Home sweet home

One month ago today we spent our first night in the new place, and it's been a little over a week since we hosted our first bash. With cat-flap glass panel installed into our patio's sliding glass door, both we and the cats have been making the condo and the entire complex home - Mars even swung by the pool area while we were enjoying the hot tub earlier this evening and escorted us back into our unit. So it seems about time to share the before-and-after collages that show how we've started making our first condo into a proper home. It's modest (at an obscene Bay Area price tag) but it fits us very well. Come take the tour!

Step into our new home.

As you walk in you'll see the kitchen to your left.

Before you you'll see the open plan dining and living spaces.

From your seat at the dining table, you can look back to see the kitchen and, beyond that, our second bedroom and bathroom which were currently renting out to the roommate we took with us from our last home.

Come check out the living room, pictured here from several different angles - top is what you see as you first approach it from the dining area. Below, to the left is what you see while standing by the bookshelf shown at the very right in the previous image, and to the right is the view from the back corner where the table lamp stands.

From the dining room, you can also walk out the sliding glass door onto our spacious patio, now furnished with a six-seater table and a small light-up electric heating bistro table with chairs. It's illuminated by some surprisingly convincing solar-powered faux candle lanterns.

When you walk into our home, rather than veer left after the kitchen, you can also take a hard right and peer into the master bedroom where, after nearly five years of marriage, we've finally gotten around to framing and hanging a few wedding photos, shown above.

When you walk into the master suite, you'll find the bathroom to the right.

If you make a left instead, you'll soon notice our charming modestly-sized walk-in closet, which is forcing me to keep my dress and shoe collection strictly under control.

And finally our lair, where sleeping into a king-size loft bed is totally a legit thing that grown-up married adults do.

We've each slotted our desks into opposite corners of the window wall, with me tucked neatly behind our staircase to the bed.