The Girl with All the Answers: What are you naming your new apartment?

I like places so much better when they have a name, don't you? I think this has something to do with how much I loved the Anne of Green Gables series when I was a teenager.

If you haven't read the books, Anne names everything. Around Avonlea, her hometown, there are all sorts of places she likes to roam from The Lake of Shining Waters to The Haunted Wood to Dryad's Bubble and Lover's Lane and Hester Gray's Garden. And every house in those books has a name: Green Gables, Ingleside, the House of Dreams, Echo Lodge. Granted, that's true for lots of literary houses. Like Pemberley and Rosings from Pride and Predjudice. Or The Dovecote from Little Women. But Anne's the most prolific namer I've met in books or real life, so I'm blaming her.

Anyway, I've taken to naming my own places now and again, and today I came up with a really good name for my new home. I'm calling it The Hidey-Hole. Not because it's a hole as in a dump or even a basement, but because my name is Heidi and also because this is the first place I'm ever going to live in all by myself and I want it to be my little hide-out from the world.

Of course, I'm going to invite people over and all that. But I want it to be a bit of a secret. And a place I can pretend like I'm escaping to if I feel the need to do that. And sometimes I do feel the need to do that.

Today, for example, I had a long morning of meetings at work and by lunch time all I wanted to do was hide somewhere and decompress. So I did. I went to my new place and for the second day in a row I ate lunch on the floor of my new bedroom because I don't have any furniture there yet. And it was quiet. And it was peaceful. And I could stretch out and listen to music and just hide from the world for awhile.

And now that I've told you what I'm naming it, here are some pictures of The Hidey-Hole, shown exclusively to you, my blogging audience. (Oh, and to my roommates who got to see them yesterday. And to whomever else I end up showing them to on my phone... so... maybe not all that exclusive, after all.)

Anyway, enjoy!

This is the first front porch I've ever had. At least that I can remember.

Garden space and fruit trees

More views of the porch

Also, I would like to point out that I have a carport, which means I will never have to scrape snow and ice off my car. Yes! Here in Utah you have to think about these things.

Now we're moving inside. This is the view from the front door as you enter.

And below are more images of the living room.

I love these built-in bookshelves!

And the original hardwood floor!

Now we'll step into the kitchen...

And when you go through this cool arch into the little hallway...

And go past this cool thing...

And open the door with this awesome handle...

You reach... the bathroom:

There's a tub/shower too, but I didn't get a photo of that.

But here's another shot of the doorknob.

And another look at the cool arch.

The last room on our tour is my new bedroom, which just got a fresh coat of paint to match the kitchen. Also it's huge and it has an amazingly large closet that extends the whole length of the back wall.