After moving out of this, https://apps.realtor.com/mUAZ/29bd014d selling most of our stuff, and then shoving the rest of our belongings into various local storage units (and also family and friends’ rooms, garages, and basements), we are now nicely settled into our new digs: a two-bedroom condo that we owned as a rental unit on the opposite side of town.
While the location is not ideal (the nearly one-hour round trip commute four times daily for school drop-off and pick-up is exhausting), the small size (Caleb claims it to be 900 square feet, but Zillow lists it as 700) is a lot more livable than I expected—and keeping it clean is a breeze. The kids have to share one room (and on some nights, a bed), we can only fit three chairs around our kitchen table, and we have a very unique first-floor room that consists of a laundry station, a pantry, and a toilet/sink combo. All of this will set the stage for a humbling experience and great memories—or so I tell myself.
While we hope this is a temporary situation, we did a complete top-to-bottom renovation of the condo, and we have taken the time to decorate to make this feel like home to us all.
{Our living room (taken from the front door). Outfitted with the only furniture we had that would fit: Our first purchase as a couple. A sofa and loveseat that has stuck with us for the better part of 20 years.
You can see the kitchen from the living room, so let's go there next.}
{One side of the kitchen. And the other side of the kitchen. To say that counterspace is tight is an understatement. So we brought in our sideboard table for more space. And so that the whole family could eat near each other without having to go to a bedroom. Or to the car.}
And now for the most bizarre collaboration of rooms in a house: I present to you the laundry, pantry, bathroom, or LPB as we call it.
{This room is centered off the kitchen through a pocket-door walkway. You can see the toilet peeking through in the kitchen pictures. A little weird to be going to the bathroom directly off the kitchen (less weird now that we have installed a door...), and even more weird that the garage door is inches from the loo. Best be making sure you lock up the garage pre-potty so no one accidentally enters into a situation that no one wants to be in! And the pantry is there because it was between that or the upstairs hallway.}
Speaking of the upstairs hallway. This is it.
{Filled with a linen cart that also holds some PlayStation swag. You will probably knock into it on your way upstairs, but if you turn slightly sideways, that helps.}
{The bathroom is directly next to the linen cart at the top of the steps. No one in this family hogs the bathroom--the boys prefer to not shower, and none of the kids offer to brush their teeth--so this small size isn't an issue for us.}
Two adult-length steps from the bathroom is the kids' room.
{The walk-in closet makes this space quite doable for the amigos. They have the biggest TV in the house, and I refer to their bedroom as the lounge because that sounds way swankier than the tiny-ass-space-you-share-with-the-two-people-you-can't-stand-the-most-in-the-world room. They are getting along just fine (when they all sleep on their own sides of the bed and don't kick each other while sleeping. I have only had to rescue squished kids and stolen pillows a handful of times to date.) Speaking of sleep, they have a three-night bed rotation: Top. Outside. Inside. Repeat. It's working well so far.}
And our room. Directly on the other side of the lounge.
{This room comes equipped with Hulu and Peacock, so it's my favorite in the house.}
Fun for now, but I look forward to our next move. Whenever that will be...
