Living

I made it to Minnesota basically a week ago, just last weekend. Or a lifetime ago, I am not sure. I think that the challenges and changes have come in two areas, at work and at home. Since I am sitting at home, sipping wine and eating cheese and crackers right now, I will start there. A reminder as you read this—remember that I do like my apartment. I like it a lot. It is big, it is light, and it can be home and I feel that more and more every day. I just think that the journey to get it where I want it to be will be longer than I thought or perhaps hoped for—here are some reasons why.

I am living in the “old” downtown area or East St Cloud. The very early morning photo from above was shot from my dining area windo. The building was built in the late 20s or early 30s, so it is not a new building. Below me is a store, now a thrift store. The upstairs apartment was a purpose built apartment and until last year, the sole tenant was the original owner of the building. As amazing as it sounds, I am the first new renter for the apartment for at least 75 years. I don’t think that happens very often—the owners ran the store below and when the husband passed away, the wife of the owner continued to liver here until she went to a nursing home. The family sold the building a few years ago, but the deal was that she could live here rent free until she moved to a nursing home.

I think that this is a really cool story. However, for anyone who has moved into a space with the same decorator (or lack of one) for eight decades, you might imagine some challenges with the apartment. It is fundamentally solid—good water, heat, doors shut, and most of the windows open. It was neglected, though, and a bit dated. OK, REALLY dated. Check out the lights in one of the bedrooms in one of the pictures. Much of the carpet is original. Really. It is so like me, faded rose-colored flowers, with gray and black. It is pictured above in my living room. Anyone of a certain age has seen this carpet. At first I thought that it just needed a really good vacuum, but after filling several loads in my new vacuum, I tossed in the towel and had it cleaned. It is wool and the guy who cleaned it said that it had to be good carpet to last this long, but it is pretty faded and worn in spots. But it is very clean.

Actually, most of it is very clean right now. It has been Lisol’ed, 409’ed, Tilex’ed, and scrubbed almost everywhere, and it shows. Those who have been in previous domiciles of mine might actually be surprised. While I am not afraid to eat or walk most places in the apartment, it still needs a lot of work. The curtains are all down, and thank heavens. They were very good curtains, or at least they were when they were put up 50 years ago. That was the last time they were cleaned, too, as I discovered when I took them down. And what is up with all of the flowers and pink? The stove was new in 1960 according to the brochure, and I have seen six burner commercial stoves that are smaller--it measures just under 65 inches wide for an electric stove and oven. I bought a microwave and will live with that for now—that stove just scares me.

The kitchen, besides the stove needs some help. With lots of help, I was able to get to the point where I felt comfortable putting dishes in the cabinets. The wall paper, as mentioned before, is made to look like paneling which we know was a way to make paperboard and glue look like wood. So what is that? A fake of a fake? That simply has to go. But, in case you are decorating your house, I did find an extra “new” role of this wallpaper—if you want it, let me know. Quickly, please, as the trash is picked up on Tuesday. I don’t even know what to say about the ceiling, other than it will not be the same in a few weeks and it really is hard not to write your name on it with some comment...

These are the challenges but it is really pretty comfortable space. The windows, sans curtains, are pretty nice, and just need newer shades. All the shades work now so there is no danger of me showing my butt to Beudreux’s Bar, my nearest neigbor, but they are old. A bit of paint here and there will change things, and the landlord has agreed to put wood floors down, which will be great. Let me know if you want about 1200 sq feet of faded rose carpet, as that will soon be gone. The bathroom is unbelievable—I have to try and figure out a way to take photos of it as it defies imagination. Salmon and black ceramic tile, with matching tile on the floor, and flowered wallpaper of many colors on the walls. It actually looks better once the unmatching flowered curtains were down, as the flowers were clashing. It is so bad that you actually just look at it and wonder if the decorator was on crack or something stronger. You are instantly glad that you didn’t make these choices. Or that no one, thankfully, has made these same decorating choices for 50+ years. That said, it is kind of cute! Besides, I am looking pretty good in those pink fluorescent lights!

Despite all of this, it really is comfortable space. I bought furniture, which is pretty good since one apartment I lived without a couch for almost 18 months. And I like it—it is huge overstuffed “stuff” and it is furniture that you can live with. I am sad that it doesn't go with my going away prize of the zebra striped Snuggie, so I am throwing it out. I have a bed, or actually two of them (if anyone wants to come visit, hint hint) and I like my bed—it has good pillows and it is toasty warm, and you know it is the simple things that make you happy. I went to Ikea today, and bought a wine rack, a night stand, and a table for a lamp in my living room so my house looks like a LEGO disaster as I figure out how to put them together. But I did get to check out quickly in the very popular “I am single (male) and have to put together a whole house” check out line. There simply has to be a book or a sitcom about that place, its products, and the experience.

I told a friend a few days ago as I was whining about my (rapidly) diminishing bank accounts that it is different shopping for what I want to be my home as compared to shopping for simply a place to live. I have to buy stuff to just live, but I am aware that as I go to Kohls for bedding for a new bed or the endless trips to Target and as I find furniture, that I am buying for my home. I like that, and it is kind of fun.