week five

Well, it's been another quiet week around here. Winter doldrums I guess! Last weekend we went house-hunting, and I had hoped to have some photos related to that to post. But it didn't go quite as planned. So I thought I would share some of the things about our apartment that are making us so eager to get our own house and move already...





Our kitchen. *sigh* Yep, that's the whole thing. Wide-angle lens and everything. Without the island that we added, we'd have a grand total of about 4 sq ft of counter space. Yeah. Also, there is only one outlet in my entire kitchen, and I can't use it because the island blocks it. Ain't that a kick in the teeth.



Peaked roof. Our upstairs floor (bedroom and bathroom) is a converted attic, so we have this sloped ceiling. I know some people think it's cozy, but those people haven't hit their heads on this ceiling every week for 5 years. We aren't even tall!! (Note the skylight on the left side and the bathroom door on the right -- more on those a little later.)

Also, there's no closet upstairs, so one side of our bedroom looks like a clearance rack at a department store:



Plus? Those skylights? They aren't sealed, let alone insulated. See?



They let the heat and cool air right out, and the noise, bugs and rain right in. There's no door closing off this floor from the rest of the house either, further encouraging the noise and heat/cooling to flow freely to and from the front door.

Bathroom. I'm sure it's terribly rude to be posting photos of my bathroom online, but oh well. Our bathroom is the worst. For one, it's right in our bedroom (it has a door but no hallway to separate it -- and it's the only one in the apartment).



It's tiny and the ceiling slopes sharply -- if you stand up straight at the sink, you can't see your face in the mirror above it.



Also, our shower is beyond tiny. This is with a wide-angle lens.



OK, one more then I'll stop.

General lack of maintenance. Our landlords just don't bother dealing with repairs. Here's one example.



This house dates back to the 1890s and has these lovely tin ceilings. Lovely, that is, except where they are falling apart. This particular spot seems to be associated with a leak in the roof (a whole floor above), which is also causing a not-insignificant leak around a nearby window.



Maybe it doesn't show up too well, but that bath towel is soaked and dripping. You might think the landlords would be concerned about this. But you'd be wrong. We've brought it up several times and nothing's been done.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Maybe next week I should balance this out with a post about some of the things we like about our place.