Office Supply

Yesterday Lou (who we now realize spells his name L-O-U and not L-E-W) came in and installed a few items. Of note was the addition of handles for our files cabinets in the office. We found these from Rejuvenation Hardware. Initially the cabinets were able to be opened without handles and used a hidden edge instead. However, we were not able to fit the files inside—this is the solution we came up with. We like how the handles differentiate the drawers from the rest of the cabinets. Also, we like how they sort match the style of the vintage lighting.

Rotisserie Chicken

This evening we tried out the rotisserie feature on our oven. It is SO. AWESOME. It actually rotates and everything. We found a simple, yummy recipe on epicurious.com. You combine 2 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon coarse salt + 2 tablespoons herbs de provence. Then you rub this under and over the skin of the chicken and let it sit in the fridge for about 6 hours. Then, finally, you rotisserie it for 50 minutes. Then, awesomeness ensues. We had this with ginger garlic green beans (a recipe from the Moosewood Cafe). Yum-a-licious all the way around.

Time to Decorate

After almost a month of keeping our pictures under wraps, we finally unpacked the boxes containing our artwork. We always envisioned the Paris map being a focal point, but had some decisions to make on where to put the other items. Here you can see the three pictures we hung in the main room. Although we wish that the pictures were more spread out, we really focused on hanging them in the ideal location for each—despite their proximity to each other. The other large Paris map is in our bedroom for now, and several other pictures are still waiting to be hung in other rooms.

46"

Yesterday our new 46" LED Samsung TV was installed. We no longer have the smallest TV on the block. Which, speaking of our old TV, now seems awfully small in comparison—26" will do that. Needless to say, the new TV was on all evening while we cleaned the apartment in preparation for the arrival of our cats. We'll be picking them up tonight from my sister, where they have been residing since we moved. We anticipate some very frightened and not-too-happy cats. We think they are likely to go straight under the bed and stay there, which is why we did such a deep clean last night. Once they get past the newness of it all, though, we know they will love it (not that they have a choice). We would take bets on what their favorite spot will be, but we think it's pretty clear that all the long, wide window ledges will be the hands down winner.

Work Hard

I just discovered a new website called Reform School. It has all sorts of great things grouped into all sorts of odd categories. The website was linked through a product I saw and liked on the Design*Sponge website. That website took me to the Dwell site, which in turn took me to Reform School. While perusing Reform School I found this wonderful poster I'd love to get for our office. Unfortunately, it's sold out. Maybe they will print more. In the meantime, I thought you might like to see it too.

Guest Bathroom Progress

The guest bathroom is now mainly done—the sink faucet is in place, as are the bath "accessories" (aka towel bars). However (you knew there was going to be a "however" didn't you?) we still have a few things that need to be tweaked. The tub is not draining. The glass tiles keep cracking whenever we screw something into them (ie. said bath accessories). The sink seems too close to the medicine cabinets—so much so that it feels like you are going to bump your head whenever you bend down to use the sink. Despite these hick-ups, we're thankful to have at least one working bathroom. We're still waiting for the sink delivery in our master bathroom, and the glass for the shower will be delivered and installed tomorrow...

Homemade

To celebrate both our new apartment and the season, we had our first official home-cooked meal. We decided on a pumpkin risotto recipe, using a butternut squash in lieu of the pumpkin. We found all ingredients at our local stores—places like Murray's Cheese (already a favorite), which not only specializes in cheese (duh), but also pastas and grains. While we cooked the risotto we chose a nice bottle of red to pair with it—a 2000 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano that we got in Italy when we went there in 2003 with Nicole and Dan. Salute!

Kitchenette

On Saturday I met my friend Aimee at a local pop-up shop for Liddabit Sweets and McClure's Pickles. Since the pop-up shop was located in Tribeca, I was able to walk there from our new apartment. After we both picked up some pickles and caramels (yum, though probably not good if you eat them together), we walked over to Kitchenette. I'm not sure how I have lived in New York as long as I have without ever going there. It's adorable. Sort of retro-y, vintage cuteness. A bit like Serendity (which is on the Upper East Side), but edgier and filled with cooler, downtown people. It was packed and no wonder—the brunch menu was wonderful! There are lots of great choices, but in the end both Aimee and I opted for a chickpea burger. Which, incidentally, is more like a lightly fried pancake of hummus on a pita. I'm definitely going back and bringing Steve (and maybe even my parents, if they can handle the wait for seating).

