Apartment Transformations

As you know (because I tell everyone), we live in a one bedroom apartment on a really busy street. We didn't realize just how busy it was until we had our first child and I was home all day. We've been in this same space since June 2010, so we just passed the 6 year mark. It's about 650 square feet and on most days it actually feels quite big.

Our living room has been through a lot of changes in 6 years. It started off of course as a typical living room complete with couches, coffee table, TV, desk and more. Then when William was born, we consolidated a bit and created a baby corner. We updated some shelving and our kitchen storage. And up until Winter of 2015, this is what our place looked like. After those photos were taken, we moved the bed into the living room and gave William the bedroom. This way we all slept better.

This worked out just fine; we still had room for a couch but had to get rid of the love seat and coffee table. We still had people over, although much less than before. And amazingly we still felt like we had space.

Once Stephen joined our family 6 months ago, we had to reorganize again! We didn't want to put the baby in with William quite yet so he joined us in the living room. Our "living room" is now a bedroom/nursery -- with a TV in the corner. I found a really comfortable reclining-rocking nursing chair on craigslist, which meant we had to get rid of our couch. We moved our other rocking chair from William's room so now we have two places to sit. The changing table/dresser I originally wanted to get for William was finally purchased and the pack'n play is set up again next to our bed.

And our newest update has been black-out curtains. I'm not sure why we didn't do this 2 years ago because it makes such a difference for our sleep, but it is great now and baby approves too! Chris also added a curtain as a separator between the dining room and living area, which gives us a lot more freedom to stay up past 6 p.m. and cook dinner without disturbing the baby. We've even had a few people over for dinner with this new improvement!

This one space is so used. The floor space we do have is often covered with toys for both boys. I fixed that issue a little by packing away our DVDs (which we haven't watched in two years) and making space on the shelf for toys instead of stuff we never use.

William's room now houses a twin bed on the floor, three dressers and a cradle for Stephen to use for naps when William isn't sleeping (otherwise we have to tip-toe around the rest of the apartment to do anything!)

On most days it still feels spacious . . . until it doesn't and then I feel a little depressed/sad/angry. We've been looking for a larger home for nearly two years, more aggressively since last fall when we learned Stephen was coming! I find myself getting more easily agitated with the noise level of our neighborhood and less patient with our hunt. But I'm always reminded of God's perfect timing in his provision and usually find a way to be grateful with what I have and where we are.

I am entirely thankful that we have a space in which we can shift and grow into. Even if it's a little unconventional. I'm thankful that our one bedroom apartment has provided for our needs for over 6 years. This is the longest I've lived anywhere since moving away from home!

If we do end up staying here past Stephen's first birthday William's room will have to get a make over. I'm not at all sure how to fit a crib and a changing table/dresser in there yet!

As you know (because I tell everyone), we live in a one bedroom apartment on a really busy street. We didn't realize just how busy it was until we had our first child and I was home all day. We've been in this same space since June 2010, so we just passed the 6 year mark. It's about 650 square feet and on most days it actually feels quite big.

Our living room has been through a lot of changes in 6 years. It started off of course as a typical living room complete with couches, coffee table, TV, desk and more. Then when William was born, we consolidated a bit and created a baby corner. We updated some shelving and our kitchen storage. And up until Winter of 2015, this is what our place looked like. After those photos were taken, we moved the bed into the living room and gave William the bedroom. This way we all slept better.

This worked out just fine; we still had room for a couch but had to get rid of the love seat and coffee table. We still had people over, although much less than before. And amazingly we still felt like we had space.

Once Stephen joined our family 6 months ago, we had to reorganize again! We didn't want to put the baby in with William quite yet so he joined us in the living room. Our "living room" is now a bedroom/nursery -- with a TV in the corner. I found a really comfortable reclining-rocking nursing chair on craigslist, which meant we had to get rid of our couch. We moved our other rocking chair from William's room so now we have two places to sit. The changing table/dresser I originally wanted to get for William was finally purchased and the pack'n play is set up again next to our bed.

And our newest update has been black-out curtains. I'm not sure why we didn't do this 2 years ago because it makes such a difference for our sleep, but it is great now and baby approves too! Chris also added a curtain as a separator between the dining room and living area, which gives us a lot more freedom to stay up past 6 p.m. and cook dinner without disturbing the baby. We've even had a few people over for dinner with this new improvement!

This one space is so used. The floor space we do have is often covered with toys for both boys. I fixed that issue a little by packing away our DVDs (which we haven't watched in two years) and making space on the shelf for toys instead of stuff we never use.

William's room now houses a twin bed on the floor, three dressers and a cradle for Stephen to use for naps when William isn't sleeping (otherwise we have to tip-toe around the rest of the apartment to do anything!)

On most days it still feels spacious . . . until it doesn't and then I feel a little depressed/sad/angry. We've been looking for a larger home for nearly two years, more aggressively since last fall when we learned Stephen was coming! I find myself getting more easily agitated with the noise level of our neighborhood and less patient with our hunt. But I'm always reminded of God's perfect timing in his provision and usually find a way to be grateful with what I have and where we are.

I am entirely thankful that we have a space in which we can shift and grow into. Even if it's a little unconventional. I'm thankful that our one bedroom apartment has provided for our needs for over 6 years. This is the longest I've lived anywhere since moving away from home!

If we do end up staying here past Stephen's first birthday William's room will have to get a make over. I'm not at all sure how to fit a crib and a changing table/dresser in there yet!