Home sweet home- a photo log of cleaning up

When our supervisor told us about this apartment he'd found for us, he was very excited. It's in a nice area of town, it's got three bedrooms, it's completely furnished- we couldn't find anything else better for our price range. We signed the contract Sunday, with a few stipulations: we wanted an oven, we needed another bed and wardrobe for the small room, and we wanted the former occupant to clear out her personal belongings.

Well, we got the bed, we got the oven, and she did clear out a number of things before we arrived.

Nice living room, isn't it? Furnished apartments are so convenient, freeing us of the hassle and expense of finding our own furniture and decorating. However, I do feel that there is a threshold of how much furniture is useful, and once that threshold is reached, additional furniture becomes simply clutter. Our apartment definitely falls into the category of "you can't walk two steps without running into a cabinet or wardrobe." Every room is filled to the brim with more storage space than I would ever hope to need.

The master bedroom not only has a wardrobe spanning the length of one entire wall, but also two nightstands, a dresser, and a separate cabinet. You can only open the door halfway because there's furniture in the way. So far half the wardrobe is being used to store extra chairs, the ironing board, an extra fan, etc.

This is my bedroom, which came with a bed, table, nightstand, wardrobe, and this tall bookshelf. It's not bad furniture in itself, but it did take about an hour of playing around to get everything to a point where you could access more than one corner and open all the drawers while still having room to walk. There's simply too much for the small space.

The smallest bedroom is blessed with a balcony, and the presence of whoever that creepy picture is. What you can see in this picture is the entire width of the room, and yet the owner decided to buy a double bed for it. It's interesting, to say the least.

It was a full day's work to get furniture rearranged into a pleasing and useful configuration, including the exile of a few pieces, such as a giant wicker and glass bookcase, into the tiny storage closet that used to be a guest bathroom.

We were also dismayed to walk into the apartment and find that personal belongings had not all been moved out. Nor had she cleaned. As we poked around, it became apparent that the dirty dishes in the sink were not the only gifts she had left for us. Believe it or not, this selection in the refrigerator is a significant improvement over what we had seen last time we were in this place.

Thankfully the eggs were out of the refrigerator, but she did leave us some beer, mayonnaise, and other various goodies. We did actually try the halva, a dessert substance with the taste and texture of the inside of a Butterfinger bar. In other cabinets we found a good supply of coffee, curry mixes, tea, etc.

And then there's the alcohol collection. The Baileys is all gone, but there is still a healthy supply of assorted whiskeys, rum, rakı (a Turkish liquor that tastes like black licorice), and several other libations.

I mentioned that there was coffee, but as we further investigated the jars of Nescafe, we discovered some little friends:

Yes, there is some sort of larvae living in this bottle of French vanilla Nescafe. Please wish these little friends a pleasant journey and safe travels into the garbage.

Besides the treasures in the kitchen, we found a whole host of other decorations and knick knacks which have now been safely stowed away in closets. Here are some highlights:

Cute night light with a bear sitting in a crescent moon. Sure to give you pleasant dreams.


A collection of dolls on shelves in the bedrooms. For some reason we decided not to keep them.

She also left us her collection of stuffed animals, probably to give the place a homier look.

Chewing gum on one of the night stands. If memory serves correctly, the official playground term for this is ABC gum: already been chewed. Or perhaps, like Violet Beauregarde, she was saving it for later so she could continue working on her world record in chewing.


The bathroom was well-stocked with her pink floral bath mats. We're also fully equipped if we ever decide to have friends over for a girls' night: nail polish, facial masks, skin creams, potpourri...


And in case we're not feeling so well, there is a basket overflowing with medications, presumably for any affliction that might come up.

This woman has an interesting sense of decor. She has candles like this one, full of gel and dotted with evil eyes. We also filled a box with pictures of Egyptian pharaohs, small bronze lamps, tiny Chinese folk god figurines, cat-shaped candles, cutesy Japanese cats, and several other things that seem to have been acquired through either travel or friends who travel.

The cleaning and moving in process is far from over. But we've at least made a good start on clearing out most of her junk and hiding it in storage spaces to make room for our few things, or at least to open up some space. And we're going shopping today to stock up on other things like bedding and supplies for the kitchen so we can actually start living.

Despite the setbacks, it does feel oh so nice to be sleeping on a bed and to have a wardrobe for my clothes. No more living out of a suitcase!