Inside my apartment in Seoul, South Korea

I bought this desk/chair set right before I moved from Seoul to Germany in 2008. 
It is an antique.  (Click on the photos for larger images.)

When you push the chair in... it just looks like a small table.   I also like the little drawers on the back-- the 3 small bottom ones which are under the seat when you are sitting down.   They are very long drawers too.   Clever use of space.

 

 

 I bought some furniture when I was in Korea- but, I bought things that can go along with other furniture from other locations where I had lived too.   This is actually an old hand painted buffet that I bought in Korea.  Sometimes, it has been in a living room, but most of the time it is my bedroom dresser. 

 The top 4 drawers, of this buffet, holds socks, underwear, scarves, and the bottom doors hold folded sweaters/etc.   There is a shelf in the middle to help the folded items stay folded better- instead of one big pile of folded things that falls over as soon as you remove one item.

I gave that tv away to someone when I finally moved.   But, it came in handy for watching DVDs and VHS tapes of American TV shows.  I would often tape American TV shows on VHS tapes in the summer and play them while I was overseas.   Almost all the time, I did not have access to any English speaking tv shows while I was overseas.   So, I purchased a lot of DVDS of old American TV shows and movies.

I have donated many to the base libraries when I would move to a new location. 

Spring time.   Fresh flowers from the flower market found across the Han River.   And, some Celedon vases.

 

The living room in this apartment was small.   However, I loved the floor to ceiling windows and the view of the Han River.   The blue couch and chair are military issued loaner furniture.   The antique trunk, used as a coffee table here (a little too tall for that use though) is now on the sun porch with a huge dog bed on it-- which my 2 cats use for snoozing.  

 

The wicker couch, was purchased in the Philippines and it has a wrought iron base.   This is also now on the sun porch... aka, kitty quarters.   You can also some one of the orchids that I also bought at the flower market.  I always had a variety of blooming orchids there, they were so inexpensive there, and so many choices to select from.   The abundance of light was really good for them.  

 

The antique wardrobe, with the mirror on it-- was bought at my first location:  The Philippines.  I still have it and it is now in the office.

 

See the glass area behind the blue chair?  That is an enclosed balcony area off the living room.   They were about 10 feet deep and the width of the room.   Each bedroom had one of these and there was another one off the kitchen that I used as a laundry room.

A view down the hallway, (an earlier post shows this area, empty, before I moved in) and the hallway was so wide that you could place furniture along the walls without affecting the flow of traffic or making the hallway seem too narrow.   The desk was hand made in the Philippines, and it is now in my bedroom.   *Most of the time, it spent its life in storage.   The doorway that you see leads to the master bedroom.

Another antique wardrobe (a free standing closet) from the Philippines.

The floors in this apartment were out of bamboo and the entire apartment had heated floors.   Since, I was on the 7th floor, I didn't even have to turn the heat on, until it got really cold, because the heat from the other apartments, below my apartment,  made it warm enough.

Various odds and ends of things.   The art work in this photo and the one above it are of Gaeta, Italy.

I love this little desk, it has cubby holes and little doors that open to stash cards, postcards, etc.

A flowering tree on base.  I always called these TULIP TREES.   Well, because, they looked like giant tulip flowers.

Some silk fabrics that I bought in the fabric building in Seoul.   This building was 5 stories tall and consisted of 2 connecting buildings.  The inside was so large that you COULD NOT see the walls.   So much to see.   So much to buy.   I loved this place.  I also purchased nice wool fabrics and had coats made for me by a tailor.   These things were very reasonably priced there.   A better cost to get a great coat custom made... than, a purchased coat in America.

So, once you lived in Korea... you usually got a coat made and certainly at least left with a leather coat.  

Han River, Seoul, South Korea

While I was teaching overseas, I moved all over and I returned to Seoul, South Korea to teach on the USA Army Post (Yongsan) several times.   The last time that I lived there, I was in a fairly new high-rise apartment building, that was only about 4 years old, that was very close to the base.   I selected it because, there were many 'traffic lights' on the route that I would drive to get to the base/to work.  This made it a 'safe' driving route and I also lived close enough that I could walk to work in 30 minutes if I needed to do so.

