I guess maybe it’s customary to do a “year in review” post at the end of the year in question, but I didn’t do that. So first off, Happy New Year, folks! We’re only a few days into 2016 but I have a good feeling about this one.
So, 2015…oh, 2015.
2015 was a difficult year. It was a year of major life changes: some good, some bad, some where the jury’s still out. It was a year where I had to learn to let go of all sorts of things—my longest-term and most serious relationship, for starters, New York City as my home (even if only part-time), and the Brooklyn apartment that so influenced so much of what I’m doing now. The broadest theme of 2015 was maybe letting go of control—which at various points of time included relationships, my house, my professional life, my time and how it got spent, the plans I’d made when reality just didn’t agree. There was so much uncertainty, so many oh shit! moments, so much time feeling unable to decipher between sinking and swimming. It was the kind of year that had to be ridden out, because no other options presented.
2015 was a humbling year. It was a year in which there was more reacting than initiating, in which I learned a great deal about my limits as a human being—physical limits, emotional limits, intellectual limits, professional limits, limits of time and space, limits of giving and of taking. It was an extended exercise in prioritizing, in learning that doing my best doesn’t always mean pleasing everybody, or even necessarily myself. It was a year in which I had to become comfortable with the word “enough” and proficient in saying “no”—which is usually harder to say to myself than to others.
2015 was an exciting year, too. It was a year of thinking, planning, and in some cases, executing. It was a year of taking opportunities I didn’t anticipate. It was a year of learning, not just new skills and bits of information, but about what I want—and, equally important, don’t want. What I want out of my personal life. My professional life. My house. This blog. I wouldn’t say I found clarity, but somehow the result of the past year is that all of those things feel at least somewhat less fuzzy. It was a year of great progress and great setbacks, and of trying and trying and trying to embrace that period of work that comes between the “before” and the “after.”
I realize I’m speaking more in abstracts than specifics, but that’s kind of what it feels like—that it was the kind of year that begs to be measured more in feelings than hard data, where I probably learned more about how I respond to things than about the things themselves.
It was busy. Really, really busy, and it felt constantly as though one of the casualties of all that activity was this blog. While this blog does loosely track what’s going on with the various projects in my life, the past year saw a pronounced imbalance between all the stuff I was actually doing and the relatively few things here and there that I had or made the time to write about. And that made me think a lot—about different ways that I can approach blogging, about different content I’m interested in producing, about the parts of doing this that I love and the parts that I don’t. One of the great things about this platform is its malleability, and I want to take greater advantage of that. I’ve been at this for almost 6 years now, and—while I have no intention of stopping in the foreseeable future—I do think it’s high time to shake things up a little.
Basically, we have a lot of catching up to do. I know 2015 wasn’t the most prolific or most Pinterest-worthy year for Manhattan Nest, but if you’ve stuck around, thank you. I have a good feeling this next one will be much better.
So! What’s been going on? What do we have to talk about? What DON’T we have to talk about? Here’s my stab at looking back at 2015, which should give a big sense of where we’re headed, you and me…
See ya, Brooklyn! Apparently I took this picture exactly a year ago from the rooftop of my old apartment building, which I officially vacated a few months later. While I don’t miss paying rent on that apartment, or climbing five floors to get to my front door, or really living in Brooklyn at all, I definitely feel a little pang of longing whenever I think about that place. I couldn’t have asked for a better living situation than I had in my last few years in NYC, really.
In case you’re wondering, I rarely go down to NYC, even though it’s only about two hours away. I think a lot of people assume that living in Kingston was some sort of compromise and that I must bop down to Manhattan or Brooklyn all the time to see and do stuff, but that just isn’t the case! I pretty much only go down to see a few select friends, but mostly I try to stay away. I guess I was just never cut out for all that.
I finished renovating the living room in my house almost a year ago! Looking back at the original reveal pictures is so odd—it looks so different now. I did a follow-up post after getting a few months more settled in the room, but we’re long overdue for another one because almost everything has changed again.
It’s also been almost a year since the first time I walked through Olivebridge Cottage, and about 9 months since work commenced. Considering this was supposed to be an 8 week kitchen renovation and some cosmetic upgrades, suffice to say this project is MUCH, MUCH bigger than what anyone bargained for. You better believe there’s a story there…a lot of story.
