Mott Street Micro Palace Week #3
Mott Street Micro Palace Before
Mott Street Micro Palace Week #2
Mott Street 1Br Palace
On the good side, however, changes are afoot and there are some nice new details of which to take notice. With the help of the owner of Messy Closet #3 in the AT messy closet contest, Amy has learned to gold leaf her bedroom door edges, bedroom window frame, and the divider between the closet and sleeping space in the bedroom itself.
The kitchen has made great strides with the countertop in place and new overhead open shelving. The kitchen now awaits the installation of the pot rack above the gas range and stainless steel shelves across the width of the kitchen window.
The shelves are going to be fabricated by Piscipo ironworkers in Brooklyn.
A couple of things for the audience to help out with:
There are two dead spaces in Amy's kitchen. Should they be closed up or used as isolated nooks?
I am a big nook fan, so I vote for the latter. But, what do you think? One is in front of the kitchen window and is currently blocked by a piece of wood, and the other is directly opposite and is currently accessible.
The other question is what purpose on this earth does that weird scalloped, plastic, two piece tray serve? It came with the Conserv fridge and fits nicely in one of the side shelves of the upper compartment, but what does one do with it?
In the bedroom, the new, stylized metal window grate has been installed. Amy plans to put two layers of silk fabric in front of it. One will provide for modesty and the second will create a cumulative sunshade.
The silk which shelters the ISS shelving along one wall of the bedroom was purchased in Jackson Heights on 74th Street. According to Amy, there is great sari fabric and great indian food to be found at the Roosevelt Ave. subway stop in Queens.
For the wall of shelves that will line the living room wall, going up and over the doorway, Amy plans to use cherry stained maple wood. She will purchase this at a lumber yard outside of manhattan and do the staining herself in order to reduce costs and get the best wood for her money. In addition, she has the help of a friend who happens to be a boat builder.
her advice is to have a friend who is a boat builder so as to intimidate cabinet makers and contractors who are working on your apartment.
Amy admits that she may have parted with too much of the contractor's pay prematurely. Now that only a small balance remains of their negotiated fees, he comes to work on the apartment sporadically.
We all know renovation projects always cost more than projected and always take longer than projected but when it happens to you, it is still shocking and seemingly unacceptable.
Amy says, pick your battles, and hold in there because it is all going to work out, just not soon enough.
I say, take things out of boxes, even if you don't have anywhere to put the contents. Piles of things always appear as more progress than stacks of boxes. From my own experience, it is a healthy move as well as a positive jolt to recycle one more cardboard box. Lastly, find a way to enjoy your space even if it is causing daily or weekly breakdowns.
Maybe that means making a special corner where your favorite things await you and there is something soft to sink into; maybe you turn the heat up high and pretend you are doing bikram yoga all the time; maybe you stock your fridge with great chocolate, if only temporarily; maybe you decide on one great thing to make or buy for your apartment that you previously thought you didn't deserve.
It is tough going and there have to be ways to make it feel better during the excruciating purgatory. Embrace the process and make it work for you! Jill "super sleuth" Slater
Alexis' Modern Glass House 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Tom Black Espadrille
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Easy Pitcher Cocktail Recipe: Strawberry Basil Margaritas
Comments (14)
Yay, I was right about the trimless, flush doors and the secret compartment in the dead corner space. The first a very nice detail, the second a clever use of normally inaccessable space.
I like what you have done in a small space both aesthetically and functionally. Lots of clever details. I like the shelving above the counter top because it is not so heavy so the whole area still seems very open but you get useful storage. Some ppl may say that you should put edging strips on those shelves but I think that as long as the edge of the plywood does not have any pits then the striped look can look better than the iron on stuff. Finally, in terms of what I like, I like the fact that you have done it so (I assume from your descriptions) cost effectively.
As for the cubbys, my personal preference is to keep them but put little doors on them. Those kinds of spaces are always useful for stuffing infrequently used things in - don't lose them.
I still thik this place has come such a long way - I know it's discouraging when you live in the middle of the mess (as I currently do, too) - but looking over the pictures just shows how fabulous and thoughtful things have become. I love all of the little details.
By the way, I was stumped by the mystery container when my fridge arrived, too. We use it as a salad crisper - works great.
Alos, I was wondering if you could tell us where you got the great metal shelving? My apologies if you mentioned it in a past post ~~~~
Matt
Oh..me and my typos. And to add insult to injury, it was listed twice...
I can't tell you how much I have appreciated the encouragement through this process.
Shelving clarification -- the bedroom closet is elfa from the Container Store, the living room shelving is ISS (link on top right of this page).
Also, I went shopping after Jill left, so there is now food in the fridge.
Beautiful! I love the way the kitchen is shaping up.
I would use the dead space as storage nooks. In a place that small (like ours) you need every cubic inch you can get.
I'm in the middle of my kitchen renovation too, and I'm gettting tired of the dust, the scrunched up furniture and the restaurant food... I'm usually a reluctant cook, but I just want to make myself some ramen and watch tv on my couch like a normal person... At least I no longer have holes in my ceiling and floor, and other than the countertop, everything's almost okay and done...
Your window nook -- have you also covered over the bottom half of an airshaft window? I was trying to come up with what I could keep in mine or do with it, and I really haven't found a good answer. Maybe those gallons of water I'm supposed to keep for the next apocalypse?
Hey Mary, any chance of seeing pics of your new kitchen when it's done?
And Amy, can't wait to see the next installment!
golf-leafing the windowsills is brilliant. Mine are getting covered with the shiniest oil-based superwhite I can find, because the gold leaf would be too distracting in my color scheme, but in a warm room like yours it's brilliant.
keep the nooks as storage spaces. Yes, you will appreciate every cubic inch.
Also, thanks for sharing about the shelving ... but when I clicked on the link, it seems like the key thing to ISS is the tension pole. Your wall strips, however, don't seem to be tension poles (at least they aren't poles and they don't seem to go to the ceiling). Are you going to use tension poles for the front of the shelves?
D.
D.--
What about silver or aluminum leaf?
Diana,
The compression rod is just one type. If you look over the types of rod, they do have a wall-mount type. The shelf arms pop right into it. That means the weight load is transferred to the wall. I think the advantage to the compression rod is that the weight is brought to the floor - very good when your walls are dubious.
By 'compression rod' I meant tension pole - sorry.
Jamie Pup -- Sure! It may take a bit... I have the cabinets in place and most of the little things done, but I won't have a countertop for another week or two.
It's funny to see people talking about how small the other kitchens in the kitchen competition are, since my kitchen really is small, but I feel like it's going to be so much bigger and more spacious than the crap that was there before. Last night I finally got to put things into the cabinets and I'm thrilled that everything fits and I still have space left... Before things spilled over and out into the rest of the room.
What kind of countertop is that? It's both light in color but concealing at the same time. I love it...
The countertops are a recycled bottle glass/concrete composite from IceStone (icestone.biz). I chose the Heineken/Anchor color scheme, otherwise known as Frozen Tundra. They are really beautiful -- the larger chunks of glass let you see "into" the concrete.