I’ve been circling the story of the transformation of ‘the improvised life’s new Laboratory from vin ordinaire apartment to its new incarnation of fluid, morphable, multi-use space for living and improvising (a glimpse above), wondering how to tell it. Having shown the early sketches and plans, it seems like the best bet would be to…
Read MoreSecrets of a Divine Egg Salad Sandwich from Harlem’s Premiere Caterer
Although I cooked professionally for decades, I somehow never got how great an egg salad sandwich could be I tasted Amuse Bouche’s AND learned their secrets…
Read MoreAbout Improvised Life’s Laboratory
Improvised Life’s LABORATORY is a space where we experiment with all sorts of ideas for home and daily living. It’s transformation from homely, vin ordinaire apartment to a clean-lined loft-like space has been a lesson in seeing through the surface to the bones beneath, and envisioning possibilities. It started with a renovation and carried over into problem-solving…
Read Moreharlem reno: first hang out in the raw space + dream
When I finally got the space in Harlem – blessedly empty of the previous owner’s massive furniture – the first thing I did was haul up my trusty lightweight, reclinable French beach chair so I could hang out and just mull. I’d wander the rooms, feeling the space, able to envision its possibilities better now that the…
Read Moreintroducing ‘the improvised life’s new ‘laboratory’
A few months ago, I bought a space in Harlem, soon to be home of ‘the improvised life’s new LABORATORY, in which to experiment with all sorts of ideas for home and daily living. I had scoured New York City real estate listings for YEARS, traipsing from space to space in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and…
Read More‘the improvised life’ in detroit, harlem and governors island
Over the past few months, ‘the improvised life’ has been contacted by some very interesting folks who are implementing our ideas into their work. Leslie Koch, President of the Trust for Governor’s Island regularly sends our posts to her staff to spark ideas for the island’s programming. The island is home to a number of…
Read MoreAn Urban Patio Prairie of Ornamental Grasses
After we’d been living in the Harlem Laboratory for a while and gotten our bearings, we turned our atttention to the 50-square-foot patio that overlooks a glorious park in New York City. What to plant? Our friend-with-a-green-thumb Maria Robledo said simply: “Grasses”. Grasses? “Yeah, plant ornamental grasses on one side of the terrace. They’ll form…
Read Morelookbook for our next project: bookshelves + murphy bed
A year or so after moving into the Harlem Laboratory, we’re finally mulling building bookshelves and horizontal Murphy bed (called wall beds these days)…like a berth in the living room. We’ve had that forelorn space hidden behind folding screens FOR A YEAR, waiting until we could wrap our head around designing it (at bottom, with…
Read Morefoamcore illusions for short-term home-design fixes
Once the bulk of the Harlem Laboratory renovation was done, I made the decision to move in with many smaller projects still to be finished. The place was liveable, and I figured I could work on them over the coming months, gradually. Busy with work, months dragged on and some of the unfinished bits became…
Read Morebudget reno + life strategy: hire a project consultant
After I had figured out the essential plan of the multi-functional space that was to become my home and ‘the improvised life’s Laboratory, I started bringing friends by to get their opinions and input. I also hired an interior designer to consult for a short time, to consider my ideas, challenge them, add to them,…
Read Morereno 101: how to find an affordable architectural plan-maker
After our disastrous experience with a bogus architectural plan drawer we found on Craigslist, the dilemma remained: how to get excellent architectural plans made for the Laboratory’s renovation without paying a fortune. Our new strategy was to put the word out for a talented graduate from a great architecture program like Columbia University and closely…
Read Morerenovation lesson: going cheap can cost time + money
Once we had a rough plan and sketches for the Laboratory renovation, we needed to take them to the next level: real, accurately measured, to-scale architect’s plans. How do you afford an architect on a very tight budget, we wondered. This is where we made the first of MANY mistakes during the renovation. We hired…
Read Moretracy metro’s houseboat redesign
(Video link here.) Tracy Metro is a designer and the host of I Live with My Mom on SpacesTV, where she makes over bedrooms of twenty- somethings who are still living at home with Mom. “I rid them of their soccer trophies, Legos and stuffed animals in favor of an adult launching pad for life.” She’s applied her own…
Read Morefaye toogood’s intentional unfinished hole in the wall
After our friend Lisa Morphew took a shovel and demolished the wall separating our living room and bedroom of our soon-to-be-renovated space, we sent a photo of the newly-opened room to our friend Tom Fallon, an interior designer whose given us lots of great ideas over the years. He emailed back: It’s great. Why not…
Read Morehow to demolish a sheetrock wall with a shovel (++++++ other life lessons)
In the process of planning our Laboratory’s renovation, we called on a number of friends for advice: designers, artists, and people who just had plain good sense of one kind or another. When I told artist friend Lisa Morphew of the prices some of the contractors we’d spoken to were quoting us she said: “Honey, what…
Read Morereno planning: bust holes in walls to find out what’s there!
I recently wrote that the first step in planning our renovation was to hang out in the space and dream. That’s not quite true. That step ran concurrently with friends coming over to give their 2-cents and help us explore how exactly the place was made. By explore I mean busting holes in ceiling and…
Read MoreCecil Beaton’s Hand Print Guest Wall (Cave Painting)
Over the years, we’ve written about many forms of improvised “guest books”, i.e. ways to memorialize the visits of friends. Cecil Beaton tattooed a bathroom’s walls with the handprints of friends, displaying humanity’s most essential signature…
Read MoreStenciling Ugly Concrete Sidewalks (and Other Things)
I didn’t realize how naturally brutalist concrete sidewalks are — drab gray, strangely crude— until I saw leaves painted on the sidewalk outside a Harlem plant store. The harsh, dreary slabs were transformed and seemed to be casting light and a feeling of whimsy and charm. It made me wonder why sidewalks are rarely embellished, and how to do it…
Read MoreHow Much Of Care is Patience? and Other Questions (Chloe Bass)
Compelling signs have appeared in St. Nicholas Park in Harlem, part of the exhibition “Wayfinding” by conceptual artist Chloe Bass. Each asks a powerful question to carry into the week…
Read MoreHow to Hang a Hammock Anywhere
When we passed a woman lazily lounging in a hammock strung between two trees in our local park, we wondered why we don’t see more people taking advantage of the many hammock opportunities that are available. IF you know how…
Read More