Furniture for Adults

During my week off Colin and I puttered around a few furniture stores. We browsed every floor of ABC Carpet & Home, the majority of which was filled with items very much out of our price range, not to mention that everything seemed sized for massive 5000 sq. ft. lofts in SoHo. We did eye an antique vintage light fixture that made use of the edison lightbulbs that Colin likes so much. But any lighting for above the dining room table will have to wait until the table has arrived -- only then will we be able to determine what is most fitting.

The hightlight of the puttering about was an antique store, Brownstone Treasures, on Court Street in Brooklyn. A number of pieces in the store impressed. While our home has the requisite furnishings to function, we are looking to slowly replace the Ikea stuff with longer lasting items. We'd like a bench for the entryway, a place to land upon entry. There is also a wall in the large hall area that is in need of something. We have yet to find or identify the missing piece, something unique but with a bit of function.

We're most desiring a wardrobe to replace the ugly Ikea beast that currently lives in our bedroom. We saw a magnificent oak wardrobe at Brownstone Treasures, spacious, smooth with lovely curves, but heartbreakingly it had already been sold. Despite the sticker that said "Sold" I still had to ask: "so this one is sold?" (The sticker did not stop another customer from asking the same question and despite knowing the answer, my ears still perked up hoping to hear something that would indicate that it was back on the market. Of course, it wasn't).

So no go on the wardrobe but we did eye another beautiful item -- a 1940s four-drawer dresser. And while we didn't need a new dresser, this one was simply too nice to pass up, especially considering its price and good condition.

What I'm most delighted about is that there is now a place for the few palm-size family heirlooms that I'd had packed away for the past few years. I never found an appropriate place for them in my last two apartments -- the first apartment was already furnished, cramped and cluttered as it was. Our last place, a reaction to the cramp and clutter of our first apartment together, was very minimalist and modern.

Finally these heirlooms, passed down from my grandmother to my mother and now to me, have a home on the new dresser. One item is a small white creamer from a tea set that my grandmother played with as a child. On the bottom there are Cyrillic characters that reflect my family's Georgian and Russian roots. My grandmother's toy became a memento for my mother, something she could carry over in her suitcase to America. Today it finally has a special place in our new home.

The To-Do List

I have next week off from work, which means no travel back and forth to DC. I'll be home in NYC for 11 consecutive days. I have not been home for 11 consectutive days since goodness knows when, so to have all this time on my hands is rather exciting but also daunting. There is a running list of things in my head of errands and home projects I'd like to tackle, and the fear that I won't have the time to do them all. I know having a reasonable plan will help:

1) Order the dining room table
2) Sand and repaint the patch of windowsill that was damaged due to the tornado-related rain a few weeks ago
3) Measure all the prints and photographs in prep for framing
4) Ikea trip (doormat, picture frames, other odds and ends)
5) Furniture browsing (coach, landing strip for the entryway, wardrobe for the bedroom to replace the horrible Ikea one we have in there right now, small desk for bedroom, bedframe)
...to be continued...

The Table

I love the idea of people around the dinner table. There is nothing nicer than sitting down to a meal with someone, whether it's a dinner for two, or with your family and friends. A good meal you've taken the time to prepare (whether 10 minutes or hours) should be eaten at the table, not on the coach in front of the television. Colin didn't have the luxury of a real dining room table in his flat in Edinburgh, while I on the other hand, was spoiled during my three years at Eleanor's house, where the dining room table was really the center of most everything that went on. It was a place of solitude at times, especially in the mornings as we worked our way downstairs on our various staggered timelines. That's where I would sit and eat my oatmeal and read the paper before work. A few times per week it was the setting for our group dinners. The table was where we'd all lazily congregate on Sunday mornings, each eyeing the other's scrammbled eggs or toast. It was where Eleanor's Thanksgiving dinners were hosted, where we'd have birthday dinners, and pre-holiday gift exchanges. And even now and then maybe a romantic meal for two. All that made a dining room table the real thing.

