I recently undertook renovating the master bathroom in my NYC cooperative apartment...a project I thought I might share with everyone. Of course the reward is reaching the end and furnishing it with Mike + Ally luxury bath accessories – but you have to get to the finish line first.
No doubt, anyone living in a home will have a very different experience, but many of the material costs are the same. Living in a cooperative apartment requires plans to be submitted to the management service followed by approvals by the building’s engineers. If fixtures are being simply changed out and no further piping is needed – it’s a pretty simple process. But if you are like me and removing the bathtub and replacing it with only a shower, then a NYC building permit and $10/$15M contractor insurance is required. Mind you, all these approvals and applications are time consuming and come at an expense. Nothing moves quickly.
While this process is taking place, you can utilize the downtime by shopping for materials. In my case, I did a gut renovation for my tiny 5’ x 8’ NYC bathroom which makes materials very manageable. I have always admired the aesthetics from Porcelanosa and selected oversized, large format 48” tiles. Of course, I didn’t realize how difficult these larger tiles would be to cut in an apartment, maneuver and hang. To maintain the minimalist look, I selected white Krion sinks, shelves and floor thresholds, a solid surface material also from Porcelanosa. To complete the clean interior, we used a frameless glass shower door, invisible drain and designer brand Axor chrome hardware. All of which we intended to coordinate with the Mike + Ally White Ice Lucite Collection. I decided to forego the more convoluted Toto smart toilet, for a sleek analog Kohler Brazn model. Love it.
What we expected to take 2-3 weeks, lasted 4 -5 weeks. Limited building working hours, inspection delays and a bunch of 3 day holidays kept it ongoing. This was compounded by the surprise we discovered when opening up the walls. The contractor of the previous owner had tied all our pipes into our neighbors – which had never been approved. These all had to be ripped out and replaced. Ask any contractor, they hate renovation work. During the job, I extended my trip to Maison Objet in Paris, stayed another week at my son’s apartment and then splurged for 10 more days at a hotel in NYC. Having only 1 ½ bathrooms made staying in the apartment and dust impossible.
The kitchen renovation will be a ways off.
