And the wall comes tumbling down...

We set Feb 7-8 weekend for taking down the interior wall (non load bearing) Mike and his brother and his father will be doing it and bonding - Beck men style. I will hang with Shelly (Chris' wife) and the kids for the day which suits me fine. Mike and I will move the furniture around the day or night before in preparation. I already have all the plastic and tape we need to protect stuff from dust. Mike's dad is bringing all the tools necessary 'cos Heaven knows, we don't have a sledgehammer and a Shop-Vac etc. I can tell his dad is very excited about it - his brother too. They love this kind of thing and thank goodness for that!

I'm quite excited because finally the layout will be as we want - sleeping in the front and living in the back. Right now we have to go down the hallway from our dining room to the living room and I always find it awkward when we have guests over that they can see into our bedroom. It encourages me to keep it neat but still...

Our architect friends have proposed drawing up some plans for us for the entire apartment. It seems really expensive but we haven't discussed what it entails yet - we've never had an architect before so I don't really know what they do and what kind of use they will be. It seems that for renovation work, they really function as interior designers more than anything. Structurally they know about that load bearing wall and what it entails to take it down...but a contractor would know that too...wouldn't they?

Anyway, Mike and I haven't discussed the quote yet but we will this weekend and formulate an answer. As what we want to do to the house will require permits, having architectural drawings is going to be necessary no matter who we end up using.

New Tenants

So the Vu-Lees are moving into the basement apartment Feb 14. They came by to take a look and figure out what they can bring and what furniture they have to get rid of. We agreed that if they are living here it will be $900/month including utils, wi-fi, laundry and satellite tv. If they are travelling and it's just their stuff, it will be $300/month. We felt it was unfair to charge them money when they are physically not here.

Surprisingly, this basement is very popular and has made more money than I have in 2009! The extra cash would be nice and we are doing them a big favour which makes me feel good.

There is some overlap with Zohra but only a few days; she can sleep in our apartment - after all, she stayed in our old (smaller) apartment for 2 months last year.

We put in a carpet that Sarah had lying around so it feels warmer (the floor was tiled making it very cold) and re-arranged some cabinets in the kitchen area. I'm going to Ikea tomorrow to get a shelf and I think we're ready.

Pondering

Tom & John gave us some interesting advice and Mike and I are digesting the whole thing. I think we are also getting them to draw up a plan - a grand scheme of things, if you will - and we can then slowly decide what we can do ourselves and what we have to sub out to contractors. I would still like the challenge of being our own General Contractor but I think for now, my most important thing is getting the wall down between the dining and the living room. Once that happens, I can at least get the rooms in order and live in the way we are supposed to live until we gather enough money to do the rest of it.

They suggested taking the load bearing wall down which goes through the entire apartment creating a hallway. By reclaiming that hallway space back, it makes the place look bigger and more spacious. It sounds big but I'm not really intimidated by taking walls down - even load bearing ones. To carry the weight, one has to install a steel/wood header to take up the weight of the joists and we have enough height to the ceiling that we can afford not to do it in the ceiling.

My next plan is after we get these plans from them, to subdivide what we need to do - project by project. Some projects we can do (with friends) and some, I believe, we can do with professional help and some have to be done completely by professionals. But the process is something I will be able to get my head around once we get an end result we want.

I really should post a layout...

Architectural Opinions

We invited our friends, Tom & John over this weekend for some advice about the wall we want to take down between the dining room & the living room (currently the study). We know we want to do it, but because the layout is a little awkward, we need more input on where it should start and hopefully some advice on kitchen layout too.

They are making the trek from their Grand Central apartment so I hope they won't turn their noses up at us. I know Tom in particular is leery of our decision to do it ourselves.

Mike also know Kevin O'Connor from This Old House (they met through that doc on Jimmy Carter) and he's asked us to come to the wrap party of the house they are doing in Brooklyn right now. We were hoping they could also give us some sage DIY advice

As I have been house bound for the past month I've started to develop more of a bond with the house - shabby as it is. I always viewed it as the rebound house after the disaster of 242 and while it was adequate, I never fell in love with it. But I think one doesn't have to love every house one's in but it's begun in the dining room. I love the way the light comes through there at 11am - 1p everyday - when I am making an early lunch or late breakfast. It's a great room to be in. I also really like the bedroom and the vibe it's exuding. We are still going to move things around in there, but it feels right. Now if only I could like the 2 rooms in between and the bathroom more!

Our friends who got laid off last month have asked if they can move into the basement. Their rent is currently 3x what we would charge and then they feel they could be free to travel or wander about without worrying about haemorrhaging money on NYC rent. In a few months, they want to come back and look for work or make their decision to migrate back to Oz but until then they need to buy some space and time. They also said they could help us with the renovation of the place in general which I thought was nice.

We asked them to come see the unit - it's vastly different from their current flat in the W. Village and moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn can be a shock - they are coming on Sunday to see it. Zohra leaves in February and they will move in right after.

2009 and already the basement unit is booked solid! I'm not sure if this is what the Grays had in mind but when we asked, they were ok with it.

Patching up the pantry and Installing a Chandelier

We finally patched up the wall where the washer/dryer was. When I say 'we' obviously, I mean Mike. It's not a big enough job for the both of us so it was all him. As you can see the washer/dryer removal left a lot of holes and stuff where the vents and hoses used to be connected. We told the contractor not to patch it up so he gave us a better discount. Our plan is to (for now) make it a pantry but in the big picture, when we renovate the kitchen, we will have to figure out what to do with the entire space. The kitchen boggles us cos we just aren't design people so we're inviting some architect friends over 'for dinner' purportedly and picking their brain. Anyway, the first step was just to make this little area nice again.

Mike mudded the joints, taped and then spackled the area before painting some primer. We did 2 coats and then planned to install the shelves. At least, this will make up for the lack of space in the kitchen if I can get all the appliances hidden away and whatnot.
Unfortunately, the walls are completely uneven and we can't install any shelves so I'm just buying some steel pantry shelves off Craigslist for now just to utilise the space better.

The process took about 3 days in between waiting for the spackle to settle and primer to dry. To make better use of my time, I stained some wood shelves and a tray (hey, my skill level is much less, one can't expect that much from me) which I think turned out ok.



We also installed a chandelier in the hallway (I know it's excessive but I got it from a job and it was just kicking around taking up space) and moved the hallway light into the kitchen. We did that together 'cos if there's one thing I know about at least, it's wiring.
So all in all, a good productive week off. Zohra is settling nicely into her basement studio apartment although she eats meals with us before she 'retires' into her space. She's also been working so having her own space down there allows us to have a semi-separate life which is nice. As our first tenant, I think the system is working out well.