OMG WTF an update?
Why not?
During the past months ladywaterlily and I have been scouting the apartment market for a potential place to buy, as living in a 42 square meter rented place really doesn't strike either of our fancy anymore. (Plus we can actually afford it now that Maria is working). A while back we found a decent apartment on offer in Itä-Pasila (my old 'hood :D) at a decent price. We made an offer, and it got accepted. Today we finalised our loan negotiations with the bank, and in a little under two weeks we'll be finalising the transaction.
Which all in all is weird. I'm becoming a responsible grown-up of sorts, owning my own apartment and having to worry about paying back the loan. At the same time I'm delireously happy that I'll be able to finally gwt out of Kannelmäki and move back amongst civilization (=area with a tram connection ;). And call me a weirdo, but I rather enjoy living in the 70's brutalist towers of Itä-Pasila. Maybe living there for a decade has corrupted me, but I rather like the area. Plus it'll mean living closer to el Bro (and less importantly mom). And living next door to Helsinki's main library, which back in the day introduced me to so many great comics.
And now, whether you want to see them or not, photos:
Exterior photo (our place is - will be - on the tower on the left, third floor). I took this one last autumn, when I had no idea we would be moving to these buildings.
Current floorplan.
Who wants walls and three rooms when you can topple down walls and have a whopping big living room? In other words, our planned changes to the floorplan. Some reconstruction required.
The kitchen. We're planning on rebuilding it almost completely, with lime-green doors I might add. ;) And the wall on the right will be torn down.
Living room seen from the door to the balcony. The wall on the left is another one to be torn down in order to create a larger living room. (And yes, no plans for a kids' room. No plan for kids either).
Another living room view. The kitchen is on the left, the to-be-removed wall on the right and the corridor leads to the vestibule.
View from the kitchen to the living room.
The to-be retained bedroom. And yes, the wall really is dark brown. The entire apartment seems to be painted with leftover colours, no two walls are the same colour and most of the shades used are butt-ugly.
Bathroom. The bathtub is also on the to-be-removed list.
Vestibule. Notice the lovely closet doors. The outder door is just begging to have a hammer and sicle emblem painted on it... ;P
In other, unrelated news, I've been (semi-)rediscovering the pleasures of Spirou et Fantasio -albums thanks to be new lj friend, jossujb. A quick trip to the library in Pohjois-Haaga after our bank visit today yielded Fournier's Du cidre pour les étoiles (Omenaviiniä tähtiin) and Tome & Janry's Le rayon noir (Musta säde), which I either hadn't read before or had but didn't remember anything about (honestly, I'm not sure). I ought to start hunting for S&F albums in second-hand bookstores (and libraries) again. There's so much great stuff I have never read and another bunch that I have read in my teens and therefore remember next to nothing about them. Not that I'd have the time for that in the foreseeable future of course, with the apartment project and my hopes of finishing my bachelor's degree this spring (or whatever kandidaatti would be in an english equivalent). Well, we'll see...
During the past months ladywaterlily and I have been scouting the apartment market for a potential place to buy, as living in a 42 square meter rented place really doesn't strike either of our fancy anymore. (Plus we can actually afford it now that Maria is working). A while back we found a decent apartment on offer in Itä-Pasila (my old 'hood :D) at a decent price. We made an offer, and it got accepted. Today we finalised our loan negotiations with the bank, and in a little under two weeks we'll be finalising the transaction.
Which all in all is weird. I'm becoming a responsible grown-up of sorts, owning my own apartment and having to worry about paying back the loan. At the same time I'm delireously happy that I'll be able to finally gwt out of Kannelmäki and move back amongst civilization (=area with a tram connection ;). And call me a weirdo, but I rather enjoy living in the 70's brutalist towers of Itä-Pasila. Maybe living there for a decade has corrupted me, but I rather like the area. Plus it'll mean living closer to el Bro (and less importantly mom). And living next door to Helsinki's main library, which back in the day introduced me to so many great comics.
And now, whether you want to see them or not, photos:
Exterior photo (our place is - will be - on the tower on the left, third floor). I took this one last autumn, when I had no idea we would be moving to these buildings.
Current floorplan.
Who wants walls and three rooms when you can topple down walls and have a whopping big living room? In other words, our planned changes to the floorplan. Some reconstruction required.
The kitchen. We're planning on rebuilding it almost completely, with lime-green doors I might add. ;) And the wall on the right will be torn down.
Living room seen from the door to the balcony. The wall on the left is another one to be torn down in order to create a larger living room. (And yes, no plans for a kids' room. No plan for kids either).
Another living room view. The kitchen is on the left, the to-be-removed wall on the right and the corridor leads to the vestibule.
View from the kitchen to the living room.
The to-be retained bedroom. And yes, the wall really is dark brown. The entire apartment seems to be painted with leftover colours, no two walls are the same colour and most of the shades used are butt-ugly.
Bathroom. The bathtub is also on the to-be-removed list.
Vestibule. Notice the lovely closet doors. The outder door is just begging to have a hammer and sicle emblem painted on it... ;P
In other, unrelated news, I've been (semi-)rediscovering the pleasures of Spirou et Fantasio -albums thanks to be new lj friend, jossujb. A quick trip to the library in Pohjois-Haaga after our bank visit today yielded Fournier's Du cidre pour les étoiles (Omenaviiniä tähtiin) and Tome & Janry's Le rayon noir (Musta säde), which I either hadn't read before or had but didn't remember anything about (honestly, I'm not sure). I ought to start hunting for S&F albums in second-hand bookstores (and libraries) again. There's so much great stuff I have never read and another bunch that I have read in my teens and therefore remember next to nothing about them. Not that I'd have the time for that in the foreseeable future of course, with the apartment project and my hopes of finishing my bachelor's degree this spring (or whatever kandidaatti would be in an english equivalent). Well, we'll see...