Skip to main content

My Urban Cottage


I’ve finally moved into my first home.  I’m bursting with excitement and happiness to share all my design and décor ideas that I’ve been pinning from google images and home décor magazines for many years. I am now the proud owner of what I’m calling my “urban cottage”, a small three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch house in New York.  I’m so excited to make this home my dream home.  

For the past several weeks the cottage has been under renovations. Within days after closing we realized that there was leaking behind a wall in one of the bedrooms (which wasn’t noted on the home inspection report).  Apparently, there was an issue with the gutters and instead of falling away from the house when it rained, the water was seeping through cracks in the brick façade. Thankfully we were able to identify the source quickly and fix it.

Initially, the renovation work was estimated to take about five weeks, however it’s ended up at nine weeks. And as I’m writing this now, my kitchen is still unfinished.  We have yet to install the back-splash and the counter-tops.  The counter tops will be ready in about a week’s time and then the back-splash will be installed.


We started renovations in November. We completely gutted the Formica kitchen and got rid of the old appliances which were not functional.  I think I mentioned this before, but the former homeowners were hoarders that allowed the home to fall into disrepair.  There were many issues with the former kitchen, the burners did not turn on, the microwave was not operable and the fridge door couldn’t open due to food particles that had glued the door shut. In other words, it was a mess. But the kitchen had a lot of potential.



We’ve painted the house one of my absolutely favorite colors Clark and Kensington’s Silver Glamour paint, which is a light gray. It gives the house that light and airy feel that I was hoping to achieve.  

Especially in such a small house, I did not want to paint the walls  a bright color, which would have made the house seem even smaller. 

I'm trying to avoid the urge to rush out and immediately fill the house with furniture, big ticket items like a sofa or the upholstered king bed I've been fantasizing about for five years.  So far, I've held off. Instead, I have kept the space almost empty. I have a white dining table, without dining chairs. My bedroom has a Queen sized bed and my living room has a TV console that I purchased from a big box furniture store. 

The 60 inch tv atop the console was a gift from the previous homeowners. They stated that it was brand new and they had no use for it that their new home. I accepted the TV because it was one less thing that I would need to purchase. I 'm definitely not a minimalist, but I don't want my house to feel crowded. Well, that's what the house looks like right now. I will keep you posted. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Bedroom Reveal!

I have a long to do list for my home. The problem is trying to priorities that to do list. Every item in my home was purchase, from the farmhouse chandeliers in the upstairs bedrooms to the doorknobs. All the door knobs. Furnishing a new home is quite expensive. Even though I am giddy and excited to get this home completely furniture and renovated, I have had to take a step back. I have had to just learn to live in a minimally furniture home.   I love it. I love the bare walls. I love the space.   I love the feel of not having clutter. On my last blog post, I showed some pictures of my kitchen and dining room, Today I want to share a few pictures from some of the other parts of the home. It's not perfect. I still need a dresser and a mirror but those will come in time.  In the meantime, this is what it looks like.
Post a Comment
Read more

I Got Pre-Approved!

Realtor.com So, I guess I’m really doing this now. After hemming and hawing for the last few months, I’m finally ready to begin the mortgage/home search. And what better way to start than getting pre-approved.  Last week, I spoke to a mortgage consultant and after submitting W2, pay stubs, banks statements, etc, I got pre-approved for a mortgage. The mortgage approval amount is pretty much what I expected if not too aggressive for my liking. I’d liked to find a lower priced property than the pre-approval amount.  Also, I’m not opposed to buying a property that needs a little work, I’m just not into doing any major renovation work.  I’m moving cautiously but the bottom line is, I’m once again looking at properties.  I’m really excited. I feel more comfortable, confident this time around. I'm a lot calmer. Maybe because I've been through this process before. I know what I want. I know what I need. I know where I want to be. I'm not intimidated by cost or...
Post a Comment
Read more

Furniture Shopping

One of the things I love about New York is it’s accessibility to shops.  I love window shopping, especially for furniture. Yesterday my friend Dominique and I went shopping.  We looked around Pier 1 Imports but there were nothing really that stood out or grabbed our attention. Disappointed, we wondered around the mass of people on the overcrowded street until we stumbled upon a store called Restoration Hardware.  Neither of us had been there before, so we decided to have a look. First impression, this was definitely an upscale furniture store and nothing like down-market Pier 1 Imports.  The furniture  hankers  back to that old Hollywood style that appealed to me. Dominique on the other hand hated it. She felt it was too over the top.  We both agreed though that the look was definitely not for apartment dwellers. The furniture was large and  over-sized.   Personally I liked the upholstered headboards, the dining chairs, But it ...
Post a Comment
Read more