Small is Big

Now that we've moved into a new neighborhood, we need to decide where we can do most of our regular shopping. There is an over-abundance of excellent clothing shops here in Soho, so we just need to figure out where to shop for food and basic household items. Although there is no big grocery store in our area, there are a bunch of small specialty shops like Murray's Cheese and Amy's Bread. So in the food department, we're excited to explore and are fairly well covered. The decision that we've been faced with is where to get our household items—things like soap, shampoo, and (most importantly) our prescriptions. Should we patronize the nearby CVS (which is grungy and disheartening)? Or to try an adorable little place called Avignone Chemists (so French!)? Naturally we lean towards the latter. Compared to CVS we were concerned with their more limited hours, but after a first visit we are taken in by their great service and terrific array of products. So what if they aren't open on Sundays? The entire shopping experience at Avignone is so far above CVS that we can surely plan around that one day they are closed.

Organizing

Now that we are moved in, we have finished unpacking all of our boxes. Most things are generally in place, but not as organized as we'd like. In the office we have a lot of rearranging to do—especially in the built-ins. At least everything is looking neat, even if it truly isn't. A similar situation is happening in the kitchen, though not to the same extent. We're most excited about the open shelf in the kitchen becoming a book shelf. We had planned on this being more of a decorative area, but it's great seeing all the books in place. We're looking forward to getting the rest of our cookbooks out of storage and putting them up to complete that shelf.

Settling In

While work continues on the apartment, we continue to settle in. Somehow, the most necessary of this was getting our closets in order. Despite having a good amount of closet space, we had anticipated needing some additional storage. The cabinet we had been using in our rental apartment was really meant for storage and not ideal for clothing (previously we had used it for our china). However, we still really loved this cabinet. So, we went back to Room + Board and bought the same style furniture, but in a more appropriate format. This was easy since the piece is part of their Linear Custom Classic collection. It's great because you can choose the size and whether you want cabinets or drawers. You can also choose the wood and finishes. This is what we ended up with—the cabinet on the far left is for our media (cable box) since we'll put our old (read: small) tv in the bedroom, and the drawers in the center and right side will be for clothing.

Greatness

Yesterday two monumental things happened—the kitchen counter top AND the remaining fixtures for our bathroom showers were installed. While we are still waiting for our bathroom sink faucets to be installed today, we are thrilled thrilled THRILLED with how the other pieces from yesterday are looking. In particular, we are love love LOVING how the kitchen countertop wraps around the island. SO. GREAT. In fact, we're even willing to overlook the fact that the Caesar Stone is disappointingly not as white as we would like it to be. That's how great it is looking. And see how the countertop overhangs the island so we can put our stools there?

More Work

Today Royal Marble Installers are coming to install our Caesarstone countertops. We had debated a fair amount about whether we should go with Corian, Silestone, Caesarstone, or Chroma Quartz (the latter being a last minute suggestion from the supplier). In the end we decided on Caesarstone, partly because of the color and partly because of its qualities. Above you can see the kitchen as it stands today—sans countertop. After today we hope to be able to be able to start using the kitchen, even though the backsplash won't be installed for a bit.



Also happening today (we hope hope hope), will be the installation of the remaining shower fixtures and finishing of the surrounding tile. If this happens, we can forego the make-shift protective canopy we had created for the interim. Really, we're just happy to have workers in our apartment again since they have been M.I.A. for the last two days—don't they know there's work to be done? I'm sure they are as anxious to be out of our place as we are for them to be done.

The Beginning of the End

Last night was our first official night in the new apartment. It was so home-y and quiet there—quite a change from our noisy rental apartment uptown! We were particularly struck by how peaceful it seems in our new place. Perhaps it is the wood floors, which we are both in love with. We took some pictures this morning so you could see how pretty it is in the morning light. Of course, some things are still missing (like our dining room table, which we have yet to move into position) and other things still to be installed (like our kitchen counter top which is coming tomorrow). Even the draft coming in from the AC unit in our bedroom couldn't spoil our mood. We have a very long punch list of things to be fixed (like the drafty AC), but are very pleased with how everything has come together. As our friend Anthony said, "it feels like a spa in here". We'll take that as a good thing.

