John H's Profile

The best wedding I've ever been to was a wedding held near Scranton, Pennsylvania for two members of my skydiving club. The Incredibly ornate wedding ceremony was held at a beautiful and historic Russian Orthodox monastery. After the ceremony, the guests made their way back to the reception site, the skydiving club's drop zone on a hill in the center of a valley surrounded by mountains. The bride, groom, best man, and maid of honor, got in a plane and then all skydived into the wedding reception to the delight of all the guests. It was like the opening sequence of the James Bond movie "License to Kill", but the whole party skydived in. At the end of the day, came a spectacular burning sunset and dusk, framed by the mountains of Norteastern Pennsylvania. I will never forget this wedding.

You don't say where you are, but Carlyle Convertibles in the New York area makes sofas that can be disassembled for delivery or moving.

Crate and Barrel will arrange for a test delivery of furniture if there are questions about door clearances before a furniture order is placed. The cost is the same as their delivery charge.

As noted earlier, consider bringing your sofa through the window. Most windows can be easily removed from their frames and reinstalled. If the room is on the second floor or higher, scissors lifts, block and tackle, and even cherry pickers can be used to access the window.

Assuming you have wood door frames, you can carefully remove the mouldings and beads from a door frame then reinstall after the delivery. This may give you as much as 4" of additional width.

Otherwise, consider a daybed like the Crate and Barrel Simone model. Because there is no back, I was able to squeeze this around a door frame and into my study.

Good Luck!

Consider incorporating a murphy bed into your space. They can be acquired inexpensively, especially on Craigslist or Ebay

There are a number of factors that determine the value/price of a rug. Rugs come in two basic types, machine made and hand made with machine made rugs of the same design generally being significantly cheaper than their hand made cousin.

A basic measure of quality is knots per square inch. Handmade rugs usually have a higher ratio as there are limits on the maximum knot density a commercial rug loom can produce Machine made rugs will generally have less knots per square inch, but commercial rug looms can produce spectacular designs which are simply not available hand loomed. When examining two rugs of similar design you will find that the higher the knot ratio, the crisper and more vibrant the design and the softer the rug.

Next comes fiber, rugs are made of silk, wool, wool/silk blends, nylon, cotton, polyester and other synthetics. The type of fiber a rug is made of directly determines its durability and cost, with silk, wool, and nylon being the most durable, color stable fibers and also more expensive.

As for sisal, seagrass and jute rugs, these are a type of rug machine woven from plant material. It is important to understand that unless your "sisal" rug is woven of wool or nylon, these rugs are nearly impossible to clean as wetting them can damage the material. It is also important to test out walking on these rugs with bare feet as they can be uncomfortable to walk on.

Most other issues of price depend on the retailer and source. An 8'x10' handmade silk rug from China, Nepal or India can be so spectacular and astronomically expensive it is better hung as a wall tapestry rather than laid on a floor. High quality wool, machine made rugs can rival their hand-loomed cousins while costing a quarter the price. A similar sized machine made rug with low knot ratio from a discount retailer is dirt cheap.

Good Luck!

It's a beautiful apartment, especially with the architectural details. Wish we could see the views. However, I'm not sure I would have exposed the hallway ceiling waterpipes, unless the original dropped ceiling concealed architectural features. The use of tiny rugs, especially beneath large pieces of furniture like the living room coffee table and the dining table is puzzling, although if the aquisition cost of bigger rugs is an issue, I understand.

Consider acquiring a large tapestry, quilt, or other fabric piece with a vertical design that draws the eye up toward the ceiling. A tapestry can range from a traditional silk tapestry rug to a Louise Nevelson style contemporary weavers piece. Obtaining the right peice will require a lot of research and looking, but this prescious spot is well worth the time and potential money investment for an incredible art piece.

Make sure you use a UV reflective window film on the windows in the space to prevent sun damage and color fading.

If I were you, I would consult at least two real experts in house restoration who have dealt with several stone veneer removals. As a previous commenter noted, you have no idea whether the brick underneath was in good condition when the veneer was applied. It's also important to consider that the application of the stone veneer required the installation of anchor bolts or other fasteners to adhere the stone to the brick. Therefore, removal of the stone may nevertheless compromise the underlying brick.

Applying stucco to the walls would constitute installation of a second veneer layer over the existing stone whose weight could structurally compromise the house.

If you're going to repaint, consider other colors.

Good Luck!

My parents love my place. The first time they visited, my mom was just beaming with pride and 6 years later still is. My father was sort of in shock (in a pleasant way) when he walked into the apartment. Seeing their advice, lessons, your taste and pieces of their own style all come together in your living space is the other souce of pride for my parents and any parent.

I use a three layered approach where I installed the mattress topper on the mattress, then a conventional mattress pad above, topped by a fitted sheet. This arrangement spares the difficult-to-wash mattress topper from frequent laundering and makes the bed super cushy.

There are so many things to look for in evaluating an rental apartment. The best advice I can suggest is that one evaluate the rental as though they were going to buy it. After all you are in effect "buying it" for a prescribed time period.

Here are my additional suggestions:

Make sure the unit has carbon monoxide alarms or combined smoke/CO alarms.

Take extensive pictures of the apartment so you can remember its features and spot potential problems.

Measure the rooms, including ceiling heights and make sure they have sufficient space for your furniture.

Water
Check the ceiling for water stains which are indicators of a roof leak or water problems from the unit above. Bath and kitchen ceilings should be especially examined as leaky plumbing fixtures and pipes will leave tell-tale stains, peeling paint, or wall damage to ceilings.

Turn on the hot water taps of the kitchen and bath faucets and measure the amount of time for hot water to arrive. If the water takes an inordinate amount of time, there could be hot water tank problem.

Water pressure
Most municipalities provide sufficient water pressure to have great flow up to 5 floors up from the street without supplementary pumps in the building. If you're getting a trickle or shower heads seem weak, pass on the place as the building probably has bad plumbing. Usually the culprit is galvanized steel pipe, which rusts from the inside out and whose rupture could cause a flood in your apartment.

Windows
Check windows not only for moisture issues but draftiness. This could be difficult to do during warm periods of the year, but easy to pinpoint on a winter day. Test the window locks and make sure they lock securely. If heat and hot water are supplied by the building, make sure to ask other tenants about the adequacy of the building's heat. Contact the municipality and ask whether the building has any heat related problems.

Heating
Many apartments, especially those built in the last 20 years, require the tenant to pay for their own heat and hot water. Make note of the apartment's address and unit number, contact the local utilities, and ask for the electric and gas bill amounts for November - March of the previous two years. This information will automatically give you a monthly heating cost estimate and indicate whether the unit is well insulated. Conversely, in a hot climate, you should ask for billing amounts during the hottest months. If the previous tenant had an annual payment plan, the monthly billed amounts will be similar . If the building is new and you are the first tenant, copy down the heating system name and model number and search for the unit's Energy Efficiency Rating online.

Electrical Wiring
Ask to see the fuse or circuit breaker box. This box should be in your apartment or in an area of the building with 24 hour access to residents. Note and count the number of 15 or 20 amp circuits. If there are less than 10, you could have a very serious electrical load problem depending on the size of the apartment. Lack of electrical capacity can severely limit or prohibit your running an air conditioner, a necessary appliance in most areas of the country. The kitchen and bathroom should have GFCI protected circuits.

Vermin
In the absence of mouse and insect traps, and insecticide odors, tell tale signs of mice are pinhead sized pellets along the floor baseboards, kitchen and bath cabinetry shelves,and room corners. If you see this avoid the apartment.

Make up a checklist of issues and items important to you and evaluate carefully.