Before

We closed on sunny fall day and after weeks of standing on the street, trying to look up into our apartment from the street, we finally got the keys. With a bottle of champagne in hand, we entered our home with excitement and fear. We'd just made the biggest purchase of our lives based on spending less than an hour total in the space. Would we still love it?

The answer was yes.

The glorious windows, the old maple floors, the spacious rooms, the open kitchen--it was ours and we were beyond thrilled. However, without any furniture to hide the blemishes, the place did look a bit rougher around the edges. The floor was seriously damaged in places, one radiator was precariously propped up on a brick, there were stains on the already dingy brown carpeting in the master bedroom. The kitchen was very tired--the cabinetry, upon closer examination, was shoddily constructed and pretty beaten up. The appliances had definitely seen better days. There were also a few things about the layout (see floorplan below) that were in need of improvement. To get to the master bedroom, one had to walk through the kitchen and into a back door which, as we strolled around our place, didn't feel quite right. The placement master bedroom--way in the back--also seemed off, given the beautiful windows in the front of the space. The fixes seemed obvious--move a wall or two, update the kitchen, and apply a few fresh coast of paint. And soon enough Chez Hainz would be dynamite.

The original floorplan.




Kitchen--we loved the openess, but the cabinets and appliances needed a refresh.













Original maple floors. Very cool, but very damaged.


The master bedroom was in the way back of the apartment. It had now windows and the closets were perched on a carpeted platform.