apartment sketches

Now that we soon plan to sell this old apartment building, my eye is continually drawn to bits we will leave behind. We purchased it in 2000, then gutted the thing inside and rebuilt it. First came the upstairs apartments, finished within 6 months, so we could have rent money coming in. Then we spent several years combining the 2 downstairs apartments into one large 3-bedroom apartment for us.

This is an old sketch I once drew of the front of the building. I used to grow herbs in the containers on the stoop. The 1920 brick building has a spacious 2-story front porch.

Upstairs, the woodwork is painted --- easier to keep up between renters. But downstairs we have gorgeous oak trim and built-ins. There is a structural beam in the kitchen where we took out one load-bearing wall . . . so Bill added two fake beams so the ceiling balances out visually. In the eating area, he built an oak sideboard with vintage leaded glass salvaged from his grandmother's old farmhouse. The nickel-plated brass light fixture is one of two salvaged from this building. We also salvaged 3 other original lights, as well as one of the original claw-foot tubs.

The walls are not really yellow --- they are a lovely paint called "Hyacinth White". But when the sunshine streams in from the south windows, it appears a warm yellow.

Bill made the bookshelf on the left side of the upper sketch from 2 discarded kitchen cupboard doors. A cabinet-making friend of ours had a customer who ordered them and then changed her mind. So Bill used them as doors for this cabinet.

Here is another sketch from the livingroom, showing the oak mantelpiece and side cabinets Bill built around the fireplace.