There are before pictures of renovated spaces. There are
after pictures. There are people who document the process of renovation on TV.
They always find something bad in the walls or ceiling that they didn't
anticipate.
There's always a big reveal. It's like Cinderella, only it's
a house.
This is my version of a renovation piece. It's the quiet
part of the story.
This is not the big reveal. I will do my version of that
some other time. At a later date I will show you my IKEA hack, my fetchingly
arranged binders and my pretty bed. I might even show you the inside of my
closets once they are finished. I will definitely photograph details of the
placemats. Of that you can be sure.
I already posted The Beauty of The Before. You might want to have a
look.
I keep thinking about the day I took these photographs. This
is what it was like.
The painters had already finished their jobs. Some of the
custom shelving was installed. I was waiting for the mattress and the carpet to
be delivered. I was waiting for my nephew and his friend to come over and
assemble IKEA. I was waiting for the guys to come and finish installing the
shelves.
In an hour my apartment would be buzzing with activity. But for
now, there was a monastery like silence punctuated by the sound of people
walking. My apartment was so empty that I could hear every little thing in the
building.
My apartment looked sort of like it did before and sort of
like what it would eventually look like. In this state it also looked like
neither of these things. Over the next days and weeks it would transition to
being ours again. But when I took these
pictures, it was in a nether land.
Later that evening, when I was alone again, I called a
friend to come over. I needed some company in there. I needed her presence to
remind me that yes, this was indeed my apartment. I also wanted to show her our
new things.
I sat on these pictures until I felt motivated to share
them. At this point, I'm grateful I took some photographs. I think I would be
starting to forget if I hadn't.
A beautiful mallet sits upon our unfinished shelves
This leftover rope caught the even morning light with calm
elegance. I shot a close up of a closet hinge. The closet was painted White
Wisp while the wall flanking it was transformed by Horizon. The near empty
space highlighted the graceful lines of our art deco bannister.
The backside of a small shelving unit. These shelves have
been in my husband’s family since his childhood. They are now enjoying a third
act in our nephew’s apartment. We decided that we liked our floors the way they
are. No re-finishing, no polyurethane.
Jeremy’s parents bought a lot of their furniture in the 1950’s.
We took apart this gorgeous end table and stacked it out the way. It was one of
the first items moved into place once our bed was set up.
Loads of cleaning going on in our dusty residence. Here is a
detail of our flat rolling cart. It has proven indispensable for several moves.
Jeremy had to box up these liquor bottles during the paint
job. They’re waiting for a good dusting before the transfer back to their
swanky home.
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