We’re Moving! Our Move To Happiness House

I have always wanted to call our future house “happiness house.” No, we didn’t buy a home (we got outbid two separate times on the same house and the market is just not stable right now so we’re going to wait), but we are moving into a house! We are renting the top floor of a beautiful Victorian home on the Main Street of a lovely little New England town. (The picture above isn’t it, but it is somewhat similar and located close to this one.) I’m still going to call it “happiness house.” It is a mindset more than a place and I figured I can always take the name with me when we move to our more permanent “happiness house” one day. But what a house our apartment is in!

I will not be disclosing the exact location to protect our privacy, but I am happy to say that it is still in our beloved New England and within walking distance to a beautiful little downtown like something out of a Hallmark movie. The house is an old Victorian built in the late 1800s and has been turned into two separate apartments. We have the upstairs apartment and there is a couple that live below us in the downstairs apartment.

When I found the listing for the downstairs a year ago I kept it in the back of my mind. It just so happened that the upstairs went for rent at the exact same time we started our search fo a new apartment. With our current lease ending in February, we were hard pressed to find a new place. We have been at our current studio apartment for three years now. It was really lovely the first year and last year wasn’t so bad, but many of our neighbors now have serious drinking and drug problems. Someone tried to get into our apartment while I was home a couple months ago and we’re just not feeling so safe and comforted at home. Many of our neighbors get into drunken fights. Although some of our neighbors are truly lovely, we’re just ready to leave. Studio living is also not something that Matthew enjoys. In fact, he feels very claustrophobic here. We’re looking for more of a home environment and more serenity for this new year. I will miss some things and this little community has been our home for three years, but it is time to say goodbye to Beacon Falls.

The pictures on the listing for the new apartment were cute, but there were no photos of the bedrooms or the bathroom so we didn’t exactly expect much when we went to check it out. And wow were we surprised. The front porch and entrance is for our own private use and Matthew has always dreamed of having a front porch so we’re very much looking forward to sitting outside when the weather is nice. With how crazy the housing market is right now, I am so amazed that the lease has been finalized and that we will be moving there within just a couple short weeks. We haven’t packed yet, but we will be decluttering and packing now that Christmas is over.

The main entrance goes into an old Victorian foyer. The wall paper is original and crumbling, but absolutely charming with scenes of Victorian country life that was once blue but has faded to a fine blue-grey. There is a grand wooden staircase that spirals down. The downstairs has a little armoire for our personal use where we will keep our sport gear and my roller skates and there is a landing at the top of the stairs. The top of the stairs has a much larger armoire where we will keep our coats, winter accessories, and other storage. Next to the door there is a cute little coat stand. The door itself has crystal doorknobs.

You enter into the living room. There is a large bay window in the back and wood floors throughout the entire apartment. The wood floors are left untouched, but in the kitchen and bedrooms they’re painted a light grey. We’re going to put our sofa and television in the main room as well as the record player and our vinyl collection. We’re going to get a nice rug but otherwise leave most of the space open for home workouts, yoga, meditation, activities, and even home photography. We’re hoping to keep this room as uncluttered and minimal as possible. To the left there is a surprise room. The listing mentioned two bedrooms, but it did not mention a den. This room is almost as big as the living room and has three windows. At first we had planned to make the second bedroom into a home library and office, but now that room is free to be a guest room (and my dressing room!) because this den will be where we keep our beloved bookshelves. We’re going to keep our loveseat in the room for cozy reading and find the perfect arm chair for Matthew. In the back of the room is where we will have the home office with a desk and chair and we’re also going to set up our art easel in here. My sewing machine will also be housed in this artsy little room. Can you picture it? With all of our books it will be the busiest room in the house.

The guest room will have a small bed with a trundle to host a few guests and the rest of the room will be used as a dressing room. Guest rooms are so seldom used that I want to make sure that this space is functional for us year round. With the limited storage space in the apartment and small closets, making this room into a dressing room just makes sense. I plan on going with an artistic and old-fashioned theme for this room, in fact, for much of the apartment to make it fit the time period. I’m hoping to thrift an old wooden dresser and put a full length mirror in this room as well as a clothing rack for my weekly outfits and hooks to hang my sun hats on the wall. I will also be making my own curtains for this room.

