Kitchen confidential

The kitchen is going to be considerably bigger than the existing one. Stealing space from the entry gallery will gain me enough room to have a decent sized kitchen (albeit by Manhattan standards). It will allow me to get a full size stove/oven, refrigerator, and stackable washer/dryer. And although it is within the interior of the apartment, the large window that looks out into the building's back courtyard will allow a nice amount of light.

As for the kitchen's design, I love the idea of white subway tiles with medium dark grout paired with dark gray countertops and light gray cabinets. Again, I like a masculine vibe and one that would feel as if it's true to what the kitchen might have looked like from the building's first year, 1938.
All fixtures will be brass...I've grown tired of stainless steel and nickel. Brass will make a nice warm counterpoint to all the cool grays.
Here's a bunch of inspiration scrap for the look and feeling I'm hoping to achieve:

The garçonniere

The French have a name for it: garçonniére. A 'bachelor pad.' That's what the new place will be.  I have this vision of it being masculine, yet cozy and warm...an eclectic mix of vintage finds and contemporary pieces. I've been collecting inspiration pictures on Pinterest for a few months. Here are a few. I like these photos because you can tell the rooms' owners have a distinct personality and point of view, they're filled with things that have history and meaning but nothing's too off-putting. Comfortable. Easy. Effortless...that's the goal. It's so fun to be able to start the decorating process all over again!

Gallery exhibit, pt. 2

When you enter the apartment through the front door the first thing you'll see is an accent wall that will continue through the gallery hallway and curves around to terminate in the area in front of the bathroom door.

The wall will be clad from floor to ceiling in vertical wooden molding in a dark brown stain.

At the ceiling there will be recessed cove lighting to reflect down onto the undulations of the wall highlighting the surface. I think it will be a dramatic and handsome entry into the space. 

Here's a piece of inspiration scrap that indicates the idea (but clearly not the color). 

Gallery exhibit, pt. 1

After the basic floorplan is agreed upon and approved the next step is to go over the 'design development' with the architect, all the surfaces, fixtures, colors, textures of the apartment, so that the job can be bid out to a contractor. Happily it was a great meeting. I was very much on the same page with Steve and liked almost every detail he came up with. I had sent him a bunch of images ("scrap") of interiors I liked to let him know where my thoughts were. He took those initial ideas and expounded on them. I call this process "giving me my idea back, but better."
I'm going to share each room's design in successive posts along with the images that inspired the design details. I'm sure things will tweak and change along the way but it will give a good indication of where things are going.
When you pass through the little entry foyer from the front door you move into the gallery space.

There will be a wall of storage closets and drawers that will go from floor to ceiling. There will be some sort of simple millwork applied to these openings.

Hotel closet doors I liked

I recently stayed at a new Kimpton hotel and quite liked the closets, they have the feeling I want to go for here. I also like the door handles.

I like these handles

At the end of the gallery will be a small dining niche with an upholstered seating bench. It will have shelves above and below. The tufted seat can be lifted for storage inside. There will also be recessed lighting here. I think I'll put a small table in front of the bench, a cozy place to eat or have coffee. The whole gallery space will be hard wood floors in a medium brown, not too dark (dark always shows too much  dust!)

Porcellino

I happen to love New York's outdoor city sculpture. It's always a little moment of 'ahh' when you're moving through these canyon's of steel and cement, something to make you smile.
Some of my favorites are "Peter Pan" in Carl Schurz Park, "Balto" in Central Park, and "Eleanor Roosevelt" in Riverside Park, they're all unexpected and charming when you happen upon them.
And now my new favorite is the statue in little Sutton Place Park across the street from new building.

It's called "Porcellino", a replica of the bronze fountain completed in 1634 by Renaissance sculptor Pietro Tacca (1557-1640) that stands in the Uffizi Museum in Florence, Italy. The name means "little pig" even though it's a boar.

"Porcellino" in Sutton Place Park

A closeup of the proud pig

Another replica stands in a Florence market and is a popular tourist attraction. Visitors to this Porcellino put a coin into the boar's jaws hoping to let it fall through the underlying grating for good luck (the caught money goes to charity), they then rub the boar's snout to ensure a return to Florence. All of this has kept the snout in a constant state of polished sheen over the years.

"Porcelllino" in Florence, Italy marketplace

I rub the snout of the Manhattan Porcellino every time I visit the park now, just wishing that my damn renovation would start on the apartment!

