Every Square Inch

That is what I love about this apartment...every square inch. We are settling in more and more and we actually had our THIRD dinner party this weekend. It's unbelievable to me that I didn't cook more than three times in a year for the past several years, and now I'm excited to do it at least once a week! We're growing up, y'all.

I've been asked by many of you (I use the term "many" very loosely since my loyal readers are my 3 sets of parents, our siblings (maybe) and a few friends) about rent. So what does $2150/month get you in San Francisco? Besides a heart attack (believe me, it's taken the last 7 months to not throw up in the thought of the rent costs out here), it got us a great place in an excellent location that we can hopefully stay in for several years. I wanted to share some pictures of some of my favorite parts, since it may take some of you a bit of urging before you get your butts out here for a visit! You may recall, this is the overall layout:

We picked up this convex mirror from a resale shop in our 'hood. It is hanging in our foyer (again, I can't believe we have a "foyer") and is one of my favorite pieces - so glad we found it! Here are Dave and me before our "cocktail party" on Saturday night.

Here is a true photo of the foyer, which leads into the kitchen (left), living/dining area (left-ish), the bathroom (straight) and the bedroom (right).

The living room is still a work in progress, but we are getting there. Most of our brand new "grown up" furniture has come in, except for the couch (we're still using the $200 red cheapo we got on CraigsList as a 2-week temporary fix 5 months ago!).

This is our new cherry dining room table from Room & Board. We have been and plan to continue to actually USE it so it's not just one of those dining room tables that sits in a space in your home but is only used on Easter, etc. It's a perfect location because it faces the TV (so it's just like eating on the couch watching TV, but we're in our grown-up chairs instead - perfect!). Kidding, but it's perfect b/c it has a leaf extension in it and we actually used that for our Sunday dinner party for 6 people. We love it! You'll see the bar is in the background and the flowers/vase are actually one of two "heirlooms" I have from my mom's side of the family. It's a silver vase with the letter "W" on it from my mom's maiden name. When Mom moved from NC a few months ago, we had to pass on a lot of beautiful pieces from our extended family because there just isn't space, so I treasure the two pieces I do have - this and a globe my grandfather used to play with as a young boy. Okay, enough sap...let's continue on with the tour.

My parents, are huge believers in having fresh flowers in the home at all times. My mom used to treat herself to a dozen roses every week, just because she enjoyed the look and smell. I hope to keep that tradition and the Farmer's Market on Saturdays is a great start.

This "farm table" (we have always called it that - I'm not sure why) was a gift from Dave's parents when we first moved to San Diego. We used to use it as a dining table (getting four people around it is an accomplishment!) and now it is the perfect accent table in our living room. On top of it, we have my favorite photo Dave has taken - a picture of Windansea Beach in La Jolla (the beach where we lived previous to SF). You can see more of Dave's work on look. We bought the Apple TV and it allows his pictures to rotate on the TV which is pretty cool, both when we're home alone or when guests are over - it's like a constant rotation of artwork...I love it.

Still in our living room, we have a corner "dedicated" to artwork that we have received or created relating to hearts. These are all three treasured pieces by us both. Dave created the big blue and orange heart in the center - it was a Christmas gift several years ago. It's a wood background, painted blue, with a metal 3-D heart on top. He created the heart by hammering and using a blowtorch to form the piece of metal into a heart. Dave also created the photograph black and white image on top (cut up tons of magazine clips and "bunched" them together to form a heart with the words "I Love You" on top). It's one of his first photograph pieces which makes it all the more special to me. The final piece, on bottom, was a wedding gift from a dear friend of ours - artist Leni Newell. She is the mother of one of our good friends from Raleigh and I've always loved her incredible works of art. She created this piece for us and I am honored that it displays the same message that was on her chuppah for her wedding, "I have found the one in whom my soul delights."

Dave has moved his office into the kitchen area since he wanted to separate himself from the living room and truly have his own space. He loves his corner and he can look out the window or - clever - he has a mirror near his desk that he can prop and kind of watch TV while he is working (NASCAR no doubt). Yes, the things you do in relatively small spaces to make it all work, right?

Dave's bookshelf with the globe I mentioned earlier and the artwork surrounding it:

The other half of the office/kitchen area is the functional kitchen. It's not huge in size, but has two entries - through the foyer and the living room - which is key for hosting people. We created this "Bryand" sign when we moved to San Francisco by purchasing letters from an architectural salvage yard and mounting them on Dave's antique desk that broke in the move - I cherish this piece and it makes me proud to be a "Bryand". The other distinguishing part of the kitchen is my "Auntie Brooke Wall" (or fridge). I've started putting up black and white pictures of all of my "nieces and nephews" (i.e. my friends' children) and I love to see them every morning. I still have a few more to put up (you know who you are that haven't sent pictures!) and I look forward to updating it more and more.

So that is the grand tour! I didn't go through the bedroom or bathroom as there isn't much to write about in there yet, but I'll add them later.
I also owe a photo of our view when you walk from our front door to the coffee shop three blocks away - there is an incredible view of the Golden Gate Bridge (we are about a mile from it) - just stunning.
Next steps? Get a flight and come visit! Hotel Bryand is open for business (upgrading to a DELUXE air mattress for our future visitors...yep, no expense spared for you guys).