But it helps if the table is sturdy, that it's natural, and that it's timeless. So one of the first things Colin and I have focused on, even before we moved in, has been the table. We agreed we wanted it to be made of solid wood. No compressed woodchips and wood veneer. No glass and stainless steels legs. Nothing trendy or too stylized. What we found was that we were both attracted to tables that were a little rustic, a little rough around the edges, something handcrafted with character. Our trolling around stores rarely led to finding anything we really liked, with only one exception (an oak French country table) but we realized the dimensions would not work in our space (too wide). But I kept seeing glimpses of a table here and there in photos on blogs, in magazines, and on the screen, but of course with no way of knowing who designed them and where to look. Until the other day when I saw one on brownstoner. It was a table that was pictured as part of a kitchen renovation. I posted a comment asking where it came from, and as luck would have it, the owner divulged his source. And the source happens to be a woman in Vermont, who handcrafts the tables, and delivers them to our door in NYC. Pictured to right are examples of her work. We've gone with the one with the light stain. 5ft long by 30inches wide. It will seat six.

It's exciting to find a table with all the features we value and to know we're supporting someone's craft in the process. The table has soul already and we hope that the many meals and conversations we have at the dinner table will only add to its character.

We're Back

Sorry for the long absence of posts. Between Washington, DC, packing, unpacking, there hasn't been much time for blogging about the new place. Packing wasn't too awful and the actual move was fairly painless (it helps when you pay three strong men to help). Unpacking, though, has been the challenge as we work through where everything should go, especially in terms of the closets and storage space. We had plenty of closet space in the old place and there is a fair amount in our new home, but we just need to be a tad more thoughtful in how we organize everything. With only a few boxes of unessentials left to unpack (and thinking do we really need what's in those boxes anyway?), we can now begin the actual nesting process. The rationale behind not spending too much on furnishings for our previous apartment was that it was a rental and why be generous in buying nice pieces that may work in a temporary space but not in our eventual home. Now that we own our place and we'll be sticking around for a while, we want to invest in furnishings and art that make it a real home for us, reflecting a place that is serene, functional, comfortable, and classic.

It's not Personal -- It's Business

Colin told me a story about when work was being done to his flat back in Edinburgh. Colin's dad, kind and generous father that he is, organized the work while Colin was at work. This was no convenient task, as his dad lives two hours from Edinburgh and had to make the drive there and back on a regular basis to oversee the work.

One morning Colin's dad rearranged some appointments to accomodate the painters. But when they buzzed to be let in over an hour past schedule, Colin's dad told them they could just go home. In other words, they could get lost. He preferred to find new painters for the job, rather then have to work with ones that were late and did not have the courtesy to call in advance. While it may seem harsh, that's business. It's nothing personal.

And so that brings me to our decision on a painter.

As things were looking bleak at the end of last week in regard to who we would get in to paint, I contacted an additional painter that was recommended via the brownstoner. Someone on the post receommended the two-man operation of Greg and Koji a.k.a. www.paintyourapt.com. When I called on Thursday, Greg wasn't optimistic that they could take on a job this week because they were waiting to confirm another job. We agreed that if that job fell through, he would be back in touch. Saturday morning he contacted me to say that he had not heard back on the other job and that he was happy to come by and take a look at our place and give us a quote. Unfortunately, because the floors were still wet we waited to arrange it for Sunday morning.

In the meantime, since Thursday I had left a couple of messages for Painter #1 to confirm that should we move forward he would be available to start on Monday. I also e-mailed him. But I did not hear back from him until mid-day on Saturday to say yes he could start on Monday and for him to apologize for not getting back to me sooner. At that point I was debating whether we should just go ahead with Painter #1 or wait until we gave Greg and Koji an opportunity to submit a bid. We decided to wait.

Greg and Koji were on time and professional. As a small operation they would be doing all the work. They would not have a hired crew. Greg and Koji would be accountable for their own work -- if anything came up, we could go directly to them. That seemed like a plus to me. When their bid came back at the same price at Painter #1, we were torn. As much as we wanted to give Painter #1 the business (we really liked him as a person), we were concerned we could have problems reaching him. We want the job done well and by professionals. We feel confident that Greg and Koji will fulfill those expectations.

Greg came back on Sunday evening to drop off some of the materials and for us to pay him the materials deposit and the first half of the fee. We signed the contract and so here we go...