The Move

Our move on Tuesday went splendidly. The move out of our rental apartment was much quicker than our move in there (likely due to the fact that 1/2 our stuff is currently in storage now) and the move in to our new apartment was smooth. The movers were able to get prime parking spots for the move on both ends, and we had luck on the subway as we went back and forth in between the two apartments. Overall a very lucky transportation day.

We were, however, surprised to see that our contractor decided to work this day. We had instructed them not to, but that clearly went ignored. Not that we minded. The movers moved around the workers. And the workers worked around the movers. It was great. And by the end of the day not only did we have a room full of boxes, but we also had a kick-ass wine rack completed. (There's room for 112 bottles, in case you're counting).

A Place to Sit

Coming home from Thanksgiving weekend, we were feeling very thankful after seeing the progress made on our two bathrooms. Both bathrooms now have the Laufen toilets installed and the under-sink cabinets partially installed. The sinks are just resting on the cabinets for now, and we hope to see them fully functioning by the end of the week. We did test the toilets and although they are working, we're still a bit perplexed as to which button on the top = big flush versus little flush. It's not as intuitive as we would have thought. Time to search for the manual (or do a bunch of test flushes—you're welcome to come join in the fun).

Palette not Palate

We last discussed paint colors back in early November. At that time, Lew had just painted some color swatches on the walls for us to review. Above you can see all the other colors options that we had reviewed—and rejected—prior to getting to this point. You can also see how we created our own little process for selecting the colors and narrowing them down. By the end we had three categories—winners, runners up, and rejects. We're quite happy with our winners (from darkest to lightest):

Benjamin Moore San Antonio Gray (AC-29)
This is medium grey for our guest bedroom.
Benjamin Moore Gray Owl (OC 52)
This is a light grey that will go in our master bedroom.
Benjamin Moore White Wisp (2137-70)
This is a very pale grey that will go in most of the main living + dining room.
Benjamin Moore First Snowfall (1618)
This is a light blue-grey for our master bathroom.
Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (OC-65)
This white is for our trim, bedroom + bathroom doors, and the guest bathroom.

Sink-a-licious

The much anticipated installation of our kitchen sink has finally occurred. As you may have gathered by now, we're very excited about this. We knew going in that the sink we chose was rather traditional given the style of the rest of our kitchen. We weren't terribly concerned about this since we love the sink so much. And you know what? It's pretty darn fabulous. Who says that your kitchen can't be a mash-up?

Color

With approximately one week left of working days before we move in, our bedrooms and bathrooms are getting closer to completion. Our walls are being painted and the built-ins finished. We are loving the colors we ended up with for our master bedroom, guest bedroom, and master bathroom. Above and below you can see these colors.



The medicine cabinets have now been installed in our bathrooms, as you can see below. We hope to see the light fixtures in place above them soon. Also scheduled to happen this week, is the installation of the stone shower curb and threshold for the master bathroom. Those items had to be specially ordered to match our floor tile in that bathroom. Once they are in, we can then have The Glass Guy come and measure for the shower in the master bathroom.

Packing

This weekend's main activity is packing and more packing. We've already picked up additional packing supplies twice today—making it seven times that we have needed more boxes, paper, bubble pop and tape. Happily, Tonka does not seem to be much disturbed by all this, and is enjoying being king of the tower (of boxes). While we pack, Steven has also been patiently roasting a turkey—sort of a dry run for Thanksgiving, as well as a good way to feed us through these next few days once we've packed all our cooking supplies. After today, we have turkey tacos and turkey sandwiches to look forward to (in addition to plain ol' roast turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce).

Moving Day

It's official. We have an official moving day now, set for Tuesday November 30th. Sadly, it doesn't look like the apartment (or the necessities in the apartment—like faucets with running water) will be ready for us at that time. Happily, Steven happens to know a few people at Kimpton Hotels. They are kind enough to let us stay at Ink 48 (thank you Mark Fischer) for a few days while Lew (hopefully) wraps up a few last items that will make living in our apartment more... livable. In the meantime, if anyone has some time to spare we're accepting packing assistance.

