apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Your apartment looks so happy! It seems like a good deal.

That first photograph looks like a gorgeous watercolor painting. It should take you about 5 and a half minutes to sell this.

A friend of mine lives in that neighborhood and likes it pretty well. There's some nice restaurants right there, and sort of a gourmet place or too, and then your closest hospital is Columbia-Presbyterian, where David Letterman had his bypass surgery, so it's really not a bad place to be.

Is that an Abysinnian kitty?

I love this place!

A beautiful study of colors, like an artist!

I moved out of that neighborhood nearly three years ago. It was gentrifying steadily. But I lived *right* next to the GWB - on the same level. The stairs, the noise, and the tiny studio were too much. But with windows facing east and west, man was it a sunny little place.

Refinish those floors and you could up your price by 15%. Agree?

I should have mentioned that I also live in the neighborhood, just up the block. Turning into a real nice place to live, and my apartment downtown would cost $5000 a month. But it is not downtowm. It's the real estate conundrum.

Plus, this photo needs to be in one of the pets posts!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/images/uploads/7-10-bedroom01.jpg

I really, really like the colors in your place. It's bright, cheerful, sunny, and a very nice deal for the right person.

You have a lovely eye for color. And agree -- you could probably recoup more than triple the cost of refinishing the floors in the asking price. Imagine what all that light would do to shiny new floors -- it would dazzle prospective buyers!

I agree, the colors are beautiful and is that a washing machine I spy in the kitchen? If so, MAJOR selling point. If you don't want to spend money refinishing the floors, a tuffy pad will get up what looks like paint splatters. My BIL lives in this neighborhood and I love to go visit him. It is so vibrant there. Don't forget to publicize how close you are to the Cloisters and the beautiful Fort Tryon Park. Good luck to you.

181st street !!!???

*gulp*

I have the same marble table you have (in your kitchen)! Where did you get yours?

Definitely do the floors...sand them down, as far as you can go and then use Moisture Cure Urethane to seal it (opposed to varnish), it’s liquid plastic that will protect the floors forever.

Every Halloween when we give out candy to the kids in our building – all the parents compliment us on our floors.

Sigh* I'm getting all nostalgic for the Heights--I even had a similar layout.

haven't looked at this post at all (but i'm sure i'd be similarly nostalgic for Up Man, as i wish people would call Upper Manhattan), but LOVE the opening photo. looks like Matisse.

I think you'd have better luck with better pictures. The kitchen shot doesn't show much (but, jeez, dirty dishes in the sink) and I'd show off the washer/dryer. These aren't the pictures that will inspire someone to shell out $300k. That said, good luck!

Lori 2,

I saw the table and thought "Lori has that same table!" It's so great and unusual--and another one pops up, on AT no less.

I keep scrolling through these photos and dazing off...it's so dreamy. The colors you chose are beautiful and make me so happy. Your description, the layout, the cats...it all makes me smile. : )

Good luck with the sale of your apartment, I'm sure it will sell fast.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. Yes, I agree the floors could be made much nicer and the kitchen too, with a small bit of money and time. I'm sort of hoping that someone will "see through" that. Gee, you're all making me wish I wasn't selling my place! :)

The marble table was purchased long, long ago at a store called "Conran's" on the upper West Side. The store went away years ago.

One cat is a Muted Tortie and the other a Singapura -- the Singapura is mine, the other is a temporary guest. :) I'm thrilled by Pet Month, BTW.

The machine you see in the picture is a dishwasher, but I do have an LG machine that does both washing and drying. LOVE it.

I think I got everyone's questions, if not, let me know. And again, big thanks to everyone for all your comments. :)

181st St. - That's a helluva way from Soho.

What color/type of paint is that in the first picture- the bluish/green that is in your living room?- I would love that look for my bedroom.
Thanks

That's a happy coincidence. Last night on hgtv at 10pm they showed a nyc version of house hunters where someone was looking for a 1BR or 2BR apt in Washington Heights very close to the GWB.

This week house hunters is all about nyc apt hunting if anyone is interested. 10pm each evening on hgtv.

Sorry for the thread hijack. Nice place. Hope it goes well for you.

Nice paint job and love the chilled-out puss. Advice: hide the wires and clean the dishes.

$300K for 506 ft on 181 St? Don't know why people insist on living on the Island when you can get double the space for the same price (and the same commute time) in Queens.

People commute in from all over. Why are people acting like 181st Street is in Nepal? Maybe it's not for the people commenting, but it's faster than, say, Westchester or Staten Island to midtown. (And my SIL lives in Westchester, so I know!)

It's a good-sized space, and for most non-rich buyers now, you either choose to live in a box in the city or live in a bigger place and commute. Neither are bad choices...it just depends on what you want.

Wow! You have windows everywhere and THREE closets. Why would you ever leave?

