Parade of Homes Part 1: 1992-1994

Today I'm going to begin a little series chronicalling all of the places Handsome and I have lived since we were married in 1992. I have been wanting to do this since I started this blog, but it's taken me this long to find some of the photos. The idea had its origins back when I was still a scrapbooker and at some point realized that my children had lived in a different house for each of their years of life. I wanted to do a scrapbook specifically about all the places we had lived. I have long since gotten out of the scrapbooking business (just ask Skippy). So this will be my virtual scrapbook.

Handsome and I were married (as I mentioned) in 1992, in Phoenix. We were 21, more or less jobless, and broke. We had one really junky car. I worked for Kelly Temp Services and needed to be able to drive pretty much anywhere, and Handsome was waiting tables and attending community college. These apartments were right across the street from the school.

We lived on the second floor (sing with me...my name is Luka...) and a look at their website today reveals that our one bedroom apartment was 456 sq ft. Aak! It was, shall we say, cozy. Our rent was $230 a month--unreal! That was actually a deal even then; if we had ever paid late, it would've gone up $80/mo. But it's still only $425 today.

(I should've mentioned that the photos will be poor quality today, as I had to photograph my scrapbook. Sorry about the glare.) Actually, that looks quite lush and lovely, considering that this is what we have outside today...


To continue...at that time the apartments came furnished, which was great for us since all we had was a bed and a dresser. It had a balcony front and back, with these pretty shuttered French doors. I found the fabric at Walmart for about $2/yd and covered the gray velour couch using a staple gun. I also made the window toppers. So '90s.

The apartment was one room wide, maybe 12ft. The front door entered the living room, and as you walked through you came to the tiny galley kitchen on one side (it was the dishwasher door width from one side to the other), with a small dining area across from it. Through a door was the bath/bedroom area. The commode and tub were on one side, with a door, and the sink/vanity/linen closet were directly across from that with no door. Then it was into the bedroom. It just occured to me that I can copy the floorplan from the website.

Okay, that was easy. No matter how small it was, it's always had a special place in my heart. It was, after all, our first place. Which reminds me, I'm always somewhat amazed when I watch those HGTV shows (like My First Place) and these 20-something kids are buying big four bedroom homes. I think I have a little envy, really, as my home ownership dreams were a long time in coming. But that's what this series is about.

So, we lived in this little apartment for two years, at which time we moved halfway across the country for Handsome to continue his education.

To be continued...