It’s been a while since I’ve written, but Kirk and I have been coming up on the end of our lease at the Little Pink House, and we’ve been thinking we need some additional space – – – two people in 700 square feet is a bit tight.  Because this decision came at the last minute (our lease is up at the end of July), we started looking for apartments last week and found our dream place last Saturday.  It is beautiful. This is the kind of city-apartment that you see in movies. We started by searching for artist live-work spaces (since Kirk needs more room for making his art and music, and I wanted more room for cooking) and we discovered a carpet warehouse in Little Village that had recently been completely rehabbed into a new mixed-use space. We saw an add online, but frankly it looked like it would probably end up being way more than we could afford. But what the heck… we made an appointment with the property manager and went out to see some of the open units. We first looked at a couple of the smaller units (1,000 square feet), which we were completely blown away by. They had 12-14 foot exposed timber ceilings, beautifully refinished original maple floors, clean tiled large bathrooms, exposed brick walls, windows that were nearly floor-to-ceiling, and spacious modern-finished kitchens. YAY! We knew we wanted one.

The property manager then asked us if we wanted to see one of the largest residential units in the building, and (knowing it was probably a mistake because we would likely fall in love with it and never be able to afford it) we decided to go with him to look at it. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it, there was no question. I believe Kirk looked at me, sighed, and said “Oh Shit”. Ha! It is a corner unit (even more windows!), bigger than the other ones we looked at (1300 square feet), and has a kitchen with – get this – a 3 foot by 12 foot island. Yes. I wanted the kitchen. Also, behind the kitchen there are some strategically placed walls (walls that do not go all the way to the ceiling, so the apartment still has a really airy and spacious feeling) that basically demercate two “bedrooms”. One is obviously going to be our room, and the other will be an office/music recording room. The open space in the apartment is going to be the dinning room/living room/art-making space. I’m so insanely excited.

As it turns out, the cost apartment was a little higher than our budget, but not unaffordable and ultimatly (given my recent proomation and raise) we decided it was worth the extra money to live in a place that would make us really happy. I mean, our first apartment together has been great, but it’s time to move on to bigger and better things together. We’ve tossed around the idea of buying a place here in Chicago, but ultimately we don’t know if we want to stay in the city much more than another 2-3 years, which makes us wonder if it’s really worth the trouble of buying a place and then selling again. It would probably be worth it…  but we just don’t know what we want or where we’ll be, which makes planning for things difficult. We know we’ll be together… but where is the question! We will likely start looking at real estate again in the spring, and might be moving again a year from now! Who knows…

So yes. In a couple of weeks we will be moving… again. Which means we need to start packing… again. Moving is one of the most tendious tasks EVER. I’m so sick of it. But this time we’re both really excited about the place we’re moving to, so it makes it easier and more exciting. Also, our new neighborhood is going to be a bit safer than where we currently live. Right now, living in southwest Logan Square, we’ve never really felt particularly comfortable walking around at night. Though our new neighborhood (Little Village) is not much better, the crime statistics are actually a little bit better (less random street violence), so that’s good. Also, right now we live in a three-flat converted home, so sometimes the safety of the building is a bit questionable. In our new place it has fully-secured private parking and a secure building entry.

Just as a side-note, the other neat thing about this building is that it is a mixed-use space. Some of the lofts are residential, some are artist studio spaces, and some are small businesses and offices. One of the Chicago city aldermans keeps her office on the eighth floor. A couple of small non-profits have their offices there, and a modeling agency calls our building home. Our neighbors will consist of a police officer and his wife, a professor at the Art Institute and her furniture designing husband, a couple of photographers, and some other scultors and artists. How fun! Also, on the first floor of our building their is an open 5,000 square foot space that can be rented for days or evenings and used for gellery openings, meetings, etc…

I know I’m ranting about stuff that no one else really cares about, but I’m just so excited about this new place. Kirk and I are going tomorrow to sign our lease, and then we’ll pretty much be good to go. Ugh… I can’t wait tobe settled in a new place where we’ll actually HAVE SPACE 🙂

Have a great weekend!