That is very important in Seoul, South Korea.  I was also only about 1 1/2- 2 blocks away from a subway stop, lots of places to eat, and I have a lovely view from all windows of the Han River.  

This is the long hallway of my apartment building.   The open door at the far end of the hallway, straight back, was a guest bedroom and there was another one on the right hand side (can't really see it in this photo).   The guest bathroom is the door frame on the left side at the far end of the hallway-

The door frame on the left side (closest to the viewer) was the little entrance area to my bedroom. 

The 'no doorway' entrance, far back, on the left AFTER the standing open door... was the open area to the doorway to the lobby.   You stepped down into this tiny room.   My favorite part was the floor to ceiling storage cabinets (lovely woodwork) that was floor to ceiling shoe storage!   In Asia, you take your outside shoes off at the entrance to the door (or usually outside the apartment door in the hallway) they are not worn in the house/apartment.  You could tell if someone had lots of company or a party- there would be lots of shoes in the hallway outside their doorway.

 If shoes are needed inside- there are 'inside' only shoes to wear.  I also used these shelves for holiday storage/etc.  This area was big enough that I had a small bench along one wall.  

The door that you see on the far right (closest to the viewer) went to the dining room/kitchen area.  It was a huge room.   The areas that you don't see was the entrance to the master bedroom/bath/walk in closet area and the living room. 

I had bamboo floors throughout the apartment.   The key was a magnetic key that you scanned at the outside door panel or you could impute a code and the door could be opened that way.   Some apartment buildings had 'fingerprints' used for entrance.  My favorite part of the apartment were the views and the HEATED FLOORS throughout the entire apartment.   The underground parking and fast elevators were nice too.

This was the view out the laundry room off the kitchen. The following are views out the living room windows (my bedroom views were just a little further to the right of this photo). This is a rare clear day.  I thought that this was a nice photo of the sunrays.   The US Army helicopter is a nice touch. There was a big park area right below my apartment building.  You can see some of the green park at the bottom of this photo. You can see the effects of the air pollution here.   Many days, the air pollution (mostly from China's uncontrolled air pollution) made it impossible to see any of these buildings. To the far right of the buildings on the right side of the photo was a huge 6-8 lane interstate looking highway.   Lots of traffic.   My apartment complex was owned by the LG Corporation.   There were 10 buildings in our apartment complex, beautiful grounds, and it was very quiet. Across from my building was a building that was fairly close to me- not so close that you could see the residents inside.   Most of the newer apartments in Seoul have balconies that are actually along the outside glass walls.   It helps keep the cold and heat out- because, they are about 6-8 feet wide and big enough that you could use them for storage, a small office, a laundry room (that's where my laundry room was located off the kitchen in one of the balcony areas.)  It also keeps people from looking directly into your apartment.   Yet, while you are in the apartment- you have a clear view of outside since everything is glass.   You could keep the sliding glass doors to your balcony open to add extra space to the actual inside living areas if you wanted to do so.  The building that was the closest to me, had an apartment that was about 42-3 stories below my apartment and I would often see a Korean man working with a lamp, in the early morning hours, on his 'balcony turned into an office'... I also had a private balcony off all of the bedrooms.   The actual glass windows would slide open for air breezes on the balconies - but, they were tilted outwards for safety.   The rooms had floor to ceiling glass which gave you great views.   I did sew some 'light blocking' curtains for my bedroom that closed off the master bedroom balcony- I didn't want the sunlight to wake me up on the weekends when I could sleep in a little later than on school/work days. No problem finding the fabric because all I had to do was go to the 5 story fabric building in Tondaemun Market.     I enjoyed every location that I lived in while I was teaching overseas for 27 years.  I always enjoyed being in Seoul, South Korea.   I was there, I think 4 different times? I made many good friends, dated some really nice military men, taught wonderful students, and the shopping was always great.   It was also fun and challenging to live in a city of 16 million people.   I enjoyed the subways and I knew my way around markets very well.     It was quite an adventure living there.   I think also because it was SO DIFFERENT from the states- that it helped forge bonds of friendship with other Americans associated with the base?  The base also did a great job with activities for those deployed there.   I have many good memories of being there.   I will continue to add photos from my time in Seoul off and on.     Farewell, Seoul, South Korea...  you and my friends, from my time there, will always be in my heart.