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Home Sweet Home (My Digs-Part 1)
FYI-sorry for the 2 part posts, but I went a little overboard w/pics (surprise, surpise) but I'm trying to break it up so it's not so long)
We rent a 2bed, 1 ba apartment about 3/4 mile from Wrigley Field (in Chicago). Although our rent shocks my parents at $1600/mo, we actually got a decent deal (talked down from $1700/mo and similar places we've seen rent for over $2K). The building has 3 units and we're in the middle (1st) floor. The weird thing is that to enter our apt, you have to go in the side door and not the main door. It always throws people off when they come over for the 1st time.
Here's our building and side gate 
"Hall" entrance up to our apt:
Entering the apt, the living area: 
The bar (if you remeber from TK; we got this for free and I refinished it. Love how it turned out):
The only 2 items we spent wedding money on, the TV and entertainment center (the rest we saved; haha and DH and I both feel so "grown up" w/a coat rack, but our closet space is limited so this was the only option): 
Living room from another angle: 
View from kitchen: 
Now looking towards the kitchen (which is open to living area for the most part) and to hallway: 
The crazy thing about the kitchen is that when we signed our lease, it didn't look like this at all. There were cheap white cabinets, white appliances and black granite countertops. It wasn't the SS appliances we hoped for, but it was fresh and bright looking so we signed the lease. Then I get the keys for the apt and go over while DH is at work and about peed my pants to find this:
Our little pantry (there are shelves to the left, but I couldn't get a good pic):
At Christmas I put white lights above the cabinents and we like the look so much that there's still up. I'm not crazy about how they're visible above the sink, but it works. We call it our "mood" lighting. Lol.
My bf made this for us as part of our wedding gift. DH thinks it's cheesy, and I agree, it kinda is, but I like cheese and it fits perfectly above the sink: 
Re: Home Sweet Home (My Digs-Part 1)
I LOVE your kitchen! The whole place (so far!) looks really inviting.
And I'm from Houston (where cost of living is incredibly low!) and I think you guys actually got a great deal...especially since it sounds like you live in a pretty cool area (I watch a lot of House Hunters, and Chicago is one of their favorite spots, it seems).
The bar did turn out great, by the way! It's such a nice piece of furniture!
Megan & Chris
All of this! Your rent is more than our mortgage payment, but we live in Oklahoma City, so housing is cheap here. So, your rent price wasn't a huge shock to me. It sounds like a great deal, for the location.
Missing our little turkey.
Estimated Due Date 11/13/12 | Natural Miscarriage 4/17/12
est. 10/10/10
Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
TTC Since January 2011 - We have bad spermThanks all! The kitchen was an amazing surprise, especially since we negoiated for a lower rent!
Megan - DH and I are obsessed with the HGTV shows. We're going to apply for First Time Buyer and HH when we are ready to buy. It's so fun to watch the Chicago episodes and then see the buildings in person. There are 2 condos w/in 3 blocks our of place that were on the show and the people choose to buy!
Tisha- I know! Rent is more than my parents mortgage also. Our goal is to continue saving for a down payment and when we buy that our mortgage won't be much higher than what we pay for rent now.
Blog Sale
<a href="http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss262/hzswanson/?action=view
Blog Sale
<a href="http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss262/hzswanson/?action=view
Oh fun!!! I am also obsessed with most of the shows on that channel, and even Chris is into it now (it took a few years, though!). You'll have to let us know if you ever make it on there. A girl that my mom used to work with was on an episode here in Houston, so it was cool to see someone we knew.
Megan & Chris
Blog Sale
<a href="http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss262/hzswanson/?action=view
Very nice so far! Off to part 2
Hannah, you aren't the only one with a coat rack. We have one too....it is much needed in our apt with lack of storage. Got tired of them on the back of the dining chairs.
To echo all of the other posts, love your kitchen and the wood flooring...we have wall to wall carpetting.