OUR TWO ROOM APARTMENT / AUGUST 2018 UPDATE

As you all know Yanna and I live in a two-room apartment (2H Asunto). It means that we have only one bedroom. The apartment has one bedroom, one living room, kitchen, walk-in closet, a bathroom with bathtub and a terrace. It measures 57 m2. It is big enough for me and Yanna, and it is cheap compared to other apartments located at the city center.

I really like it here. I want to live here for as long as we can. One reason that I love about this apartment aside from being affordable is the bathtub. Not all apartment has a bathtub. Sauna is the number one thing in Finland, but I still prefer a hot bath and relaxing in the bathtub especially on stressful days. The hot bath or bubble bath is a stress relief for me and it makes me happy having a bubble bath in the comfort of my home.

THE LIVING ROOM

The living room is the biggest room in the apartment. In fact, it fits there the king size bed, a really huge sofa, two offices and an entertainment area. Because we only have one bedroom, and it belongs to my daughter, the living room serves as a bedroom as well. We have a king size bed there and sleep there basically. I am pleased and happy with the living room. It has a decent size, and right now it’s all that we need. One wall in the living room is full of big photo frames. Photos from our trip and best photos of Yanna I’ve taken. The other side wall has shelves and cute dressers from jysk. Also serves as the intertainment area where TV is located.

ENTERTAINMENT AREA

We used Meu’s TV because it has 4k resolution and is bigger than mine. My TV is kept in the box and will be there until we decide to sell it or when we move into a bigger apartment where we can use two TVs. We also put Meu’s two big speakers, although we don’t really use it. Finnish people don’t like loud music or loud noise for that matter. I remember, when I was new here I hear someone banging on the wall every time I play music on my computer. I was only using small speakers before, but neighbors complain that my music is really loud. I don’t agree with them. I even received two notices twice sent on my door saying how noisy we were. Those incidents happened when my friends and kids came over to stay over the weekend.

It’s sad that we have to always careful and reminded the kids not to scream so much or to not jump or run. You know kids. It’s quite sad. But we just need to respect our neighbors as well. Now, those big speakers are more like a display since we cannot use them. Sad, I know! I am a music person and I really like to listen to loud music.

HOME OFFICE

Meu moved into our apartment end of July. None of us wants to give up our iMacs, and we both want to have our own offices. It’s quite weird but we always buy the same things. We happened to have the same desks (Mickey from Ikea). The two desks fit perfectly in that corner where my old office before. So, now there’s two offices and two iMacs in our little apartment. I spent too much time in the office before making homework when I was still studying. Now that I finished my school, I don’t use iMac as much as before. I have a MacBook and prefer to use it sitting on the sofa. It is much easier but I prefer to sit in the office when I am working and editing photos in Lightroom as it is more comfortable sitting down.

BED IN LIVING ROOM

Since we only have one bedroom in the apartment, Meu and I’s bed is in the living room. the living room now looks like a one-room apartment as it has the sofa, bed, and tv in there. Even two offices. The bed is 160×200, and it fits well even though we have a really huge sofa size 350×200.

RIANNAS’ BEDROOM

As mentioned earlier, the only bedroom in the apartment is now Yanna’s own room. I chose it that way so she has a big space for all her toys. She will have a big bed and enough space to play. I put a big bed in her bedroom because I also sleep with her sometimes there. She is still a baby for me and there are times when she’s asking me to sleep with her. I couldn’t say no. Also, her room serves as a guest room in case we have friends who will come over to stay overnight. It’s a win-win. :) I am still working on her room though. She likes a pink room. I am thinking maybe to change the wallpaper and buy a pink carpet. I also need to buy more toy storage. We see!

THE BATHROOM

As mentioned earlier, one thing I love about this apartment is the bathtub. We have a small bathroom but it has bathtub as well. It fits well there even the small laundry machine and a cabinet. It’s a good size, and for me good enough. We don’t need a large bathroom, anyway.

WALK-IN CLOSET

We have a small closet. I put most all my high hell shoes and boots there. The sneakers are stored in the shoe closets in the hallway. Eventhough this closet is quite small, I am happy that this apartment has. The closest stores my shoes, handbags, dresses and etc. I am currently cleaning my closet, by the way. I keep away clothes and bags that I don’t use or need anymore. We are in the concept of living small and living simply, so I am going to let go of things I don’t really need. I have been buying clothes and shoes before, and I don’t even bother to use them. So now. I am going to give them to someone who needs them or to sell them.

THE HALLWAY

There are four Ikea shoe closets in the hallway and a big mirror. No fancy at all, but I like our hallway at the moment. We have where to put winter jackets and shoes.

 

THE KITCHEN

The kitchen is big enough. We have a dining table in there and big cabinet. We spent our time mostly there when we come home from work. We make food, we eat. I bake. We mostly have a deep conversation in the kitchen. :)

So, there you go, all the details about our two-room apartment. This is where we live right now. As much as we want a bigger space for us, this works for now. We save money and hopefully when God permits we’ll build or buy our own house. For now, this is our palace and memories made her every single day. Do you live in a small house or a big house? Leave comments below. Thank you!