stuff galore

So we're currently about half moved in to our new apartment. The rest of our belongings are still on their way. Theoretically they're supposed to arrive this week, but no one's given us a specific date yet, so I'm wary of believing anything.

Right now we're trying to make room for what we have coming, which has been an adventure. Let me explain the amazing excess of furniture that came with this place.

First of all, apparently the person who lived here two people before us was some kind of filthy bachelor who never cleaned or even routinely took out the trash. Consequently, the person right before us, "Martin," said that when he moved in, there was an unholy stench in this place, and most of the furniture was destroyed. I should make it clear that these places are furnished for you, so he couldn't just replace it with his own stuff. Once the destroyed parts were taken away, and the odor started to dissipate, there was almost nothing here, so Martin claims he had to "beg" for furniture. I can certainly believe that essentials were missing; for example, there is no built-in closet in the master bedroom, so he requested some wardrobes.

But really, he went a little TOO far, and managed to CRAM this place full of furniture. Such as with lamps. He took an amazingly belt-and-suspenders approach to lighting. When we arrived, in nearly every room there was an example of a lamp on a table right next to a lamp mounted on the wall. Sheesh, how much light do you need? There was also an enormous dining room table with about 3 leaves in it, and with it, of course, a ton of chairs. Because that took up so much room, the wide assortment of living room furniture- a couch, love seat, two wing-back chairs, a coffee table, a TV stand and two bookcases- was squeezed into a space probably 8 ft by 8 ft. I have no idea where he checked his email, because there's no computer desk; I don't know what he did when he came in the door, because there's no front closet, and with his setup, when you opened the door you were basically in the middle of the giant dining room; I don't know how he walked around this place without stubbing his toe or tripping all the time because it was stuffed with wall-to-wall furniture and rugs. (Why all the rugs, anyway? There's such beautiful hardwood under them!!) And besides all the things that were actually on display, as we've wandered around the apartment we've been finding even more pieces and parts tucked away into nooks and crannies. Even more lamps in the guest room closet; another mirror hidden between the wall and the washing machine; yet another table leaf under the bed. AHHHH!

Of course, to fill all this furniture, Martin must have had SO MUCH STUFF. And he must have figured we do, too. He kept telling us that as soon as he moved out, we needed to high-tail it over here, because otherwise they might come in and take things away, since he'd had to practically get down on his knees for it in the first place. But now, here we are, desperatly crossing our fingers that they will agree to get rid of the giant pile of excess stuff that we've created. If they don't, I may have to sell it on the black market. I can't live like this. I believe in feng shui, people. This much stuff is doing bad things for my chi.

I really wish I'd taken before-and-after pictures, but the second we walked in last week, we were so clausterphobic that we pretty much instantly started re-arranging things. Consequently, I only have "after" photos, but you'll have to take my word for it.

Here are a few pics of things as they stand right now. Keep in mind that we've been here for about 3 days, so stuff's still messy.

This is how we've arranged the living room, with room at the end for a future computer desk:



Here's our now-tiny dining room and kitchen:



Here's the guest bedroom- note the extra lamp!! Just incase!!!



Our master bedroom, complete with rug:



And best of all, here is the enormous pile of things we're praying they'll take away:



The impending arrival of the rest of our stuff is making this whole mess even more stressful. We've already planned locations for most of our things- based on the excess crap being removed, of course. But that's just for the things we remember. I've gotten so used to living with 1/3 of our stuff, I can't believe there's more. Like, I'm sure I have a lot more clothes coming. Yikes. I remember packing things up 10 months ago and thinking "Should I give this to Goodwill? Nah, I love this shirt, I NEED this shirt." And now, 10 months later, I can't mentally identify a single piece of clothing that's coming. I shouldn't even open the box when it arrives, I should just ship it back to a Goodwill donation center in the US, because I can obviously live without it.

Actually, scratch that- I just remembered that at least a small portion of what's coming is super-hearty winter clothes. I keep forgetting that it won't be 75 degrees here year-round. Rats. Okay- guess I'll have to open the box, pull out my sweaters real quick, and THEN send it to Goodwill before I start looking closer and saying "Oh yeah! I love that shirt!"

Anyway, for now I'm trying to stay calm and optimistic. We're at a point where we can't organize further until the next steps occur. Nothing to do now but wait and hope...