Since I used to live on Riverside, I'll add that the neighborhood can be quite lovely. You just stroll down the street to the river overlook. There's no obstruction, you can see the water and the forestry across the river from right there at the top of the hill (Ft. Washington Avenue). The church on the corner does a live nativity every Christmas season. Live camels and such!

All in all, it is a pretty nice place to live. And it is on the A line.

In April I visited ! Washington Heights and spoke to people on the street askng about the community and how do they find it as a place to live in. Most of these people had just moved in 7-8 years ago and they said it had gone upscale suddenly.

We went looking for a 2 bed 2 bath ( around 1100 sq.feet) but the price had already tipped up to 800,000-900,000 which is far beyond our reach. and With such majestic views of the water and the lush green, " this newly discovered area " has been listed on Corcoran and the like.

i don't think there are really any 'newly discovered areas' left in NYC, with the exceptions of extreme 'inner city' areas which are actually undiscovered for a reason. corcoran lists everywhere. i don't know the buying market too well, but studios in Kensington and Forest Hills and Upper Manhattan do not rent at much friendlier prices than those in more tamed "affordable" neighborhoods such as Greenpoint or Astoria. there seems to me to be a huge threshold between centrally located Manhattan and uber-hot Brooklyn rents and those just outside that radius, but aside from that, $1000/month will get you the same in Bed-Stuy as it will on 181st st. Once you're in that territory it has more to do with lower level pros and cons (residential neighborhood vs. unfinished loft space, 2 blocks to the subway vs. quiet and trees, etc.)

and in my observation, if you want anything with more than one bathroom you might as well move to jersey. very rarely have i seen an NYC apartment with more than one bathroom.

Sanlynn, there's a Conran's on 59th St & 1st Avenue, just in case you're interested. You have a beauty of a place. Good luck!

Could we ever get some updates on these FSBOs? Could AT staff ask the sellers to let us know when/if they've sold? They don't have to tell us how much if they don't want to, but it would be interesting to see how long these apartments take to sell.

A gorgeous apartment!! - welcoming and homely yet stylish - I'd move in straight away if I could - good luck with selling - I'm sure you'll have no problem

Shari,

The paint in my living room and bedroom is actually not a single color of paint but layers of paint mixed with a clear paint so that there is a kind of transparency to each layer -- I did this because I going for look they get in places like Morocco where the paint is applied to wet plaster with rocks. It has a depth and variation of color that I find is hard to get with one layer alone.

To everyone else -- thanks again so much for all of your nice comments. Color is actually one of my major interests. Although I work in a completely different profession, I've studied a lot about the effects of color and light and the psychological impact of various colors / shades / combinations. If anyone reading this would be interested in working with me, I'd be more than happy to work with you for free if you'd let me use photos for my portfolio. Most importantly, I enjoy doing exactly what I think this site was designed to do -- help people with potentially small spaces and potentially very limited budgets find funky, alternative ways to have a happy home that reflects who they are and creates an environment that's uplifting and comforting for them. Apologies if it sounds like I'm doing a sales pitch -- that really isn't my intention. It's a major hobby of mine to work with people and see how color and small changes in their physical environment can help them to be happier, less stressed and more productive.

A quick example -- did you ever notice how a lot of fast food places are orange / yellow / red and how a lot of medical offices are in shades of green? That's because the yellow / orange palette can be psychologically used to indicated good value and green/aqua is one of the most soothing colors in the spectrum for many people (that's why I used that in my living room). Pink, for example, has been known to cause the release of seratonin in the brain. I believe it's the only color that consistently does this.

OK, enough academic babbling from me.

Again, thanks again everyone!!

:)

scanlynn -

i'm not sure how to get in touch with you (not sure what the rules of protocol are on AT), but I would really be fasinated to talk and/or work with you about color and mood. As someone who is predominantly housebound, I think I can really understand what you are saying. The perception of space is so important to a person's well-being, particular when one's physical parameters are structurally small, as they so often are in NYC. Everybody has to find their "happy-place", and I bet color plays a really large role in this. Your apt looks vibrant yet soothing, and a real joy to live in. Congrats to you and I hope you do well with the sell.

Dear KS,

I'd love to talk to you and it would be my pleasure to understand more about how we could work together on your place. In fact, I'm looking forward to it! :)

Just click on my name at the top of this posting, under the first photo -- I think it's a hot link that will pull my e-mail address.

All the best,
Scanlynn

Old postings.
Still active listing?
Interesting space.
Love windows & exposure (park,light,etc)
Love,love, love those cats!!!
Has it sold??

Hey, very cheerful colors :-)
I must say, though, that I am tired of people saying that this area has become gentrified in the past 7 yrs. I was born & raised here and this area has always been the way it is right now(I'm 34). And I also am tired of people hiding the fact that they live in Washington Heights by saying "Hudson Heights" instead. If you are so embarrased to admit where you live them move somewhere else! This is a great area with lots of space and lots of trees and like anywhere else in Manhattan there could be some bad blocks but that is what city life is about. BTW, funny comment about people acting like it is in Nepal :-)