Finally....pictures of our apartment.  I tried to showcase everything in the apartment that I am particularly fond of, but there are so many wonderful things I actually enjoy about it, I did not want to bombard the blog with a billion photos.  It is still a work in progress, so without further adieu....I give you Apartment 904....

This is what I like to call our front porch!  Luckily, we are in the back of the building, so to speak, away from the elevators.  Unluckily, when I get a wild hair to redecorate, as I am so often wanton to do, I have to haul things up from the basement and traverse the 18 steps from the elevator to our "front porch".  

My little wonderful $5 entry way table.  I have carried this thing with me for a while and can never see myself parting ways with it.  It has just the right amount of scuff and peeling paint that a girl could ask for.  Downside to decorating an apartment (besides the fact it could save our lives) are those horrendous fire alarms and alert alarms.  Can't seem to fit them into my decor, not matter how industrial chic I plan to go.  

Our really large living/dining area.  I was super impressed with the crown molding and recessed lighting, 
especially for being a military house.  The only thing they did not get right was the ceiling fan in the LR.  I can probably ignore it for two years though.  Isn't the space open and airy??

This is another piece I could never get rid of. It's wobbly and has been painted a million different colors (it's actually twice the size from when I first got it because of all the paint layers).  I found this gem on Craigslist in Houston and sweet talked my dad into picking it up for me because we were at Ft. Hood.  The Korean movers did not seem to appreciate its peeling paint and shabbiness....they seemed perplexed that this American gal would ship something so distressed clear across the Pacific Ocean to place in a new apartment.  

Something I absolutely love about this apartment is all the natural light the windows let in.  There are those horrid vertical blinds that I have bound up and tried to hide with my wonderful old door and column post, but I know they are there and still working on something to get rid of them altogether.  The LR is cozy, yet spacious, if that is possible.  Those two months of me drawing our furniture on the floor plan housing gave us paid off...everything fits right where I wanted it to. 

I was not too crazy about the cabinet color, but I have to say, the government did pretty good again here.  Although there is not a pantry, or a garbage disposal, and the range hood is stainless and the rest of the appliances are white, there are plenty of cabinets and there is plenty of room on the bar to entertain, put out food,etc. for parties.  Which we love to have.  I think I have everything situated..I packed our entire kitchen and I still have empty cabinets.  Which only means I need for kitchen goodies!!! Ssshhh...don't tell the Mister!

This is what I lovingly call my back porch.  There is a bit of room for a small patio table and we are currently looking for hanging baskets of some sort (as soon as I can get someone to tell me how to say that perfectly in Hangul so I can ask someone in town and they not look at me like I just asked if I could eat their first born baby) to have a small garden. We get plenty of sun...we face to the South of post, which I hope means we will always have great sunshine all year long!

We have an extra long and wide hallway, which we love, but so do the kids because they like to play "Risky Business" and slide down the hallway in their socks.  Again, I tried to blend the fire and alert alarm in with my wall treasures, but I know they are there.  

Guest/kid's bathroom...It is nice and open.  I was amazed at the nice pedestal sinks.  Some of the apartments we saw had those horrible high school bathroom sinks, with the pipes exposed...which does not come off as industrial chic, but high school bathroom chic.  I suppose a spouse could make a sink skirt, but I am lucky I did not have to bust out my horrible sewing skills (probably the one craft I can't do, but should, since my grandmother was a seamstress and my mom sewed all our clothes) and make a sink skirt.   Natasha - 1, Sewing machine - 0.  

When I told the Mister I wanted to do our bedroom in all white, he turned white.  Because he knows how messy we can all be.  But I assured him I would set aside my OCD nature or get off white colored linens so they would appear less dirty and more shabby (notice the large, dirty, er, I mean shabby flour sack pillow on our bed).  He didn't like the grimy pillow at first, but now seems okay knowing he could accidentally let it fall on the floor and not worry about me yelling at him for not keeping stuff clean.  I would still like to slipcover our headboard, with some white fabric of course, but I will pay some one to do that...

