Adventures In Apartment Hunting

And so I went apartment hunting this past weekend.  I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to call where I presently am "home", but figured I would at least learn the lay of the land and see what the area has to offer.  I kept my search primarily in the heart of the city, starting with this nicely staged one-bedroom located in the downtown area...

The kitchen was a cool size and I surely appreciated the stainless steel appliances, but the orange cabinets in the kitchen didn't really do it for me.  

The living room and bedroom were an adequate size and the decor, which I later learned was all from West Elm, was the perfect dressing for the somewhat small unit.

But it was the bright and airy master bath with its marble countertop and white, subway tiled shower that turned out to be the crown jewel of the unit, at least in my eyes.

We moved onto another unit in the building, this time a two-bedroom with dark, wood cabinets in the kitchen; however, the bathroom was the same style and layout.

But clearly it was the view of this loft-style unit that was the star.  Granted, it was a view of the traffic below and the various businesses planted across the street... but a view that funneled a lot of sunlight and energy into the apartment nonetheless.

Moving on, I went to see another unit at a different building - this one a legit high-rise - and where the first apartment building was nice and quiet with hardly a peep from the inhabitants, THIS one was bustling with restless natives milling about, loudly celebrating the weekend.  Dare I say that every floor was like trying to navigate your way through a frat house on a Saturday night?  Umm... yeah.

Anywho, the sales/leasing agent escorted me to one of their larger two-bedrooms.  It had a nice kitchen, complete with a glass tile backsplash...

a decent sized bedroom (even though I wasn't feelin' the carpet) with a really nice walk-in closet...

but I thought the bathroom sucked!  It's like they gave up on it and just stuck whatever tile and finishes in there without any regard to aesthetic cohesion.  I mean, for the money they're asking, I was expecting the "luxurious, high-rise living" they were selling to at least be extended to the bathroom, too.  Yikes!

But I guess where they skimped on the bathrooms they splurged on the rooftop, which is an awesome must-see for visitors and must-do for tenants; a certifiable playground of sorts, complete with barbecue area, lounge area and a killer access to panoramic views that put the entire breadth of the city's downtown on full display.

And then I moseyed on over to the more "industrial" pocket of downtown and took a look at some lofts there.  No stainless steel appliances, but the marble counters in the kitchen kept me going.

Another nicely staged two-bedroom and I must say that I was completely digging the look of the laminated, bleached "wood" flooring of the unit.

The bathroom was cool, but the walk-in closet was tremendous!  I mean, it was big, y'all!  Huge!  Very, very nice...

So, I got to see a lot of what the downtown area had to offer and I may venture out and see some more.  All in all, it was an extremely productive weekend with all the appointments I managed to wrangle and the day almost ended on a high note.  Almost, that is, until I picked my dog up from the groomers and found out that they had turned my lil' fluff-fluff into a fox looking creature with floppy ears.  His face was choppy and uneven and they cut his muzzle all the way down to just about nothing, even after I left them explicit instructions to the contrary.  But I'll spare you the entire rant and, instead, unload my grumblings over on Twitter.

But here?  Nothing but rainbows and sunshine over here.  Yep, nothing but rainbows and sunshine...