The Apartment

By popular demand (okay, one person offered to not complain if we did it), here is a photo tour of the little place we call home.   When you come up Walnut Street, a main thoroughfare in Philadelphia, you see our front door. It's a 3-story building, built in 1928 or so, with two sets of locking doors.

There is no elevator, but at least the stairs are big enough to carry a queen-sized mattress.  And we're only on the second floor.

Be it ever so humble...our front door.  I would be surprised if it had fewer than 20 coats of paint on the jambs.

The "foyer," showing one of our four window air conditioners in the dining room. A careful examination of any of these pictures will show that the walls are less than perfectly flat.  They are plumb and true, for the most part, though.

Turning slightly to the right, you can see part of the living room and into the second bedroom, aka "The Office."

Here are a couple of shots of the living room, including another AC unit and the heirloom furniture we bought from some Grey Dog guitarists (thanks Quincy and Shawn!)

All of the floors are hardwood, which goes great with the furniture and provides fewer homes for microscopic creatures. The couch was left here by the previous tenants, whom we know, because removing it requires disassembling the door.  We will probably leave it as well.

One feature we didn't fully appreciate until we got moved in is the large front deck, through this door in the living room.

 It is 10 feet by 25 feet, and overhangs the street and the Lebanese bakery.  It is a perfect place to hang out and eat an otter pop on a hot night.

We have a second bedroom that is our office.  I work here almost every day, but we'll put out a big air mattress and roll out the red carpet if you come visit (3rd AC unit in there). 

Here is our dining space; we really will be able to feed ten people. (Thanksgiving, anyone?) But bring your own chair, we only have seven, not counting the deck chairs.

Now, turning to the left, and around the corner, here is our kitchen.  It lacks counter space, but has an adequate amount of cabinet space.

And comes complete with a cute chef.

Going through the kitchen, we pass by a couple of storage closets and a small but functional bath.

Then we have the master bedroom.  Notice that walls are all bare.  One of our safari goals on days we go out exploring is to figure out how to decorate: art?  hangings?  stencils/appliques?  pieces of cars?

We also have dual walk-in closets so I actually get to have space for my clothes, too.

You probably didn't notice, but the ceilings are 9 and a half feet tall, so we get a really roomy feel.  As you know, AC is in the windows, our furnace is in a closet, and our water heater is in the basement, but ours alone, so we never run out of hot water.  Not that we need extra steam here in Philadelphia.

Here is the dishwasher.  

Our washer/dryer is in the basement, but for just a dollar more a load, we have a service around the corner do it.  It is really slick. We fill up our rolling suitcase, drop it off on the way to work, pick it up on the way home. Clean, folded, ready to put away.

The apartment's big--over 1200 square feet--and about half the cost of smaller places in more tony neigborhoods.  The biggest minus:  it has had a lot of tenants over the years, and dirt from all of them has been painted into the door frames and floors.  Quaint and gritty. But we love it and are very happy to be here.

One final note:  this little coffee table was a Pennsylvania native that was packed onto a moving truck to Utah last month.  But in a story that would rival all of those cross-country animals who ever went back to find their owners, it has made its way back to Pennsylvania.  Doesn't it look happier now?

Philly Gabe & Terisa