From the Beginning: The Bathroom

This is a very boring, very small bathroom. As there are only 3 of us, so we can survive a small bath. 

The door doesn't actually work. It has a latch hook to keep it closed. I'll need to post a picture later of what the door looks like when it is closed. Its so crooked it's hilarious. You can see from this picture how slanted the frame is at the top. The door has textured glass panels in the top frames. 

Boring tile, boring bath, boring shower, boring vanity, boring everything. 

The only interesting thing about this bathroom is the purple paint. Even the purple is slightly boring. 

I am not planning on doing hot pink tiles or anything to jazz it up. But it needs some fun new things in here. Currently on the hunt for a 18 inch vanity that doesn't look like its for an airplane.

I have my eye on some beautiful glass tile for the floors from Artistic Tile. But we'll see if I can squeeze it into the budget. The sales team at Artistic Tile are the best in the city. They were so accommodating even though this is a small project. Eager to help and were so polite, and didn't mind Duke being there with me. He even scored a treat out of the trip! I'll do a post on my visit there soon. But if you are going soon or just want to stop by, go see Cheryl Page. 

From The Beginning: The Nursery

I love this little room. it has the coolest features out of the entire space. More pocket shutters, crown molding, big fat baseboards and a special archway. 

Like I said, not very big. But, it is big on beauty (under the paint that is). If we didn't have Duke, this would be an amazing closet. 

This side of the house used to be the living room at one point in time. And is gorgeous arch was was sealed up. At least someone was smart enough to minimally cover it up. 

From The Beginning: The Master

We are thinking it should be dubbed the "Blueish Purple Room"

Conduit trying to "blend in" and failing. But really, the crown molding in the two bedrooms made up for everything bad on the walls and floors. 

I know there is something good behind that wall, its hollow. My money is on a fire place! 

All sorts of ugly. Lets be honest. 

Grossest carpet ever. I mean EVER. ick. I'll spare you the gross details. 

All of the windows are pocket shutters! Unfortunately they have been caulked shut (eye roll), and when they put new windows in they were built in so the shutters will not open. I was very disappointed. But they are still very cool. If you ever go to a really good restored brownstone they should have them. Its just a cool feature. Everyone keeps saying we should just cover them up. But I will not hear of it. 

From The Beginning: The Living Room

This one is from the original listing, back before Con Ed shut the power off. Don't you love the support pole? What can you do with this? 

Another one from the listing. A winning shot of the ugliest AC unit ever. 

More crooked electrical, but doors to the BEDROOMS (yes, plural bedrooms) 

To the master. This is another example of the picture doing the place a disjustice. those hardwood laminate floors are awful. But those ceilings are really really tall.

Duke thought all of this was very boring, so he took a nap. 

From The Beginning: The Kitchen

Photo from the original listing. I can't get over how hilarious that drape looks on top of the fridge. 

The only word I can think to describe this kitchen is "off set" see how the stove is a full counter length behind the sink? And there is a mystery box we need to uncover to see whats in there. (Please don't be brick)

Oh hey gas meter in the kitchen. You are really attractive. So are the jalapeno lights.  Check out those parquet floors too. 

Backside of the kitchen, which actually has a large pantry but is being used to house the fridge and 50 gallons of ancient paint. 

Overall, not very pretty, but its HUGE. Its a really big kitchen. I have some big plans for this space. The kitchen design will be dependant on several factors, like plumbing, gas and electrical

Also, please friends never paint your kitchen dark grey, its really depressing. 

Why a renovation on a rental?

1. We have the opportunity to make something our own without committing to buying in NYC.

2. The landlord was willing to concede rent in exchange for the renovation expenses.

3. We structured a long term lease with the option to renew.

4. This will be a renovation in a building with no co-op or building management. There are very few people who we could possibly bother.

5. We are in a situation where I get to choose all finishes that we would want in our home.

How we found this apartment

In an attempt to explain how we found our apartment, let me give a little back story, around July 2013 we decided we could not keep up with our Battery Park rent. We love Battery Park and we love our building.  But, we hated how much we were paying for rent. So we started the hunt for something that was a bit more budget friendly which is quite difficult in a city like this.  We were looking everywhere, UES, UWS, Brooklyn, even Queens. We had a hard time finding something that would suit us.  Brandon did not want to extend his commute and I was really reluctant to leave the comfort of the downtown area that I know so well.

Brandon is a Street Easy and Curbed junkie. He loves looking up all kinds of apartments throughout the city. We actually noticed this apartment months before we even started looking and were intrigued but we had just moved and weren't ready to do so again. Well a few months later it was still listed and our curiosity got the best of us. So we went to go see it.

We were so surprised, there was so much potential with this space, a big kitchen, 2 bedrooms and so much space. We were still looking at other apartments in Jersey, more UWS and more Brooklyn at the time so decided to keep it in the back of our minds. We kept coming back to this property in our minds, so we decided to go back and see it again

Then the most amazing people walked into the building. The neighbors. They stopped and chatted and gave us fantastic information. And told us about their amazing remodel of the old abandoned loft space on the back side of the building.

So from this point out we contacted and negotiated with the landlord.Then when all the terms were agreed upon and we were ready to get started. We are so excited to be able to stay in our beloved downtown neighborhood and get more space for our growing family. This is such a tremendous opportunity we have been given and are excited to see it through.