We Live Here
For the first month or so after we got married, Brian and I had a habit of elbowing each other and saying, “Hey, you know what?… We’re married.” The novelty of that hasn’t quite worn off, but now we’ve moved on to a new catchphrase: “Hey, you know what? We live here.”
We are officially residents of Kailua, Hawaii. We signed the lease on our place last week and have been just tickled pink with it (one of us is pinker than the other).
Sometimes we just need to lie on the living room floor and love our new apartment
After more than a year of separations, cross-country/cross-continent moves and stints of living out of a suitcase, we are finally going to have a real home. Together. I won’t even know what to do with all that time I used to spend pining. Some ideas:
- Painting our awesome apartment
- Refurbishing furniture and being generally crafty with decorating
- Using every single kitchen gadget, utensil and dish we got for our wedding
- Planting vegetables and herbs in boxes on the lanai and trying not to kill them (this is where Brian comes in)
- Grilling every kind of fish and crustacean we can get our hands on (our first culinary experiment with shark went swimmingly… tee hee)
- Becoming masters of urban composting
- Finally printing, framing and hanging photos of our friends and family from the last five years
- Turning our second bedroom into a sweet-tastic office, silkscreening studio and guest room
Oh, you want to see photos of where you’ll be staying when you come visit? If you insist.
Front door: Soon our New Orleans flag will be proudly waving there
Kitchen: Flat-top range and a dishwasher? Could life get any better?
Living room/dining room: Where our dining table, sectional sofa and future flat-screen TV (the first TV I will have ever bought myself after years of using hand-me-downs) will reside
Living room looking out onto the lanai: We’ll be leaving that door open a lot to let in the ocean breeze
Lanai: Brian contemplates where the grill and the hammock will go
Master bedroom: Large closet and a door out onto the lanai
Master bathroom: It’s not huge, but it has two sinks, so I am stoked
Since we found the place so early in our week-long stay, we decided to get a jump-start on painting before our furniture arrives. We discovered there is a Hardware Hawaii just down the street from us (a fact that made Brian downright giddy), so we picked out some colors, bought supplies and got to work. Gray-blue for the master bedroom, warm cream for most of the living room and kitchen and dark red for two small accent walls in the living room. We’re still accepting suggestions for the bathrooms, the hallway and the office.
I am an artiste
I graciously allow Brian to do the meticulous ceiling work
It looks as though a terrible crime were committed in our living room
Awesome! Our landlady was a little skeptical of the red, but she relented, saying red is a “good Chinese color”… and then later asking us if we will paint over it before we move
The finished product in the living room (and our new sofa in boxes)
This is what the sofa will look like when it’s put together…oooh (minus the pillows)
Look at that beautiful masking…
Victory! Our first meal in our new place, courtesy of Chef Papa John
11 comments
I’m so happy for you guys! Your apartment is beautiful, and it’s so awesome that you finally have your own home. I hope shaping and building your life together in your first place as amazing for you as it was for me. Though it’s a pretty safe bet that it’ll be even better than my experience, since your first real home is in Hawaii instead of ding-dang-do central.
I’m glad that you’re getting my guest bedroom ready. Josh and I are planning on purchasing plane tickets for a winter getaway once my tax refund rolls in.
Your new place is beauteous! Very daring with the red wall. If you really want to freak out your landlady, paint the other rooms black. Then walk around dressed all emo, and listen to nothing but Robert Smith….oh, am I getting carried away?
I’m so glad that you two will finally be in one place, and that it is a place I will get to visit by the end of the year. Get ready for Darren and me to become those pesky houseguests who never leave.
Yay, thank you! We’re so freaking excited to build a home and a life together. I sometimes just bounce up and down in my chair thinking of all the cool stuff we want to do in Hawaii.
I’m so glad you’re all planning to come visit us! Don’t be alarmed if I cling to your leg and beg you not to leave.
I’ll paint the guest room black in honor of your emo souls.
Oh my gosh, Gill! I didn’t know you live in Hawaii now. That is so awesome! Life is good :-)
That is a damn fine looking apartment, where did you find such a place?
It is going to great to be in one place, and especially great for that place to be awesome-ville Hawaii.
And are you calling me pink? huh? what’s that supposed to mean?
Oh my gosh, can I stay in the black emo bedroom!? it’s so me.
that said, if i move back to NOLA anytime soon, i’ll prolly have an extra bedroom …. sounds like a tradeoff! now, how do I afford tickets to hawaii? MAN i want.
also, I love the red wall. and the landlord’s reaction. Brian is lucky to have your ethnic-ness around … I AM SUCH A RACIST.
Not only is this place amazing due to location and the spare bedroom for my hopefully frequent visits (eek!), but it’s bringing two of my favorite people together to share the amazingness. Can’t wait to visit!
Tara- Yep, we just went to find a place last week and will be moving for real in May! Life is darn good. Come take a Hawaiian vacation!
Brian- Would it soften the blow if you called me “yellow”? No, I rescind my offer… you’re the cutest white/pink boy I know.
Lisa- Let’s make that trade happen! I’ll sleep in your guest room in NOLA and you can snuggle in our emo room in Hawaii. Bri is so lucky to have my “exoticness” that’s totally not exotic in Hawaii.
Kathleen- eeeee! I can’t wait till you visit! I’m never letting you leave.
I was just browsing your photos again and, I kid you not, your apartment’s layout, amenities and size are exactly the same as my Myrtle Beach den of paradise. Super creepy…It’s like we’re in alternate universes, but mine is the white-trash version of yours.
your apartment is so nice with a fabulous color . i love your photo you specially when you colored your apartment wall. its the first time i see your web site so i want to add you as my friend if you let me . i hope you will be always happy with your husband. i dont married but i am engage and maybe next year i marry .