A Cozy D.C. Condo Is a Modern Plant-Filled First Home
Name: Anna Johnston, My partner and our Maine Coon cat
Location: Washington, D.C.
Size: 680 square feet
Years lived in: 1 year, owned
Our condo building is directly across from Union Station in Washington DC so we can actually hear the trains from inside. The building is aptly named Pullman Place after the historic Pullman train cars. The building itself is brand new and has about 40 different units. We live on the second floor and we are lucky enough to have one of the few units with a balcony. Our favorite part about our condo is all the light! The windows are huge. It’s pretty small, but perfect for two people and a cat. The outside of the building gives a bit of an industrial-modern vibe, but the inside is very modern with European kitchens, sleek white cabinets, light gray walls, huge windows, and wide plank gray/brown hardwood floors.
We have decorated with things that we like… there are a lot of jewel-toned items and a ton of plants. We have two Moroccan rugs, a custom-made island, a mix of antique and new furniture, travel photos, etc.
Joey and I moved to D.C. about six years ago for me to go to graduate school at GWU. I finished my MPH is 2014, and now I work as a government contractor. Joey is a nursing student and works as a bartender in one of our neighborhood’s newest and hippest (vegan) restaurants. It’s called Fancy Radish, and is the newest brain child of a Philly restaurant-owning power couple. We are both vegetarians, and we have lived in NE D.C.’s NoMa/H Street Neighborhood since 2012 in various apartments… How serendipitous that our neighborhood was recently named D.C.’s vegan dining hub!
We found our adorably perfect Maine coon cat at D.C.’s Cat Cafe in 2015. We went there not even knowing you could adopt a cat, and left feeling completely in love with one of the cats we met. It’s funny because Joey had been wanting a pet for several years and I was always against it… but some how when we met Mista I just knew he was (already) ours. He oddly sleeps on his back or twisted up in some weird way. He loves to give us head nudges, eat peanut butter, lay on the balcony, and hide among the “jungle” that is our condo. He brings us so much joy and I cannot imagine life without him now.
Anyway, when we moved to our neighborhood we never dreamed we would ever be able to own anything. Everything seemed so expensive! Our most recent apartment is actually right across the street from our condo. We noticed one day that an old, abandoned storage unit on the opposite corner was demolished. Soon after a developer sign for new condos ranging from $300-$500K went up. This happened to coincide with our 29th birthdays. I became obsessed with figuring out how we could buy a house before our 30th birthdays.
We called several different mortgage brokers and basically no one wanted to help us… but, like I said, I was obsessed so I just kept calling. Fortunately, we ended up connecting with a fabulous realtor (so important), and she directed us toward a broker she likes to work with. Joey is a veteran so we were able to use the VA Loan. Suddenly—we were approved! Yay!
Thanks, Anna!
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