If only all furniture were "Ready to Assemble"

Anyone that has tried to buy furniture from the likes of Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, or Crate & Barrell knows full well that these looks don't come cheap. A few weeks ago, I even saw a condo listing boasting, "Pottery Barn like angles." Since when does a store have its own signature "angle"?? For reference, it was a pleasant way of saying the unit was on the top floor of a house, whose peaked roof created angled ceilings. And yes...all the furniture was from Pottery Barn.

Nonetheless, we are hooked. We *love* the Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel "look". Clean, simple lines of classic, lasting furniture. Lots of textures and natural fabrics, all keeping in mind comfort and ease of use.

Only problem: how does a young professional and a graduate student *afford* any of this stuff.

Answer: "Ready to Assemble"

A few weeks ago, we wandered into the large Crate and Barrell furniture store in our neighborhood. After oo-ing and aah-ing at an absurdly expensive sectional we fell in love with, we were walking out and one of the employees stopped us to ask if we had any questions. I asked about the desk I had seen in a C&B in NYC a few weeks prior. That is when we found out about C&B's "other" line of furniture: Ready to Assemble.

Apparently C&B has two lines of furniture: (1) Furniture Collection - traditional, customizable, and expensive furniture; and, (2) Ready to Assemble - less expensive, yet still really, really good looking furniture that needs light assembly by the buyer.

Now for the best part: not knowing the difference, we actually chose the cheaper pieces over the more expensive ones for our "wish list".

Here's a link to the table we like: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=916&f=12166
We fell in love with this dining room table in the store last weekend. It is called a "Pivot Table" because the top folds open and pivots, basically doubling the size of the table. Closed it can seat up to six, and open it is virtually square and seats eight. We *love* the idea of having an eight-seater square table. Once the numbers get high, we don't like the long banquet tables as much. The size of this table also means that it will fit nicely into our small dining area. Bonus: we even like the chairs that match!!

Less than a week!

Just spoke to our attorney and the mortgage company already sent her the closing package! This means that we'll probably sign all the paperwork (and hand over the massive check) early next week and actually get the keys on Thursday morning! Originally we were going to have to wait until Friday because of our schedules (wouldn't be able to sign until the afternoon on Thursday and the Registry of Deeds would be closed for recording by then), but now we don't!

The timing is great, because one of the first things we want to do before we move in is paint part of the pantry. The sooner we can paint it, the sooner we can unpack the kitchen!




Bonus: I just found I can get major discounts of Simmons mattresses through my company! This is awesome because it will allow us to buy a new (bigger) bed and use our current bed for an appropriate guest room (which will be huge, I might add). The picture above is the sellers' son's room, which will be the guest room. OK, maybe just "huge" for a city place :)

What's your Aura?

About a month ago, I heard about Benjamin Moore's new paint: Aura. Given that we had just written a ridiculously large check as a deposit on a new condo, painting and paint colors was certainly on my mind. Here's what I've discovered about the new technology:

1) Fast drying. Apparently you can paint a second coat in as little as an hour afterwards.
2) Great coverage. Most colors only need one coat (this I will have to see to believe...)
3) It "feels" different that their traditional paint. In other words, you have to practice painting with it because the consistence is different. I equate it to buying new knives. You have to learn how to hold them and anticipate their cutting movement.
4) Environmentally friendly (so says their website). We all know that "green" is the new black.
5) This one I learned from their website: they have new colors! OK, I doubt that they are actually *new* colors, but they at least packaged them as new colors. They are called Affinity Colors and their are all kind of organic and natural looking. Very Pottery Barn (I find Pottery Barn's Benjamin Moore colors a bit disappointing).
6) The machine to mix the colors is new, special, and different, so not all Benjamin Moore retailers are carrying it. Fortunately for us, City Paint, our go-to store for paint, is!

Check out all the info at: http://www.myaurapaint.com/

Why Benjamin Moore, you say? Well, it is the brand that my family has used for a long time for various projects. What really sold me on it were two instances:
1) In my parents' summer home, paint in the dining room peels every year. This is a result of closing the house during the winter. So each year, the colors are touched up, and, every year you can't tell where the paint pealed. You'd think after 20+ years the colors would have faded a little bit, making touch-ups visible. Not with Benjamin Moore.
2) When my parents bought their condo, my father read in Consumer Reports that Behr paint was the best. So....we bought Behr paint. After putting a few strokes on the wall, and realizing it was the consistency of water and covered *nothing*, we trashed the paint and went out to buy Benjamin Moore. That's what we get for trying something new, I supposed.

Now comes the really hard part...choosing colors!

Decorating Ideas

The photo here is what I'd call our "inspiration" for our new place. Classic, comfortable, and clean

So here is how I "decorate" successfully (I put that in quotes because I really don't have a clue as to what I am doing):

1. Get vision (not in the religious sense, but in the "picture it in your mind" sense)

2. Execute vision

3. Enjoy results

The above works out when, you guessed it, #1 is successful. When #1 isn't successful, however, #2 & #3 do not stand a chance. Hence the months-long search for the best "off-white" for our old bedroom and it still never really coming together.

