Deep Breaths

This is the portion of the renovation, and it happens every time, that I become crestfallen and discouraged.  Yesterday, in a fit of anticipatory giddiness, I jumped on the 14A bus and headed to Horatio to see the bathroom hooked up. The bus drops me off right in front of Myers of Keswick and I was going to celebrate having a new bathroom by treating myself to some Maynard's Wine Gums (any friends who find themselves at Heathrow with a couple quid to get rid of and a little room in your bag, I'm placing my wine gum order with you now). When I came into the apartment and peeked in the bathroom, this is what I saw:

To refresh your memory, two weeks ago it was like this:

So I ask as calmly as I can, "Why is the shower floor ripped up?" which in Spanish becomes abbreviated to "Porqué?" In a combination of hand signals and mime, the tiler has explained that they need to increase the slope of the floor because when they hooked up the shower panel and turned it on, the water did not flow to the drain well enough. Well, no question about that, it has to be fixed and done right. Tick, tick, tick.
I'm living with a dear friend and her soon to be six year old daughter. I've been here since September and it's been great to be part of their family and in the East Village but it's time to go. A live-in nanny is arriving soon and, while I'll still be here for a week or so, it's time to move it along. Of course, this is when little stuff starts to go wrong. The kitchen faucet I bought doesn't quite fit, the vanity has to be sawed open in the back because the piping is in an unusual place. And, of course, the bathroom floor has to be redone before they can put it back together.
The kitchen backsplash got retiled:

The light fixtures got hung. I took a quick photo of the Miconos light but it doesn't do it justice.
Did I mention I was crestfallen at the time?

I did not purchase any Wine Gums when I left the apartment yesterday. But I'm not going to complain.

I try and breathe deeply and keep these images in my head.
This is what I had when I purchased the apartment on December 17th:

And in just another week, I'll be able to take a shower in this:

Next few days: the brick get reglazed and treated so that it doesn't look so perfect and the motorized James Bond shades get installed. Onward.

Heading towards the Home Stretch

It was a busy week on Horatio Street.
The floors were sanded and stained and the first coat of sealer was put on. My friend Marla suggested to stain the floor darker and I'm glad I did. It now looks like this:

When I walked in to the apartment today, this is how it looked:

For the third time, I had to rearrange the motorized shade installation. They are coming on Friday. I cannot wait to see those green fabric drapey shades removed and my James Bond shades installed.

It was fantastic to see the space emptied out but then I made the mistake of opening the bathroom door and this is what I saw:

Everything I own (I pulled the Eames rocker out of this mess so I could just sit and meditate on my apartment) and every piece of equipment and contractor's tools were stacked up in there.

Also, I saw that the electrician had just begun to work. Here's the beginning of the lighting fixture installation in the main room:

I had to go out and buy the bulb for the fixture today, which is why I'm assuming that they didn't go any further. (Note to Artemide: when someone buys a hideously expensive fixture, throw in a light bulb, will ya?) Here's the fixture:

It's a beautiful glass orb and I'm super excited to see it hanging up there.

Finally, I've been introducing myself to the tenants as I run into them in the lobby or elevator. Everyone says the same thing: "Nice to meet you Gail, it's such a great neighborhood. Welcome".
It has been my dream to live in the West Village for over twenty years. I'm glad I made it.

Next installment: The bathroom finally gets put back together!

Progress, Not Perfection

In the renovation world this week I was guilty of a rookie mistake. I didn't order enough bathroom wall tile. Now, a couple of things could have made this really bad... one was if I couldn't locate any more tile and the other is that if I did locate it, it could take a while to ship, delaying everything. The first shipment of ten boxes came only two days after I ordered it so I was hoping I could get lucky. And I did but there was a little retribution thrown in. I received a notification at 5:58 pm last night that the tile was delivered and left in the lobby. For the THIRD time that day, I headed over to Horatio for the honor of lugging four boxes (weighing 37.4 pounds apiece) up to the apartment.

But a lot got done in the bathroom. The concrete sub-floor got poured:

The concrete sheetrock was put up:

The floor tiles were laid:

And the wall tile, until we ran out yesterday afternoon, was in process:

Now, this is the time where you discover certain things and make adjustments that always add costs to your bottom line. When we were doing demolition in the bathroom, I saw that there was extra space behind the shower wall where the shower panel will be:

So I asked David to make two inset boxes where I can put shampoo, soap, washcloths and all that stuff. More work, more tile, more time. But I couldn't resist utilizing extra space:

In an effort to utilize every bit of tile, I told David to use the white floor tile (we had a box left over) in the inset boxes. Well, honestly, even with the four extra boxes of wall tile, we were still cutting it close. Using the floor tile in the insets would give us just enough wall tile to finish. At least, that's what we're hoping. 

I made another rookie mistake. When I bought tile for the bathroom, I thought I would save the granite border tile that was there and reuse it. Mistake. When placed next to the new glass tile it looked lame and out of proportion. I ran to Home Depot to see if I could find something that I could use. I bought 48 pieces of 3x6 ice white glass tile by the same company who made the wall tile. The depth was exactly the same as the new wall tile and will look so much better than the black granite. It was an added cost but it's certainly worth it. Heaven knows I would have been grumbling about that granite border every time I walked into the bathroom.