This DOG! Mekko continues to be the most beautiful girl in the world, duh. My baby is turning 6 this month! She’s calmed down a bit since Max and I adopted her, but she’s still such a puppy. Instagram makes it seem like she’s super tame and sleepy, but that’s just because it’s practically the only time she’s still enough to snap a picture of.
I finished the pantry, which I think also might be due for a little blog visit. Not a ton has changed, but I’ve made some little tweaks here and there. It’s been so nice to have it, though! It’s definitely made me cook more.
I got to visit my friend Kevin Paulsen‘s studio, where he was working on an incredible mural for my other friend’s house. He’s so talented. It’s always such a treat to get a glimpse of the spaces where artists do their work. There’s so much creative energy here in Kingston and so many people producing really amazing work, which is something I’d like to start writing about more! There are also some super inspiring folks doing beautiful renovation work around town, which I’d love to start featuring here and there.
I met Tara and Percy, the incredible design duo behind Jersey Ice Cream Co. I’ve been such a fan of their work for a few years now, so getting to know them as people has been so great! They’re both gorgeous superhumans with perfect taste who can do everything, so when they asked if I’d like to come out to work with them on a project in Long Island for a few days, I pretty much packed a bag and hopped in the car. They taught me how to do traditional plaster work (verrrrryyyyyy different than skim-coating with joint compound!), and were such gracious hosts even in the midst of a major renovation project. They’re kind of too cool so I’m glad they’re willing to associate with the likes of me.
I keep buying stuff. Back when I started this blog, I feel like I logged nearly every thrift purchase! I’ve really fallen out of habit on that, but maybe it’d still be fun. In other news, my house has WAY too much stuff in it since I’m storing crap for myself, the Olivebridge house and Bluestone Cottage, so I really need to wrap those projects just so I can get some space back!
I went to Marfa, Texas with my gal-pal, Anna! We set aside a whole few days to go just to go, which felt very adult of us. Marfa blew me away, by the way—such a cool place. Anna wrote a nice post about our trip if you happen to be curious about a vacation that a couple of strangers took almost a year ago? Whatever floats your boat.
This is why we never talk about my basement. BUT! I actually did a TON of work on it in the past year—nothing beautiful, but I don’t know why I never blogged about it. I’m sure there’s at least one person who has a mild, passing, almost-interest in how my tools and crap are organized, so I’ll try to get something together.
Oh yeah, I destroyed my kitchen…again. And I’m still putting it back together…again. And I don’t know really why I did this…again…other than to blame post break-up acting out and general idiocy.
Spring marked the beginning of LOTS AND LOTS OF YARD WORK. I can happily report that this view looks NOTHING like this anymore! We still have some serious ground to cover about the yard, in part because I was still actively working on it until just a couple weeks ago when the weather finally turned, but I think I’m pretty much done back there until spring/summer hits again. I didn’t get as far into the big plans as I’d hoped, but the progress still feels great.
I found this baby cottontail rabbit in my yard which I thought needed rescuing because he was so tiny, only for the google machine to tell me that he was probably totally fine (evidently they wean and become independent at a very young age), so I put him back. Good GAWD that thing was cute.
YES, I still own Bluestone Cottage, and YES, I’m still working on it, and YES, I’ll start blogging about it again. Frankly the Olivebridge project just completely took over the spring, summer, and fall, and Bluestone became the biggest casualty of that…which sucks and makes me feel like an awful piece of shit failure. The only direction to move is forward, though, and that house will get done and it will be very, very cute, and maybe this serious delay will have some great silver lining when all is said and done. It HAS given me more time to plan and choose materials and gather salvage like a lunatic, so maybe that’s nice?
:/
I got to go to New Orleans for a couple of days in the spring. The only other time I’d gone to NOLA was to work for Habitat for Humanity shortly after hurricane Katrina hit, so seeing the city thriving after the intervening years was really special. The architecture there is SO dreamy, omg.
I did a couple of gardening posts this year, but I did a lot more planting than I ever actually got around to writing about, which is just dumb! My tan was BANGIN’ after this summer, though. I feel like I lived outside.
I painted a lot of shit black, including my garage and then my new fence! It’s kind of a habit, you could say.
What I stupidly never talked about, though, was all the work that took place on the INSIDE of the garage! It ain’t beautiful, but it is VERY different and leaps and bounds more functional, so we really have to talk about it.
I tore a roughly 100 square foot room off my house completely, which unintentionally led to a HUGE project that I’m proud to report is now finished!
Seriously, that project was huge. I kind of can’t believe how long it took, but then again I totally can, and I’m really very proud of how much of it I did myself. Sometimes the hardest jobs are the most satisfying!
