This Global Home | Day 13: China
Hey, I’m Beth! I live in China with my husband, Brandon, and our stray. This is my fourth year living in China. For the past three years, I’ve taught English to university students. This year, I’m trying my hand as a yoga teacher and full-time blogger. My blog is all about decluttering and simplifying one’s home.Last Spring, Brandon and I, through a series of unexpected events, moved 3 times in 5-months. These photos depict our current apartment, which is 300-square feet. This is a pretty normal-size apartment for singles and couples. We dream of owning a bigger place someday, but for now, I’m really proud of us for making it work in such a small space.My favorite part of the apartment are the giant windows we have facing the sunlight in the morning. China can be pretty grey, especially in the fall or winter. I really crave that sunlight. Our bed is parallel to the window, so when I wake up, I get to look out and see the world wake-up. It’s totally magical! Connect with me: BlogInstagram
When you walk into the apartment, this is what you’ll see. This is our 300-square foot, studio apartment. We downsized quite a bit from our first apartment, and everything you see was either given to us, or we already had. I challenged myself to only use what we had. It was pretty hard, but forced us to get creative!
Hello! Welcome to our apartment.
Here we are! On the door, we have written in Chinese, 1 Corinthians 13, the verse of love. Above it, Brandon’s symbol of his favorite anime, One Piece. Our stray, Luffy (LOO-fee) is named after the main character.
Here’s our bathroom, we try to keep it simple. Below, you’ll see Luffy’s water-bowl.
This toilet-rack was such a game-changer for us. It really helps out since shelving is sparse.
We LOVE this shower. Though it felt small at first, we looked forward to using it again after our summer holiday in America. The water-pressure is somewhat soft by American standards. We love that the doors help keep the steam inside on cold, rainy days.
This bedding was given to us by our dear friends who went back to America this past year. I’m truly grateful for all the ways we’ve been taken care of, over here. And, of course, here’s the magical window!
The red chord is a Chinese knot; it represents long life and good fortune. One of my former students gifted one to us after Brandon and I got married. The painting above our bed is one of my favorites; she’s got a quiet strength about her, complimented by true beauty.
The dining table is one of my favorite parts of the home. This table is not remarkable in any way, but its where we share the majority of our meals and conversation. Our last apartment did not have one. I missed it, so when we moved in, I was overjoyed at this small, simple table for two.
Brandon and I both share this wardrobe. I have one open closet-rack, but otherwise, all of our folded clothes + his hanging clothes we’ve had to fit in together. Not exactly a walk-in closet, ha (Note: our off-season clothing is stored under the bed in our empty suitcases—right now we’ve got two for winter)!.
This is our kitchen with all of our cabinets wide open! I wanted you to be able to see what shelving looks like, around here. We had to down-size in our kitchen area quite a bit. Behind me, there’s a wire-rack that holds all of our ingredients, silverware, cooking essentials, etc. The upper middle drawer is where we dry dishes. My favorite corner of the kitchen is the “tea counter.” I love making hot drinks for visitors!
I’m a huge fan of the “clean look.” But in this apartment, since I challenged myself NOT to buy anything new and try to make everything work, we have open shelving. I hated it at first. I still don’t love it, but I’ve come to terms with it. It’s nice to have a place for everything and be able to see it all right in front of you.
We keep all of our shoes outside on this handy shoe-rack. All of the apartments we’ve lived in together have been furnished, which has its advantages and disadvantages. This happened to be one of the pieces we’ve loved and has been extremely useful. We store our shoes right outside our door. Many families take their shoes off before entering a home, so we thought we’d try and blend-in.
