When we bought our Brooklyn home, it had been a bank foreclosure and the previous owner stripped it of all original detail he could sell, and the reno got rid of the rest. Including the things that haunt me, two pink marble fireplaces. Oh, to have those fireplaces back! A friend of mine has a story about her parents doing a reno of their historic home, and how someone found the original built-in for their dining room and sold it back to them. Someday I want those marble fireplaces back.
We had Brooklyn real estate, but it was characterless. Grass wouldn't even grow in the back yard. Hardly the stuff of Sesame Street.
One day, we went to Home Depot and bought an azalea for the garden. Everyone's got to start somewhere. My husband dug a hole, struck something and started excavating. Not a treasure chest, but something nearly as good. The original bluestone path! It went all around the garden and originally all the way out to the street. Service people used this to make coal and ice deliveries to the kitchen, which is now the bedroom.
For a couple of years, the books we couldn't fit on our shelves stayed in cardboard boxes. My husband kept saying he'd build a bookshelf. Finally, with the bambino on the way, the race to become organized human beings was on. He spent months working on a custom built-in, and it went up tantalizingly piece by piece. It's all finally framed in and looks like it's always been here. I love it so much that when it first went up I showed its picture to everyone and bragged up his mad carpentry skills. People inevitably ask if he is for hire and I say yes, but it will take four years.
He even put in little holes for the media cords. Genius!
We had Brooklyn real estate, but it was characterless. Grass wouldn't even grow in the back yard. Hardly the stuff of Sesame Street.
One day, we went to Home Depot and bought an azalea for the garden. Everyone's got to start somewhere. My husband dug a hole, struck something and started excavating. Not a treasure chest, but something nearly as good. The original bluestone path! It went all around the garden and originally all the way out to the street. Service people used this to make coal and ice deliveries to the kitchen, which is now the bedroom.
For a couple of years, the books we couldn't fit on our shelves stayed in cardboard boxes. My husband kept saying he'd build a bookshelf. Finally, with the bambino on the way, the race to become organized human beings was on. He spent months working on a custom built-in, and it went up tantalizingly piece by piece. It's all finally framed in and looks like it's always been here. I love it so much that when it first went up I showed its picture to everyone and bragged up his mad carpentry skills. People inevitably ask if he is for hire and I say yes, but it will take four years.
He even put in little holes for the media cords. Genius!
That bookshelf is the stuff that dreams are made of.
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful. You're so lucky to have a handy hubby.
ReplyDelete