R.I.P. Mr. Stevens

Back when I was trying to get all the permits and board approvals to begin the renovation of this apartment, almost 3 years ago, I hit a snag. Seems my next door neighbor, Mr. Stevens, was trying to stop the construction for fear of the dust and noise it would cause. As you can imagine it almost sent me over the edge. You can read all about it in an old post here.
Everything eventually turned out fine. I met Mr. Stevens in the hallway a few weeks after I moved in and he was always pleasant, we would make short chitchat in the lobby or elevator bank when we'd cross paths, the issue of his renovation fears never came up.
So cut to me getting home to the city the other day and when I got off the elevator I saw a green sticker on Mr. Stevens' door, his is right next to mine.



I got up close to read it, thinking "this can't be good".
It said "THESE PREMISES HAVE BEEN SEALED BY THE NY POLICE DEPT..."



Uh-oh.
Could it be a robbery? Or something worse? I had a sneaker. So I called down to the doorman and asked him what was up. Sadly, Mr. Stevens had passed away a few days before, one of the doormen found him collapsed in his apartment. I later found out from another doorman that he was supposed to be visiting his nephew's family and when he didn't show up they called the building and asked if someone could please check on their uncle, that's when they found him.
No one knows the official cause of death but it was probably just very old age. Recently late at night I would hear him cry out, as if he was in some sort of pain, it was a little eerie, especially when the walls are so thick in this building. To hear that he must've been pretty loud. I do know also that he was very frail and it was quite an effort for him to walk, he used a cane.
I'm not sure why the police close up the residence, maybe that's a city ordinance until they determine the real cause of death?
The last time I saw him was in early January, he wished me a happy new year. I always got a kick out of the fact that he had a local wine shop deliver him two bottles of wine a week. They would always be sitting outside his door. At least he had that little joy. And his cat, an Abyssinian.
Of course, now my mind runs to thinking about how great my place would be if I could buy that aparmtnent (it's a one bedroom) and combine it with mine. Yeah, fat chance. With what money?
Anyway, now the new intrigue will be Who will move in next to me now? Stay tuned. And God bless Mr. Stevens, may he be enjoying his wine up in heaven.

Out, out, damn spot!

I have a suede coat that I adore. It's basically a jean jacket shape, but in suede. I got it a few years ago at Brooks Brothers and everytime I wear it I get compliments.
All good...EXCEPT.
The other month I noticed there was a small stain on the back, maybe the size of a Kennedy half dollar. No telling what it is or how it got there. Obviously I leaned up against something...or maybe I took it off and laid it on the offending stain causer? In any event, I thought I'd take it to a dry cleaners and see what they could do. There are several in my neighbor within a few blocks. The first one wanted to charge me EIGHTLY DOLLARS with no guarantee that they would get out the stain. I said, "no, thank you" and went to two more establishments. It wasn't much better at either of those. One wanted SIXTY-FIVE dollars and the other FIFTY. No way, not gonna happen. I was prepared to pay maybe twenty dollars but this was just too steep for my wallet.
So what to do? Plan B is to look for some KTR...do they even still make that stuff? Or maybe some other kind of sued cleaner. What could a can cost, eight or nine dollars? Stay tuned for the saga of the spot...

Once (again) on this island

I recently posted about the new kitchen island I got from IKEA. You can read all about it here.
Since I had 'hacked' it a bit by adding a dishtowel hook on the side, it got me curious about other IKEA Hacks, so I Googled the topic and found dozens of other ideas for transforming IKEA stuff. One of the articles I ran across was a hack of the very island I had purchased. The blogger had painted the piece charcoal gray, added a towel bar, and replaced the butcher block top with a marble slab. It was pretty spiffy. You can read that article here. And here are a couple of photos from that entry:





So it got me to thinking: I could do the same to my piece to give it that little extra "tshudge" and make it less "IKEA-ish". I didn't feel the need for the marble top, but I did have half a can of dark gray paint in the cupboard left over from the renovation, the color I painted the entry hallway. It would be perfect. I also went to Home Depot and found a different dish towel hook for the side, one in antique brass instead of the silver one I had. This would match the kitchen cabinet handles better. Best of all, the new hook was only $6.00! Perfecto.
Here's the progress of the re-tshudge and the finished product, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Umpainted, ready to begin...

First coat of primer

First coat of paint in charcoal gray

First coat of gray done

Second coat done and the finished product

Fits just right in this corner

The antique brass dish towel hook

I may add the towel bar at some future date if I can find one the right size, stay tuned for that.

A coffee coincidence

I live only a block and a half from a TJMaxx store. It's pretty convenient when you need a certain household item. I decided the other day that I needed another coffee mug. I stopped off at the store and found a large white one with the word "COFFEE" on it. Looked fun and the white would work well with all the other pottery in the kitchen. Best of all it was only $3.99. Perfect.



Well the VERY NEXT DAY my mom texted me an article from The Houston Chronicle about a new shopping craze sweeping the country (or at least Texas). It seems people are going nuts for a certain line of pottery from a designer named Rae Dunn from California. They're collecting this stuff by the boatload. They can't get enough. The article compared it to the nutty Beanie Babies craze from years back. Well, talk about coincidence, IT WAS THE VERY SAME POTTERY AS MY MUG! Isn't that eerie? I bought the mug one day, and the next I got the article!
You can read the whole piece here.
Here's a photo from the article:



So it got me to thinking: if this stuff is such a thing, then maybe I should buy one more piece so that I'd have a matched set. So I went back and found one that said "WISDOM",  a nice thought when you're waking up and having morning coffee.



Just one more mug would do the trick, I'm not going to go bonkers like one of the ladies in the story who has a roomful of the stuff. Just one and done...or should I say "Dunn"?

Miller & MM

Ran across this cool photo of my former neighbors from around the time they lived here...or are they still ghosts that roam the halls? ;o)