Back to the drawing board

After the original floorpan was rejected, the one flipping the placement of the kitchen and bathroom, I had to submit a backup plan. This one would leave both rooms in their original placement, all the plumbing lines would be left in tact. What would change would be that each room would be significantly bigger. They'd get to utilize the unwanted extra space in the gallery.
Here's the original layout of the apartment:

Original floorpan

Steve, my architect, came up with two good designs. The first one (2A) featured a row of closet space as you moved into the space after you came through the entryway. It's broken up by a nice little dining niche.

The second design (2B) moved the closet space around, interspersing it other places.

Both designs made space for a stackable washer and dryer (YAY!) and both also create a nice 'break' from the entry hallway before you step down into the main room. Note that there's a support beam at that step-down point, it's a load bearing necessity.














I have chosen to go with design 2A. It was the design approved by the building's reviewing architect.
I love that little dining niche...i'm a sucker for nooks and crannies. I think we'll be able to design some built-in shelves and drawers into that space which will make it even more special (stay tuned for more detailed drawings on all this!)

Marilyn slept here

After I first saw the apartment I wanted to learn more about it's history, maybe it was the abode of somebody famous since having been built in 1938? A quick search on the internet and I hit the jackpot, seems the building did have a celeb pedigree after all. None other than MARILYN MONROE once called the building home.

Marilyn & Arthur, June 22, 1956

It was the mid-1950s and she was newly married to playwright ARTHUR MILLER. I couldn't uncover which apartment was theirs exactly but I did find out it was on the 8th floor (I'm on 5). So I'm only three floors from the ghost of her Hollywood presence.











A little more online digging even turned up some photos of the famous couple in front of the building. On Friday, June 22, 1956 they even gave a press conference in the lobby!
Here are a few photos.

Leaving by the revolving door 

Front portico of my building with revolving door

There's no mistaking the corner drive-thru portico and the revolving door behind them in these shots.

Note the pink marble colonnades

You can even see the pattern of the pink marble in the colonnades. How cool is that?

Pain in the Glass

Take a good look at this gentleman.

His name is Eliot Glass. He's one of the most powerful men in NY architecture...and he's been a thorn in my side for weeks now.
To be precise he's a "reviewing architect", someone hired to assess and approve any proposed renovation plans to a co-op apartment. Mr. Glass' services have been procured by literally thousands of co-ops across the city (mine among them), hence his immense power. And he's a picky stickler.
He's notorious for turning down many renovation plans. I asked Steve, my architect, what the hold up was, why had our plans for the new apartment not been approved? Weeks and weeks had gone by.

Steve said, "Just Google 'Glass & Glass Architects', you'll see what I mean." The first article that popped was a NYTimes piece titled "This Man Could Ruin Your Renovation Plans." Oh, great. The piece profiles how he holds sway over the most the powerful and wealthy apartment owners in the city. Pipsqueak me didn't stand a chance.













Check out the article here.

Not only is he difficult to get plans thru, he's unapologetically SLOW in the whole process. We submitted our plans just a few days after I closed in the last week of February. And then things fell into the Black Hole of the Glass approval process. Days of suspenseful waiting went by. Then weeks. The big issue was whether he'd approve my flipping the placement of the kitchen and bathroom. Never mind that the whole project was weeks behind, if I could at least push this idea thru I felt it would be a major design victory. Steve would try and contact him and it was like falling into a time warp. Glass doesn't have a website, or a an email address, or even a computer! All business is done by phone, that's IF you can get ahold of him. And all submissions must be provided in hard copies. No sending pdf's. No sending jpegs. No digital files AT ALL, please. It's enough to make you sorry you even started the whole project.
I just took a deep breath and centered. "It is what it is, Ron" I said to myself, and waited for the answer trying to put it out of my mind.
We found out the verdict just this week, SEVEN WEEKS after we submitted. I'm no architect but it seems to me that this could have taken a day, maybe two, at most to review. Thank you, Mr. Glass.
And the answer? "REJECTED".
I was so depressed. My little loft-like design, having the kitchen open up into the main room, was a big no go :(
Steve then had to re-submit our backup design, one that would enlarge the kitchen and bath but keep them in the same position. I'll show how this will look in a future posting.
The good news? This backup design was approved a few days later. Thank heavens.
It's still going to be a great apartment. I've already licked my wounds and gotten over it.
Onward...I'm SO ready to start the renovation!

