Wow

Well, we don't have much new furniture yet but this sofa will keep me happy for awhile. Love the color & proportions and it defines the space beautifully. It orients sitters toward the view & creates subtle separation from the dining room & kitchen. Last photo is of finished cubbies in the LR that also double as window seating.

Shared study

For seven years, since Maya took over the second BR, we've been computing in a hallway. It's been especially tough for me to have no desk, hence no place to hide my paper pileup. We are all looking forward to having a dedicated workspace & what a nice one! The door & transom have acrylic inserts that match the Raydoors. Custom desks by Mr. Chen on each wall that will be topped by Elfa shelves.

Maya's bath

Same lighting as in master BA, this time mounted on a huge mirror. Finally picked out the knobs, which are striped blue glass. Track lighting on the ceiling is from hospital supply. Hansgrohe fixtures.

Grasscloth Wallpaper

I wanted the master BR to have a retreat feel to it. Spent a lot of time picking out this wallpaper (who knew there were so many shades of natural!). Of course, Leo's wallpaper guy was meticulous & did a beautiful job. The Artemis ceiling fan, wall mounted lamps and window seat w/storage cubbies are the finishing touches.

Master bath

We transformed the original black & white master bath into a "celadon cave." It's completely tiled & the tub has been swapped for a shower stall. Sink was salvaged from a trade show; vanity & medicine cab are custom; faucets, toilet & washlet are by Toto. The latter turns the lavatory into a bidet, complete w/heated seat!

Romper Room

We now have super-plush, super-springy wool carpet in the den/guest room aka Romper Room. Maya started doing cartwheels on it immediately.

Found the carpet at Aronson's warehouse sale. In fact, it was the only piece big enough for the room (by two inches). That helped a lot in the selection process. I knew we were golden when it matched the wall colors exactly. Aronson's is a fabulous store that Erin recommended. It specializes in enviromentally sustainable floor coverings and runs educational workshops in addition to selling beautiful carpet & rugs.

Kitchen is done!

From the top: Icestone windowsill & millwork radiator grilles. The new radiator is a svelte little number that is mounted flush to the wall. Again, Mr. Chen worked his magic and created three panels that tilt out for service and look gorgeous.

We learned the hard way that Prestige makes each range hood to order, even if it's in a standard size. Trevor at Eurostoves was our wonderful salesperson and advocate throughout. If you are even thinking about getting a Bluestar range, talk to him first. Now we have both the firepower & the venting (1200 cfm) to cook up a storm. Can't wait.

Note wine cubbies in final shot. Mr. Chen's handiwork again. We'll be raising a glass to him & the rest of the crew.

My new favorite spot

I told Leo that I will be buying a little stool to sit in the hall & admire both sets of blue tile. They just make me happy.

Island improvements

The millworker is another genius and made two drawers where the wine fridge used to sit in the middle of the island. It looks original (pardon the dust) and will be very handy for storing small appliances (there's a power strip on the top) and mixing bowls. Last photo shows where we grafted a strip of extra granite (originally part of the backsplash) to the island.

Foodie porn

Here's the kitchen, almost ready to cook in. LOVE the Schoen faucet, a brand I'd never heard of until the umpteenth time surfing efaucets.com. Undercabinet lights are in & make the glass tile sparkle. The Bluestar range (which the saleman likened to a Ferrari) is hooked up & waiting for its "racing tires" (Prestige 1200 cfm hood). See how a wok will fit perfectly when the grate is removed? The front burners are 20,000 btu's (about 6-7 hotter than what we have now).

To stain or not stain...

When you've got old floorboards, they retain some color even after they're sanded. That makes it tricky to match the new floorboards (where walls used to be). In the second photo, you can see one of our several Minwax testing sessions. Mr. Chen, the foreman, lobbied for a darker stain to hide the difference in tones. Steve & I wanted a lighter color to open up the space and provide contrast with the kitchen cabs and Raydoors. We hit upon a compromise by leaving the original floors untouched and only staining the newer sections. Then all topped off with waterbased poly sealer. We were pretty nervous when we opened the door to the apartment on Saturday morning then breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The floors look glowing & warm but not too dark. And the parquet pattern really "pops" now.

Backsplash & replacement cabinet doors

Here's Leo, our contractor (with his everpresent Bluetooth earpiece), showing how well the replacement cabinet door matches the originals. Other than the name of the company (Oriental Construction), we love Leo & his crew. They've really gone the extra mile and care deeply about doing a top quality job. Not only that, they were the low bidders!

The glass mosaic backsplash just makes me smile every time I see it. It injects movement and levity into the otherwise zen walnut kitchen. No, the tile guy hasn't been working round the clock. I'm just way behind on blogging.

Later I'll post pix of the two beautiful drawers Oriental built to fill the 24" gap in the island. They also cut a piece of the extra granite to create a second overhang on the window side of the island. Now it will seat people on both sides, which Erin says makes it much more of a hangout. I don't doubt it.

Maya's bathroom

Now we're really having some fun. This is the funky Italian tile we found in one of those huge discount tile warehouses that's always at the outer reaches of the five boroughs. I came up with the pattern to make sparing use of the pricey circle tiles.

Again, the god of tile is doing his thing & it's looking spectacular. The room used to be painted midnight blue and it swallowed the light coming from the small window like a black hole. Now there's tons of light bouncing around & it's much cheerier.

Tile Man Rules

Among the many things we love about our contracting crew, the tile installer is now #1. The man is a true artist. Rather than using shorter bullnose pieces (rounded on one side) on the corners, our perfectionist foreman Mr. Chen insisted on MITERING all the corner pieces. That meant sanding many many edges at a 45 degree angle for days. Well, the results speak for themselves.

The master bathroom is now a glorious cave of celadon green punctuated by a glass mosaic stripe (same as kitchen backsplash). Every seam is a joy to behold.

Note to do-it-yourselfers: toothpicks are the spacers of the pros.