Natalie & Ryan: First Impressions

So it's been about a week since I last posted. And let me tell ya, a TON has happened. I'm living in a whirlwind, crazy, fast-paced world right now. Last I posted, I was in the process of packing up my dad's apartment. Since then, I've been introduced to the new condo, moved in, UNpacked, and am now starting on phase 2, which is organizing, and, most importantly, DECORATING!

Going back. I got to see the new place on Wednesday of last week. First impression? HATE it!! Not because of the condo itself, but because of all of the unwanted tenants. The second we walked up to the stairs, I froze. Hanging directly overhead was a WOLF SPIDER. As if pretending to be decorative speckles along the walls, every few inches or so was another and another and another....GAH! Apparently spiders breed like rabbits. I'm beyond deathly afraid of spiders. I could feel my body starting to panic. I froze up, I started to shake, and I became paranoid that every brush of loose hair on my skin was a spider trying to kill me. No joke, I about refused to go up the stairs. The first thing I added to my list of things to get at Target was a can, no, a TRUCK of bug killer. And secretly I was praying that they weren't inside, too.

My real first impression of the place was that it was perfect for my dad. It was about 100 times better than the little, dinky, dark dungeon that he was living in. It was bright and open, and had pretty wood floors. Jokingly, while in the spare bedroom, I said "I'm going to open these blinds and look outside, and so help me, if I see a spider, I'm going to be mad." Well, guess what? I peeked out the blinds and hanging right outside the window was a spider. I imagined him saying "well, howdy-do! Welcome to the neighborhood."

We ran to Target that night to grab some cleaning supplies and bug spray, and then came back and sprayed the heck out of this place. One thing that confused me was how it seemed like all of the neighbors didn't care about the spiders at all. The lady below my dad had a GINORMOUS spider smack dab in the middle of her door. It's still there, even a week later! There's no way she doesn't see it and all of the hundreds of other spiders covering the walls. Why aren't they spraying and freaking out too? After we sprayed, and the spiders slowly started to die....seriously, they couldn't die fast enough....they started to fall out of their webs, so Lilly thought it was an invitation to try and grab them. You should have heard the octave that my voice reached when I reflexively screamed "LILLY, DON'T TOUCH!!!" Anyway, I'm thrilled to report that even though I run into the occasional beast of a spider as we come and go, I haven't seen a single one inside. Trust me, the day I run into one of those things inside, I'm outta here!

This truck has been parked outside of my dad's old apartment for over a year. I was making trips to and from the car, when I noticed this "little" guy. The truck has been there for so long, moss has grown over the windows, and Mr. spider decided to string his web straight across the bed of the truck.

THE NEW PLACE

Some of my favorite things about this place are: 1) it has lighting! The last place didn't have any built-in lighting, so we had to put lamps everywhere. 2) Its layout is very similar to my house.

They painted some accent walls a really ugly pinky-orange, and the kitchen cabinets are poorly stained red and green. Yeah, weird. But my dad says the next time I come up, it'll be to paint.

I'm thinking a dark red on just the main wall in the living room, and the accent wall in the kitchen would be pretty. It would bring out a lot of the red tones in his cherry wood furniture and the tiles around the fireplace. (Curtains came with the place and aren't staying)

The first thing I did the morning of the move was trap Lilly in her crib. I had to mop and clean walls before the movers came, and it made it a lot easier to have Lilly in one place.

On the left: coat closet, washer and dryer closet, office, spare bedroom. On the right: extra bathroom, linen closet, and master bedroom.

These are another reason why I like this place. The washer and dryer at the old place sucked! My dad has since admitted that he likes watching the laundry through the glass top of the washer. Who doesn't?!

This is a better view of the ugly orange color. And they left the shower curtain (which I LOVE), but did they really think it matched? When I paint, I'm going to do a lighter version of the teal in the shower curtain.

Master bedroom. When we went to Target, I made my dad buy this rug (secretly hoping he'd just be like "you can have it") Unfortunately, when we moved, it was a rainy day and the movers tracked in mud all over it.