Where we live

Our families are probably the ones most interested in this topic. This is the space we occupy.
We moved to San Francisco June 2007 and lived in a temporary apartment for about 6 weeks until after countless hours on Craigslist I found the gem we now live in. Our apartment occupies the first floor of a 1908 Edwardian house. Parking is easy and we actually have our own laundry, which was a huge thing for me! If I told you our rent, anyone would think we were insane for paying that much, but it's the norm here.

I have painted almost the entire apartment. The only room I haven't tackled yet is the kitchen. Tim wants a blue color. Our cabinets and counter tops are a yellowish hue so I haven't found the right color yet.
Moving on, the living room has great windows up front. When we moved in there were no blinds so it was like living in a fishbowl. Plus, we have only one heater vent in the whole house so lots of heat gets lost through our old, single-paned windows. I bought some honey-combed blinds (not cheap) so that was a substantial part of our furniture budget.
Oh yes, there's that. The furniture. We sold everything we owned before we moved here - it was incredibly freeing to not be weighed down by stuff. When we added it up (literally) it wasn't worth moving it all. Tim's mom warned us that it was going to be more expensive to replace everything and she was right. We ran out of money pretty fast. The largest purchases being the bed and the couch. I heart my Crate and Barrel couch. It brings me hours of satisfaction. Nevertheless, we are slowly getting things that we really like.
Some of you may notice an absence of a TV. Yep, sold that too. Before I was employed, we couldn't shoulder the cost of cable anyways. Besides I think cable merely gives the false impression that you might find something worth watching, which never works out to be the case. But I do miss HGTV - it's like crack to me. We have found that we like not having a TV. The color is BJM Copley Gray. I almost cried when I finished because I thought it looked like the inside of a paper bag. Now I love this color.
From there you go into an adjoining room that was meant once to be a dining room, I think. We have the computer (stereo, movie-watching device) in here. We also sprung for a high-end futon for guests to sleep on. It's more comfortable than our bed. The room does close off entirely so the guests can have some privacy, but I have to warn you that the cats HATE closed doors. You can see Beta making use of her incredible "carpet-stay" powers. To the right of the closet door you can see our one heating vent in the floor. Color is BJM Audubon Russet.
On to the bedroom. As I mentioned, the bed was another high $ purchase. For years we have slept on taco mattresses. No more. We love the bed that Joe DeB. has - the best night of sleep. Ever. So when it came time to buy a mattress I didn't even want to eff around. Well, now that is the only thing in the bedroom. All of our clothes are in boxes and bags on the floor of the closet. I have my heart set on the Giselle collection at C&B, but of course it will be about $5000 for that furniture so we are waiting....and waiting. The paint was an interesting experiment. I like a dark bedroom. For one thing, it's cozy and you're sleeping so why not? Secondly, I think it can mysterious and sexy. Thirdly, since we both work overnights sometimes it is good to have a dark room. So I painted the ceiling BJM Branchport Brown and the walls are a gray (with a lavender hue). It reminds me of a color combo used in the late 40's a lot (it will go with the style of furniture I have my eye on) so I plan to decorate with this theme in mind. When it's done the colors will make more sense.

Just off the bedroom, separated by french doors, is a sunroom. We have made this into an office/library. We found the desk on the street (score) and had the bookshelves made special since our textbooks are pretty big and since they fit under the windows the cats LOVE to sit on them and stare at the birds etc. Frances has claimed the spot she is sitting in (on top of the shelf on the far right) as her place. Now we call this "Frances's room". I spent a solid 4 weeks in here studying for CA vet med boards. Luckily, at that time our downstairs neighbor was on vacay. He listens to reggae music only, all the time. I can dig it, but there is no sound barrier so it sounds as if the reggae is in the room with you. That isn't very conducive to study or concentration. When "jamaican mon" is home it renders the entire back half of the house useless. The color is BJM Great Barrington Green. You can see Frances is in her place and Paka is looking on in his tender, gentle manner.
Finally, we do have a view. From the window above, on a clear day, and if you stand on your toes, and the trees aren't moving too much you can see the ocean. You can also see Sutro tower on Twin Peaks, which is visible from anywhere in the bay area (like a homing call). When you leave our house and go into the street you can see the UCSF cathedral, which is beautifully lit in the night, the tops of the Golden Gate bridge, and the north bay beyond all the way to Mt. Tam. when the fog rolls in you can watch it hover just over the water and channel in under the bridge. It really is beautiful. Since we live at the top of the hill you can also watch it roll down the street. It's like living in the clouds!