Daydreaming, Part 2

Finding the perfect place to live in San Francisco is a challenge. For the time being, we're taking a break. Demand for rentals always exceeds supply and right now is no different. It's not as bad as the mid-1990s when you'd camp out overnight at an open house, credit reports, deposit checks in hand, but it's close.

Our search has been a roller coaster ride of emotions. We'd found three places and submitted applications at three places. With the last place (pictured here), we'd thought we'd gotten it. We even went as far as transferring funds so that we could get a cashier's check cut for the deposit as well as first and last month's rent. Then we received news that someone else also applied and they were being considered as well.

And with that we decided that we're in no hurry to move and withdrew our application. Right now we're pretty spoiled, our landlord is responsive when there's a problem, doesn't play games, and follows all of the housing ordinances (we're in a rent controlled building that's well maintained - most units have recently renovated bathrooms and kitchens as well as double-pane windows). I'm confident that when the time is right, we'll find the right place with the right landlord.

In the meantime, we're going through all of the boxes that haven't gotten unpacked from our last move (and my previous moves). Our hallway is beginning to look a lot less cluttered as the boxes disappear. Also, it'll be nice when the office is no longer a storage closet. I'll show you our home in the next couple of weeks after we've finished all the unpacking/sorting. I'm pretty excited to have a clutter free space.

Have you had moving adventures?

Or did your dream home just fall in your lap?

Bon Apetit!

Eden

 

Credits: All images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for Recipes for the Good Life.

Daydreaming

Since beginning the hunt for a new place, we've put in an application for two flats. We found out while we were in Puerto Rico on our honeymoon that we didn't get the first place. So it was back to scouring Craigslist for us. Wednesday night we had dinner over at our friends' place and we were talking about our dream apartment - what we jokingly call "The Jesus Apartment." (Our current place was "The Moses Apartment.")

After we got home, a candidate for "The Jesus Apartment" appeared on Craigslist. It didn't stay there long, like any almost too good to be true place in The Mission, demand far outweighs supply. This time we were lucky enough to at least be among the group who'd be able to view and to potentially apply. (We'd missed two other places by less than ten minutes.)

The place has a few flaws. There's no dishwasher. There are no granite or stone countertops; they're formica. There are no period cabinets in the kitchen. There's no tile floor in the kitchen or mudroom; it's linoleum. There are no double pane windows. For these flaws, we've nicknamed the flat, "The Moses Apartment Version 2.0."

Here's a tour of the flat. Keep your fingers and toes crossed we get it. (We need all the luck we can get, another applicant offered to pay more than the listed rent.)

Hope you're having a great holiday weekend!

Bon Apetit!

Eden

 

Credits: All collages created by Eden Hensley Silverstein for Recipes for the Good Life. In the first collage, photos on the right are from the Craigslist listing. In the third collage, top right photo is from the Craigslist listing. All other photos taken via iPhone by Eden Hensley Silverstein for Recipes for the Good Life.

Around Our Home: Shells Abound

Shells of all sizes, on their own, in candy jars, and in baskets

When I started looking around our house and taking photos, I realized I hadn't shared what our home looks like. There are photos of an empty apartment when we moved in. There are photos of the living room filled with wedding stuff. And there are photos of my attempt to dig out. But I can't believe that aren't any "walk through" photos. Over the next month or so, I'll correct that.

In the meantime, let's start with the bathroom. (It's actually the first room you see when you enter our apartment.)

It's on the east side of the building so it catches a lot of light. I like nice bright naturally lit spaces. This room has the majority of my shell collection. There's shells in the stand.

On the back of the commode. And above the shower.

Shells tucked onto the ledge above our shower.
The two large shells (from left to right) are a pink roller and a sea biscuit.

And of course, there's shells on our counter.

I really like the color palette in the bathroom. It's primarily a warm neutral blend (neutral palette with RGB numbers) with lavender and blue accents.

We'll leave the bathroom now and walk down the hall towards the living room. The bedroom is in the opposite direction but there aren't any shells in it, oddly enough. The kitchen, the utility closet turned office, and the walk-in closet in the living room are the other three areas sans shells.

This cubby is really a catchall and NEVER looks like this. Typically take out menus and coupons are tucked behind the barnacles. Now that it's cleaned up a little, I wonder if a chalkboard or a pin board would be more practical? What would you do with this area?

Immediately following the cubby on the right is our linen closet. Here we find another shell tucked neatly next to our winter scarves. (The dusty blue garbage bin is the one remaining hold out from my early college dorm decor.  I followed the crowd with the Cornflower Blue and Dusty Rose color pairing that was popular in the 80s.)

We end our brief tour in our living room with another pink roller. This is the shell I've had the longest. It was one of my first purchases at the Shell Shoppe in Morro Bay. Growing up we weren't given allowances per se. We got to pick out a new book or magazine weekly at Crown Books. My dad gave us a new Sanrio item for our collections each Friday (or every other Friday, I forget the frequency, it seemed like a lot). My parents purchased new rolls of film and processed the used ones as well as supplying albums and album pages for my photos. So we had an allowance, we just didn't receive it as money. My Pink Roller purchase was special because I had to save money from birthday and holiday gifts to buy it.

I thought I had more shells to show you, but after scouring our apartment that's all we found. In next month's Around Our Home, I'll feature my vintage train case and luggage collection. You'll get to see every room but the kitchen in that tour. I have two sets - one complete and one partial - I use for nearby travel; another almost complete set I use for storage; and many other individual coordinated mismatched pieces I also use for storage.

Credits: All images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for Recipes for the Good Life.