The Pursuit of Happiness in Manhattan
As we get closer and closer to finally starting our kitchen renovation after many, many, many delays, we are finding that there has been an unexpected benefit to having postponed our renovation for so long. That unexpected benefit is that with each delay comes continued insight to plan as it relates to materials resulting in a much more refined final look which we would never have done had we just gone with our initial plans.
In August of last year, within two hours after leaving our closing on our apartment with keys in hand, I created a walk-through video tour of our apartment [view last years video here]. I wanted to document our apartment before we made a single change as a way to look back and remember where we started.
Again the gap in time between posts is longer than I would prefer, but here I am with another useless tidbit about my complete and total obsession with details…
To catch up, I last posted about our making a major shift in plans by abandoning Ikea cabinets with doors by Semihandmade (sorry folks at SemiHandmade, not so sorry for the Ikea folks) for an entirely new cabinet option using Barker Cabinets instead.
This past spring and summer I posted about my dreams and desires for what would be my perfect kitchen and my frustration about how my perfect kitchen is really only available to folks who live in the United Kingdom.
A few weeks back, I entered our Entry Gallery into the Apartment Therapy Before and After – Big Reveal contest and yesterday they POSTED MY ENTRY! Woo Hoo!
Please visit our contest entry and consider voting for our entry by favoriting the post. (Registration as a commenter is required.) Feel free to comment as well! If we are fortunate enough to be in top four most favorited, we will be put up to a vote for biggest before and after change.
The reveal!
Ok, so last week I posted about what we started with and the process, and left you with a few images to get you thinking…. Now your patience will be rewarded….
One of the very first things that drew me to even look at the apartment on that day in May last year was the floor plan indicated a very long entry hall. And when we went to the open house, we were not disappointed. The front door opened to a lovely 22′ long and generous 4′ 5″ wide hallway with beautiful quarter-sawn oak floor bordered in mahogany. Immediately, I was dreaming about how we could use it as gallery space to display photography and art.
Last week marked a one year and a lot of change since Yoav and I sat down at a table with a group of disparate people, all with one common interest of varying degrees. Our mission, transferring the ownership of our apartment from the sellers to us, the buyers (or really our bank). Like most everything in New York City, nothing can be simple or cheap.
Part of the joy (or is that sorrow?) of owning an old home is that things inevitably wear out. Sometimes it is a slow process where it occurs over years and other times it is an unexpected emergency where you are forced to address it immediately. This (above image) is what it came down to in our bathroom. A bit embarrassing as this was cleaned less than a week ago. Fortunately for us, there was no emergency requiring expensive immediate attention. But that doesn’t mean that there is no sense of urgency. Drip, drip, drip…
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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