New York City Apartment {Settling into Brooklyn Heights}

Well, this has been exhausting but completely satisfying week. It started off with the BHG shoot, and ended with Trade Secrets (more on that later!) and in-between we moved City apartments! Brooklyn Heights truly couldn’t be a more civilized neighborhood. Granted I have only been here a week or so, but it has a good vibe. It’s much easier living than Manhattan. Without even trying I have found Barney’s, Sahadi’s Fine Foods, a butcher, Seaport Flowers, Kiehls and The Cooks Companion - a fabulous culinary supply store! This week I’ll really get out to explore.It is amazing see the rosy cheeks and winged ladies hanging on the walls of our home again. It took a few days to settle in, but late last week I pulled our bedroom together. I mixed a grey-cream-and caramel block-printed Indian quilt and shams by Suchiras (I got them from a sweet lifestyle shop in Salisbury, Connecticut called ‘At Home in the Country.’ No website, but you can call 860-435-8353!) with gorgeous greeny-gold and blue velvet pillows and a tie-die throw by Kevin O’brien Studio from ABC Carpet and Home.You remember when I took the two Mid Century Modern ‘so ugly that they are cute’ sofas out of the fireplace room at The Country House and replaced them with the white chesterfield that had been in the 92nd Street apartment, right? Well, now the ugly-cute sofas are in the Brooklyn Heights apartment. (I was planning to use them in the #ABCDJewelBox. They fit really well in the new rental, but of course now I want to reupholster them to coordinate better with the needlepoint rug that I inherited from my mom a few years ago.)Over the weekend I bought a drop leaf table from an estate sale in Northwest Connecticut for the dining area. (I really have my heart set on a Harvest Table from Thomas Moser, but this one was too good of a price to pass up until I can get the other.) I’m using the two Thomas Moser Catena Chairs -you might recall we purchased them back in 2009 for the apartment in the FiDi- and the linen Hollywood Regency dining banquette that we recently purchased for the #ABCDJewelBox.BTW: I got the bistro table I told you about from RT Facts to sit in front of the dining banquette for the #ABCDJewelBox, but it is too small to be our dining table in the Brooklyn Heights apartment. The dining area is situated in front of a fireplace in a room almost as large as the #ABCDJewelBox, so it calls for something more substantial - like the Harvest Table. The bistro table is now playing the part of a Bourbon, Wine and Espresso Bar in the transition area between the living and dining room. I am using my dad’s old desk lamp to light the area – I think it is a pretty sweet place to start and end the day with my favorite beverages! I love that these lamps (below, purchased for my bedroom from Huzza back in the late 90′s – they are in the business of selling design classics!) have found new life in the dining area. I am still trying to figure out how these barn wood mirrors can sit higher off the floor. As I mentioned, the new space is a garden apartment, so the ceilings are low and they do not sit atop our vintage campaign style night tables without bashing the ceiling – boo! I thought about using the industrial metal tray tables that we originally purchased for the fireplace room when the linen sofas were in that space, but they are about a quarter of an inch too narrow – boo again!I’ve made it no secret I am not a fan of living two places. I was having a complete crisis trying to decide which flatware to bring from Connecticut down to NYC. I really, truly love to have the option to pick between my stainless silver and the matte gold flatware depending upon the dishes and linen napkins that I am setting the table with. The Mr said “Just buy a set from Ikea and be done with it.” All I could muster was a long furrowed brow and a hard side-eye for him. Surely there was a better answer.I was hoping he’d say “Let’s buy a set of the Cristofle Marly you’ve been wanting since we got engaged.” (In my dreams!) Instead of Ikea, this past weekend I picked up mis-matched silver from the junk store while I was treasure hunting in Northwest Connecticut. I’m pretty happy with these – they are so much more interesting than the “Made in China” stuff and at $1 a piece, how can you beat it?On my visit to see mom in Michigan, the Mister’s Auntie gave us his grandmother’s china. I am so happy that practically every aspect of the decor in our new apartment has history prior to landing in our home. Aside from a handful of items, practically each piece in the space is either a hand me down or we purchased second-hand. I love living with my vintage and refurbished home decor!