Place Mark

Place Mark: What This Is All About

I first visited the building with the courtyard and fountain when I was in the tenth grade, in 1964. My parents had friends who had recently moved to Pittsburgh from New York City. They were very glamorous, and consequently did not need to live in a house with a yard and porch. Instead, they had an apartment in a building that looked to me as if it belonged in Paris.* Turns out maybe I wasn't so far off on that point, as I intend to explain, eventually.

 When I was about 8 years old, after driving past the Frick mansion-now, a museum, with my family, I  announced that I planned to live there someday. I was surprised when my usually encouraging, "you can do anything you set your mind to" parents expressed major league doubt on that score. ("Not likely", "No, I don't think so, kiddo" and "Wouldn't like to see you marry into that bunch", etc.)

Six years later, when I said I'd like to live in the building with the courtyard, they seemed to find the idea a bit more realistic. And so, it seems, it was.

Last year, fifty-two years further down the road, I had begun to feel less than thrilled with my apartment life. For some time (11 years, and it went by in a blink), I enjoyed the freedom from worry after I finally sold the family-sized house where the redfox grew up, and where Bill had died, very young. The apartment didn't wake me up at night- it was someone else's problem if the roof started to leak, or the furnace died.

But a series of less than exemplary landlords seemed to have no interest in any but the most cursory upkeep. They confined themselves to sprucing up apartments when the tenants turned over, or when they wanted to sell. The place was getting shabby.  I had done some painting myself, but I didn't want to invest heavily in a place I didn't own. Anyhow, despite their seeming disinterest in all aspects of ownership not directly connected to collecting money, my then landlords got very proprietorial about decorating decisions. Besides, there are a gazillion steps to the front door, and I've got a bad knee. So, at 60, I started looking for what I hoped would be a place I could keep  for the (my) duration.

I was watching the multi-lists, and an apartment in The Building came up. I went to see it; I fell in love (with the apartment- no third parties involved);  I made what the real estate agents seemed to think was a decent offer. The owners responded by taking it off the market entirely (for whatever reason- it still is not for sale) and broke my heart.

I kept scanning the listings, but nothing measured up. And then, late this summer, I got the call. An almost identical apartment, just below, was on the market. If all goes according to plan, we close on Thursday. I'm going to have a bit of work done- so far as I can afford to- and move in Thanksgiving week. I plan to tell you more about this than you could possibly want to know.

Welcome, visitors from Toast.  I've kept this post on the front page as a sort of introduction to this webblog.. Everything else is the more usual arrangement -the most recent post in first (or rather, second) place. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

* I had not yet been to Paris, and my concept was entirely formed by Ludwig Bemelmans and the Madeleine books.

Mini Update

Thanks for your interest. I've been resting both blogs a bit, but intend to return come the fall. Or perhaps sooner. I'm not sure yet whether it will just be one, or both. But I hope you will check back in September.

Email

My email account has been compromised/hijacked. so if you got a load of what looks like spam from me...it is spam- very sorry- so by all means, delete it! I think it is fixed now, as I have followed the directions for doing so. Guess it happens a lot. Sure is stinky.

It's a Plan

Here's my best effort so far at an overall plan of my apartment. It is not perfectly to scale- in fact, I may have the proportions of the kitchen wrong. I kept failing when I was  starting with one room, trying to slot the others into place.

Starting with the hall made it easier, as each room-more or less- is on one side of the hall or the other. Now I'm going to start on a detailed plan of each separate room, with all it's wall outcroppings, windows, closets, doors and built-ins at the right places, and the right sizes. Then, I think I can use this general plan here to assemble the individual rooms into an accurate layout for the whole place.

It is quite confusing, as there are lots of odd corners, and it wraps around bits of another apartment, as well as a staircase- not mine- which I haven't actually been able to find from the outer hall.. Note that the sunroom/porch thing has a low window looking, darkly, on that staircase. And then there's the big hunk of enclosed solid wall between the dining room and pantry...I wonder what's with that...maybe pipes? The apartment's entrance hall has a little glitch from which the kitchen and "maid's room" doors are entered. And the kitchen door is set at a slant! These oddities and my own sort of directional/volumetric dyslexia have made this quite a challenge for me!

Square One

Hope you had a good holiday...I had a nice one, myself.  I am sorry to have taken so long to get back. I'm actually feeling a bit shy about displaying my space in its state of not very pulled together, but unpacked.

I have distributed my belongings through the apartment, not entirely at random, but not far from it.  Nothing is very thought out- I've been primarily concerned with getting everything out of boxes, and respectable for Christmas Eve dinner and other festivities.  Which were lovely. And  I am very happy, and comfortable here,  looking forward to sorting things. In addition to getting my books and closets in a fairly coherent state. I want to suss out what needs to be done that can be done without much money, as well as what to plan for when I can get some more saved up.

What you see above in the bad flash photos (to be redone in the event the sun shines on Pittsburgh again) is my living room, hastily unpacked, pictures stacked in corners, with my paltry last minute efforts at holiday decoration on the mantle...a few pine cones, 3 children's miniature Christmas trees, and some berry branches. The  pictures are also au naturel,  I haven't plumped- or even straightened- the pillows, or anything else. The cylon action figure which came with my Gallactica XMas box set remains propped against the dictionaries.

