The Pursuit of Happiness in Manhattan
Why America? Why????? Why?????
Why must so many American’s be so f*cking boring when it comes to style and design? Why is our country always ten years behind Europe before finally adopting new ideas?
Last fall when we were at Ikea Elizabeth to order a kitchen for both the rental and for us, we found out they were discontinuing Akurum, the cabinet system they have sold in North America for the past 20 years and introducing a new system in February of this year
My Manifesto:
I hereby declare that I will no longer appease the utter blandness of the majority of the world when it comes to my home, and I vow that I will make my home how I want it* regardless of what others think. There will be no mediocrity allowed in my home. (*With the support and approval of my husband.)
This post is likely to be somewhat pivotal in the history of my blog as I am declaring war on the status-quo. Why? Because all of my life I have been, for various reasons, required to comply with the interests, likes, and dislikes of others. Or, at the very least, my own perception of what others thought about me and my sense of style.
Well…. With the exception of input from my husband…. No More!
OK, the proverbial cat (or really a dog) is out of the bag…. Today, Yoav and I picked up our new member of our household. His name is Fritz, he is a seven-ish year old Miniature Schnauzer (mostly, we think) who was dropped off at the Animal Care and Control of NYC and then rescued by Posh Pets Rescue (an amazing local animal rescue organization).
Wowzers! I just realized it has been four weeks since my last post!!!…. It’s not that nothing has happened (or that I have had a lot of time on my hands)…. In fact, a huge amount of things have happened…. But none of it is really ready for prime time yet as nearly all of my various projects are not quite complete.
So, instead, I am going to give you an update on…. Drumroll please…..
There are times when the realities of life can be a bitch; slap you hard in the face and leave a welt. When I (we) make plans, God just sits back and laughs…. Right now feels like one of those times. Fortunately, all is not lost… Far from it.
Reality number one:
Despite my being unconvinced at times that I am a middle-aged man, I am painfully aware that I no longer have the stamina of 20+ years ago, nor the physical abilities
After waking up in our new bedroom for the very first time on Tuesday morning, the feeling that we are home really began to take hold for both of us. We are home.
It doesn’t matter that there are still 120 plus boxes to unpack,
[Photo: Detail of bedroom floor. Unlike the living room and hallways, the mahogany border is only a veneer in the bedroom and you can see where it has worn away in the doorway on the lower right.]
The floors are finished! Woo Hoo!!!!!
Well, not so much in the kitchen, but that will be an entirely different post… I came home from work last night and Yoav and I got to finally get a good look at the results.
Ok, so it’s been a bit more than three and a half weeks, but you get the idea…
There wasn’t much to report at the end of last week, so no post occurred… There still isn’t much to report but I just know you are on the edge of your seat with curiosity…. So, here is a brief update.
[Photo: Hint: It’s Walnut….. But you’re gonna have to read the whole damned post to find out more.]
So, I wish I had a long blog post about all the exciting things happening at our half classic six, but I do not. Instead, I have a post about our renovation progress, a few small victories, and a lot of frustration. I’ll get to the frustration first and then tell you about our small victories.
Well it has been eight days since we closed on our dream home, and the dreams are quickly (as expected) turning into reality. It feels like a lot has happened, yet if also feels like nothing has happened, as we begin to scratch the surface of all we want to accomplish at the new apartment.
We are only days away from finally taking possession of the keys to our new home (I promise a video walk-through) and I’ve been dreaming about all the amazing things I can do with our 785 square feet. I am relishing the idea that I will actually get to decorate more than just the living room and bathroom of my prior 294 square foot studio. While our new home may only be a one bedroom apartment, I count six spaces to design and decorate.
[Photo: Looking up at our Half Classic Six.]
Before the end of this month we will be the owners of our dream apartment… Or to put it more clearly, the dream apartment within our budget. And at the moment, all I can say is that as exciting as this is, it is very bittersweet at the same time.
When we sat for our board interview week before last, excited and relieved to finally be at this point in the long arduous process, I felt a familiar vibration on my butt from my phone and the tone of a Facebook message rang out. A bit embarrassed and thinking it was a reminder notice instead, I ignored it and went on with the interview.
One of the more exciting features of our new home is our delightfully long entry hall (floor plan here) which we have begun to call the gallery. At 4.5′ wide and 22′ long, it is 100 square feet of amazing and makes for one hell of a grand entrance to our home. Our primary reason for loving this space is that along with the ability to use the long walls to create a true gallery space for our art and photography collection as well as add some storage down one side with a “fauxdenza“.
