1st Floor Framing

Christopher and I are lucky enough this year to have several opera gigs lined up that are keeping us busy after work hours. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with learning three consecutive new roles over the last 4 months, and was just last night feeling for the first time like I had bitten off more than I can chew.

Then entered today. Glorious day that it was. I'm typically not a morning person. Most days you can find me huddled under the covers with the dog nestled close, willing the sun to retreat once again into night. This morning however, I popped up out of bed when I heard the crew arriving. The plasterers returned to sand down their previous weeks work and continue feathering out all of their glorious patches. My phone is filled with pictures of flat blank walls. Not the most riveting material, but when compared to all the photos of holes that are there from a month ago, it is downright exciting.

Not to mention that the 2nd floor unit is getting close to ready for us to prime and paint. The tile guy is scheduled to show up this week as well!  I was going to tackle all the tile upstairs myself, but spare time is at more of a premium than I'd like. It makes the most sense to get the upstairs unit finished as quickly as possible, and that means hiring in a professional. I still plan to tile the 2nd floor kitchen back splash, as that is infinitely easier than tackling the bathroom by myself right now.

Our favorite crew of workers also showed up to frame out the new bathroom/bedroom closets/laundry closet. This is a big moment for us as it ushered in a new era, construction on our apartment. It is beautiful. Granted, the photos look like a forest of lumber, but trust me, it's glorious.

bathroom to the rear, master closet to the left, 2nd bedroom closet to the right, looking in from the laundry closet

I honestly stood in what will be the "littlest-biggest" walk-in closet. Meaning, it just barely counts as a walk-in closet but feels positively decedent after living with no closet since 2010. In the immortal words of Trump, "IT'S HUGE!"

I was unable to get a full photo of the closet space as the door is currently tarped to protect our bedroom. I tell myself it is fancy camping with a tent just for our clothes.

The bathroom is also coming along nicely. The chase wall framing is in place for the plumber to come back and run the new plumbing, and then connect both units' lines and waste into the basement where he'll tie it all in, and voila, we're in business. Again, if you missed it, or if I glossed over it previously, the chase wall is a necessity, as our party walls (shared walls with the neighbors) are solid masonry. This is great for sound insulation and structural stability, but lame for running new plumbing and electric. Hence, we're losing 4 inches of width to the building, but gaining a spot to run all the necessities.

framing for recessed linen cabinet (WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A CABINET JUST FOR LINENS!)

In other non-house related news, I had a fantastic audition for an opera company I hold in high esteem. It is rare to get actual feed back from an audition and to hear that my hard work this past year has paid off and that the improvement was noticeable, makes all the hours producing a seemingly immeasurable product, totally worth it. One 10 minute audition obliterated all the doubts and uncertainty of the last 20. That is why we persevere. We sing for the one moment out of 100. We tell a story to that one audience member, hoping to touch something vital in another human. Tomorrow I'll return to work.

But for tonight, I'll enjoy the knowledge that our little nest in New York is coming together, and that I successfully prepared myself for an audition while traipsing around a construction zone in boots and a dress, no mirror, and a maze of ladders and chords to contend with. I'd call it a successful day.