The Brooklyn Apartment

We now have an apartment in Brooklyn.  We haven’t officially signed the lease, but they want us for renters and we want to rent from them!  It is on the third floor of a brownstone house in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.  This is not the same neighborhood as Bethel Baptist Fellowship, but it is within a reasonable distance.

The landlords live in the first and second floors.  It is a lady, her brother, sister-in-law, and eleven year old niece.  They have a cat named Rocky that roams the house.

These are the steps to the front door.  It enters on the second level.  There is another entrance under the steps to go down to the first level.  When you walk in the front door, the steps up to our apartment are immediately on the left, and a hallway with living room of the landlord is on the right.

Following is a video.  Here are a couple of notes to clarify things (I made the video fast).  When you come up the stairs there is a hall leading to the right and left.  At the end of the hall on the right is the small room.  If you are facing the small room there is a door on the left leading to the living room.  At the beginning of the video I go through a door to the left from the hallway – this door is immediately at the top of the steps, and leads to the bathroom, kitchen, and then you can make a circle through the master bedroom, dining room, and living room.

    
[Click to enlarge] The first and second floors (L);  We will live on the third floor (R).  The little window is our dining room, and the bay windows are the living room.

Some notes:  We are changing how we will use the rooms.  In the video there is a yellow room that I call the master bedroom.  We are going to make that Elaine’s room.  There is no closet, so we will likely get some sort of wardrobe to put in there for our closet, and maybe also use it for storage.  The room that I refer to as the dining room in the video will be our master bedroom.  There is a closet in that room.  Our bedroom will not be divided from the living room.  We will use the small room as our dining room.  Our bookshelves will also fit in there, so Ben can close the door and use it as a study.  The closet will be for my scrapbooking stuff and extra storage.  I hope that clarifies things. 

(please excuse the poor explanations.  My brain wasn’t working too great – we drove most of the night to get there.  I don’t refer to things with the right words, but maybe you can figure it out).

We were told the apartment was 1100 square feet.  Ben measured the rooms, but left out the closets, cabinets, etc.  He came up with about 600 square feet of living space.  The stairs and hallway were not included which should bring the measurement to around 900-950 square feet – a nice size for our price range.

There are several answers to prayer in this apartment.  The first is the price – it is at the bottom end of what we expected to pay.  Rent includes hot water and heat.  The second is the washing machine – a FULL SIZE WASHER!!! – in the kitchen.  The brother and sister-in-law lived in the third floor for 15 years.  They decided to leave their washing machine to be a blessing to someone.  There is a clothesline right out the window, so I don’t have to lug my laundry down three flights!  We will be blessed with Christian landlords.  Since we are sharing their home, they wanted to have Christian renters.  They have a sweet spirit and are always speaking of the Lord.  What a blessing to have good neighbors also!  They are leasing us this apartment without employment verification in hand.  They said to us, “The Lord will provide” a job!  They already have the outlets wired for window air conditioners in every room.

We can’t wait to move in.  Storage space is limited and everything is small, but I am so glad to know what I have to work with.  I am researching creative storage and organization possibilities.  We move on May 31st!

Outside pics:

 
[Click to enlarge] The “common area” porch; The view down the street.

Inside pics:

This will be Elaine’s room and the storage room.  The windows face the back yard.

 
The kitchen

 
The dining room/study

The master bedroom facing the living room

Now y’all come visit if you’re in Brooklyn!