Leak

Returned home from a relaxing vacation in Nantucket to find water damage to my apartment. Sometime between the Tuesday and Saturday that I was gone, the pan beneath my upstairs neighbor's tub (several floors up) broke and caused water to leak and damage almost all of the units below him. I discovered the damage when I returned on Saturday and was somehow the first to realize, so I have no idea when it actually happened. I assume it was earlier in the week because when I got home, water had completely soaked into the floors and were already warped. Besides my HW floors, the cabinet over the sink also appears to have held water for sometime and the particle board on the bottom of the frame has expanded and splintered. Here are some photos, though it is a bit hard to decipher the damage.
So the floors in front of my kitchen and the over sink cabinet frame will have to be replaced. Thank goodness for insurance, right? Well, sort of. I've learned a lot about how insurance works through this incident. The building's insurance is only covered for what was existing when I moved in - that means they are not going to pay for anything I installed during my renovations. That means no new cabinet from them (which I had installed), and since I had the floors refinished, they will replace the wood, but I will have to take care of the finishing/staining. My own insurance will have to pay for (minus my $500 deductible) the remaining items - boo!

Also not ideal is that since there is no real separation between the floors in my kitchen and the rest of the apartment, I will most likely have to have the floors throughout the entire apartment re-sanded and stained to that it matches throughout. This will include tearing out the new baseboards so that they can get to the edges (which will then need to be re-installed and re-painted) and obviously finding some place to put all of my stuff while they are doing the work. So it looks like you might be up for SohoReno part 2! And the closet and windows may need to wait a bit. Fun Fun - stay tuned!

Thank you Mom!

I have the best mom ever! Those of you that know her tell me that all the time, and I already knew, but she was the best helper this weekend. I stole her away from her grandson and she helped me pick out new plants (I am a very indecisive shopper), swept my entire patio (twice!), removed the dead plants from my first gardening attempt, rearranged five of the 40-some lb planters around the space and planted all the new shrubs and flowers (who better than the co-owner of a landscaping company?). I still have more to do, like paint the wall, but it is already so much more colorful and ready BBQ season. Since I hadn't shared pictures of the patio before, here are some before and afters...

From the real estate listing (note they had a wide-angled lens and this was before the building went up next door)

As of Saturday morning (the before)

Sunday Morning (after)

Updates

Wow, last post was in February! Well, there hasn't been too much to report. But hopefully I'll have a couple of projects completed in the next few months. I am having closet built-ins and an outdoor light fixture installed soon. I also plan to do a little gardening this weekend, so maybe I will post a few patio pics. In the meantime, here are a few recent pictures of the living room. I had a large mirror installed over the couch (it was actually a leaning floor mirror that i had hung horizontally) to try to expand the room. I also accessorized the bookcases - I know it doesn't look catalog-ready, but I filled the shelves with stuff I already had and love and did my best to make it all work together.

Kitchen Resource List

Here are some final pictures of the kitchen and the list of items and materials I used. Again, the links are not necessarily to the stores from where I bought the items.

• Cabinets: Hanssem Manhattan style in Rift Cut Oak and Coffee finish
• Cabinet Hardware: Restoration Hardware Strande 8" Pull in Polished nickel
• Kitchen Counter: Sugar White marble with standard edge from J.P. Marble & Granite
• Backsplash: White Carrara Milano Marble Mosaic tile from Kaleidoscope Tile with white grout
• Range: Fisher & Paykel 24" Gas Range
• Hood: Zephyr 24" Breeze I Under Cabinet Range Hood
• Dishwasher: GE 18" Profile Panel Ready Dishwasher
• Refrigerator: Blomberg 24" Built-in Fully Intergrated Refrigerator
• Faucet: Hansgrohe Talis S Prep Kitchen Faucet in Chrome
• Sink: Franke Element Undermount Single Bowl Kitchen Sink
• Sink grid: Franke Regatta Bottom Sink Grid
• 3 Recessed lights in soffit: WAC 3" Low Voltage Mini Recessed Trim with Gimbal Ring in Brushed Nickel (used with WAC 3" Miniature Black Non-IC Remodel Housing with Electronic Transformer and W.A.C. 50 Watt Dichroic Halogen Reflector Bulb with 40 Degree Beam Angle)
• Switch and wallplate: Lutron Diva Single Pole Dimmer and Lutron Claro Wallplate in White
• Island: Custom made by Gothic Cabinet in Dark Teak
• Island Counter: Sugar White marble with ogee edge from J.P. Marble & Granite
• Island Hardware: Restoration Hardware Strande 4" Pull in Polished nickel
• Barstool: Restoration Hardware Vintage Barstool

Window Treatments

Today window treatments were installed on the windows and door in my living room and bedroom. They are all the same - flat roman fabric shades in a pewter cotton/poly blend fabric with white grograin inset banding.

Weekend Warriors

Got a lot of remaining projects out of the way this weekend. My good friend, and one of my blog followers, Tom (see top right) came by and helped me install bookcases and wall hooks. He also helped me move the couter onto the island and lay down my new rug in the living room. Thanks Tom, I definitely owe you more than pizza! Also, my kitchen barstool arrived and fits perfectly under the island.

Filler Post

Since there hasn't been too much to post lately, here's a little wordle of my blog to fill the gap. Surprise that some of the most popular words are "Restoration Hardware."

Kitchen Island

Since there was no room for drawers in the small kitchen, i had an island custom made to provide extra storage and also add more work surface. Last week the island was delivered but the screw-holes for the drawers were not the right distance apart. So the drawers were fixed and delivered today. Pulls were attached to match the kitchen cabinets. The finish isn't as dark as I had hoped (it looks even lighter in this picture than in person), but I can probably stain it darker down the road. I also had a marble top made to match the kitchen counter that will be attached to the island this week. (I tried to lift it on top to show what it will look like, but it probably weighs more than I do.)