... 7 months later. Better late than never, right?
I may have fibbed a little when I referred to our flat as "teeny tiny". It really isn't even "tiny". But it is small. We have learned to live with it, and we have learned to love it. Ooops, I just lied again. We have just learned to live with it.
It's been seven months now since we have been in our 900 sq.ft. place. When we moved in, we had to donate probably two closets worth of stuff. Once we started sifting through everything, we kept going, and in the end, we even had some extra closet space! We kept thinking, "If I don't need that, then I don't need this." And "I haven't even seen this in the past year, its obviously not that important." And lastly, "Why do I need two big bowls... two pitchers... 15 towels... all of these hangers... these board games... six sets of markers (seriously)... ?" It is amazing what little you need in your home and how few items you actually use. It felt good to purge, and I highly recommend taking a day to do the same in your home. Plus, you get that warm and fuzzy feeling when you donate things to those in need.
So let's get on with it.
As you enter our home...
The double doors on the right are for a hall closet (or cupboard in English terms), the doorway you can barely see in the middle is the second bedroom, and the doorway on the left is the first bedroom. And don't be fooled by the decoration on the wall, its one of just a few. Going around the corner...
Again, the doorway on the very right is the second bedroom, doorway in the middle is the first bedroom (with the master bathroom door inside there) and the doorway on the left will take you into the reception areas. From where you are and turning around...
This is the entry hall. Where I keep two pairs of rain boots. Haha, I only use the Hunters though (I received the hunters after the purge). Moving forward just a smidge in the hallway...
We are looking down the hallway into the reception areas. The double doors on the left are for a second hallway closet. Going to the end of this hallway, and then turning around...
We are looking back at the hallway. On the right edge of the picture is the second hallway closet, the double doors in the back right is the first hallway closet, the door straight ahead is for the second bathroom, and then doorway on the left is the second bedroom. Opening the second bathroom's door...
We have a pretty large second bathroom and a big tub! Unfortunately, there is only a tub, no shower. Oh and the light switch for this is in the most ridiculous place! Looking into the second bedroom...
We have no air conditioning, and we have no radiators. Our flat is heated by an underfloor heating system which works quite nicely. Entering the second bedroom...
The second bedroom looks like this on a normal basis. Except for when I am hang drying clothes.
Its a small room, and there is not much space on the open floor. So when we have guests over...
They sleep on a queen size air mattress, which is actually quite comfortable (or so I think).
We chose not to purchase a bed for this room because there isn't very much floor space when the bed is up. In the closets, we keep our extra clothes, suitcases, and storage boxes. Leaving the guest bedroom...
Now we turn and look into the first bedroom, the master bedroom...
Right away on the left is the master bathroom...
Which is the only shower we have. When we have guests over, everyone showers in here unless someone would rather take a bath. Luckily, it is a pretty awesome shower! Entering the bedroom...
This is the only proper bed in the flat. And this is the best we can do for making the bed (if it were just Luke, the covers would be in a ball). Notice our five pillows... which are all used every night... And no, we don't have a headboard/footboard because we only brought a few items from the states that we thought would fit, so we only brought the frame, mattress and boxspring...
That fan was a lifesaver this summer! And now, I have no idea where to put it, so it is collecting dust. Luke and I compromise on the closets. He gets the double door set of closet space in the second bedroom and I get the double door set of closet space in the master. Leaving the second bedroom...
We are now looking back into the reception areas...
Once you enter, you will see on the left...
Our "dining room" and beautiful table. Haha! We can only seat four people for dinner, and we get to sit next to the trash can because there literally is no other place for the trash can. Looking into the kitchen...
Which normally looks like this...
Because I am constantly doing laundry. Going around the kitchen...
Our medium sized refrigerator with a medium sized freezer below it (I say medium because it could be one of those college style ones), and also microwave and oven. Then we have those appliances that not every flat has...
The half-sized dishwasher on the right which I am thankful for. In the middle, there is the sink. No one cares about a sink except for when it has a GARBAGE DISPOSAL! Yeah yeah yeah!!! I am one lucky duck! And I should be thankful for a combo washer-dryer, but it's so hard to be thankful for that piece of ____. Sorry. And on the other side of the kitchen...
We have an electric glass stove top which means we don't use any gas in our flat (no gas bill - yippee!). The top right cabinet is filled with spices, the top left cabinet is our snack pantry which is too small to keep much especially since one shelf is full of tea, and the bottom right cabinet is our cans and jars and cooking type stuff.
Oh and our drawers in the kitchen are those that kind of close on their own, if you know what I mean. Leaving the kitchen, the dining room is open to the living room...
In English terms they call it the "reception room". Yeah, we don't have a rug. Walking around the room...
We also don't have decorations on the walls. And the coffee table is where our computer sits because we don't have an office. Continuing around the room...
Here you can see how it is open between the living and dining - which puts the term reception into good use. Most homes in the UK have doors for every room to help keep heat in rooms, so an open floor plan is hard to come by. That clock has been sitting in that spot on the floor for seven months. Hey, we can still see what time it is. Its still doing its job, so no bother. One more view of the room...
We have a TV! We also have blinds that don't pull all the way down. The two sets of windows are sliding glass doors which lead to a small patio. We don't have any furniture out there because that's expensive. Now back to the main hallway...
And back to the entry...
You may now leave and go tell your friends that you have seen what a flat in London looks like! Well, at least our flat in London.
Most of the flats we looked at were similar in terms of how nice they were, but there were a few that weren't too great. Obviously, the more you pay, the better you can get. I won't tell you how much our rent is, but I will give you an idea of some pricing for what Americans are used to. I asked our real estate agent how much one would pay to rent a detached home with a yard to fit a family of like three or four people. He said, "First of all, those are very difficult to find in Wimbledon. But a home like that would start at aroun
d £5,500 per month." In American terms, that is over $8,800 for a normal house per month. Just a normal house!!!! And that's in Wimbledon, not even in London.
Luke and I have gotten used to our small place, and we have actually enjoyed living a simpler life as far as our stuff goes. Life isn't about the stuff you have, but it is about what makes you happy. And this has kept us happy, so it works for us. The only thing we really wish we could change (other than the obvious) is our building will not let us grill outside, but they have a good reason for this rule. I really hope that we can take this living experience back with us to the United States, and remember that we don't need a lot of space. After all, more space means more stuff, more spending, more dust, and more cleaning.
RANDOM FACT:
Wimbledon is located in the London Borough of Merton in Southwest London, approximately 9 miles from central London, and is split into two areas - the "village" and the "town".
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