handywoman Alex

Whee, I feel so handy! I just installed the carpet in my closet and desk area... all by myself! Sounds daunting, but it sort of felt like one of my Design Fundamentals assignments back in college, which involved many hours hunched over a cutting board, hacking away at the material at hand with my utility knife, but in this case, the material at hand was FLOR carpet tiles, and the end result was not a meaningless  color wheel project, but a lovely closet and office floor! Yay.

We liked the idea of using a modular system instead of having permanent carpet custom-installed, since we wanted to use a light-ish color, but wanted to avoid the common habit with light carpets of living in constant fear of that errant mud-smudge or red-wine-spill (if you think I am not going to be drinking red wine in my closet, you clearly have never seen my closet. Just sayin'...). So the FLOR system was perfect, because if you ever get a stain on it, you can just pop out the one offending tile and replace it with a shiny new one! Fabulous. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so mahself.

bathroom of glory

Oh goodness. Sorry for being so deeply MIA, things have just been crazy on the (multiple-)home front, what with shuffling back and forth between mom's cozy nest, my soon-to-be-amazing-but-not-quite-there-yet apartment, and my old boss's fabulous SoHo loft where I am intermittently house-sitting her adorable kitties... (my life is really hard, I know).

However, through all the madness, there have been some pretty awesome developments, mainly the completion of my too-amazing-for-words bathroom renovation, which I couldn't be happier with. The tile all looks gorgeous, and the new fixtures really spruced up the shower and sink. But my favorite is my Ikea-hack mirror/medicine cabinet combo - instead of going the usual medicine-cabinet-over-the-sink route, we got a little creative and got the white Ribba picture ledge from Ikea and had it cut to fit the space exactly, and then had a mirror cut at my little local glass shop to fit as well, and mounted both flush to the wall; I can't wait to get a ton of eclectic, vintage-y glass containers to make artful arrangements out of all my products!

Since the mirror/shelf situation affords pretty minimal storage, we also got the tall, skinny Godmorgon medicine cabinet in glossy white to hide away all the rest of my less-than glamorous products and mounted it less obtrusively on the side wall near the toilet. I still need to figure out how to resurface and/or regalze the tub, which is still a little janky, and I need to find a shower curtain (I'm thinking a rustic natural/"greige" linen), but overall it's almost there! Wheee!

almost there..!

Remember this??

Ahh sorry to be so MIA lately! Things have been a little crazy over here, but some serious progress has been made in the past few days so I just wanted to post a little update!

There are still some finishing touches to be made on the bathroom and main living space, but the closet and kitchen are almost done and are so purty!

For the kitchen, we painted the cheesy wood-paneled cabinets, and replaced the cheap-o (and moldy!! ewww) backsplash with white subway tile and dark grey grout, and replaced the old white appliances with new stainless ones (we still haven't received the fridge yet, but it's on the way). We painted the walls with the same superpale grey that I'm using for most of the apartment, and so far it's looking pretty great! Whee!

As for the walk-in closet, I never even posted a before picture because it was basically just a white box with grungy concrete floors, as you can see to the left.

To update it, we installed a floating shelving system and a pretty little chandelier for some atmosphere, and I couldn't resist painting the walls a fun color, since everything else in the whole apartment is going to be so understated and neutral. We're going to put down some neutral cream carpets in all of the closets, so once that gets added, all the place will need is all my CRAP! And I'm thinking of throwing a cute little chair or stool in the back left corner... I'll keep you posted. Very exciting!

I believe all the rest of the structural work is going to be done this week, and then next weekend I am going to paint the main room, and then it'll be move in time! FINALLY!! Woo hoooo!

summertime, and the livin' is easy

Oh goodie, it's my favorite time of year! Although it's been hot as balls for weeks already, today marks the "official" first day of summer, and, more importantly, the arrival of the annual New York Magazine Summer Guide! NYMag always has a way of reminding me of all the reasons why I put up with the broiling heat of summer and bitter cold of winter just to live in this city, and the summer guide is a particularly compelling example.

I feel like nowhere else do people appreciate warm weather more than in New York, as evidenced by the near-unlimited daily offerings of summer-only outdoor events and concerts. So many, in fact, that The Onion spoofed the whole phenomenon itself, with an article entitled "Nation's Boyfriends Dreading 'Free Event In The Park' Season." Sure, they're talking about the country in general, but I'm convinced that New York is the most extreme example by far (so what if I'm biased?). Luckily, I have no boyfriend to drag along with me, so my single girlfriends and I are free to joyously partake in any and all cheesy summer events. Some highlights:

EVENTS at HIGHLINE PARK

• Tuesdays through July, 10-11am: free Pilates Fusion classes
• Tuesdays through August, dusk til 9:30pm: stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers Association
• Thursday, August 12, 6pm: Salsa on the Highline - live music and free salsa lesson

MOVIES WITH A VIEW
Thursday nights at Brooklyn Bridge Park through September 2. Seat-snagging and live DJ at 6pm; films begin at sundown. Highlights:

• July 8: Annie Hall by Woody Allen
• July 29: Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN!

