New vs. Old

I've been planning this post out in my head for about the last two months....and actually it was originally going to be 2 separate posts but since I've been so flaky about writing on here I figured I'd make the most of wedding Friday with Erica in Canada and just do a nice big post instead!! Missing Dan right now seeing as we're staying in a room clearly meant for couples (there's a bathtub in the bedroom, for example) but I'll get to see him on Monday when he comes back for the interview! Keep sending those prayers, good vibes, crossed fingers, etc our way...this could finally be the actual end of long distance for us!

Anyways, back to the point of the post. It was certainly a bittersweet moment to say goodbye to my first apartment on June 30th, but considering I had been imagining myself getting off at the Fullerton stop ever since I signed my new lease at the end of March so its been a long time coming. For those of you who didn't know of all of my adventures from my apartment this past year, I spent the first six months living with my best friend's boyfriend and the second six months living with my ex-boyfriends best friend. To say the least, it was certainly an adventure. But, as I was advised while seeing The Matchmaker tonight, it is important "to have just the right amount of adventure". Not quite sure if I achieved that, but oh well.

Dan and I are planning to have a housewarming/graduation party for him sometime in August, but until that happens/if it doesn't/if you live halfway across the country and can't make it, please enjoy the tour through pictures below! If you do happen to be in the Chicago area, please feel free to stop by anytime. We, well I at least, love entertaining and I have a shockingly empty social calendar in August so I should actually have the opportunity to get everything all put together!

P.S. Putting this many pictures on this blog was a freaking disaster and took several hours so don't expect too many posts like this!

The fairly large kitchen with three different types/colors of cabinets, uneven floors, and a leaking ceiling. However, it did have my very first tea kettle (my lease-signing present to myself) and I started making pinterest recipes here so there are some good memories!

My smaller, but much better matching kitchen! There's still more cabinet room than I'll ever use (mainly because I can't reach some of it...) which is wonderful since Dan and I have at least 3 kitchens worth of stuff combined! I also love that its open to the rest of the apartment so it'll be easier to cook and carry on a conversation with other people. Its definitely smaller, but Dan and I will just have to learn how to cook in close proximity! And the breakfast bar is actually the right height for the stools this time. 

My old panty was probably the best part of the kitchen! At the very least it all matched and it provided some much needed drawer space that we were lacking in the main kitchen!

My new spare closet turned into a pantry. Buying the shelving unit at BBB was definitely a good investment. If only I remembered to use the $65+ in gift cards I had in my purse...And yes, we have every single random kitchen appliance known to mankind-including duplicates of some of them! So if/when we ever tie the knot, don't expect to find an ice cream maker, electric griddle, crock pot, fondue kit, panini maker, or waffle iron on our registry! But do feel free to come over for breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert many times

Was so excited to find these chairs for $12 each at Divine Consign last summer. This picture was taken long before my (aka the Magner's) matching china cabinet got put into place along the opposite wall. Although this room was more or less transformed into roommate #2's office, my favorite times in there were our somewhat weekly family dinners starting on October 10th :)
No separate dining area anymore, but this is more than adequate for my still-not-stained dining room table. It will be perfect for dinners for two or more! We even have a spare folding table to throw on the end if there's a big group.

This was an early picture of the old living room so those boxes did eventually disappear as did my scrapbooking stuff, but we never did really make use of the "awkward alcove" as we so fondly called it except for my Christmas tree. Surprisingly the red-yellow-blue color scheme worked out well and it was a great space to entertain in with all the seating-2 couches and 2 chairs at its peak!

Still boxes in this picture too so at least that's even! Far fewer windows in this new living room which is a little bit of a downside (although the old ones were so dirty that I never opened them anyways...) but I'm really excited to have the L shaped couch which fits wonderfully in the room. You can't really sit it well in this picture but we even managed to get a desk in too. I love that this room is open to the kitchen/dining area-I could even watch tv while I cook if I wanted to. 

Despite it being a little on the small side, I absolutely ADORED my old bedroom. I was told on multiple occasions that it looks like something out of a bed, bath, and beyond ad (the bedspread is from there, so that helps!) I was thrilled with how the black, white, and green color scheme came together throughout the room as well. Good thing too since I spent so much time in this room!

It's definitely still weird for me to think that never again will I have my own room, this is now our room. The comforter is a little girly, yes, but I did make Dan pick it out with my last summer (the bedframe, dresser, nightstand, and mirror as well!) so he can't complain too much! There's still a lot of decorating-and book unpacking-to be done here before I love it as much as my old room but it's definitely getting there! I've also reserved a whole 1/3 of the closet for Dan-be very impressed! Although his dresser is also about 1/3 of the size of mine so we may have to work on that one he's actually back for good with all his clothes. Everything doesn't match quite as well now, but we do have light wood on both sides of the bed (Dan's dresser and nightstand) so it kind of balances out. Not as many visible green accents [yet] but we'll see if I can make it look like something out of a BBB ad again!

new bathroom, not too exciting but the old one was such an eye sore that I never took a picture of it so I'm pretty excited to put this up!

view of the new apartment from the living room