The Karp Farms

I write this post to the dulcet sounds of sledgehammers and big electric drills (or something like that). Demo has begun! Apparently, unlike in Brooklyn, permit delays are measured in days not weeks, so we are back in business. There is a four-person crew here pulling up our gross tiles. Hurrah! This all happened so quickly that we are still only half-settled in our space. More importantly, the demo plan includes starting with the tiles in the great room (adjacent to the temporary apartment) so that we can put in a temporary floor and actually use that space in its unfinished state. So we'll save pictures of our living quarters 'til that's done. Our contractor thinks demo will take less than a week. He also says that the horsey bedroom walls are ideal for children to smash through, and that will happen later this week. Kids will get their sledgehammer experience before we know it! Construction status:  Awesome. Demo. Dumpsters. Visible progress. Hurrah! Murphy Scale:...

Well, we're here. We arrived in town last Sunday and are having a hard time believing it's only Thursday. We are splitting time between the apartment in LoDo and the Farm; we expect to be all moved into our temporary digs at the Farm by Saturday. Although we usually start our posts with what we've learned, it's been such an eventful few days, we'll just list everything that has happened. 1. We have furniture. Our truck came Monday. Most of our stuff is in the garage, and a worrisome amount of what we have unboxed is broken. We also cannot find our dishes, or the fourth leg of Melinda's desk. But, we are slowly pulling together the temporary apartment and will get pictures up once we're settled in. 2. We have a contractor! Moreover, a contractor that is already starting to do light demo (saving baseboards, etc.). Our dumpster comes tomorrow, and although there is a slight permitting delay, we expect full demo to begin within a few weeks. The contractor ...

Greetings from Ithaca! Apologies for the delay--the last few weeks have been even more hectic than expected. We finally collected Gabriella from camp and are spending a few days in our personal heaven. Of course, in true Ithaca fashion, it's been raining. But that's OK because we are all back together. Before we left Denver for this trip, we learned a few more things. 1) Denver drivers really, truly are horrible. The rumors are true. 1a) You should get OnStar or your car manufacturer's version thereof. Totally money well spent when you are rear ended at relatively high speed on a highway in a new city. 1b) We are grateful for safe cars. 2) The Denver Design Center is essentially a big shopping mall for designers. Matt will now be spending every weekend browsing tile showrooms. It is his new happy place. (Tyler, not so much.) 3) Our new house appears to have plum trees behind it. 4) Duck poutine is super-delicious. On to the house. We are honestly, truly, we pr...

We are officially 10 days into our suburban adventure. Ty and I spent the week commuting from downtown to the house so he could go to camp and I could get work done  (actual professional work, not house-related work). Here's what we've learned: 1) Traffic in Denver indeed is awful, and Melinda is unlikely to ever like driving everywhere. 2) The house is really going to be great. 3) Even in crazy heat and without air conditioning, the house is very comfortable--probably due to the cool nights and lack of humidity. 4) It's beautiful. This is the view on Gabriella's new walk to school. Construction status: We finally have bids from multiple contractors. In a surprise to absolutely no one who knows us, the scope has ballooned and we are no longer "just doing cosmetic renovation." (See previous post where we mention the wine room.) So in all likelihood, we will be phasing the work. Everything from the last post and this one will be done first, while we li...

Time for an overview of the house. We will take a few posts to do this, since it's a lot of house--and a lot of horse decor to take in. But first, now that we've been here for 4 days, a few observations: 1. "Mountain time" is kind of like "island time"--sense of urgency appears to be somewhat lacking around here. 2. Running at altitude in the dry heat is easier and more pleasant than running in NYC swamp summer weather. 3. From a 9-year-old-boy perspective, shopping at (an empty) Trader Joe's is vastly preferable to getting a FreshDirect delivery, mainly because of the snacks. 4. However, car shopping is way less exciting than anticipated by said 9 year old boy. Construction status: See #1 above. Still waiting on bids. But second set of permits submitted Friday! Murphy scale: 🍶🍷One sake for Matt, one wine for Melinda, namely due to the car shopping On to the house. First, the layout. Imagine a sort of V shape, with a flattened middle. The mid...