The other side of our room....my "new" white chairs fit perfectly in our white bedroom.  These were some old wing backs we found in le garbage in a rough area of Houston.  They were covered in some velvet fabric and were very dirty.  They are now covered in painter's canvas we picked up at Lowe's for $25...enough to cover both chairs.  Take that fancy schmancy expensive decorator fabric at $99/yard! 

Finally...our laundry room.  We got a new washer and dryer with the apartment (okay, every apartment gets one, we aren't that special).  Again, super impressed at the size of the laundry room.  I even had room to add some decorations that I had and did not have a place to put them (our basement storage is gettin' kind of full and the Mister has not even gone to CIF yet to get the rest of his gear and our gas masks).  

I took a ton more pics, but I fear this blog is getting bogged.  At least for today.  As I sit on my couch and look out my huge apartment windows, I wonder what other treasures await me from beyond my 9th floor balcony.  And where can I put them when I do find them?  We are sort of at max capacity, especially for our weight allowance to go back home.  8500 lbs adds up quickly!  We were about 9693 lbs coming over...so I guess I will have to sell some stuff while we are here so I can bring home some of the wonderful treasures I have seen along side the road already.  Now, we are finally settled, I can work on getting those in my used/new-to-me 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee and haul them up to Apartment 904.  Hopefully I can convince the kids that the junk looks really great in their rooms and pretend I have always had it when the Mister asks where it came from (come on ladies, admit you do that, too!)  I did find a really gross cabinet door in le garbage while in town a few weeks ago.  The Mister and the ducklings just shook their heads while I beamed at my treasure, daydreaming about a million and one things it could become........

Houston, we have an apartment....

It has been a day - or a few - since my last post.  I have been busy feathering my new nest...after countless days (62) in Army lodging, we are finally settled in our apartment.  There are a few boxes here and there, which is why I have not posted pics yet, but I will be posting some this week. For the most part, all the furniture we brought fits.  I have had to be pretty creative to get everything just right, but I think I can make it work.  It is tough going from 2300 sq ft house to 1600....thank goodness we only brought half of our stuff! But we do love our view, even though there is a dairy farm right off post (our apartments are right on the edge of post) and it smelled pretty badly yesterday.  But I have a view of the mountains off my balcony, and were it not for the view of some of the Humphreys water towers (and that blasted dairy farm), I can pretend I am at a resort! I am also going to ignore the cemetery I can see from our 9th floor view or any creepy pets or scary people that may crawl out of their resting place at night to haunt some poor unfortunate soul! Hopefully, those things stay on their side of the fence! 

We were fortunate enough to receive our household goods and unaccompanied baggage the same day as our move in.  I was worried about our huge armoire, buffet, and dining table getting in the elevator, especially because someone already stationed here told us the Koreans were weak and would break our stuff (I know, rude and presumptuous), but everything got here in one piece.  Except our couch....that is broken, but because of the packers in the states, not the Koreans.  

So when the Korean movers brought in our stuff, they unpack it for you and place it where you want it.  Every time one of the movers unwrapped one of my precious treasures, I would hear a gasp.  I brought over an old door, windows, shutters, and a huge column post.  I am pretty sure the movers thought I was building another house inside this one.  I kept saying antiques...but I guess junk doesn't translate in Hangul.  I wanted so desperately to explain to the movers that when it all comes together, this junk really looks great.  But my Korean language handbook does not have that sentence or translation.


Next week, I am all ready to host a ladies luncheon for the few spouses I have met here and like.  The Mister would rather that I wait to host and entertain, but after living out of a suitcase for so long and eating out all the time, I am ready to spread out and serve some delicious homemade meals on my new gas stove!  It has been a while since I have cooked with a gas stove, and I could not be happier! 

So, our suitcases have been put away for now...they found a new home in our basement storage, and I can't say I will miss them.  Living out of a suitcase usually means you are on a pleasurable vacation, but that was not the case with us.  The next time we get to pull out those weary bags of nylon and zippers will be for our trip to Hong Kong next month.  Hopefully, the idea of living out of a suitcase will take its normal place in our vernacular when we begin exploring Asia, and our suitcases will not be carrying three months of our lives, but souvenirs and treasures from the exciting places we will go!