The house tour last year was pretty spectacular. Living in Los Angeles for the past 7 years, I've missed the gradual change that has slowly crept into my hidden jewel of a neighborhood. Due to Manhattan's inflated prices, many people have flocked to our block (hehehe) to purchase their own piece of NYC history. With that migration came excellent interior design! Fearless homeowners completely renovated their interiors by adding central air, tearing down the stucco walls, tearing down walls, in general, to make more spacious living rooms and bathrooms. The one house that really caught my attention was 28 Midwood Street. Wow! They spent close to one million dollars on their renovations and it shows. If I have the chance, I will certainly try to interview the home owners and showcase it on this blog! What was so breath taking you might ask? Well, let me list my favorite details
- Central Air: Having experienced the sweltering NYC summers for most of my life, I've always dreamed of having an air conditioner in every room. Then, I moved to LA and discovered the wonders of having central air and heat. Every home should have such a system. The design is streamlined and environmentally better, I think...
- Follow the red brick Garden: Personally, I had mixed emotions about this, considering how much my mother adores her little garden and craves an even larger one. They removed the gardening area and paved the entire space in red brick. Added nice lawn furniture and planted two trees in opposite corners. Minimalist and great for entertaining.
- My bedroom: The house originally had 4 1/2 bedrooms and 2 smaller studies that could be converted into bedrooms or offices. Well, 28 Midwood decided to throw caution to the wind and re-imagine the layout. (Below is the floor plan of 30 Midwood street. 28 is pretty much the same, just inverted.) There is a back room, a middle room (my room) and one at the anterior of the house. There is a hallway that runs along the outside of my room, from the back room to the front bedroom. Well, they tore down the wall between my room and the hall, making a beautiful reading/entertaining area. Seeing that it gets the most light, I thought that was a wise choice.
- The master bathroom (another great surprise): In between my bedroom and the anterior bedroom is one small bathroom, tres, tres petite. The owners created a masterpiece! They created a walk in closet with two entrances: One from the bathroom, the other from the bedroom. The bathroom extended a bit into what was the original closet and was tiled from top to bottom with white marble. I'm salivating even now.
Why am I writing about this? I love interior design, for one thing. What inspired this post, however, was this article on Apt. Therapy.com. They featured a similar Victorian house in Fort Greene that was touched by a modern interior deign fairy.
As I commented on their site, these houses provide a traditional canvas on which to design a modern masterpiece! I look forward to seeing more creative interiorscapes in the neighborhood.
