Manhattan Transfer

All my life I have had dreams about owning a house. No, not "The American Dream". I mean actual dreams, during which I was asleep. When I was a teenager they were all about decorating. I spent many nights painting walls and hanging art.

As a young adult I assumed I would never have any money- and so the dreams became about buying at auction and renovating a house that was condemned, saving it from certain destruction.
However, it hasn't been until just recently that any of these dreams started to become a reality.

The house that my husband and I finally did buy was beyond anything I had actually imagined. Since its purchase I have been cornering friends, family and new acquaintances at parties to obsessively rant about the renovations. So finally I decided to get a blog- so I could have somewhere to put all these thoughts that wouldn't drive everyone around me crazy.

But before I tell you about the new place, let me tell you about the old place. It was a rail car style apartment on the Upper East Side, about 750 square feet, which wouldn't be so bad except that it means to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night you have to walk through every other room including the kitchen. Also, it was located on the second floor above a bus stop and directly opposite a bar. Every weekend night the drunken ex-frat boys and miracle bra wearing girls would spill out into the street, scream each others' names for about an hour until the police arrived, and then retreat to sulk at the bus stop muttering about how the cops are bullshit.

I loved those cops.

The great things about our old place were that it had high ceilings and a fake fireplace and that it was seven blocks from Central Park.

The new place is a 4,800 square foot Arts and Crafts mansion on 1.8 acres of land surrounded by hundred year old trees, on a quiet street, with 6 bedrooms, four bathrooms, two half baths, two huge fireplaces and the most awesome staircase I have ever seen.

When the sellers and the bank got two different appraisals for the house, the difference in square feet between the appraisers was larger than our current apartment!

Also, our mortgage is three dollars less than our previous rent. Go ahead, hate me.

Here are some pictures, just for comparison.

Front steps before:

Pay no attention to the lady with camera in the reflection...

Front steps now:


This was the entryway:


This is the house's entryway!:


Stairs before:


Stairs after:


Living room before (note- maximum distance between television and couch is 3 1/2 feet):


Living room after:


There are many more rooms (more rooms!) in the house but I won't spam you with them now. I want the honeymoon to last a little longer. And then the bitching begins.