Welcome to our Beijing Apartment

Having hubby and son go out ten days in advance has mostly had advantages. The only disadvantage I could think of is that I had to wrap up my beloved California home all by myself. It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to all of my belongings and the home I love for an undecided amount of time.

But everything works out! I know it was divine that hubby signed the lease for our apartment the day before our belongings were shipped off to storage. It helped me to look forward rather than dwell on what's left behind.

The first few days proved to be frustrating for the boys. Inventory for three bedroom apartments was low, prices had skyrocketed, and those we loved did not have any play space for D and his ripstik. This place was taken off the list (sniff, sniff) due to concrete everywhere and no kids to be seen. But soon our real estate agent took the boys to a completely different place and it became our new home!

Welcome to our very chic and modern eleventh floor, three bedroom apartment in the Chaoyang district of Beijing! It is a full service apartment which includes many of the amenities of a hotel, while allowing us to still make it our home long term. That means I can call the desk for any maintenance needs, cab requests, help for anything. This is a huge blessing to me since much of my anxiety was about how to deal with "stuff".

For those of you who know me, you may be shocked that this is quite an extreme from my "shabby chic" style. Well...I don't think anything that would accomodate my vintage chintz is anywhere in the city limits so we decided to go with somewhere that was completely different and sort of a blank slate. I can't wait to get a really cool bowl for fruit in the center of that island!

The kitchen has a built in refrigerator and freezer on the right. The washing machine is in the island and there is no dishwasher. I figure since the housekeeper comes twice a week the kids can keep up their responsibilities by washing dishes:)

Moving from a 3,400 square foot home with lots of living space to this being our only living space will present some challenges I am sure. Although, we are looking forward to family interaction that we never had before. We look forward to Jupiter sitting and looking out those windows.

Dayton settled in before the management even left the apartment. They were quite taken back that he went into his room and began unpacking and setting up all on his own. They told hubby that Chinese children would never do that, their parents do mostly everything for them.

I imagine those flower throw pillows are already stored in the closet.

Here is our love nest, the master bedroom.

The master bedroom includes a shower and soaking tub.

There is also another bathroom that the kids will share and another bedroom for E.

There you have it. You have now seen as much of our new apartment as I have. I look forward to getting there ( in just four days) and putting my "touch" on it. Good job to hubby for picking a cool place, in a cool area! It is near markets, restaurants, the subway, his work and the kids school bus stop.