For rent!

Announcement: my lovely tenant back home has been admitted to KTH in Stockholm (congrats!), which means I'm looking for a new sublessee from September 2013 to September 2014.

If you know anyone who might be interested in my Gothenburg apartment - preferably someone neat and tidy, since the place is furnished - please spread the word and have them email me. My first choice is for it to be someone I know, or at least have some kind of connection to, so I won't advertise for random people just yet. That's also the reason I'm not describing the place further right now; if you know me, you know the details (or at least how to get them).

I really appreciate any help I can get!

Update: I've found a new tenant. Thanks all!

Surprise, surprise!

Coming home to this after a lovely twelve-hour workday sure was unexpected! I was told that my apartment would be entered in search of a water leak, but this...? No warning, no nothing - just a fine layer of dust covering the floor and nearby furniture.

 I think I need to have a little chat with my landlord tomorrow...

Kitsch revealed

Now wait just a minute! I promised that I would show the contents concealed by this mysterious wrapping a month ago, but then completely forgot to fulfill my obligation. Shame on me!

Ok, here goes: The first golden frame brought some feminine beauty to my bedroom.

Hey, I told you it was depressing! But I honestly like the eerie vibe it is projecting.

The second print added to the maritime theme I've got going on in my kitchen/living room.

Fun fact: on the back of it is written “Udskibning fra Saltholmen, 1880”. Got to keep that Scandinavian heritage alive!

Alright folks, that's all from today's episode of Antiques Roadshow. Stay safe and don't play with fire! (Or guns.) Cheerio!

Under construction

My little apartment is getting nicer by the day; this weekend I've drilled some 26 holes in my walls, putting up hooks and shelves left and right. I'll post some pictures of the improvements as soon as I get my things organized, but until then I can show some sweet vintage prints that I bought at the Fremont Sunday market. A bargain!

And in case you didn't know: this is a hammer.

On Thursday I will experience my first ever Thanksgiving. Therefore, the next couple of evenings will be spent trying to figure out something nice to prepare and share with the rest of the dinner guests, preferably with a Swedish touch. Stay tuned for pictures of turkey, yams and pumpkin pie!

L'amour est bleu

Behold! Baby Blue, new love of my life. All the cozy nights we'll spend together; I can hardly wait!

And you brought me flowers too! Oh, you shouldn't have...

[Tihi!]

A peek inside

At last! Some images from my crib. It's still rather austere with plain white walls and limited furnishing, but I'm certain that I will make it snug and personal in due time. However, the apartment is just 400 sq ft (approximately 37 sq m), so there isn't much room for extravagance.

The magic number welcomes you at my door.

This is the kitchen part of the room that serves as hall, kitchen, dining area, study, living room, dance floor, and library. The step stool by the window is essential, as the cupboards are positioned at the perfect height for a medium-sized giant.

I'm hoping to find a comfy armchair to snuggle up in, but currently this corner of the room is where I spend most of my waking hours when at home.

For reasons of economy, I soon realized that the impression I was aiming for in terms of furnishing had to be "shabby chic". I found these wooden crates at a local rummage sale, put one on top of the other and abracadabra: a home made shoe rack.

My bedroom. The chair, the bedside table, and the mirror (which will be wall mounted eventually) were all found at various thrift stores. Cheap is the new black!

This was just a brief introduction to my lodging; more pictures will be posted as I start decorating. Welcome back!

IKEA revisited / I depend on me

Saturday made me ridiculously full of myself. Ollie and Nancy had been kind enough to lend me their van while they spent the weekend in their cabin, opening up the opportunity for me to go back to IKEA and buy a bed frame without being subject to two-faced advertisers on Craigslist. Great! There were, however, a few circumstances that made me slightly nervous. In fact, they made me anxious enough that I didn’t get much sleep the night before.

What bothered me was mainly this:

1. I had never before driven a car in the US.
2. I had never before maneuvered on a five-lane freeway.
3. I had never before driven a van.
4. I had no GPS to guide me.

Without embroidering the story too much I would simply like to conclude that not only did I make my way out to Renton and back (approximately 32 km, one way) without injuring myself or the borrowed vehicle, I actually did it with confidence and delight. All by myself!

(Yes, I took a picture while approaching Seattle on the way back, but only when traffic slowed down.)

As if that wasn’t enough, once home I also assembled the full-sized bed frame on my own, even though the instruction manual recommended getting assistance, and managed to put the base and mattress into place.

So damn proud of myself! And the bedroom? Way better now.

Ups and downs

I’m sorry for poor updating but this has been a crazy week, the move-in being a real rollercoaster ride. I spent my first night in the apartment last Sunday, and I must admit that the whole experience awoke all kinds of feelings in me. For the first time since I left Sweden, I started getting really homesick, missing my comfortable life in Gothenburg. Longing for stability and familiar faces. Luckily, one of the neighboring bars hosted some kind of wild karaoke party that night, keeping me company as I lay awake staring at the ceiling. I must say that the crowd happily bawling out Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive” (sic) at 1 am actually made me feel a little less lonesome and a bit more cheerful; any other night it would probably have bothered the heck out of me, but not this night.

