Settling In

Today, Sander's parents brought us the last load of boxes that he had in storage. We've unpacked them and added a few more personal touches to our awesome apartment. I think it's safe to say we're getting settled into our new place!

Here's a little tour.

Welcome to our teeny kitchen.  It is surprisingly functional given it's size, and so far we're thoroughly enjoying it (especially cooking on a gas stove-- something that is a bit of a luxury for us being that we've been stuck with electric stoves for the last few years).  The cupboard space is really well organized and space is utilized to its highest potential.  The cupboard next to the stove has a 3 tier drawer system in it that fits everything from pots and pans to tupperware and cutting boards. It's perfect.  Another feature of our kitchen that I love is that the ugly bits are hidden.  The water heating systems here are a bit different than in Canada and are usually giant beasts lurking in the corner of your kitchen.  I love that ours is tidily hidden away in the cupboard above the sink. Even our fridge is hidden which I feel gives the entire room a nicer look.  

All the junk on the counter is stuff we brought from Canada.  We had a surprising amount of space in our bags so we started packing random things to bring along.  We figured the less we had to buy the better, so along came a cheese grater, spatula, measuring cups/spoons, our fancy knife set, travel coffee cups, etc.  We even brought our snazzy coffee machine which you can see sitting along the window.  Funny story is that we actually bought it in the Netherlands in 2012.  We brought it back to Canada, had our kitchen re-wired to accommodate the different voltage and now we've brought it back to the Netherlands.  We never ever thought it'd travel the Atlantic twice! 

Anyway, moving on.

Off our kitchen is Balcony #1:

It looks out onto a green space that is absolutely lovely.  I enjoy the air flow you can get going through the kitchen.  The window beside it also opens entirely so on those hot summer days you can have the side of the kitchen open.  

Next up is the Dining Room:

I think this might be my favorite room in the house.  I absolutely LOVE the table.  The top is unfinished natural wood and it is just gorgeous. I love how simple it is and I enjoy that it has white legs.  I also thoroughly enjoy the Amsterdam picture on the wall.  We had the exact same one in our apartment in Edmonton so it kind of feels like home.  Though, I find it really hilarious that there's an Amsterdam photo...... in the Netherlands. Shouldn't it be a picture of the Rockies or something? You'd think that IKEA would have different stock photos in different countries! 

Attached to the dining room is the living room.  They're more like one giant room than two separate ones which is nice.  I find houses here (especially older ones) are very chopped up.  Every "room" in the house is quite literally a room. Anyway, here's our living room (and probably the worst photo I've ever taken.  I'm sorry for your eyes):

The entire front of our apartment is one giant window and then there's a door that lead onto Balcony #2:

We get so much natural light (even on the cloudy days) and it is wonderful.  That is one thing that I LOVE about Dutch houses: they all have the most beautifully GIGANTIC windows! 

I also really enjoy the purple accent wall and I don't even mind the antique mirror on it (Sander cannot stand it and is itching to get a nice painting to hang there instead).

One of my favorite things in the living room is this:

There used to be a closet there and they've taken the door off to create a neat built in shelf system.  We brought quite a few random trinkets with us and this is the perfect place to display them! 

Next up is our bedroom.  I have yet to take a picture of the entire room because well, it's square and entirely empty minus a bed and a dirty laundry basket.  We're hoping to get a wardrobe/closet system at some point but aren't really in any rush as we have a second bedroom to store our stuff in for the time being.  

Second REALLY narrow bedroom with washing machine (yay!) and IKEA shelf which is currently being used as our closet

I do, however, have a picture of our awesome lighting upgrade in our bedroom.  There's a very narrow shelf above our bed that housed the most ugly clip on reading lamps.  Sander and I have done away with those and installed LED strip lights along the shelf! 

Along the wall with our door on it, there are windows along the top.  At first I thought it was strange but it's actually a really nice addition.  The outside wall in our room is a giant window (of course) and a glass door leading onto Balcony #2.  We have an abundance of light in our room and the awesome windows along the top bring some of it into the hall which really brightens it up!

I thought the hooks in the hall were really awesome too! We have no front closet for coats and such, so it's a really nice addition!!

That brings me to the end of my tour minus one room: the bathroom.  As it is very common in European countries, our toilet and shower are separated.  Our WC is quite small and has a few quirks.  First, it has the typical Dutch hand sink. Why there is one lonely tap whose sole job is to produce glacial water, I have no idea.  Also, I don't know why the sink has to be so tiny.  You are basically just washing your fingers one by one to avoid splashing that icy cold water on yourself.  Dutch people, please tell me why you cannot have properly sized sinks with warm water in your WC's! 

The other half of our bathroom is our shower, and happens to be my favorite quirk of all.

See the doorway next to the door leading to the balcony? Yup, you guessed it.  Our shower is in our kitchen!! And best of all, it has no door!

I will leave you to ponder the logistics of that while I go grab a glass of wine and relax like a pro.  There is an episode of Misfits waiting for me.