Apartment Therapy for Me

As a few of you know, I will be moving in a little less than a month. I am both excited and terrified ala Jessie Spano. I've been spending a generous amounts of time on Apartment Therapy, Ikea, and various design blogs as a kind of pep talk because I'd be kidding to say moving isn't daunting. The excitement is undeniable as I will be leaving behind an apartment complex where the management company has received 10 1-star ratings on Yelp, a 20ft aluminum drain pipe has fallen on my boyfriend, and my fridge was left broken for a week (among many other mishaps).

At the same time that I'm sad not to call Hyde Park home anymore, part of me feels like moving can't start soon enough because I will be living here next year. I'm sure granite countertops, lap pools, and stainless steel appliances might make some of you cringe, but I draw the line for dingy apartments being fun and boho chic when they have a side effect of concussive damage. Hopefully, newer will equate to better in my spiffy soon-to-be digs, and maybe I'll be lucky enough to be surrounded by tenants who work (as opposed to UT students).
Perhaps excitement and terror are like love and marriage (you can't have one without the other?)...or perhaps it's just that way for me and every self-proclaimed member of Neurotics Anonymous. I've moved once a year for the past five years, and moving has only become harder with each year- progressively dwindling numbers for able-bodied people to help move and ever-growing mounds of stuff in my apartment couldn't amount to moving being easier.

My beau and I will be moving in together in a little over a month, which means meshing the odds and ends of our possessions together and seeing if the sum is greater than all the parts. My current roomie and I have lived together for the past five years, and I'm dreading finding out how much of the kitchen wares are hers (I'm guessing a lot).








Add downsizing square footage and trying to make a space that is less college/post-college aesthetics on a budget and more adult (definitely for lack of a better word), and you have one seriously stressed neurotic. Not only are the furniture and decor pieces I'm lusting after out of the budget (when added up), but it's completely impractical to try to plan how they'd fit into the new space before I'm there. This is something that my plan everything months in advance self is not liking and will just have to come terms with.

In the meantime, I'm trying to decide whether or not to get movers (which are not an appetizing item for my budget), when to pack, how many days off from work I should take for the move (moving in one weekend's time last year was not the fun times), how to get the number of boxes I need, how to budget for deposit and misc. costs, how to arrange to get a couch from Ft Worth to here, a solution for washer and dryer (we have connections in the new place, but who can afford those), etc.

When I'm not thinking about that, I'm dreaming of having my own workspace for jewelry and trading in my plastic dilapidated rolling cart for efficient functioning organization pieces...and also the fact that the complex will paint two walls for us (gray is the winner for an accent in the living room and bedroom). So, it's not all bad- just a mind bender for the next month. Part of me is desperately trying to push it out of my mind and think about when I'll use my vacation days (I've got 14 built up, but who's counting?). What's your experience with downgrading in size? Designing for a grown up space? Movers vs. no movers?

Action Jackson out.

Currently Listening: Debut by Bjork, Blind by The Sundays