the d*s apt project: introduction

so, today begin's the blogging of one little sponge's attempt to decorating an aging rental with good bones a lot of problems. i wanted to write a little intro blurb to explain the premise of this project and the details behind it...

as most of you know, ac and i looked for an apt for like, 20 years. ok, more like 8 months. seems crazy, but as any new yorker will tell you- new york real estate is a BEAR. our requirements were as follows: a real one bedroom (ie: no studios or "bedroom niches"), at least 700 sq ft (we were moving from a 500 sq ft studio) hardwood floors, pets allowed, niche/nook for small home office and a bathtub. after that the requirements came down to picky things like wanting period details if possible (molding, ceiling medallions). i'll save you the gory details of the hunting process (it's well documented throughout the blog), and say that we finally settled on a 1 bedroom in the central part of park slope. the pros and cons were as follows:

1. pros: location (2 blocks from prospect park, 6 blocks from my office, safe, well established area with lots of great shopping and brunch options), size (we went from under 500 sq ft to over 900) and good bones (though in not-so-great condition, the apt has tin ceilings, hardwood floors and molding)

2. cons: price (we went up, way up, from what we wanted to pay), seriously nutty landlords, old building quirks like bad wiring, majorly uneven floors (the entire apt is on a 10 degree slant, i swear) and walls and molding that need major work.

but after we weighed the options and details, we decided this was the place for us. our bottom line requirement: could we see ourselves living here? was met and we knew our cats would love the long hallway. so, on dec first we moved in.

ac will write today about what HE thought of the apt, but for now, here are my initial thoughts: i wanted this apartment to be a step up from my others- i tend to be drawn to bold, saturated wall colors and crazy, borderline trendy accessories (i know, shocker). but i wanted this apt to be a real home, something a bit more sophisticated and something that would reflect both ac's and my own personality. combining two very different people with very different tastes was, and will always be, a challenge and that's something i'm sure a lot of you deal with on a day to day basis. so, without further adieu- please click here to view the flickr slide show of our apt as we moved in (pre-paint) and empty...[i'll break it down room by room in the next posts]