Apartment tour

It's very different than any place we've ever lived, but we love it.

We live one block from Anna Paulownastraat, named after the former queen who was from Russia and by all accounts never really fancied the Netherlands that much. But it has several very nice restaurants and a boutique hotel. As I turn around you’ll see a Union Jack and a backpack hanging from a flagpole — a tradition known as “flying the flag” to celebrate when a high school senior has passed final exams. Apparently that apartment has expats from the UK :)

Each block has electric charging stations for 2-3 cars. After 10 p.m. they are available to anyone and become highly coveted parking spots.

The hallway is, well, a hallway, but it’s a place to store coats and the all-important canvass tote bags that we take to the grocery store. The half-bathroom has a mini-sink that is a pretty common size in the Netherlands — you’ll even find these sinks in the bedrooms of older Dutch houses that haven’t been renovated recently.

The living room and kitchen is the biggest room in the house. The chairs and Stephanie’s art desk came from America, but other than that we moved very little furniture with us. The dining room table, sideboard, and sofa near the fireplace are Danish from a vintage shop, and pretty much everything else came from Ikea. The kitchen has a nice big island, a small sink, a medium size refrigerator, dishwasher, and wine fridge.

The atrium offers great all-day light and is the home of Stephanie’s library. Fred and Tommy also love to nap there when the sun is shining. The thing you see at the end is the main radiator for heat. The courtyard is still a work in progress but it’s a great place to hang out on the days when it’s warm. We’re still trying to figure out what to do with the area along the brick wall.

The bedroom is in a second building that’s connected to the front area through the atrium. The closet you see when you walk in was bought from the previous renter and is used for my clothes, and the walk-in closet is for Stephanie’s clothes. Those are vents you see at the top of the doors and windows to let fresh air in. (There is no air conditioning in the apartment.)

The toilet room is separate and has a mini-sink. The bathroom has a huge soaking tub, heated towel rack (which we haven’t figured how to use), a double sink, and a shower.

And the basement. We’re lucky enough to have a separate laundry room — the washer is usually located in the kitchen or bathroom. The dryer is an evaporation dryer and not very good so we tend to dry clothes on racks in the atrium or in the courtyard when it’s warm.

The guest bedroom has gotten a lot of use since we arrived and if you’ve read this far, this is your invitation to come and stay with us! We’re also looking for people interested in housesitting / pet sitting for a week or two while we explore other parts of Europe.