Prospect Park Bandshell, through August 8. Highlights:

• July 8: Itutu: Armitage Gone! Dance - African dance plus "punk ballet" plus live music equals coolness
• July 29: Mother India 21st Century Remix - 50's Bollywood remixed with live contemporary music 

PS 1: WARM UP

Live outdoor concert series at PS 1; Saturdays through September 4. Highlights:

• July 17: Ratatat DJ-ing live
• July 29: Animal Collective DJ-ing live

3RD WARD'S ANNUAL "PIG OUT"

Annual pig-roast and dance party at the avant-garde Brooklyn space 3rd Ward; July 18, 2-9pm

BRYANT PARK FILM FESTIVAL

Outdoor film screenings in Bryant Park; Monday nights through August 23rd. Park opens at 5pm for seat-snagging and picnicking; films begin at sundown. Highlights:

• July 26: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• August 2: Rosemary's Baby by Roman Polanski

Also in Bryant Park: free yoga classes, Tuesdays 10-11am, and Thursdays 6-7pm, through September 30th

prepping the kitchen cabinets

disassembling and sanding...

priming...

...and drying! Wheee! Keep you posted on the end result....!

burgers and beer at Bark

Yummmm! So I've been curious about this new gourmet hot dog joint Bark, down the street from my mom's place, ever since she snail-mailed me the menu when it first opened as graphic design inspiration. I got my first hot dog there a few weeks ago, but what she continued to rave about was actually their hamburger, which was a relatively new addition to their ever-expanding menu (which now includes beer, wine and breakfast!).

So finally, after a busy morning of Home Depot-ing, I was finally hungry enough for a Bark burger - which involves a blend of pork jowl, beef short rip and top round, all from almost neurotically sustainable, local sources, topped off with house-made pickles, garlic mayo and Grafton cheddar. Dee-freakin-licious.

And just to round out the decadence, we got an order of fries AND onion rings, the latter of which were some of the best I've ever had - super crispy with just the right amount of batter. They still have a little tweaking to do on the fries, which were a tad soft for my taste, but really, even a mediocre deep-fried potato is pretty damn tasty with some organic ketchup and extra salt.

Once we rolled ourselves out of there, we got a little more work done on the apartment, and after we called it a day, I went to go meet the "Team Monday" crew for drinks at Brooklyn Inn in Boerum Hill, and after raving about my glorious lunch, the tipsy group decided they needed to get Bark burgers ASAP! So for the second time in one day, I made my way back to Bark.

This time we took advantage of their new booze options and got one of their cute logo-emblazoned "growlers" of Six Point Ale, and the rest of the gang got dogs, burgers, and an order of cheese fries (far superior to the naked version - lesson learned).

After we successfully drained our growler and licked our cute compostable burger-and-fry containers clean, it was official - Bark is my new neighborhood standby, for any time of day. Now all I need is to get my hands on some of those biscuits at breakfast and I'll be a true connoisseur!

It's all happening...

Ahhhhh! It's official! I did the final walk-through with my mom's broker and the building's broker today to check for any unexpected, er, presents left from the previous tenants (water damage, giant holes in the walls, etc), and with nothing major to be found, the place is now officially ours!! Woo hooooo!!

I thought I'd post a few more descriptive "before" photos, since you still haven't seen the bathroom, and it's nice to see the place without another person's furniture in it, clogging up the imagination and all...

For the bathroom, we're ripping out all the grubby tile and doing the floors in this great Cararra marble hexagon tile that we found for supercheap, and then doing simple white subway tile for the walls. Clearly we need a new light fixture, and a new medicine cabinet situation, so I'll keep you posted on developments there as well.

For the kitchen we're going to replace all the outdated appliances with newer, stainless versions, tile the backsplash (probably with some more white subway tile), and we've set out to tackle the daunting project of painting all the cheesy cabinetry bright white (for the uppers, to give them the illusion of lightness) and dark charcoal (for the lowers, to visually anchor the counters to the floor). 

Some inspiration:

I'll keep you posted on the progress... It's finally happening! Woo hoo!