So here is the status of the "visions" for our new place:

Kitchen: not much to do here

Living/dining room: limited vision

Office: vision!!!

Bedroom: no vision

Bathroom: limited vision

Guest bedroom: no vision...never had an extra bedroom before!

Hallway: vision

On second thought, I suppose I do have more in my head than I previously thought. Still, it is a daunting task. I feel like I just don't know where to start in most rooms. Most rooms, except the office...

The office. That will be the flagship room (for now, at least. kind of says something about our habits, I supposed, having the office be the focal point of the place!). I have that so precisely planned in my head that I think it'll be the first room I'll complete just so that I can have one finished. Plus, it'll double as a second guest room, so we'll be able to have people over immediately.

Here's what I'm thinking for the office (current picture included):

- Rich, dark tan/brown on the walls (there is a *lot* of white trim, including the large white mantle)

- Sofabed against the mantle

- Desk in front of the windows, facing towards the room

- Bookshelf to the right of the desk (where the hutch is now)

- Some sort of filing cabinet/console either behind the desk or to the left or right for the printer and for, well, filing

- Tall, narrow, wooden chest of drawers to the right of the exposed chimney to balance the room and give some more storage space

- Tan wooden bench (used to be in our living room) as a coffee table (can also be used for seating, etc.

- Natural fiber rug (details TBD)

- Candles on the mantle

- Accent color (pillows, etc.) of bright green. Not a crazy, flourescent green, but a pretty green. Like what Crate & Barrel has when you first walk into all their stores right now.

Here's what I was thinking of for the desk: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=1070&f=26303

I saw it in the Crate & Barrel store this weekend in NYC and loved it. It has a great, large workspace and a comfortable chair (not too comfortable, or I wouldn't get any work done; plus, that's what the couch will be for!). Before we decide for sure, I have to make sure it look all right from the back, since the back of the desk will be facing the room. So many desks, surprisingly, are not finished in the back. Good thing we have a huge Crate & Barrel nearby!

We have a date!

Closing: April 10th
Moving Day: April 15th
Work, travel, and no time for anything house related: all days preceeding and post above dates!

Movin' on out...

We've moved! Well, sort of. Luckily for us, we've already found renters for our old place and they moved in on March 8th. We won't close on our new condo until April, so we've moved everything into storage (with help from www.gentlegiant.com) and are shackin' up with my parents in their condo.

Advantages to being homeless
1. Saving $$$ (rent pays mortgage, paycheck goes into savings account)
2. Excuse to eat out (I actually get to buy lunch at work!)
3. Living in a great condo right near our old one, so our commute barely even changed

Disadvantages to being homeless
1. Being homeless
2. Never being able to respond in the affirmative to the phrase, "Do you think you could locate ___?"
3. No saved parking space - this is a tough one in the city

You wouldn't believe how much stuff we had! That was even after sorting through and throwing/giving away tons of things. The Salvation Army store sure got a good shipment!

On our merry way...

(Picture is of Brian's favorite part of the new place...our awesome, big kitchen!)

Inspection...check!
Purchase & Sale...check!
Lots of brainstorming about furniture layouts...check!

Two weeks ago we had the inspection done. Fortunately we were told the building has been very well taken care of. The hot water heater and boiler are both pretty old, so we asked the sellers for a credit at closing for those two items. Fortunately they agreed to $4,500, so that was great. In addition, the sellers are going to re-hang two doors they had taken down and fix an outlet in the kitchen.

Now *all* we have to do is get our place ready to rent and actually rent it! This is probably the part we are most stressed out about. As soon as we have a lease signed, I think we will feel a LOT better about the whole situation. We're crossing our fingers and hoping it goes smoothly.

By the way, to make matters more interesting, the gas company "condemned" our chimney at our current place this week. Turns out it wasn't venting the exhaust from the water heaters and boiler properly. Fortunately we're having it completely fixed tomorrow and have plenty of money in the condo reserves account to pay for it, but what timing! When it rains, it pours, I suppose... .

Accepted!

Last Tuesday we had our offer accepted on a new condo!

We are so excited!  Funny thing is...we weren't looking for a new place.  We actually, specifically, had decided not to move until we knew what Brian's story was for medical school, etc.  When we were walking home from the T one day after work together, we saw the "For Sale By Owner" sign outside the building across the street.  We both looked at each other, ran up the stairs to our place, and immediately got on the computer to look at the website.  That Sunday I went to the open house with my parents and cousin Kristen.  I liked it so much, Brian and I went that evening together and chatted with the sellers.  Monday we put in an offer, and Tuesday it was accepted (after having to up it a little bit given two other offers).

Now the work really begins!  Here is our shortened "to do" list before we can move (or even close):

1) Finish small items of  back renovation (i.e., closet door, finish trim, fix floors in pantry)

2) Get our current condo rented

3) Save lots and lots of dough for our closing

4) Negotiate with the sellers for a new hot water heater

5) Try to not mentally spend all our money on new furniture before we even move in

6) Did I mention get our current condo rented?  This part is stressing me out and we still have 2-1/2 months before closing!

7) Clean out all the unnecessary clutter in our current place so it shows well to potential renters (and so we don't fill our new place with lots of things we don't really need)