A Tour of Our Newlywed Apartment Home.

Our one year wedding anniversary, along with our one year apartment anniversary is coming up in just over a month. So I'd definitely say that a tour of our little home is looooong over due.

And just to warn y'all, our home is nothing fancy. It is absolute pennies compared to those gorgeous Instagram photos posted by the many interior design bloggers out there. And in case you forgot or don't know anything in the slightest about me, I am not a professional interior designer.

There are moments when I am just so indescribably frustrated at this apartment.
It's too cold. (No A.C)
It's too hot. (Heating this place is insanely expensive)
I could cry just looking at all of these dirty dishes I have on my counter. (No dishwasher...)
It's not "new" looking. (Old.)
There are too many bugs getting inside. (Holes in window screens)
The colour of this carpet is just awful. (Purpley-Reddish-Pink...nothing matches with Purpley-Reddish-Pink!)
Not enough storage space, ect.

Sometimes the negative voices in my head are so loud that I forget that I am actually living my dream! To explain, for many years now all I wanted was to move into an apartment to share solely with my husband. And now, it's exactly what I have.

To give you a little background as to WHY I so desperately desired an apartment for two, these have been my housing experiences starting with my first year of university:

1) a dorm room with 1 roomie,

2) a dorm room with 9 other girls (I kid you not, there were 5 bunk beds in one room!),

3) a dorm room with 1 roomie and 2 other girls "quad-mates",

4) a room to myself (for the first time ever!), but shared the teeny-tiny condo with 2 girls, and...

5) a basement room to myself but in a little house with 6 other girls. 

I mean, can you really blame me for wanting some space?!

Our apartment may not be even close to perfect, but, what makes it special is that it's OURS; it's our little safe place to come home to after a long days work, and it is where we love to be, (especially me, seeing that I am a total homebody). Whether I choose to believe it or not somedays, this place has some upsides to it as well:
Open kitchen-dining room-living room concept.
Plenty of counter-space and cupboard space.
Pantry.
Awesome landlords!
SO many windows that let in an abundance of natural light!!
French doors in the bedroom.
The apartment is privately owned in a quiet and peaceful neighbourhood.
Huge balcony.
Beautiful light-yellow walls.
Washer & Dryer.

Amazingly enough, that list is actually longer than I pictured it to be! :)

Jarryd and I have actually been really blessed within our first year of marriage here in this apartment. Every single piece of large furniture in here, (dining room table & chair set, antique hutch, bed, end tables, TV, dresser, and couches), were ALL either gifts or hand-me-downs from family and friends. Money has been tight, so the first piece of furniture we ever bought for ourselves was 9 months after we moved in, which was a (much-needed!!) coffee table and a small area rug. Isn't that amazing though?! I couldn't be more grateful for the generosity of our friends and family!

Until I got a job two weeks ago, I was a stay-at-home-wife. So the first ten months of our marriage I spent a lot of time in "nesting" mode and strove to make this little space as cozy and as "homey" as possibly could whilst living on one income.
So with that being said, here are some--very selective--photos of our home!

So after you walk up the steps to our balcony, you will see these lovely flower baskets a hangin'.

These too.

Under our balcony we even have a clothesline! We also have a dryer-rack for inside of our house when we want to dry clothes in the winter. Using a dryer is just too expensive.

This is the view from our balcony in the winter! I absolutely love being surrounded by so many trees!

When you enter our front door, you are immediately welcomed by our kitchen!  (What you can't see is next to the front door is our pantry). When you ignore that giant pile of dishes that are drying, you can notice all of the counter space!

The view of our kitchen and living room from our front door. Ooo la la!

The frame right above our oven. :)

There's nothing like having a window above your sink! And why yes, that is indeed a makeshift curtain made from a lacy scarf and a dish towel. 

Kitchen window sill. The little cork bottle is from Germany. (This is the window where all the lovely little ants like to come marching through. Grr.)

My new sugar pot and butter dish that I found whilst shopping in Alabama. How cute are the birdies?!

Hanging in our kitchen. <3

Ah yes, my most favourite drawer. Many of these tools came with my knife kit from Culinary school.

The wall between our kitchen and living room is perfect to display some of our favourite cards because I really hate the thought of people's precious words to us being stashed in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again! Hanging all of our cards also really helped when I went through some of my homesick phases. It helped me remember who I am, where I came from, and that I am loved.

And here is our living room, which is probably my most favourite area in our apartment! This photo was taken a few months ago, so my decor is slightly different now. The couches were a surprise wedding gift from Jarryds parents!!

And don't worry, I'm sure we'll get another set of curtains on that other window one day. :P

My new collection of flowers, herbs, and succulents including: Pineapple Sage (smells like pineapple!!), Rosemary, violet (I think?), basil, and some type of flower that actually should be planted in the ground. I am just loving all of the greenery in here! :)

My gorgeous and --sturdy-- coffee table that I ordered from Wayfair.com. Its color is called "rainwater" and it's just the perfect blue to accent our living room. If you want a solid piece of furniture (IKEA I love you, but you're a little rickety some times), order from Wayfair! This coffee table is pretty heavy and doesn't budge.

Our little TV, XBOX and blanket basket corner. In the winter that basket rarely has any blankets left in it! Brr!

This is what our tv corner looks like presently, as we moved our TV into the bedroom so we could watch Netflix in bed. ;) I guess it's safe to say that this is our little reading corner now!

A collection of our favourite books. See anything ya like?

Our coffee table centerpiece. I love this!

Some wedding photographs. Speaking of which, I definitely need to put more photos up around the house!

A canvas print of our favourite photo from our engagement session, and one of my favourite photos of my parents and I!

My keyboard that I got for Christmas, which doesn't get played nearly enough as it should...it's quite lonely these days.

Our end tables that I painted white, with a few of my favourite cookbooks (mostly Mennonite Girls Can Cook). Hee hee.

The wall between our living room and dining room to display our Christmas cards on. This clock is now broken and stays stuck at the 9:30 mark. Quite annoying to say the least.

Our dining room. As you can see with the office chair, it's a dining room table/office desk right now.

Our beautiful hutch that my Father-in-law found for us at an antique auction for $35. Seriously, what a steal! It's beautiful and great for storage!

Our tiny bathroom. Pretty self explanatory. My next place is definitely going to have a sink with a countertop and cupboard space. A stand-alone sink is not easy, my friends... 

Our bathroom has two doors, one connects to the living room and the other connects to this room: the shower/laundry room. The shower/laundry room has a door that connects to our bedroom.

Shower curtain. In the wall behind this is our stacked washer and dryer. There's even a window in here too!

Our bedroom. Again, this photo was taken a few months ago, so it looks pretty different now (decor-wise). And as you can see, this is connected to our kitchen. Are you loving our carpet or what?!   

Our king bed. As you can see, we don't have much for bedroom furniture. But trust me, a bed frame, nightstands, and curtains are on the list!

Here is a more recent photo of our bed, featuring my new pillows from Target. :)

Last but not least, our beautiful french doors that enter onto our front balcony. Again, I am so thankful for all of the natural light that this apartment lets in.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour! I promise that if you come visit I will feed you with coffee, tea, and an abundance of baked goodies. (What I can't promise you is a totally clean house like these photos might portray). If only you could see it now...hahah! :)