I have hung very few pictures so far- I don't think I want as much on the walls as I've had lately- I'm enjoying the space between things a bit more these days..though I don't think I'd like anything truly spare for actual living in.I did pay special attention to hanging the picture over the mantle and over the row of cd storage thingies, and am pretty pleased with how they look in their respective places- I was missing looking at them every day, and am glad to have them up.

Among other things, I think I need 2 more substantial, but not huge  chairs to go on the right hand wall as you face the sofa. There should be some sort of table thing..or maybe that little stripey cube between them. The green chair should then be moved to the left of the coffee table (where there is more room than appears in the photo), opening up the entrance to the room from the hall. What do you think (besides "that woman has way too many books and they are messy", which I take as a given)? See the funny plugs on top of the mantle on either side?

Soon to follow- I'm working on a floor plan (I think I finally found the axis of the design in a long wall that runs through the place, Lynn...which is helping me see how the very odd layout was put together.) And a  bit with a plea for suggestions on eventually turning the worst room ( formerly the "maid's room") in the apartment into a viable second bath.

A very Happy New Year to you, and I hope you will be back to visit me here often in twenty-ten.

Unwrapping to Wrapping

I just this morning unpacked my last box, and I'm expecting Tommy the Junkman this afternoon, to haul away the last of the moving debris. I am totally beat; I could not have imagined what a huge job this would be. Yay.  Yet, sigh. I am so far from finished, for although everything is more or less put away, it all needs to be reorganized properly, and I have only hung a few pictures. I am starting to be able to think a bit about what I'd like to do...but first, I've got to start wrapping the Christmas presents.

My 24X50 stainless cooks worktable arrived, and this thing, which weighs 90lbs., was put together by me, unaided, despite complete lack of written instructions. It may detract, slightly , from the glory surrounding this accomplishment, when I tell you that I put it together twice. First, I carefully assembled it top-down on the living room rug, to keep it's surfaces unscratched. Then, when I realized that it was too wide, by 1/2", for the kitchen door (stove, etc. came in through fire-escape), I took it apart and reassembled it in the kitchen. It is every bit as I had hoped, providing a ton of counter space, plus under-shelf storage, and I think it looks cool , too- photo to follow.

In the meantime, you can tell me if I'm living in a Christmas card, or a Japanese print? Yes, that is a giant holly tree, covered with red berries. It's right outside my living room window- built in seasonal decoration.

Happy Winter Holidays.

The Space Below/ New Oilcloth

Upstairs, it's still all about the boxes, and plugging away at unpacking. Downstairs, is the basement, where the washing, trash, and storage solutions are not very pretty, but seem to work well. After finding my washer hookup with defunct washer, and dryer (just fine), as well as my storage room (nice and big), I am considerably less weirded out by the long corridors, bare bulbs hanging, Night-of-the-Living-Dead ambiance.

I knew the washer was a goner, but haven't replaced it yet, because there are coin operated machines you can use for 50 cents a load, in the room right next to my dryer. It would take a long time to make having my own washer start saving me money-like 10 years. And a lot of appliances these days don't last a lot longer than that.

Contributing to my improved attitude to the area are the nice rocking chairs and folding tables in the various washing rooms, the shelves and cupboards left in my storage area, and the pleasant people I keep bumping into, who welcome me with kind words, as if I had come to be their personal house guest. This is really a nice place.

What you see pictures above is the oilcloth I ordered to make an everyday tablecloth for my dining room table. I have had a nice marrimekko oilcloth one for about 15 years, and when I was folding it for packing, I noticed it was a bit shabby. So it will be demoted to covering the table for messy projects.

The new one looks very bright in the photo, and it is....but somehow the combination of being on the table, and covered with plates, subdues it quite a lot. I've got lots of plain white dishes, as well as a bunch of matte green Frankoma stoneware, and a set of some Royal Worchester- a retired pattern my parents bought, with a red and gold border. I haven't used the last bunch much, though they are pretty, because you are not supposed to put them in the dishwasher-supposedly it will do bad things to the gold bits. But now that I won't be having a working dishwasher for some time, I might start. the two white based things look okay together, while the Frankoma goes solo. 

Obviously, I have way too many dishes. I even have some more- a few Russel Wright dishes in  the Nutmeg and Lettuce colors. They can kind of work with the Frankoma. I sometimes think so, but maybe not so much. 

As I unpack, I'm paying the price for an inability to discard anything nice. In my (feeble) defense, the Frankoma ones are cheap as chips, and are pleasant to collect for that reason. There are so many around, they will probably never get prohibitively expensive. I love the matte green (a/k/a "prairie green), which looks similar to that of (much more pricey) arts and crafts pottery. And that fancy bone china came from the parents.

Hope this all turns out to look okay in the "Stuart Gold" dining room. I show you when the oilcloth gets here. I do have a couple of old solid color linen-y cloths in case this is all a big mistake.

Unconnected

I am experiencing only brief periods of internet access, as my Comcast connection is screwy, and as they cannot come to fix it until Friday. It is PROBABLY NOT THEIR FAULT, they assure me, which is, of course, soothing.

