaking pond and gazebo I mentioned. Michael and I will certainly be spending a lot of time in the summer sitting by the pond and taking walks together. And in the winter, we have the perfect place to go skating together! 😊 They will be giving us four parking passes, which is perfect since we have both of our cars plus Mike's work van. We'll have one left over for any overnight guests! 

As far as our actual apartment goes, we got a fantastic deal on the price of rent. They were running a special so our monthly rate was reduced (and we get that reduced price monthly for our entire lease!). Because we are moving in before February 6th we also get March's rent completely free! 😁 Our apartment is a one bedroom and is super roomy. Seriously, we were really surprised at how roomy it was. And best of all: we are allowed to paint! There are large, beautiful windows in the living room to let in a bunch of sunshine. And our bedroom has a humongous closet! Everything about our place is just wonderful. And what makes it even better is that now it's ours. We are so excited to start making that space into our space. Decorating and personalizing is going to be so fun! We already have lots of ideas and I cannot wait to execute them together.

This weekend we've been brainstorming color ideas for the walls. Today we actually went out and picked the exact colors for each room! I won't be showing you any exact colors until it's actually all painted, but I'm too excited not to at least give you an idea as to what it'll look like. ;) Our living room is going to be a gorgeous earthy green color. The back wall and kitchen is a homey tan color, to match the earthy tones of the living room. The bathroom is a pretty salmon-like color (Mike is going to kill me for calling it "salmon" 😂). And our bedroom is a brilliant deep, blue-gray color. It's going to be so warm and welcoming with those lovely earthy tones. I am super happy with our choices and cannot wait to see the place when it's finished! One perk of Michael's job in construction is that he has a painting team his company works with. And they are more than willing to come paint for us! (It probably also helps that Mike is a super likable person. 😘)

Since we leave for Disney on the 7th, and since the painters will be coming in to paint while we're away, we aren't going to move any of our furniture in until we get back. We get back on the 17th (Friday night) and we both have the weekend off, so we'll be doing all of our actual moving then. Another perk of Mike's job? He pretty much drives a moving van. ;) 

Picking paint colors together was a lot of fun. Although we have different tastes, we are a great team and we found a combination that we both love. We discussed all the options together civilly and respectfully—the guy at Sherman Williams said he was super surprised with how well we worked together. He said that most couples usually get into big arguments and end up storming out the door without deciding. But I wasn't surprised. One of the things that makes our relationship so strong is our teamwork and openness. No arguing over paint swatches for us two! We both left happy. :) 

     

After we had finalized our color choices, we headed to IKEA to check out some furniture. Though we already have almost everything we'd need, there are a few things we do still have to pick up. Namely, a couch and a table for the kitchen (with chairs). We didn't buy anything today, but we got a good idea on which sets we'll probably end up getting. Again, it was so much fun walking around together and getting to pick out furniture. I guess what made it so special was that we were picking out paint colors and furniture for our home. 💕