Leaving the living room and passing the guest room there is a doorway leading to a mini foyer that has a doorway leading to the downstairs laundry room and back door. In the foyer we’re going to make a little section for our keys and other storage. To the right in the foyer is the entrance to the small master bedroom. It is so small that we’re worried about fitting our queen bed and dresser in there, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out somehow. We already took measurements of our furniture and the room and it looks like it will all work out. The closets in both rooms are tiny, but somewhat deep as it is an old house. The bad news is that these are the only two closets for storing anything in the entire apartment. But with such a large kitchen and so many cabinets, and all the extra room, I’m sure we’ll be able to be creative and make it work. These closets will have to house not only our clothes and shoes, but any personal belongings we wish to keep, Matthew’s tools, my camera gear, and our holiday decorations.

To the left of the foyer is the kitchen. It’s big, but outdated. I’m still very pleased with this bright room. The cabinets however are many and they’re painted white. There is plenty of room for our table to be opened all the way and to seat several guests. There is a small pantry that we will be using for storage (especially because the bathroom doesn’t have a linen closet) and another pantry that we will use for food. The kitchen is divided into three different stations. The sink and a few cabinets are on one wall, the refrigerator and pantry with a long counter are on another wall, and the oven and a built in microwave are against a different wall. To the right of the kitchen is the bathroom. It is very retro and very tiny, but it has a bathtub and a window so I’m very happy. I have always wanted window light in my bathroom and this is the first time we’re having that. The littler box won’t fit in here, so it will have to go into the guest room for now.

We have loved our tiny studio loft in many ways. We will miss the old industrial factory apartment with it’s cathedral ceilings and ceiling beams and the brick walls. But it was time to move forward. We have been here for three years now and Matthew doesn’t do well in small spaces. Because it was so small the living room served as the dining room, library, entertainment area, hosting location, workout room, and home office. It was always cluttered despite my best efforts. The apartment was always so dark that it really effected our mood. There was very little window light. The new place is twice the size with a little less closet space, but so much more organization space in general. The new apartment has numerous windows and is 1100 square feet. I do not need any more room than that.

We will miss Beacon Falls and the bridge with the train station across the street. We will miss the friends we have made here, the river, and the parks. We will also miss Antonio’s Restaurant and Mina, who runs it. It is going to be a big change. I’ll even miss these old factory walls in our old factory apartment.

I was fine in our tiny studio, but Matthew was feeling so claustrophobic and the layout was not conductive to comfortable living. There was no space to cook at all and I had to do most of my baking prep on the living room sofa so I often opted not to bake or to cook much simpler meals. The lack of window light had the worst effects for me. And truly, Matthew does need an office. The fact that the office will double as a home library is a benefit to me and will make our living space look much less cluttered. Our food dehydrator will fit in the kitchen instead of being stored in the bathroom linen closet. We’ll also be able to buy a crockpot for the first time. The best part for me besides the location and the library space is the magnificent window light. Having the window light will change our whole lives for the better and I will also finally be able to take pictures inside for the blog. For us, the move is not about the size of the living space, but the location and how we can live in that space. The truth is that you do not need a large space to be happy, you simply need a space that is functional for your needs and meets your basic requirements. For us, that is window light, a bathtub, peace, and a home library.

Madeleine, our beloved little black cat, won’t be as excited about the move as we are, at least at first. Once she realizes that she will have her pick of windows to watch birds and wildlife from and have more running space we believe she will adapt quickly.

This past year and a half at the apartment has been tough because of all of the neighbor drama, alcoholism, and drug use in our complex. We have many nice neighbors too, but the obnoxious ones definitely made it hard to be happy at home. It just doesn’t feel safe or like a place we can relax. Although apartment living is wonderful for many reasons (and we’re still going to be in an apartment kind of) we feel that we’ve outgrown it. We don’t want to walk through several floors, stairwells, and doors to get to the laundry room anymore. We don’t want to race to find a good parking spot every day then walk far to get inside on a cold or rainy day. We’re tired of going though eleven doors and a few flight of stairs while carrying bags of groceries. We know these aren’t real problems at all, just inconveneinces, but we’re looking forward to the simplicity and privacy of the new apartment none the less. We don’t want to deal with loud neighbors on the other side of the wall or fights breaking out. We’re just too introverted to do it any more. It is time for change.

We are looking forward to our move to happiness house. I will start moving in boxes of personal items and kitchen gadgets as early as next week. My record player will also be moved first thing so that we can listen to music as we come and go to unpack items into ou new home. I’ll be making numerous trips to Goodwill to donate items we no longer need as we go though things as we pack. The new year is already looking like a whole new life and future. One that is hopefully a little simpler and full of more light and happiness and slower days in the countryside.

Follow along with Live Lovely on Instagram @LiveLovelyTravel to see more about our move in the new year, our home decor, and simple living in the countryside of New England.