Bought and Sold (Rented) in 30 Days!

For those of you just joining, we are at the very beginning of a slow (like really slow) move to the burbs.  From Park Slope, Brooklyn to my childhood home in Jersey to be exact.  You can read more about our big move here.  Suffice to say a lot of things have to happen before then (like my mom moving out of said childhood home), but this post is about progress and I'm happy to report that we made some.  FINALLY!  In August we became the proud owners of this fabulous apartment in suburbia!



this is what apartment storage heaven looks like!

We started early on our search for the perfect next home for Little Debbie (my mom) and she fell in love with this place.  It had everything on her not inconsiderable "must list" including outdoor space (with a city view no less!).

how cute is this!

They pretty much had us at enclosed porch with city views, but the apartment also boasts, two bedrooms, an updated kitchen and a doorman (which was key for worriers like me). 

The apartment is pretty great as-is and with a few cosmetic updates it'll be fab. When we walked in, my mind was buzzing with all the DIY goodness we could get into but, alas, it's mama's soon-to-be place so we'll see what we she comes up with.  If I get my way though, there will be big things happening in this kitchen.





first to go: all old appliances!

The plan (in my mind at least) is to put some of this DIY research I've been collecting in blogland to work and at least paint the cabinets.  This cabinet painting how-to-to from Young House Love seems fairly idiot-proof, although confining mother and daughter to 30 square feet for hours could go in any number of directions.  Maybe we'll videotape it? :)

second to go: all boob light fixtures!

None of us is quite ready to house swap yet so we purchased the apartment early with the goal of renting it for a year.  Like as soon as possible. We closed on the apartment purchase a week after coming back from our honeymoon which was very sad for our wallets.  As it turned out, all it needed was a fresh coat of paint and less than 24 hours after listing, the real estate gods answered our prayers. We are now newly minted landlords breathing a HUGE sigh of relief. Huge.

bonus roof terrace!

With the apartment rented, we're now full steam ahead on the master plan.  Once the tenants are out, Little Debbie moves in and we're free to start the gut reno of her old place so we can (finally) move home.  Handsome Hubby and I have zero interest in living through a gut reno so we will remain dust free in Brooklyn (paying rent AND a mortgage) for as long as it takes.  We obviously want to minimize the rent and mortgage paying overlap so time is of the essence and we the contractors have to be ready to start building master bathrooms and dream kitchens by this time next year.  Gulp. 

In the meantime, I've got my work cut out for me.  For the next year we'll be muddling our way through the major renovation process - from soup to nuts.  At this point we have no idea what we're doing so I predict everything from high comedy to high drama will ensue.  Ever the over-achiever, I've already scheduled our first architect appointment.  Stay tuned..

Oh, and bring on the renovation tips, success stories, horror stories, whatever you've got.  We need all the help we can get!