The Pursuit of Happiness in Manhattan
Half Classic Six has been fairly quiet this past year and there is a good reason. Week before last I posted a personal essay written in the fall of 2016 about my love of New York City and my complex relationship with it. Now it is finally time to reveal some of the goings on this past year, and the changes are B.I.G.
To know me is to know that I have long been a methodical type of person… The tortoise in the race with the hare… Slow and steady wins the race right? This explains why I am also a very driven person when I set my mind to something, which is the reason I hold the following quote very close to my heart.
OMG! It’s finally done! Really! It’s more than a year later than we wanted, but I am grateful to say that I have finally finished our kitchen and it is spectacular! It has been sitting at the 98% completion mark since this past spring, but we finally managed to get the last of it done and, for the moment, we can relax.
Today marks three years since we signed the contract for our apartment and three years since I started this blog to document our experience. It had only been a few weeks since our Manhattan Real Estate Shotgun Wedding, and were so very excited (and grateful) to have found our gem, a nice sized one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Looking back at our hopes and dreams for our home at the time,
The kitchen is turning out to be absolutely beautiful. I cannot begin to express how much we love our *Barker Cabinets! But the kitchen isn’t done. Okay, it’s 98% done, but it isn’t done, done. But it is still awesome! There remains some trim to paint, closet doors to install, and a few little things…. Blah, blah, blah…
Long story short, we have had a multitude of things going on in our lives, sucking up every moment of time we have, and I have been stretching myself to get as much done as I can.
You may have noticed a decided absence of posts for the past couple of months. Rest assured we are still here, and things are for the most part, okay. That said, we have both been super busy with heavy workloads, and lots of life, and other obligations… We are also still absorbing the realities of our new political climate and how the impact could potentially change things for us forever. A lot to think about really.
This is the final week of 2016 and “Is it over yet?” is on repeat in my brain. 2016 started out on a very high note for Yoav and me. We had big plans and were so looking towards finally settling into our home after completing the biggest renovation project I have ever tackled, our kitchen. Here we sit at the end of the year, our kitchen is close to being done, but we are not there yet, and circumstances have thrown us a huge curve ball into our lives of which I will shed some light on further down. [Lead Photo: Bixby is totally over this year too.]
I have thus far avoided the topic of politics on Half Classic Six. Mostly because I believe politics and a renovation and decorating blog don’t mix well. However, in light of recent events, I cannot help but feel the need to at least acknowledge the impact of what I believe to be the biggest election of my life. I also want to be very clear that this post is not about who you did or didn’t vote for, that is your choice. But it is about how the current state of affairs has impacted me in a profound way. Things are just different now.
It has been a while since I have had regular postings and updates on HC6, but rest assured, I am still here. The realities of holding down full time employment while renovating your home are challenging enough, but when you factor in a 50%+ increase in work load due to external circumstances, it shifts life to a less than balanced state and makes getting anything done on the apartment all the more challenging. A classic case of work-life out of balance or as I prefer, unbalance.
Last month, I wrote about life beyond the kitchen renovation and our next plans for the apartment. I covered two projects which will elevate our home to a higher level of fabulousness. The big project I will be doing is crown molding in the living room to capture an original element long stripped away, albeit in a different profile, but fitting for the period. For the other project
It was only a few weeks ago that we had to let go of our little boy Fritz. Yoav and I watched him suffering those last few days, and we knew it was time to let go. After we took Fritz to the vets office for the final time we walked the 20 or so blocks home in mourning. During our walk we pledged that we would wait until next year to bring a new addition to the family.
At some point this year, the kitchen will be done (Oh dear God I hope). Once we have reached that point, it will be time to restore some of the dignity which was either stripped away or covered under countless layers of paint over the past 100 years. We also have two unfinished rooms I am anxious to get started on. But the bedroom and bathroom plans will have to wait until my next post.
Yesterday marked two years since we closed on our fixer-upper apartment on the upper portion of the Upper West Side of Manhattan (that was a lot of uppers, yes?). Taking a look back, we are both incredibly grateful for having done it when we did. Crazy thing about New York real estate is that our place would cost so much more now. Had we waited to buy as we originally planned, we wouldn’t have gotten our amazing apartment.
It’s with a heavy heart that I write this post, made even more so because my last post was also about loss. Today we had to say goodbye to our adorable silver haired ball of fur named Fritz. He came into our lives as Alvin back in November of 2014, just two months after we had moved into our apartment. By the time he came home with us, we changed his name from Alvin to Fritz (officially) and then we just called him “Little Boy” (or “Lil’ Boy”) at home.
Two years ago today, Yoav and I were super excited to finally be sitting for our board interview for the purchase of our half classic six. We had been waiting patiently for nearly three months since that first open house when we fell in love with our apartment after having attended about fifty open houses over the previous year. We were quite relieved to finally be at this point in the process after the long arduous process.
Hi, my name is Devyn. This was my blog about the adventures of finding, buying, renovating, fixing up, restoring, DIY'ing, and decorating a part of New York housing legacy. We have left NYC for a new life in Philadelphia. Visit my new blog Our Philly Row and read all about our "fixer-upper-ing" an 1852 rowhouse
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