It ain't home, but it's close enough

We live in a rooftop apartment on the 7th floor of a 6-story building in the heart of Taipei. From the apartment, it's a 20-minute walk to where we work. It takes about half the time for me to get to the gym. There is an elementary school and a high school on two sides of the apartment complex, so we hear kids playing and the occasional echo of school announcements. Our apartment building is on the left of a one way lane, and there is a security booth at the entrance way a hundred meters from our front door. I've chatted with Mr. Yo the most because he's on duty in the evenings when I come home from work.

Ready for the tour? Please keep in mind that we're still in the process of putting the place together, so some areas may still look somewhat raw and bare.

As you walk up the flight of stairs from the elevator, this is the foyer leading to our apartment. The Chinese characters on the red paper on the bamboo sieve literally mean "Rats bring fortune". My mom bought it for us for Chinese New Year in the beginning of the year because Bill and I were both born in the year of the rat. The set of stone lantern belongs to the landlady. Originally there were some floaty water plants in the basin but they were all infested with some disease that formed this layer of white foam on top of the leaves. I replaced them over the weekend, and I'm quite happy with the result.









The character on the door is double happiness. It's a Chinese custom for newly weds to display the character on the door.
As you come inside the apartment, the first thing you'll see is "the coat room". There is a rack on the right (not shown in the picture) for coats.









Now if you take a right from the coat room, you'll see the bathroom ahead of you. Yes, we took the fuzzy ducky with us every time we moved. A bathroom door is not a bathroom door without him.










If you're facing the bathroom, the den/study is on your right. This is the darkest room in the house. Bill and I have our work desks and computers here.
Outside of the Japanese windows is a small and well ventilated area where we can hang our clothes. As you can see, Mr. Octopus takes his job very seriously. He'd salute if he had a free arm.









Come on back in. Let me take you to the areas that make this apartment unique.


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A fireplace in the living room of an apartment in Taipei!!!
Okay, it's more for decoration than practical use, but it certainly changes the feeling in the livingroom. Oh yes... it's dark marble on the mental piece.
To the right, there's a flight of stairs leading to the second level of the apartment. Our bedroom is up there.









The picture on the right is opposite the fireplace where a leather love seat sits. I took this picture right above the love seat because of the Christmas window stencils. We're getting ready to host this year's Christmas potluck dinner, so I've been coming up with ways to make the place more Christmasy.

Let's head up to the bedroom real quick.

Ta-da~~~


The mosquito net makes us feel as if we're camping.








Okay... let's go back downstairs and let me show you the kitchen.


Looking at this picture, you would never think this is an apartment in Taipei.






This is the kitchen/dining room area. Pardon the mess. We haven't found a place for everything yet.











Let's head out to my playground: the patio.



















Isn't it cute? Forget about the fireplace and the fact that we don't have to climb the stairs anymore, I wanted the apartment as soon as I saw the patio. I cleaned it up and trimmed the plants on the weekend, but it still needs more work and more plants. I'm happy with what we've got so far though. Bill and I are going to the flower market this coming weekend, and we plan to put some patio furniture and maybe buy a barbecue before summer comes.

Nuage woke up from his morning nap just in time for a recent photo. Isn't Mr. Sleepyhead the cutest cat ever?!