Take A Stroll Down Memory Lane With Me

Yesterday when I posted about interior doors, and wanting bedroom and bathroom doors with glass in them to let the light through, I got to thinking. I’ve HAD that type of door before. Hmmmm…but WHERE? It’s not like I’ve lived in many places. But I can see them in my mind’s eye.

And then I remembered. I had that type of door on the rooms of my apartment in Eskişehir, Turkey. Ohhh, then I started going through pictures. Such sweet memories.

So I thought today you could join me as I take a stroll down memory lane, and I’ll give you a “tour” of my apartment. It wasn’t anything special, but hopefully it will be interesting! This was actually my second apartment in Turkey. Before moving to Eskişehir, I lived for one year in Istanbul–probably my favorite city in the world. Some day I’ll share that apartment with you as well. I think it was probably the nicest place I’ve ever lived (my decorating didn’t do it justice).

Anyway, back to Eskişehir. Come with me! Here’s my building. We’ll go up to the seventh floor.

Come right in (and please take off your shoes, if you will…that’s what we do here in Turkey.) If you peek around the corner there, you’ll see the doors with glass that I told you about. But we’ll take a closer look.

If you’ll come stand right here in the living room doorway and look down the hall, you can see them. There they are! So much gorgeous light streaming through the guest bedroom door.

But we won’t look in the guest bedroom.

Instead, let’s take a left into my office. How do you like my chair and ottoman that I had custom made for about $350. I kid you not…$350!!

And here’s the other side of my office. (Please, no laughing at my “window treatment.”) Through the door, you’ll see the teeny tiniest little balcony.

Now let’s all step out onto the balcony. I know it’s a tight sqeeze, but I think we can all fit! Come on…you too…there’s plenty of room. I promise.

And it looks like we’re just in time to see a plane fly by. See that tiny speck in the sky? Even if you can’t see it you can surely (**pause for 1 minute**)…..hear it. You see, there’s an air force base right back there, and when the jets take off two, three, four, ten times a day, we’ve just learned to pause our conversation (because there’s no talking over that noise, even indoors), and resume the convo when the plane gets far enough away. I know it might seem irritating at first, but I’ve become rather accustomed to the noise.

Now if you’ll follow me back into the hall and straight across, I’ll show you my bedroom.

And on the opposite side of the bedroom is the teeny tiniest of bathrooms, probably unlike any you’ve every had. You see, the entire thing is the “shower”, and there’s a drain in the corner. (Please excuse my rudeness for not putting down the lid!)

Now if you’ll follow me back out into the hall, we’ll head back towards the front door, and you’ll see my two bathrooms that are right across the hall from each other. On the right is what we Americans refer to as the “squatty potty”.

Oh dear. What is an American girl to do with a squatty potty when she has a perfectly good “western potty” just across the hall? Convert it into a utility room, of course! It makes a great drain for my washer/dryer combo (that takes 2 hours to do one load of laundry).

Now right across the hall, you’ll see the big bathroom. No, I didn’t pick out the tiles. I had to make do with what was here.

Now back into the hall and at the opposite end of the guest bedroom, you’ll see two doors. Please follow me through the door on the right to my kitchen. It’s a big kitchen, with lots of great sunlight, plenty of cabinets, a door that leads out onto another balcony, and the tiniest kitchen sink you’ve ever seen.

And please don’t miss the GORGEOUS hot water heater on the wall. 🙂 It looks as if they coordinated the cabinets to the knob on the hot water heater.

Now back out into the hallway, and through the other door, and we’ll relax in the living room for awhile. First, let me show you what it looked like before I moved in…pink (or is that salmon?):

Well, I couldn’t live with a pink (salmon) room. This light buttercream color is much better (although it looks washed out with the sunlight pouring into the room).

So that’s it. My Eskişehir, Turkey apartment. Oh…but you might want to take a peak out my windows.

From the living room windows (and the kitchen balcony) the view to the left looks like this:

And the view to the right:

Yep, a mosque…just a stone’s throw away (and I can assure you it seems even CLOSER during the first call to prayer in the wee hours of the morning…yikes! No need for an alarm clock!)

Thanks so much for letting me show you around! There’s something about this country that captured my heart, and I would move back in a heartbeat if I could (only next time, I would hope to do a much better job at decorating).

It’s so funny to look back on these photos. I remember at the time being very proud of my decorating efforts. Now I look at them, and I’m amazed at how sparcely decorated the rooms were! I certainly could have used more artwork, more accessories, more rugs…just more of the things that make a home comfy and cozy.

Oh well…I tried. 🙂 And since I didn’t have the luxury of a Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, or any other go-to store that we Americans have become so accustomed to, I guess I did an okay job in my attempts at decorating. I was comfortable there, and I guess that’s all that mattered.

(And by the way…to this day, I absolutely LOVE parquet wood floors, especially in the herringbone pattern like I had in both of my Turkey apartments. I wish more Americans would use them!!)