In any event, there's not much of interest to tell...I'm just plodding away here, to little noticeable effect. The mess, if anything, gets bigger as I unpack, as now the apartment is loaded with unpacked stuff, as well as zillions of boxes. Tommy the Junkman (as he calls himself, professionally) is supposed to be here shortly to take some of the unpacked boxes and papers off to be recycled. He did a good job hauling away my basement rubbish from the old place a few days ago...Angie's List is a boon.

I took an exciting break this morning- it is a gorgeous day, amazing for November, to walk to Home Depot (there is actually a HD right in the middle of this city neighborhood). Not a pretty storefront, but very convenient. I got some stuff I needed, and then...nose to the grindstone for me. I will actually be looking forward to work tomorrow- as a respite.

The first night I was here, the cats were truly freaking out, indignant from the trip in their carriers, and then from being locked in the bathroom while I was moved in. I left them to their devices, once the movers had gone, as exploring seemed to calm them down, and decided to calm myself by finding fresh bedding and making a nice, cozy, clean place to sleep in the middle of the bedroom, with a lamp and my book.  I was just about to doze off, with Anyanka at my feet, when Archie appeared.

My big, pale blond tiger-striped guy is truly known for his fluffy good grooming. "Your cat is so clean!" is an actual compliment he has received, more than once. I don't know where he'd been, but he was totally covered in soot, head to toe- especially his poor, grubby head. He leapt onto my nice, clean pillow, and snuggled in, purring. What could I do? I changed the sheets in the morning. Although most of the grime seemed to have rubbed off on the bed, he was still filthy about the head, and what is more,  he did not seem to care. PTSD. It is probably best that this poor internet connection prevented me from uploading the dirty cat photos. Not pleasant.

All three of us are much more laid back today. And I'm truly happy to be here.

Tip of the Iceberg

Just in case you thought I hadn't posted because I was immersed in holiday hijinks...this is what I'm doing.  (I've never used this particular corny iphoto device before, but somehow it seemed in tune with the exaggerated  boxed-in effect that is my life at the moment.)  And there is oh so much more to be done. Movers were excellent, and it went well.The stove is here, and I'm reconnected all around.

So far, the only two unexpected negatives are the kitchen sinks that don't drain properly (Hey, inspector guy-isn't that what you were supposed to notice?) and a cracked floorboard in the back corner of the living room- can't see it really, or trip when there's stuff in the room- but still.....As far as I can figure, it didn't actually crack until a painter knelt on it, but the floor guy probably should have noticed it was giving, and fixed it. I'm quitting work on the unpacking for the rest of the day, in celebration of the holiday, and of arriving mostly intact. Then til Monday, and beyond-unpacking is pretty much all I see before me. Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Shot in the Dark

I went over to the apartment tonight to drop off some frozen foods and to take a look at the painting in progress. I have no idea whether this is an accurate depiction of the walls in the 2nd bedroom. I couldn't find the light switch and I didn't want to run my grubby hands over walls that were barely dry. So I took this photo in the pitch dark room, with a flash, and you are seeing it for the first time, as am I. I am so glad I decided to spring for taking down the ugly wall mounted yucky bookcases- and delighted with all the blissfully smooth walls. This is the only room where the shutters are finished, rather than white-painted wood. The white ones are at the shop getting painted, and will be back soon.

 

The second photo is the living room. As it is mostly fireplace, it's mostly trim, but you can see the wall color above the mantle. It was taken with a flash, too, but in a lighted room, as was the one of the dining room, below:

 

It is a fabulously tidy job,of painting, far beyond the sort of paint job I could pull off, and I'm really tickled. I think it's going to look pretty good. (Gotta straighten that bottom shelf on the dining room built-in! Crooked stuff drives me crazy, perhaps a residue of my 7 pre-law-school, post-college years as a picture framer.)

I have two more days to get organized, and I'm a mite addled, and tired, but looking forward to being there.

Colors II

 I am notified that the painters will begin on Monday. In honor of the anticipated unfurrowing of my brow, I give you my best attempt at depicting the colors selected. Snatching squares of the colors from the Benjamin Moore website and elsewhere was unsuccessful.

Even on my own computer, adjusted to within an inch of my life, they didn't look right. By "right", I mean that they didn't look  like the biggish 8X11 cardboards I painted with my little sample cans to check out the colors. So, what you see above is an indoor, sunny-day no-flash photo of those test cardboards. They look pretty close to the real thing on my computer, but we are likely all calibrated differently, so who knows how close they are on yours?

One advantage of this ambiguity may be that if you think they look awful, you will perhaps attribute the problem to this technical difficulty ?I really do not know why they are so blurry, I was not trying to be artistic, they are only cropped and otherwise unadjusted.

The top color is "Cottonballs", for all trim, semi-gloss. Then, Tapestry Beige (the living room), "Timothy Straw" (the guest bedroom) "Stuart Gold" (the dining room and the back wall of the living room bookcases, which are otherwise trim color), and "Nottingham Green"(my bedroom, much of this color appears in my Chinese bedroom rug).