Phase 1: The Before Pictures

With our move complete and the tenants out of the first and second floor apartments, Brett & I perused the building one last time before the demolition began.

Outside of building & main entrance

First Floor Apartment

Second Floor Apartment

Third Floor Apartment (Our former home)

The back courtyard & stairwell

And the basement

Phase 1: Moving Day. Yuck.

Moving day is never fun. It is stressful, constant action and seemingly endless. Ours was no exception. Brett was conveniently out of town for work the week before our move. I bared the brunt of the packing and oversaw the 10 1/2 hours the movers spent schleping our stuff. Since we are only living in our rental for 7 months, 75% of our belongings went to storage. Somehow, we still have too much stuff for our new apartment. How this is possible, I will never know.

Our home ready to be moved.

This 37 foot long truck that was completely full.

Our new home, disheveled. 

Phase 1: Living, Apartment-Style

In December 2009, I moved into a two bedroom apartment on the top floor of a three flat. In the heart of Old Town, the location is ideal. At about 1000 square feet, the hardwood flooring and the high ceilings gave the apartment a spacious feel. Thankfully, my furniture fit perfectly, creating a cozy, comfortable home. I lived there quite happily. 

In short order, I made a couple necessary changes. I swapped out the bathroom flooring with charming blue and white rosette tiling. Additionally, I got rid of the dingy vanity and replaced it with a new, high-gloss white unit. After 2+ years, I still love the vintage-meets-modern combination.

While Brett and I were dating, I shared my dream of buying the building and turning it into a single family home. He readily embraced my idea. Once we got engaged, we began exploring making our daydream a reality. He sold his condo in River North and moved into my place. With an overabundance of furniture between us, somehow we made it work.

We put most of his furniture in storage, but kept his granite table to use as our dining room table. It meshed well with my retro silver chairs.

We also replaced my queen bed with his king size bed. With Levi, our 55 pound pup, a queen bed wasn't going to cut it.

I reluctantly relinquished my desk in order for Brett to have a working home office. This perch overlooks the street below.

Brett easily has double the amount of clothes that I do so I gave him my closet. For nine months, my clothes lived on a rolling rack in the second bedroom which became my closet/exercise room/work area. While it was less than ideal, I managed.

The kitchen is obviously dated and cramped. We utilized every nook and cranny. Despite the range periodically not working, we made some great meals and hosted many dinner parties.

When Brett moved into my apartment in May 2011, we were in the midst of planning our October wedding and finalizing the paperwork in order to own the building. Over the course of the next eight months, we indeed got married, designed our dream home with our architecture firm Northworks, picked Mavrek Development to be our general contractor, and got a loan to begin the work.

Now, it is late February 2012. With money in our bank account, our architect's designs in hand, and confirmation for an early March demo with our contractor, we are finally ready to vacate our home and let the renovation begin. With countless hours of research and planning behind us, we are excited to see our dreams actualized.