Tag: Home

  • Putting the Things on the Walls

    This weekend, the wife and I finally got around to finishing a task we’ve been meaning to do since the start of August; hanging up our art work in the livingroom. See, we painted the livingroom, and got a new hutch for the corner, and to be honest, we really enjoyed looking at our clean and painted walls.

    And through the whole month of August, we really did mean the put all of our stuff up, but something kept happening. Like, the kid had a soccer match, or we had to run and do some last-minute school shopping, or we just enjoyed the clean and painted walls. Did I mention that? Because we started to enjoy the fact that the walls were bare and just painted. But, we did have a corner in the apartment with all of our art work stacked up, and it was like, you know, constantly reminding us that we hadn’t “really” completed the job in the livingroom.

    So, we started putting things up.

    Some were paintings that I did in my early 20’s, and some were artwork that my wife created. I have two paintings that my uncle did, and we have quite a few of the kid’s art work that we framed. And then we have several quirky things that we have collected over the years. Lots to work with.

    The last time we hung art up, about five years ago, we were covering up some holes and cracks in the walls. So, there wasn’t a theme, unless you count covering up stuff was the theme.

    The wife lead the charge on this project. We have a wall that all about cat stuff. Then there is the wall with all the family pictures. There is the spot between the windows for my uncle’s painting. Then we have a spot for all the kid’s artwork, along with a spot for my paintings. The last wall is nothing but random stuff that we have collected together over twenty years.

    And I will say this; it looks good but it is a little weird; but weird in the good way. It reminded me of what one of my really good friends said to me before I left for New York; Don’t be normal, don’t fit in – Be weird.

    I’m trying to live up to that.

  • Just Some Paint (Unedited)

    Just Some Paint (Unedited)

    The livingroom painting project is done!

    Well… like 80% done, as I still have to paint the ceiling, but that’s for next weekend, and that’s easy.

    So… We’re done!

    It took a little time, as I did start this whole project right before the kid went away to camp. I did that to kill time, and also try to teach her a life skill; how to paint a wall. I mean, at some point she will live someplace that she’ll want to make her own, and though painting isn’t a difficult skill to learn, I would like her to have in her head that this is something she can do.

    Anyway… digressing here…

    The point is that we took our time, but the wife and I painted the livingroom. Not only that, we cleaned everything out. Really got into all the nooks and crannies of the apartment and cleaned. And then the wife had an idea to sand and paint out TV stand, which turned out great. (She has a little more to go on it, but it looks great. Might share a picture of it when it’s done.) But the best part of all of this is that at the end of Sunday night, we were tired, but not exhausted, and we had the self-satisfied feeling of accomplishing something important.

    The last time we painted the livingroom was right before the kid was born. I guess it was called the “Nesting Phase,” but either way, it was fun to get the apartment ready for the kid. Even the wife’s sister came in town to help us get the whole place ready. It’s a fun memory.

    This time around, it felt like we were putting the last few years behind us. There are still ghosts of Covid around our home. This we hung on the walls, or furniture we tried to repurposed to make working from home functional, or home school at least viable. Books came off the shelves and were cleaned, and a new sense of order and comfort began to take root. It was renewing our commitment to make this little Harlem apartment our home for the next decade or more.

    It was just a little paint. Just a little time. Some sweat and listening to my wife’s playlists.

  • A Small Home

    We live in a very small apartment in New York City, as do most people around here. I’m not complaining, as there is space for everyone to work, relax, and have some “alone time” in their respective rooms. We are very good and packing things away, and not letting space go unused. Our apartment is full, but in no way feels cluttered. Part of the reason for that is that we do have a storage space. But half of that unit is full of books.

    About once or twice a week, we start talking about buying a place Upstate. Not sure if we will ever really do it, or afford it, but in these conversations we dream of owning a weekend/vacation place. Maybe we rent it out for extra money, maybe we keep it all to ourselves. What we do know is that we can’t leave NYC for the foreseeable future, so we can’t buy a home too far away.

    Lately, I’ve had this crazy idea, which is that we buy some land, and have a small house built on the property – like a small two bedroom/one bath. Something very modest, quaint, and a basement would be cool, but it would be a house that is as far and away from a McMansion. (My brother’s house is so big; our apartment could fit in his livingroom. Not kidding on that.) I would be fine with a two-story, but all said and done under 1,000 square feet. Hell, it could be less that 800. The point here would be that with a decent piece of land, we could also add small out dwellings; like a studio for me, and an office for the wife. A guest house even. Maybe something for the kid. Who knows; I’m spending money I don’t have?

    I guess what I am describing here is wanting to build a complex; a compound. But one that doesn’t involve a cult. In one sense, I want to keep living in a small dwelling. But in another sense, I want to have several small dwellings so we can all go and disperse to them from time to time.

  • A Place Upstate

    I have been distracted this morning. I did get my errands and chores done, but when it came time to do this, write a blog, I let myself get sucked down the old rabbit hole of looking at houses for sale. Not that we are in a position to go buy a home, but hopefully in the next two years, it might become a possibility.

    You never can tell. We, as a small family, are right on that cusp of entering the world of home ownership. I do feel bad for anyone under the age of thirty because unless you are earning a huge salary, which most people don’t, then you will never live in a house that you own. We still can, but just barely. It is my job to get the family finances in order, so when the opportunity arises, we can jump on it.

    Anyway, all of this came about today because it’s already 75 degrees in the City, and should make it up to 80 today. The windows are open in the apartment with a nice cross breeze blowing in. The wife is working away in the office. Music is playing, and the kid is in her room enjoying not doing a damn thing on her Spring Break. With all of this going on around me, I had the thought that, “Wouldn’t it be great to do this in a house, surrounded by trees, upstate?”

    “Yes,” I said, “It would be great.”

    “Then go look for a home.”

    “Yeah, that would be fun, but we aren’t in…”

    “I SAID LOOK FOR A HOME!!!”

    And off to Zillow I went. Besides, who needs self-discipline?

    For an hour I looked at places that are all about two hours away from the City. I enjoyed the daydream. A place for books, and reading. A fireplace to use in the winter, and a back yard for the kid to play in. All the wonders, relaxation, and serenity, cleanly away from the City. A home that gives me a chance to wake up with the sounds of birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees.

    This “window shopping” took up most of my writing time, but I don’t feel bad about it. Perhaps I have lost the desire to have a goal. Like a goal that isn’t just for me, but something that I can provide for my family. Ambition bounces around in my brain like a dirty word that I cannot muster out loud; but a goal? Perhaps I should say out loud that I want my family to move into a house in two years? Maybe I have forgotten what it is to strive on the high wire where one can fall to failure? Maybe.