Flip-flop

While I was waiting for the Board interview and the closing I had Steve, my architect, start drawing up plans for how I wanted to renovate the apartment. As soon as the place was mine I wanted the Board to have my ideas ready to go. This process takes FOREVER and no sense wasting any time.
Steve had been to the place a few times and had already taken copious and precise measurements. He started sending me different layout plans quickly.
The biggest change in the layout was that I had this idea to flip the position of the kitchen and the bathroom, I felt this would open up things a bit. The kitchen could have a pass-thru onto the main room, or maybe be totally open to that space, a little 'loft-like'. Steve came up with four or five designs. I had no idea whether the building would allow something like this but we were encouraged that these rooms were what is called "wet over wet", meaning that the apartments above and below me ALSO had water plumbing for kitchens and baths in the same position. It wouldn't mean a major re-routing of plumbing lines (which most buildings wouldn't allow). It was a gamble and I thought "nothing ventured, nothing gained". The worst that could happen was that they said no and we'd keep those rooms where they are but make them bigger, utilizing more of the space in that large odd gallery space.
Here is the original layout of the apartment as it exists now:

Existing layout.

Here are my two favorite designs for the flip-flop of the kitchen and bath. The first one uses the pass-thru idea from the kitchen to the main room:

Pass-thru kitchen.

This next one is probably my favorite, it opens up the kitchen more to the main living room space:

Open floor plan.

You can see that both plans shift around the closet space but most importantly make room for a washer and dryer, a true luxury in a Manhattan apartment. I put one in my last place and I'm spoiled for life. Even though the building has a very nice laundry room in the basement, schlepping up and down the elevator with laundry is a big PAIN.
So the plans were submitted...and now we wait. AGAIN. (Do you see a theme in this apartment reno odyssey I'm undertaking?)

Sage advice

After I got back to NYC from Pittsburgh I wanted to get over to the new apartment as soon as I could to give it a sage smudging, a kind of spiritual 'cleansing' of the space. It's an old American Indian technique that involves burning a stick of dried sage, usually tied with twine, and letting the smoke waft through the place you want to rid of impurities, negativity, or anything else you can think of that doesn't support you as the person who will live there.
I had never done this before but a friend of mine who is into all things spiritual (palm readings, numerology, feng shui) told me about it. She does it to every new home she lives in. You can even give yourself a smudging if you feel you've been sensing a lot of negativity in your life.

Burning the sage stick.

 Okay, okay, this all sounds a little too Shirley MacLaine I know, and I'm not one to be too much into this kind of stuff...BUT, you have to remember that the little old lady who lived in my apartment was there for over 50 years. In my mind she was an adorable, petite little woman, gray hair in a bun, sipping tea in her chintz covered easy chair reading Agatha Christie novels. But what did I know? Maybe she was an infamous axe murderer on the lam and living in seclusion all this time, sharpening that axe, thinking about her next victim.
In any event I wasn't taking any chances. Enter me, Mr. First Time Sager and Smudger.
I researched how to do it on the web. First you open all the windows. Then you light your sage stick, let it burn for a bit, then blow it out letting the embers start to smoke (it's very similar to lighting incense).

The 'cleansing' sage smoke.

You set your intention for the space walking the burning stick around the room saying to yourself something like "I'm purifying this home of all bad things and spirits, let only good come to to me and this apartment". You try to push the smoke up and around the rooms, into the corners and closets. After a bit you symbolically push some of the smoke out the windows. The bad energy is flowing out making room for the new fresh positive energy.
After you've blessed all the space you give yourself a sage "shower": you cup your hands over the smoke and "wash" your face and body with it, visualizing the negativity ooze out of your body.
It's all a little kooky, yes. But oddly comforting and emotionally satisfying. You feel like it's a fresh start. Now the renovation and construction are ready to begin.

Quintessence

One of the things I fell in LOVE with when I saw my new apartment building was that there is an adorable little park directly across the street, "Sutton Place Park". Benches. A little dog run. Just the right amount of trees and landscaping. And a STUNNING view of the East River and the 59th Street Bridge. It's quintessentially Manhattan. A place where I know I'll spend many hours of contemplation and mental detoxification. But don't take my word for it, just ask Woody Allen. He used it in a classic scene from his movie "Manhattan"...it's even the iconic image of he and Diane Keaton in the film's poster. The best.

We closed in Pittsburgh

I really wanted to attend the closing of the new apartment.
There's nothing like signing all those papers and checks and then being handed the keys to your new home. It's all yours. Finally.
This closing took a month to schedule because I had to wait for the sale of my old place first. After the buyers were approved by my old building we could finally move forward, and as (bad) luck would have it, I had to be out of town on business the week the closing was scheduled. File it under "it never fails."
I was shooting some commercials in what has become one of my favorite cities, Pittsburgh.

Lovely Pittburgh, PA

I had to enlist 'power of attorney'. My lawyer Justin attended on my behalf along with my realtor David. Everything went according to Hoyle. Hallelujah.

