I know since starting this blog I have mentioned a few times that I would be posting pictures of our apartment soon or in the near future...well its finally here! After a summer of studying, taking board exams, starting new jobs, and simply moving in together and enjoying each others company, we have finally made our new place a home for the two of us and our sweet little puppy. We hosted our first overnight visitors in Charlotte last month so these pictures are slightly overdue, but better late than never! Only a couple of these pics are duplicates from the sneak peak in an earlier post.
Let's start with my favorite part...the KITCHEN!! (From here on out in this entry, all captions will be below the corresponding picture.)
This is the view of the kitchen upon entering our place. We LOVE the granite countertops and cabintry, not to mention the stainless steel appliances. Our absolute favorite part of the kitchen is our island because we love to prepare and cook meals together either for our own date nights or for our friends who come over since we enjoy hosting frequently :)
This is the view of the kitchen from our living area, we love how open everything is!
This is the view from the "back" of the kitchen from the hallway area. Something I love in this picture is my cookbook stand which basically holds my iPad (the majority of my recipes are from
Skinny Taste or
Pinterest!)
If this doesn't have our names written all over it, then I don't know what does ;)
This is just another view back towards the front of the kitchen, the entry door is just to the left of this area.
After cooking meals, theoretically you would think we would come sit at this table and enjoy our food, but most all of the time we end up either siting on our couch or at the island in the kitchen. This picture is from before and the only change we made to this dining area is the addition of curtains.
This is also a picture I took a while back but this area basically looks the same, except like I said the addition of curtains on the dinning room windows.
Here are some things that can be found on our end tables...hurricane vase full of wine corks so that we can make fun things like message boards, coasters, & trivets! And of course some of our favorite photo coasters from Miss Joyce (in addition to the cork coasters our friends Janani & Deepak brought us).
On the same table you can find this gift I gave Rup on our wedding day with one of engagement portraits. It quotes some phrases from
The Art of Marriage that Rup & I live by everyday.
On the opposite coffee table you can find a framed set of our wedding program & portrait.
This is another view of the living area & kitchen from the dining area.
And one last view of the living and dining area from where the front door is.
Just to the right of the TV which you can barely see in the picture above this one is Bella's toy box :)
So you've seen the kitchen view to the left from the front door and the living area view to the right of the front door and this is the view just straight ahead from the front door.
And this is the only difference than the previous picture, Bella and her dishes are down when its time for her to eat :)
And now onto the other section of our place...
This is a view of the hallway that connects the kitchen/dining area to the rest of the place. The laundry room and guest bathroom are also off of this hallway in addition to the three bedrooms.
Another view of the hallway in the opposite direction - so this is looking back into the kitchen/living area.
This is a view from the guest bedroom looking right into the office with the guest bath, laundry room, and master suite right off the hallway.
Guest Bath
Guest Bath
Next stop.....The Office!
Here is the view of the office from the hallway walking into the room.
And another view from the door.
This is what you see up against the wall where the door to the room is. The
shelving unit,
baskets, and
artwork are all from good ole' IKEA! We love that place!
Since we are not famous people and cannot call this our hall wall of fame, we call it our wall of accomplishments. College, professional school, and residency have all been a long road but we are so proud of each other for getting thru it all! Of course Rup had to throw in all of his Michigan paraphernalia.
One of my favorite things on the wall is this representation of VCU that Blair & Sarah, my little littles in my KE family got me for graduation from a boutique in Richmond called Tweed. I loved it so much I went to Tweed before I moved down to Charlotte and got one made for William & Mary!
Just to the right of the futton in the corner is what I call my corner of hobbies! All of my running bibs (and a couple of Rup's), my camera tripod, and my basket of yoga/pilates/working things!
This is the view of the entire room from my corner of hobbies. Even those
bookcases are from IKEA!
One last picture in the office from the corner where the bookcases are looking back out to the door.
This is the hallway upon entering our master; the bathroom and walk in are off of this hallway. I love the mini shelves I found at IKEA which believe it or not are actually
TV stands! I got three of them and put them next to each other to make one long piece of shelving. They serve two wonderful purposes: 1) They house some of our shoes and 2) They serve as a stand to display several picture frames!
The first door on the left off of the hallway in the master is the master bath. We love the stand up tile shower/bench and the granite counters, not to mention the built in storage is great!
Continuing down the hallway leads to this area of the master.
The summer quilt has been very bright but very appropriate for the past few months, but I'm definitely looking forward to some new bedding for the fall and winter.
The sign above the TV was a wedding gift from our friends Jess & Steve. It says "Happiness is Being Married to Your Best Friend" So true :)
Rup and I have had quite the journey before settling down in Charlotte. I chose to represent this journey with maps -
an idea I found on Pinterest of course. The maps in order represent where we met, where we married, and where we live - Trenton, NJ...Richmond, VA...and Charlotte, NC!
Occasionally you may find Miss Bella curled up on our bed - that is usually when she is being spoiled!
Because she is actually supposed to lay on her bed, and not ours. Oops.
While it has been too hot for us to really sit out on our patio and enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, we are looking forward to doing so pretty soon when it cools down! We love having a balcony off our bedroom and the living area.
You could probably see these hanging above my dressing table in the previous picture. Since we have collected so many photo booth pictures over the years from various wedding, formals, and other special occasions we have attended together, I wanted to make sure I found a fun way to display them. So many times, these things just end up getting used as bookmarks or slapped onto the fridge with a magnet, but I found
this idea on Pinterest of course!
This is the balcony I was talking about earlier. Somewhere to just relax and enjoy a glass of wine or coffee on. An identical balcony can be found on the opposite side of our place off of the living/dining space with almost identical furniture. Photos of that side to come soon after I start our
hanging herb garden. Or if that doesn't work, I'll have
a backup plan.
Last but not least...
Our guest bedroom - which is anxiously awaiting visitors!
Looking back out to the hallway and kitchen area.
The window in the guest bedroom faces the second balcony off of the living space.
And our tour stops here for now! Please come and visit us in Charlotte anytime and make yourself at home with us. We love having our friends over :) Hope you've enjoyed the tour of our place as much as we love living in it! I'll be sure to post any and all updates!
And a quick message from Bella:
Please come visit me soon, I love to play and snuggle and am always SOOOO excited to see people! Woof!
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
