Zdravo! This is Cat here in Sarajevo. In this community, I can probably sum myself up with three little letters: T-C-K. So you understand that it's totally normal that my stomach started doing flips when I heard the title of this series. This global H-O-M-E. Just four little letters this time but together they open a door of confusing feelings, unattained desires, and describe nothing and yet everything about where I live now. So let me just say, welcome to a sneak peak of our apartment. It's a temporary home in what is a 'happily ever after' city. Here is our yellow apartment building where I have a scraggly green planter on my first-floor balcony. Standing with me is my husband Irfan and our daughter Emina. In past lives, I've worked as a professional photographer and graphic designer. Now I run a cozy hostel called The Doctor's House while I keep up a few other hobbies on the side. Follow me on Instagram if you want to see why Sarajevo has caught my heart out of all the places in the world!Connect with me:     BlogInstagram

I'll be upfront from the get-go that I don't love this apartment. We chose it because it's to my business, the rent price is great, and it's a fine size at two rooms with a kitchen, bathroom, hallway, and 2 balconies. It was meant to just be a holding spot for our first year of marriage before house hunting, but we've now lived here over 3 years and no finite plans to move soon.What we do love is our neighborhood. We are perched on a hill in the most beautiful city in the world on a street named 'Sugar Lane'. There is a goat that munches away his day in a field to the east, the city views to the south are show-stopping, we have convenient shops just a stone's throw to the west, and the best 24-hour bakery in town is a block north. The neighbors all around have become our friends and community. 

The kitchen is the cornerstone of any home. In ours, it's tucked away in a little galley right by the entrance. I dream of a kitchen spacious enough to entertain in, to sit together in, and to spread out with endless panels of counter space. However, I'm working with what I've got and it's functional, if not crowded. Love for cooking runs in the family and I assure you that the quality of the cooking is not limited to the size of the kitchen!

This is our bedroom. And nursery. And the primary sitting room. I guess we are funny folk to have a small apartment but make it smaller by pretty much living all our home life in one room - but as the apartment is north facing and poorly insulated, we mostly conserve heat and hole up here in the winter... which feels like most of the year in our mountain town! Minus the gorgeous quilt my mom made for us on the bed, it's not a lot to look at, but it's comfy and cozy to us three.

Speaking of maximizing space, the bathroom is filled to the brim with the washing machine in its spot. I'm not a big fan of hand-washing though so we'll gladly sacrifice the wiggle room!

Our living room was the last to have any heart or soul poured into it. It's quite typical here for rented apartments to come fully furnished and it took us a couple of years to convince our landlady that we were serious enough renters for her to move out some of the extra furniture. Once we had a baby on the way though, we made this room a little more available for in-law visits and the like. Sadly, we don't do much entertaining here but with the landlady's furniture out, we've been able to fill the room back up quite capable with our own things! For the eagle eyes out there, you can see our big painting over the couch has gone missing. We have accomplished artist friends who gave us very beautiful paintings for our wedding. The deal is that we have to borrow them back for exhibitions from time to time though so that one is out for a bit while it graces the wall in a local gallery.

Some people have skeletons in their closets, but we just have skeleton closets. I suppose every house has a junk corner and here is ours. I didn't even attempt to tidy it up for the photo because you guys deserve that honesty from me. I'm as guilty as anyone for showing only the happy times and gorgeous angles, but this is all real. I could pretend that we are going to invest in closed closets one day, but that's not in the finite plans either. We're lettin' it all hang out! If you ever come to sit for a coffee in our living room with us, you'll just have to look out the window instead around the room! I've got a bird-feeder on my balcony out there that is very popular with the local sparrows and serves as a needed distraction to the organizational chaos within. 

My happy place. Or at least that's what it wants to be. It holds unfinished paintings, unfinished sewing projects and unfinished books that patiently wait for me to pick them back up on slow winter days. It also serves as in-house dumping ground that is still just a wee bit too tall for Emina's curious fingers to reach. Shameless plug: Don't you love those gorgeous rope baskets and bag? Fellow TCK and best buddy Kat makes all of them by hand in North Carolina, USA. Take a

peek

to see what a sister can do!

Where our apartment is still missing some charm, our city is overflowing with it. I'll tease you to come to visit with a view from our street of the snow-capped mountains in the distance and the red-roofed houses all tucking in for the night. Imagine the call to prayer humming sweetly in the distance as the street lights slowly twinkle on around town...

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