And FINALLY, the purple sparkles and the textured yellow walls disappeared under "Coastal Fog":

I breathed an "Ahhhhhh" and a sigh of relief when I saw it.

Then a couple of other wonderful little things happened.

These showed up:

The cabinet pulls. They will be replacing these out of scale marble bowling balls:

But I have to wait because here's the kitchen right now:

And then another wonderful thing showed up. I was so excited when I saw the box since it wasn't even supposed to ship until next week:

It's the fixture for the main room. I opened it up today to make sure it arrived in one piece and it's beautiful. I can't wait till the day that we're ready to hang it!

Next week: I'm saying goodbye and good riddance to the trashed floor. 

It's getting refinished; sanded, stained darker and sealed. Hopefully tiling will get finished in the bathroom and the vanity, sink, faucet and shower panel can get installed.

I keep reminding myself: "Gail, it's progress, not perfection"

Demolition and Prep

A lot has gone on at the studio. The entire bathroom (fixtures, floor and tile) has been ripped out.
When I arrived on Wednesday night, the plastic tile and shower stall had been removed and as I suspected, there was a small cast iron tub underneath.

I knew that they would send a big guy with a sledge hammer over to take care of that. And when I returned on Friday morning, it was gone.

 This is where the toilet was and the tile that would get ripped up.

There was a concrete subfloor underneath.

There was also this:

It's hard to look at, but after three renovations, I've started to get used to the inevitable pile up of debris. And it always gets removed at some point so I've learned not to get all OCD about it.

When I walked over today just to have a look around, I saw this:

Concrete? I had to think about it for a minute and then I realized that they needed to pour a concrete floor in the shower area. Hmmm, add one more day for the concrete to pour and set. Time is ticking.
But I was glad to see this:

They had replaced the grotty pipe and floor drain with shiny new stuff.

I did also see this:

So at least we are prepped for painting. Perhaps one last light sanding, then the primer and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to see the first coat of "Coastal Fog" on Tuesday. Or perhaps they'll do the ceiling and trim first, whichever, it's just awesome to see that textured yellow and sparkly lavender go away!

And just so you know that it's not all stress and anxiety (and really, it isn't for me, it's exciting and rewarding) I did a little customization of one more oddity that was in the space: the intercom phone which somehow was determined should have it's own little wooden house.

Here it is in situ in the hallway.

It seemed funny for such a small thing as an intercom telephone to have such a place of importance and prominence in the hallway. So I gave it a little chalkboard paint and a title:

I have a good plan for that hallway wall. More on that when we get to it.
So hopefully this week:
Painting
Concrete floor in bathroom
Cement board up on bathroom walls
And if I'm lucky, tiling the bathroom walls will begin by the end of the week.

I'm guessing that I'll need to move the shade installation one week as I still need Steven to come in and help the look of the brick on west and north walls. But he can't do that until the painters are out and the plastic sheeting comes down. Co-ordinate, co-ordinate, co-ordinate.

Demolition begins

This morning, David and Gustavo from Dynamic Restoration came to the apartment to protect the common hallways with paper and begin demolition. Here's what's going:

The vanity and the bathroom sink and faucet.

The shower hardware and fake plastic tile.

And this built in granite and wood desk.

And here's what is replacing it:

A new vanity, sink and faucet.

A shower panel.

And new wall tile.

All of these things have already been delivered. I'm waiting for the sliding shower glass door which ought to get interesting as it weighs almost 300 pounds. I also am repurposing 2" x 1" white subway tile for the bathroom floor that I used in the church. I had almost seven boxes left over and since the bathroom is all of 30 square feet at best, it felt good to save a few hundred bucks and use what I had left over. Now I just have to transport it... maybe it wasn't the best of ideas... but we're pretty close to having everything we need for the bathroom already sitting in the space.

While I was waiting for all the forms, certificates of insurance, scope of work, etc. ad nauseum that NYC co-ops require before you start ripping things apart. I tried to do what I could do. The very first thing was to remove the door and cabinet knobs. Here's a sampling:

These knobs are made by a company called MacKenzie-Childs. Clearly if you know me, you know this is not my scene. They cost $22 EACH! I have 28 assorted MacKenzie Childs doorknobs; over $500 worth of knobs. I quickly called my favorite hardware supplier Rustica Hardware, the nice people in Utah who made my barn door hardware upstate and ordered these cabinet pulls:

Total cost for 22 knobs: $75.  I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival from Rustica. I also did a little painting. The trim around the windows was really messy and there was a cool tie-iron kind of bar that was structurally helping the brick. The iron was painted to try and blend into the brick. I love to see industrial details so I stripped that sucker right away!

And now:

I neatened up the trim around the windows and then tackled the steam pipe which, of course, had to be satin black. I walked over to Garber Hardware, a family owned hardware store that has been in the neighborhood for over 100 years. I explained what I wanted to do and they hooked me up with heat resistant paint and new fiberglass insulation tubes. (Note to self: when removing or installing anything fiberglass, use gloves!)
Here's the cleaned up window trim and the steam pipe yesterday. When David and Gustavo showed up this morning with a taller ladder than my little step stool, I was able to complete it up on top.

I have a good idea for a grille for the air conditioner and I'll have upstate David make it eventually. At first, I was just so happy that the A/C wasn't installed in the window that I didn't give it any thought but looking at these pictures it's too glaring for me. I'll add it to the list.