Days later David told me the best story. The seller is a very old gentlemen in his eighties, who lives in Florida and has owned the apartment for over fifty years. He had been renting it to the same woman all that time and now that she was deceased he was free to sell the unit and reap the profit. And reap he did. He bought the place in the early 1960's for--wait for it--FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Let's just say his return on investment was QUITE a princely sum. It proves that old dictum 'good things come to those who wait'. I say good for him. Somewhere on a hot beach in Boca is an old dude lounging with a very large Mai-Tai in his very tanned hands and wearing the biggest smile on the Eastern seaboard.

Approved!

After the introductions and the the lemon bars discussion we started the Board interview proper.
I must say the setting was lovely. The President's apartment was exactly what you'd think a Manhattan East Side penthouse apartment would look like. Buttery yellow walls. Comfy floral upholstered sofas. A big fireplace. Beautiful artwork on the walls. And the right warm lighting to flatter everyone! I only saw the living room but could peek beyond into the dining room and kitchen and the views looked stunning, a wrap-around view of the East River all aglow with nighttime winter lights.
The questions were very conversational, not a grilling by any means. They all made me feel comfortable and welcomed.
"Why did you choose to leave the West Side?"
"Why did you want to downsize?"
"Tell us about your job, what accounts do you work on?" (I work in ad agency).
"Do you do any charity work?"
I answered everything as best I could, truthfully and sincerely. The President did mention the lien incident, but didn't dwell on it; my answer to the Board had satisfied their questions she said.
Before I knew it, the whole thing was over. It lasted all of 30 minutes, 40 tops.
They saw me to the door, we said our goodbyes. Just two days later I got the email from the managing company saying I was approved to buy the apartment! I was elated. It was a long time incubating but I got the answer I was hoping for. The only stipulation was they asked that I close on my old apartment before I bought this new one. I suppose they wanted to insure that I had the financials to cover the all cash purchase (I did even before the sale but I wasn't about to quibble...I was in and I didn't want to tempt fate!)

The lemon bars

It was the day of my long awaited Board interview. I didn't think it was going to happen because the day before was the first massive snowstorm of the winter. All the news services said it was going to be a 'Snowmaggedon' and a 'Snowcopolypse', I thought for sure my meeting would be canceled but I got an email from the managing company that morning that things were definitely 'on'. I was to meet a few Board members in the President's apartment in the penthouse of the building at 5:00. I was so early--I didn't dare be late--that I had time to stop in at a Dunkin' Donuts around the corner and grab a little sugary reinforcements and cup of coffee.

When I arrived at the building the doorman told me his instructions were to have me wait in the lobby until the Board was ready to see me, they were tending to some other business. One of the other members was late and as she was walking in she introduced herself. Just at that moment the doorman got the call to say they were ready for us both upstairs.
We got off the elevator and were greeted by the President. She couldn't have been more lovely and warm. She invited me in and as she was taking my coat she said, "Now, it looks like you didn't get the message." "The message?" I said, with a stiff nervous smile. I was dying inside. I had already screwed up the interview. She smiled again and said, "The message about the lemon bars...you didn't bring them with you. We wanted you to bring us lemon bars!"

It took me a split second but it finally clicked.
She was referring to something a friend of mine had mentioned in his recommendation letter about me, one of the several letters required in my Board package. Among my many 'talents' that Tony waxed on about was that I made a pretty good lemon bar. (In all honesty, the recipe I make IS good, but I can claim none of the credit. That goes to the famous Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten). So realizing that I was being kidded, I laughed and said, "Oh, the lemon bars! Well I promise to make you all a batch if everything goes well tonight!"  That got a laugh. The ice was broken. I had a good feeling.  We walked into the beautiful living room where three other Board members were waiting, two other ladies and a gentleman. I introduced myself and we did our hellos. One of the ladies handed me a page from the NYTimes Food section. "I brought you this" she said. Just that week there was a recipe about lemon bars made with olive oil. I was so sweet of her to think of me. I thanked her profusely.
"You see, " the President said, "I read all those recommendation letters quite closely. I think they say so much about a candidate's personality. And your friends have such nice things to say about you...especially that you're a good baker, I can't wait to taste those lemon bars!"
They were very kind letters. I owe a big debt to everyone who helped me out by writing them. Obviously they were crucial to this approval process. So a big THANK YOU to Robert, Jim, Jan, and especially Tony (Tone, I owe you a big fat batch of you-know-what now!)

The scaffolding redux

My scaffolding incident was mentioned in an Oberver.com article this week. I'm quoted as well as my terrific realtor David. 

Read all about it here.