Linens and Things

Today our linen closet made an appearance for the first time. Initially, we were a bit thrown off by how much room the closet occupies (after all, we have been waiting 2.5 months for Verizon to move the wires so we could build the closet). But we are already fond of our new addition and are looking forward to putting our oversize map of Paris on the side wall created by the closet. We thought that we would have to build a soffit at the top of the new closet to hide some of the Verizon wires where they meet the ceiling. However, based on what we have seen thus far, we think that we will be able to avoid the soffit. The soffit wasn't a big big issue, but we are pleased not to have a random bump in the ceiling if we don't need one.

Separately, we were concerned about the placement of our medicine cabinets in the master and guest bathrooms. It turns out that the cabinets are so tall that the light fixtures at the very top of them end up too close to the ceiling. We think that we should be able to lower the cabinets a bit (sacrificing a small glass shelf that had been planned for under the cabinets) and make room for the lights above. Disaster averted. Thankfully, we visit the apartment almost everyday so that we can catch these issues before they blow-up into full scale problems.

The SMEG Opera A1XU6

Our range is now in place, next to the dishwasher. You can ignore the zebra stripes—that's just a protective outfit until we're ready to officially call the kitchen open for business. Hopefully our farmhouse sink will join the duo soon (it will slip into the spot to the left of the dishwasher).

Home on the Range

Our SMEG range has finally been uncrated and now sits boldly in the center of our living room. But perhaps boldly is too strong a word? Maybe it's sad that it hasn't been placed into it's permanent home in the kitchen yet? We are hoping that it will be installed there soon, but in the meantime have been drooling over all the burners.



Also in the living room, the large wall of built-ins continues to be, uh, built. You can see here how the center section now has doors. This will be a nice space for hiding all sorts of unsightly things. Not sure what that would include really, but it's nice to have that extra storage.

Verizon

Today, after much calling and prodding which lasted two and a half months (since August 27th!), Verizon FINALLY came and added some length onto the phone wires running through our apartment. This was necessary in order to rearrange some of our walls. Adding to our delight, was that Verizon (who of course showed up without any advance notice) happened to arrive at the apartment when we were there meeting with our architect and contractor. Thus, clear instructions were to be had and wires were moved! We still feel that the cost was exorbitant and the process painstakingly long considering the work took less than a day (monopoly, anyone?) but are just plain happy to be done with the situation. Their coffee break probably took longer than the actual work. Regardless, now our linen closet can be built. Whew.



Starting with the visit from Verizon, today was a particularly eventful day. Two appliances are now happily ensconced in their new homes (see the Bosch dishwasher and GE Profile fridge) and our built-in china cabinet now has doors. And, to top off such a productive day, we already have a buyer for our Room and Board cabinet (which we just posted on Craig's List last night). Oh happy day! If only every day could be so happy.

The Great Wall

All the apartments in our line have a large nook in the main living area. This is approximately 15' wide by 12" deep. The two other apartments that we have seen in our line utilize this space for furniture. However, when we bought our place, the previous owner had really maximized the area with built-in bookshelves. Given their pour condition, we knew we either had to get rid of them all together or rebuild them. Although really, we didn't even consider not having built-ins in this area. It just makes sense to get the most out of what is otherwise a dead space.

You can see how our built-in wall is divided into three areas—media on the far left, hidden storage in the middle, and a dining-centric area on the far right. Note the space for the wine rack. That will hold approximately 85 bottles. You're welcome to come and enjoy some with us!

Getting Better

Now that Lew has finished tiling the guest bathroom walls all the way down to the floor tiles, we are feeling much better about the situation in there. It seems that the black stripe of waterproof paint we originally saw really affected how the two surfaces worked together. We're also hoping that when the bathroom is grouted (with white grout), that the overall look will continue to be improved. In the meantime, a big sigh of relief. We still feel that this will be lovely in the end—just some growing pains for Lara. If not, perhaps the guest bathroom will end up being Steve's.

Be Our Guest

After several days of admiring the tile work in our master bath, we finally have the tile up in the guest bathroom. We have the glass tile on the walls set subway-style, and 6" Carrera marble tiles set on the diagonal for the floor. Although I love these each individually, I'm not in love—yet. Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting the glass tile to have such a green-blue tint to it? I'm a bit disconcerted by my lack of love for this bathroom. Steve suggested that perhaps we just need the other fixtures in here, which, admittedly, will brighten it up. I think that having the floor and the walls the same color value just seems weird to me. Perhaps if we simply paint the walls white (instead of the pale blue-grey we had planned on) I might feel better about this bathroom. For now I'll just have to love the walls and floor individually until it all comes together.

