It’s now been a month since we made the move and downsized from a 1900 square foot townhouse to a 1,00 square foot, two bedroom apartment. It hasn’t been without a few challenges. Overall, however, I’m surprised at how well we have managed. 

Boxing, packing, renting a storage unit, more sorting thru, donating and discarding all helped to prepare our townhouse for sale. The final move was over in a day—we had movers come in and load all the boxes and furniture and after that it was just directing where things were to go.

The pictures and family photos have now all been hung. We have fewer walls than our townhome so not everything went back up. And there has been some rearranging: the Nevada Room is now the living room, before it was the decor for the guest bedroom. The second bedroom in the apartment has been reconfigured as our Den/TV/Office. A small daybed serves double duty as a couch and a bed for future guests. 

Previously we had a separate kitchen, dining room, and living room. In our new place, those are all combined in one large central room, which I thought would be too small but actually functions quite well. The big bonus for me is the extra kitchen storage and the large kitchen island. The granite countertops are an upgrade as well as the under-cabinet task lighting. Really, it’s been quite an improvement. And having the washer dryer in the kitchen is a huge blessing! No more walking down two levels to do laundry.

We are getting spoiled by a couple of amenities that the apartments offer. A covered parking garage means no more walking in the rain between house and car. “Trash Valet” picks up our trash and recycling every evening at our door. The trip from the townhouse backyard up a snow-covered slope with our trash receptacles was more adventure than I cared to repeat, especially in dark December and no walkway. Now we just set the containers out and bring them back in before 9am the following morning. Sweet!

We’ve had to bring our small wheeled cart out of storage to use transporting boxes and bags from my truck, through the parking garage and down the long hallway to our apartment. I think it’s seen more action this week than in the previous four years of use. As boxes make the trip from our storage unit to the new apartment, I’m struck by how many we have. I had packed boxes and moved them to storage over the course of many weeks, stacking them until I couldn’t reach the top of the pile. Everything got packed. Now, as we unpack and try to find room for what we have, we are continuing the process of sorting, donating, and trashing, looking at every memento, book, or CD with a more discerning eye. Out it goes!

The 424-acre Kincora site has 180 acres of natural area with scenic nature trails bordering the Broad Run River, a tributary of the Potomac. I hope to get out and start walking some of them once the heat of summer begins to fade, right now the humidity is oppressive (typical Virginia summer!). There is quite a bit of construction activity in the to-be-developed area here at Kincora. More apartments, townhouses and retail will join the Northern Virginia Science Center under development. We had looked at moving here back in 2019; as we begin this new chapter in our lives, it looks like we picked a great time to relocate!