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.
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.
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.
[Mott’s Modern Plumbing Catalog from 1910. This would have certainly been a fancy kitchen in 1910, but it is still quite utilitarian compared to the “Old World” style kitchens we see today. Image: NYPL]
Kitchen floors and walls….. Using common tile and elevating it to classy and timeless.
[Update at bottom] As the plans for our kitchen renovation are forming and the anticipated start date of
[Photo: This is one of the more beautiful kitchen combos I have run across in my countless hours of obsessing and planning our new kitchen. Source: Remodelista]
In my last post, I went into great detail about how compromise won when it came to figuring out what we are going to do for our cabinets. I am completely in love with the shaker cabinets which are commonly available in the UK, but are not easily attainable in the good old boring US of A. But, in the end, I think I have a solution we can be happy with
“You say “Stiffkey”, “I’ll say Stewkey”. . .
Those close to me know that I have been obsessing over our kitchen design for months, and months, and months, and…. you get the idea. And in doing so, I have discovered that what I thought I liked three months ago may not be what I like today. As I have delved deeper and deeper into the possibilities of what we can do, I have made surprising discoveries about my taste and desires for the new kitchen.
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
Lest you think I have abandoned my new blog, rest assured, I have not.
Life has just been busy…. I mean like extremely busy. I have been too focused on other things to sit down and write. But I have several posts started, and there is much more to come… In the meantime, I am going to post a few teaser photos to keep you interested (I hope).
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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