Since then, things have improved considerably, albeit with a few interesting incidents. To summarize:

Sunday: Moved in, finally. New floors, cupboards, countertop, bathroom cabinet, light fixtures. Apartment not quite ready, though. Paint fumes and dust. Shelves missing in cupboards. Gas stove not working (no ignition). New bathroom cabinet wouldn’t close. Sigh.

Monday: Bathroom cabinet fixed, shelves installed in cupboards, apartment cleaned. Stove still not working. Sigh.

Tuesday: Took the day off and went to IKEA in Renton by bus. (My friends and colleagues just look at me like I'm mad when I tell them this. You did what? The bus!? No no no… We’ll drive you there, for Chrissake!) Anyway, it worked out pretty okay, even if it may not have been the most time-efficient mode of transportation. This wouldn’t have bothered me much if it wasn't for a rendezvous I had scheduled later that afternoon. I was buying a used kitchen table I'd found through Craigslist, and managed to get to the appointed place in time after hurrying as much as I could. 20 minutes later, I had to realize that I'd been stood up... Not much to do; I dragged my tired body back to the move-in mess. Back to the non-working stove. Sigh.

Wednesday: The kitchen table-guy emailed and apologized, offered the table for free if I still wanted it. Me: yay! I had already arranged for Nancy to help me transport a bed frame I was buying from another woman, so the timing was great. One hour before we were leaving I got an email from the woman, containing one sentence: “Already sold it.” Oh, come on… Tried to stay positive. Picked up the kitchen table, which was perfect. Finally, some good news! Showed Nancy the improvements in the apartment since she last saw it; opened the refrigerator to demonstrate that the hinges had been moved from the left side to the right – and the door came off. Eh... Awkward. I couldn’t get it to close properly and the landlord wouldn’t answer his phone all evening, so I simply gave up and went to sleep. (It really didn’t matter that much as I hadn’t stocked up on food anyway, because the stove still wasn’t working.) Sigh. 

Thursday: Landlord apologized for not noticing my phone calls, promised to fix refrigerator door and stove right away. Emailed later and told me that he needed some spare parts; the fridge was temporarily fixed but I had to use some force to shut it properly. The stove still wasn’t working, but a repair guy was on his way. Sigh.

Friday: New email from landlord, saying that the stove was deemed unworthy of repair. New stove would wait for me when I came home. And it did! And it works! (Also, fridge door taken care of.) YAY!

Hurry up and wait

I guess I was pretty naive to think that things would run smoothly with my move-in to the new apartment. Pretty damn naive... Although I'm very grateful for the place being extensively renovated (new floors, cupboards etc.), the makeover apparently took more time than the landlord anticipated and I'm still staying at the old place; all packed up and ready to go. Sigh. Frustrating, to say the least... But hopefully, this is my last night here. And honestly, who cares in the long run? As soon as I get settled in properly, this aggravation will surely be forgotten.

Until then, I can rejoice at the bargains I made today when Nancy and I went rummage sale shopping together. For instance, I bought a fully functioning vacuum cleaner (including bags) for $5, a kettle (Braun) for $3, and a cool, gold framed vintage mirror for $5. All in all, I spent $45 on 23 different items. Let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope that I'll have a home to put them in tomorrow...

Keyed up!

Just picked up the keys to my new apartment. My own apartment! It's a tiny one bedroom unit in the heart of Fremont, and I can hardly wait to start filling it with curious items and peculiar furniture from the nearby thrift shops.

As I currently own little more than the clothes I'm wearing, I'm practically a charity case. Luckily, there are a lot of wonderful people surrounding me; Ollie and Nancy are providing me with a bed, and another friend from work gave me a whole box of plates, bowls, mugs and various kitchen utensils to start out with. The generosity! I feel deeply indebted to them.

Thus, tomorrow I'll take my bags and few belongings and begin a new chapter of my Seattle adventure. Stay tuned for pictures and a more detailed exposé of the apartment and its surroundings!

Home is where the heart is

...and right now, my heart is located in a part of Seattle called Fremont. I'm currently renting a furnished room with a private bathroom in an old-fashioned (as in classic, not dowdy) green villa in a residential area with lots of beautiful old houses. The location is excellent, just a few minutes from Woodland Zoo and Green Lake and a fifteen minute walk from the cool shops and cozy cafés of downtown Fremont. Several bus lines pass through the area, so getting to work in the mornings is pretty painless.

The house on the corner of cozy and cool.

I must consider myself extremely lucky to have stumbled upon this place without knowing basically anything about the area; the rent is fair, the room is clean, the landlady is nice (and her dog well-behaved).

One end of the room...

...and the other. The bathroom is straight ahead, with a tub to the left and sink and toilet to the right. Fluffy towels are included in the price.

Still, I would really like to get a place of my own as soon as possible... Even though I have complete access to a fully-equipped kitchen, it's just not as fun or inspiring to be cooking or baking using someone elses pots and pans. In the long run, I'd much rather live in a small, crummy pad if it meant that it was all mine. (But it needs to have a proper stove! No silly kitchenettes, thankyouverymuch.)


The hunt for an own apartment has just begun, but if my luck continues it may not be too tiresome. Please hold your thumbs, my friends, as I already have set my sights on a couple of promising candidates to the desirable title home (away from home). On Wednesday we will know if they live up to my expectations...