Loft Living Update
As I am sure you have noticed - this blog has taken a bit of a content dive over the past few weeks. And while I feel badly (because I do love blogging) - I simply have been overwhelmed with moving and catching up on work. And those two things have had to take priority. I am one of those people that likes to feel settled into a place right away. In the past I was able to settle into an apartment in a weekend - but this time things have been different. The space is much larger and we are also trying to be much more purposeful in how we use the space. I have also had to do a lot of organizing (not my favorite) of all the stuff I have collected over the years. I got rid of a lot in the packing process - but man, there is still so much more to go through! It is taking the longest to get my office area together for this very reason. While I wish I could wave my magic wand and make everything come together in a few seconds - we are slowly but surely making this place a home.
Our kitchen area was the easiest to get together quickly - though we still have a lot we would like to update. Like replacing these ikea chairs ;) But the light is incredibly lovely in this space, and we have enjoyed eating here most nights. In our old apartment our kitchen table was also a workspace so we ended up eating a lot of meals on the couch. Now we are committed to eating at the kitchen table.
This weekend we were lucky to have some incredible weather and some gorgeous sunsets. This is truly my favorite part of the loft (ok besides the dishwasher and washing machine). The sunsets last for over an hour, changing colors every few minutes. And then when the sky gets fully dark you can see the lights of San Francisco twinkling in the distance.
Before we moved in I came up with a plan to build a loft within our loft. I wanted to have a more designated area for sleeping - that felt comfy and a bit romantic. I came up with this platform with curtains idea - and then hired Oakland Handyman to make it come to life! I am happy with the result and I love sleeping a few feet above the rest of the loft. You can see everything but still feel like you are in a special enclosed space.
I bought a bunch of plants, but since the space is quite large - they barely make a dent! More plant shopping is definitely in my future :)
On monday night I took this picture - finally feeling like my space was coming together. After hours of work all the books were up and the space was starting to feel homey. We still needed to work on getting a credenza and setting up our record player and other media stuff - but things felt pretty good.
Then on Tuesday morning this happened:
It was loud and horrible, I screamed and felt like I had just witnessed an earthquake. I was shaking uncontrollably. Luckily my dog and I were up in the loft bed when it happened so out of dangers way. But we could have been easily walking through the living area or sitting on the couch - and that thought scared me. Basically what happened was the handyman business that I hired to put up the shelving unit did a lazy job and did not fully secure it to the wall. Luckily the owner of the business felt really really badly about what happened - and he came over with a co-worker to help organize all of the books and repair the shelving unit for free. It took all day and cut into my working week - but at least things are starting to go back to normal.
This shelving collapse shook me up quite a bit and stirred up an angry side of my personality. I feel embarrassed now that I was so bitchy to the handyman on the phone - but I was just so frustrated and emotional. It feels like we are using every spare minute and penny to get our loft to feel like a home - and having something like this happen just felt tragic. But I realized over the course of the day that it is important for me to take a step back and just feel grateful that no one was hurt, and that the handyman actually came back to help. In the grand scheme of things it is just a tiny blip in the road and I have so much to be thankful for. I truly love this loft - this space is really magical and I feel so lucky we found this place.