Berlin apartment progress: It's the little things

It's funny how quickly those big dreams about being settled, unpacked and decorated a month after moving into a new place dissipate in the face of reality. On top of this, so many things went wrong for us that it's been hard to break the cycle of despair about the state of our place. But after making some impactful progress - installing shelves and light fixtures, changing up some color schemes and generally carving out little nooks free from boxes and clutter, with some of my favorite belongings accessible and on display - I'm holding onto these little things as hope for the changes yet to come.

So while the lights and curtains that went up may not be the ones I want for the long haul, and the hallway is piled high with boxes filled with things that have no hope of finding a home in our significantly downsized apartment, not to mention that pesky cooktop that still isn't working, having a dedicated place to drop our shoes after coming home or seeing all the spines to my lovely hardbound classics on our swanky new shelves helps calm my anxiety that there is no end in sight. It provides some optimism that all the the glorious plans I had for making our Berlin home everything we want it to be will actually happen. So whenever I start to fret, I sit on our beloved leather couch, take in my long-sought after pink living room and enjoy a cocktail from our newly reconfigured wine rack/bar tray (why had we never thought of this before?!), realizing that it's pretty darn good so far. Here's a little peek at some of the progress we have made... but there will be much more to come.