Remember summer? I kind of do. I FINALLY went out on the Hudson River for the first time. It was such a blast and so gorgeous. That was a big deal for me—I feel like I’ve been so busy since I moved here that I forget that there’s this whole side of living here that really should be about recreation and enjoying this beautiful place I get to call home. I want to try to do more of that kind of stuff instead of being so wrapped up in projects all the time that I don’t give myself a minute to enjoy stuff.
Oh yeah, more yard work. WAY more. I’ll get us caught up before spring hits.
This right here is part of why I hate driving into NYC. Getting your car out of a Manhattan tow pound has got to be right up there with childbirth and black friday at Wal-Mart in terms of agony.
Did I mention I did a lot of yard work? Part of that included moving around 60,000 pounds of dirt into my backyard. Boy was that fun.
I also demo’d this chimney down to the attic floor. It had previously been removed to below the roofline and was somewhat of a structural hazard, but I’m not sure why mid-summer seemed like the best time to tackle this one. It was miserably hot.
I think I should have bought this coffee table. I hate thrift-regret.
One of my besties, Anna, moved to New Mexico. I helped clear out the house in Newburgh, which was emotional even for me as a long-time reader and admirer of Anna’s home and approach to renovating. We’re still great friends and I’m so happy for her for making such a big decision and making it work. Hopefully this year I’ll to go visit her in her new hometown of Portales!
This one time, I sealed and polished my kitchen floor. It looked AWESOME for a few days, and then it went back to being a dusty, filthy mess because keeping anything clean in a house under renovation with a dirt pit backyard is just a losing battle if there ever was one.
Oh right, I ran for elected office in Kingston city government…like ya do. I lost in the primary, but I’m very glad to have done it and grateful to have met so many amazing people throughout the process and during the campaign. The whole experience made me a more active and knowledgable member of this community, and that’s a nice way to feel after a relatively short amount of time. Have I mentioned I love this town?
I STARTED PAINTING MY HALLWAY! Then I stopped. I really want to get this done soon, though—it feels like forever since I checked a big interior project off the list, and this one is basically just paint and a ton of prep work…it should feel like child’s play after dealing with the back of the house for the past several months.
Remember how there’s a little closet in my dining room? I always forget about it too. I didn’t really touch it when I renovated the dining room, but now I want to circle back and get that done. Maybe I already gutted it. It could be super cute, and the storage would be so nice!
I demo’d a lot of the room above the kitchen, which also used to be a kitchen. It’s looking VERY different! I can’t wait to really get my hands on it…I don’t think it’ll be a SUPER challenging renovation but it will be a HUGE transformation and I think it’ll be really gorgeous and cozy and great.
My friends Tracey and Jamie opened a wine bar called Brunette in downtown Kingston, and they did SUCH a good job with the space! They also happen to be super lovely people with great taste in wine (and everything, evidently). It’s exciting times here…I feel like there are so many new restaurants and bars and stores opening up all over the place, and it’s always extra nice when such lovely businesses move into these spaces. I’ve only lived here for about 2.5 years and it’s already changed so much, which is cool to see.
I finally took a walk through one of the gorgeous old cemeteries here, and stumbled upon the headstone of the family who built my house! I have GOT to dedicate more time to learning about the history of my house and the people who lived here. I’m sure there’s more information out there than what I’ve found!
Well, concrete footings for a new foundation is a sight I didn’t know I’d be seeing last year, but 2015 was kind of like that. I DO THIS STUFF NOW.
I think I may be the foremost expert on windows now. Old windows, new construction windows, replacement windows, renovation windows, sash kits, awnings, casements, double-hungs, single-hungs, pictures, true divided lights, simulated divided lights, jamb extensions, j-channels, wood, aluminum, vinyl, insulated, Low-E…it’s enough to drive a person insane. Ask me how I know.
Had a big old scare with my little old dog, Linus, when a routine grooming appointment resulted in emergency surgery, full anesthesia, and ten stitches. Poor thing! He had to wear a soft cone for two weeks while he healed up, which I’m not sure he even really noticed.
He bounced back just fine, though. And so handsome! I love that dog more than words can express. Best 11 pounds I’ve ever gained.
I want to work on this house. Maybe, just maybe…
And this one.
Also maybe this one? Who the hell knows. New Year, anything could happen!
SO! That’s all I gotta say. This’ll be fun!