Built-In Progress

Over the past two days great progress has been made on the built-in units that run along our windows. You can see in these pictures how the doors of the cabinets have now been added, thus hiding our hidden storage along with the unsightly heating and cooling units. Next they will be painted and have a Corian surface installed on the top to help protect them from wear and tear.

Silestone vs. Corian

As our kitchen cabinetry gets closer to completion, we're debating whether to use Silestone or Corian for our countertops. We've heard pros and cons for both of them—from heat resistance to stain resistance (and not to mention scratch resistance). Now we're curious to know your thoughts on the contest for countertop supremacy and which reigns supreme.

Which would you recommend for a kitchen countertop?
	Silestone
	Corian
pollcode.com free polls

More Details

The details in our kitchen are now be worked out. Slim pieces of wood are being placed—filling in where there are gaps between cabinetry. Here you can see how pieces of walnut have been added to surround where our refrigerator will go. This will give us a custom-fit look (without the expensive of a SubZero fridge). In our bedroom, the built-in unit is being finished. The top surface is being clamped on, and will then be painted. You can see where the shelves will go in the open cubbies. Once the doors are added, this will be a seamless unit and we will have a Corian top put on to help protect it from wear and tear.

OMG

Overall Much Goodness. This evening we had a wonderful visit to the apartment. I feel like we always have a wonderful visit these days—especially now that we are seeing the exciting part of the renovation where everything comes together. So I feel that whenever we post we say how great or exciting things are. I guess it is better this way than having us lament the misery of it all and how many wrong decisions we made. Luckily, that is not the case (at least not yet). Today we saw developments in both the kitchen and bathroom. In the kitchen, you can see how the additional cabinetry has been, err, added, as well as under cabinet lighting installed. You can almost smell the food being cooked!



The process in the master bathroom was also wonderful to see. Whereas the last time we visited only a portion of the wall tile had been completed, today we saw almost ALL the tiles in place. We're quite thrilled to see the flooring and walls together—although we wonder if they go as well together as we had imagined? I think it's still too early to tell. Tiles aside, we also received our sinks and, most importantly, the lovely soft-close toilet lids. I know. The excitement around here never ends. Ever.

Kitchen Expansion

Today our kitchen grew. A cabinet was added above where the refrigerator will be, and another cabinet added to the outer area of the kitchen, above where the wine fridge will be. We also gained an island. Sadly not in the Caribbean, but still quite lovely. Look at those drawers!



We have also started testing paint swatches in the various rooms. Here you can see three shades of grey next in our master bedroom. These are NOT color accurate, so please don't judge! We, however, did judge. And determined that we need to mix some things around. We hope to have new colors to review by this weekend, since we can then look in the day time when there is better light to be had.

Where Do We Begin?

It's always a surprise when we visit the apartment, no more so than when we've been away awhile. This time, we hadn't been in over a week, so we were taking bets on what we'd find upon our arrival. We weren't disappointed. As suspected, Lew had completed the entire wood floor, which is now covered with protective paper. This enabled them to start installation of the kitchen. Exciting. Very. Exciting. As you can see, they have started with the upper and lower cabinetry for our pantry (on the left) and the cabinetry along the main wall. The empty area on the bottom right cabinet is where the sink will sit, and to the right will be the dishwasher and range. We had debated the open shelf (above where the sink will go) for a long time—would it be better to have closed storage (so the shorter among us could reach dishes) or to allow ourselves the luxury of that emptiness? In the end we determined that, as basically neat people, the open shelf would be a safe bet. It will be a great place to hold cookbooks and place the more decorative of our serving pieces—like our vintage Fiesta. This will also help break up what would otherwise be a whole lotta walnut wood.



Apart from the excitement happening in the kitchen, the tile work has begun in our master bathroom. Here you can see the vertically stacked white tiles in the walk-in shower (the grout has not yet been done). In addition, the first trim has been placed around the outside of our master bedroom door. We wanted something slightly decorative, but still very subtle and contemporary. This will be a contrast to what we are doing around our closet doors. Which is nothing.