the gigantor apartment

We went and looked at this absolutely enormous apartment yesterday. Actually it's a condo. It's for sale, you're in luck! There's some photos there to give you a sense of scale, but nothing quite does it like this view from the front door:

It must be over 120 feet to the back wall of the master bedroom. Room-sized closets at every turn, a wet bar, enormous kitchen, at least 5 balconies. (Anna says 8. Which is totally at least 5. Plus there were 5, not 8. She's maddening.)

It was bewitching, really, to have all that space available. We were ready to take it. We could have people over! Everyone at once, if we wanted.

But the lease term would only be 12-24 months, because they want to try and sell it again. And it's $1000/month more than a small house down the street. Is it really worth $12,000 over the year to have all that space, just for a year, before we move back into a small space? Nope, not really. Properly managed, $12,000 could pay for the wedding and a very, very nice honeymoon. (You people eat hummus and Ritz crackers at the reception, we go to Venice for a week. Sounds like a plan.) We don't have enough furniture to make 1800 square feet feel reasonable. We don't want that much furniture.

Even more hilarious is to imagine buying that place, with the monthly cost pushing $4000/month. Ah, no.

So, nope. Gunning for the small house with the hideous kitchen and bathroom.