Moving!
We have a new apartment! Signed a lease and put down a security deposit for a place in Baltimore. Did the paperwork yesterday and we'll get the keys on the 15th. I'm very, very excited about moving.
The apartment itself is a loft, small but very pretty. High ceilings, bamboo floors, exposed brick and timbers, with a view out over Baltimore and windows into the courtyard. The building is old, but it was gutted down to the brick about three years ago and completely rehabbed, so it's got a modern kitchen, plentiful outlets, a dishwasher and microwave and a washer and dryer. We'll be at liberty to hang things and decorate and put up art, with nails and real fixtures and everything.
I don't have great pictures from our walk through, but I'll get more once we start moving. This is looking from the kitchen into the living room, past Jason and Apartment Manager Guy.
The building is fabulous. I love the recent rehab thing, the character of an old place and the wiring and low mold content of a new one. There's a fenced courtyard with bike racks and a lawn and a fireplace with benches and tables. There's a 24 hour gym, a copy center, and a handful of lounges and meeting rooms with wi-fi around the apartments. There's a mail room! We will be able to get mail! Even packages! *happy dance* There's a bunch of parking, both fenced lots and on street. The apartments share the building with a fun little derby-owned coffeeshop/cafe and a floor of educational nonprofit offices.
Brick is pretty in the sun
It's not quite as centrally located as our last place, but still right downtown, still accessible. Couple blocks to the bus lines and grocery store, and only a ten-fifteen minute walk (or three minute drive) from our old place and the restaurants and music venues we like. Another few minutes walk to a big park with a good skating path and literally across the street from one of my favorite clubs in Baltimore. My excitement about walking and biking access to the world is hard to properly describe.
The neighborhood isn't affluent, but it's not overly sketchy either. The management company is all about social responsibility and community revitalization. Everything is LEED Gold certified, and they have a deal with MICA, where students get to go through all their industrial leftovers from renovations, then do installations in their buildings. The residences are discounted for educators so it's almost entirely teachers living in the apartments. Oh, yes: we are officially, undeniably in the gentrification business.
So now a week to prepare and then two weeks to make the move. We're all atwitter, measuring furniture and sorting things. We're losing about 100 square feet in this move, and our current apartment is overcrowded, so weeding possessions is top priority right now. It's going to be a busy month.
The apartment itself is a loft, small but very pretty. High ceilings, bamboo floors, exposed brick and timbers, with a view out over Baltimore and windows into the courtyard. The building is old, but it was gutted down to the brick about three years ago and completely rehabbed, so it's got a modern kitchen, plentiful outlets, a dishwasher and microwave and a washer and dryer. We'll be at liberty to hang things and decorate and put up art, with nails and real fixtures and everything.
I don't have great pictures from our walk through, but I'll get more once we start moving. This is looking from the kitchen into the living room, past Jason and Apartment Manager Guy.
The building is fabulous. I love the recent rehab thing, the character of an old place and the wiring and low mold content of a new one. There's a fenced courtyard with bike racks and a lawn and a fireplace with benches and tables. There's a 24 hour gym, a copy center, and a handful of lounges and meeting rooms with wi-fi around the apartments. There's a mail room! We will be able to get mail! Even packages! *happy dance* There's a bunch of parking, both fenced lots and on street. The apartments share the building with a fun little derby-owned coffeeshop/cafe and a floor of educational nonprofit offices.
Brick is pretty in the sun
It's not quite as centrally located as our last place, but still right downtown, still accessible. Couple blocks to the bus lines and grocery store, and only a ten-fifteen minute walk (or three minute drive) from our old place and the restaurants and music venues we like. Another few minutes walk to a big park with a good skating path and literally across the street from one of my favorite clubs in Baltimore. My excitement about walking and biking access to the world is hard to properly describe.
The neighborhood isn't affluent, but it's not overly sketchy either. The management company is all about social responsibility and community revitalization. Everything is LEED Gold certified, and they have a deal with MICA, where students get to go through all their industrial leftovers from renovations, then do installations in their buildings. The residences are discounted for educators so it's almost entirely teachers living in the apartments. Oh, yes: we are officially, undeniably in the gentrification business.
So now a week to prepare and then two weeks to make the move. We're all atwitter, measuring furniture and sorting things. We're losing about 100 square feet in this move, and our current apartment is overcrowded, so weeding possessions is top priority right now. It's going to be a busy month.