Have you ever had too much paint?

Not long before I bought this apartment, the unit was a rental unit controlled by the sponsor. As you can imagine, people painted it to their liking again, and again, and again.... The previous owner even spruced it up herself.

When I decided to crack open the old cold storage box and the dumbwaiter, I quickly realized how much paint there really was in this place. I probably chipped off about 1/8" of paint on some surfaces. The moldings were just as bad and really don't have any chance of being rescued.

So, I began to think about how I'm going to get rid of all this paint, especially off the doors and door frames. The walls have no easy solution. The plaster is old, dry and cracking and really should just be taken out since there's no insulation. So, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Yet, the doors and door frames have character. I want to keep these details.


After some searching, I found the perfect product for the job. It's called Peel Away 1. Think of it as cake frosting with some kick ass chemicals (wear gloves, long sleeve clothing, and eye protection!). As an added bonus, it encapsulates lead so you can dispose of the waste as you would standard waste.
After lugging home a 5 gallon bucket on the subway (this stuff is heavy!), I started my way into the mix with a test patch in the bathroom. You put on the paste, put some paper over it that comes with the product, wait 24 hours, and like magic the paint comes off!


Now, it's time for the doors...

Adventures in Renovation

New York City is one of those cities where construction is always happening. Being one of the financial capitals of the world, you can't even imagine how much money is changing hands and being pumped into the construction industry.

As an everyday consulting engineer, I'm not that guy in finance who got a $300,000 bonus last year. Mine wasn't even 1/100th of that. I was able to scrape together enough money to buy an apartment with the help of my father in Northern Manhattan.

Being somewhat of a perfectionist and always having a vision, I've decided to set out to renovate the apartment on my own, with some assistance of course from close friends and family. I moved into this place February, 2007 and sat idle for a few months, but couldn't take it anymore. It's finally my own home and I can do what I want.....well, as long as I don't break any co-operative rules....to an extent.

So this is the story of my renovation and how I can achieve a vision of a luxury apartment on the budget of an engineer. There's no definite timeline for the project and no plans are set in stone, so it should be quite the ride. I hope you enjoy following my adventure.