My New Room

   

Our apartment is on the 5th floor
(built in workout as T would say) and the location is
AWESOME. This is kind of like the China version
of a backyard. Ours has a swing, stone pathways
and little waterways with koi fish. Very peaceful.

We have 3 balconies, a rooftop terrance, as well as an almost-spiral-staircase,
living room,sun room/great room and dining room, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
Here is the view from the living room looking into the sun room/great room
(we haven't named it yet) and the dining room. Here is T and her daughter K.

Here is my room.

This is what it looked like when I picked it.
They gave me the choice of 1 of 3 rooms.

I chose this room for several reasons: the window seat,
the L shape which gives it more dimension and a bit more room and
the location, near a bathroom on the first floor.

Let the painting begin! I bought the paint (which is exorbitant, wow) and
painted the room myself. It took me about 2.5 days
(I did the base boards as well).
A special thanks to my Grandpa for teaching me and
Uncle Jim and Peggy for keeping my summer jobs full of painting,
because of them I knew just what to do . 

Painting in China is not like painting in America. No way, no how.
First buying the paint is like, well, frustrating. They can do it, no, wait,
they can't, oh, but they can. Sure we can give you this, ok I want 3 cans, oh, we only have 1....
Anyway, after the buying and delivering is done (btw most everything here is delivered
directly to your apt. for free, awesome), there is the problem of the quality of supplies.
For example, I practically died (large exaggeration) of a sneezing attack
while trying to sand the putty (which filled everything but the hole once dried...).
I literally sneezed almost-straight for 10 min. 

The other issue was the tape. AH! The tape, don't get me started on the tape.
I had to retouch many, many times. Here I am laying on my floor because
(A) I was tried and had just finished the first coat and (B) because I could.

View from the window seat.

Paint everywhere. All different colors for all the different rooms.
We hired someone to paint the rest of the house (thank goodness).
Well, it was bitter sweet.  Let's just say that when you live in China you can't
compare it to home (for many valid reasons) and
therefore your standards for certain things being to change, like,
 for example, painting. The things that are a priority in the US suddenly
 become dim in this new environment. And so they probably should. 

We are getting new counters installed next week (yay!). 

Some more of those helpful (or sometimes not so much) tools.

This is only the introduction, there will be more room/design posts in the near future....

Most likely tomorrow : ) 

As you can imagine, life here as kept me busy the past week. I have been in China for a little over a week already. The jet lag is still here, the digestion, not so good, BUT life here, overall, has been new and exciting. Can't wait to show you my life through my photos!!