Housing: Part 2

We were issued a 4 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom, 2^nd floor apartment.  It’s right about 1200 sq. ft.  We are very grateful for that 4^th bedroom.  We weren’t sure we’d get it since we have 3 boys and they are all pretty young so they can be roomed together.  But…the sizes of the bedrooms are extremely small and there is really no way you could technically fit more than one bed in a room. 

The building behind the boys is ours.  We are the 2nd balcony up on the very right.

   

This is a view from our balcony to the left, out onto post. The second picture is off our balcony to the right.

The kitchen and bathrooms are tile.  And not just on the floor.  They are pretty much floor to ceiling tile.  The rest of the house has hardwood floors.  The wood in each bedroom is different too.  We had an extra rug that fit in Blaine's room and  I was able to locate a rug for Ryan and Colin's room, but I would still like one for our bedroom and the 4th bedroom if possible.

Living Room/Dining/Kitchen:  All of these rooms are very comparable to the size in our last house.  The dining area might even be a tad bigger.  The kitchen is about the same space, but it's just the different configuration that makes it difficult to figure out where to place everything.  Our stove is like nothing we've ever seen.  It's electric, but it's not a flat top, nor coils.  We also have a dishwasher and a lazy susan!  (For those of you who have/have had a lazy susan items seemed to fit there best?)

 Notice our awesome loaner furniture in the next few pics!!

 Daddy coming home from work!!!!

Bedrooms: We decided to keep Ryan and Colin in a room together and are taking full advantage of our bunk beds so we can use that 4^th bedroom as a craft room and hopefully next semester an area for homeschooling.  Blaine is currently in a room of his own and his room also has the only dresser that we brought.  His bunk bed is set up but mattress-less, so he's still in his pack and play.  Hopefully I can get a mattress ordered through our PX before Tim gets home from the field.  That way it will give us a few months to bed train him before Tim leaves again.  A majority of the toys are in Ryan and Colin's room with a few of the more baby toys in Blaine's.  Our bedroom fits our King size bed and two nightstands with a little room to spare.  If I squeeze everything tight I could fit our standing mirror, but I think we are going to put some hangers on it and hang it from the wall for now.

 

Storage: There is one closet as you enter the house which I'm trying to keep as a coat closet.  Thankfully, in our full bathroom we have two sinks surrounded by cabinets.  From what I was told, it is not normal for there to be any type of storage in the bathroom.  We have plenty though.  The two smaller bedrooms have decent closet space in them.  The one in Blaine's room is currently holding extra diapers and wipes in part and the rest will be for excess ARMY gear, regulations, etc.  

The closet space in the 4th bedroom is a little larger than Blaine's and should hold all of our games, puzzles, our more constructive play items, craft items and any other homeschool items.  The other half is currently our cleaning closet and more of my craft stuff.  

In the two bigger bedrooms one entire wall is floor to ceiling closet/storage space.  I don't think we are lacking in closet space at all...it's just different than we are used to.  We are used to hanging everything.  There are three closets in our room and the middle one is for hanging and the other two have shelves.  I would love to find a tension rod that is sturdy enough so I could convert more of those closets to a hanging closet.

We also have a storage room in the basement of our building that is about 9 feet by 7 feet.  I was able to locate some shelves that I need to assemble that will help with vertical storage down there.

Laundry:  We have a joint laundry room downstairs in the basement.  I don't mind it so much.  I never liked doing laundry everyday of the week and I always tried my best to wash, dry, fold, and put away all my laundry in one day.  So six washers and dryers only aid me in that!  I normally do between 6 and 10 loads of laundry a week and I can get it all done before nap time.  I learned quickly though to not even attempt to do laundry on the weekends...unless there is an absolute need. ie Colin's leaked through his pullup onto his sheets.  I needed to do one load of laundry on a Saturday because of the above and I went and checked at 9:30, 11:30, and around 1 PM and all the washers were full and nothing had moved since 9:30that morning.  Thankfully, my brave husband started knocking on doors to figure out whose laundry it was. 

Overall, I'd say the space is good, it's just trying to arrange everything to make it fit the best and the most useful.  I really am just thankful that we got on post housing.  The hardest part is being patient in getting in all put together.  It's a slow process.