Sorry we haven’t posted more over the last couple of days. We spent Thursday and Friday enjoying family, friends, and food — and celebrating one small but satisfying upgrade: our new pendant light from CB2 is finally installed above the dining area. Here it is from the kitchen side:
And here’s the view from the living side of our combined living/dining room:
Moving the table and chairs into one side of the living room and adding a light instantly created a cohesive dining space that feels like it’s always belonged there. It’s remarkable how a few intentional changes can make a room feel complete. The pendant installation cost roughly one hundred dollars — a modest investment for a functional, attractive dining spot that suits our open-plan lifestyle. Placing the dining area just off the kitchen also makes serving and clearing the table effortless.
While the electricians were here, they rewired the kitchen as part of a larger lighting update — we’ll share a post on the five new recessed lights soon — and installed a seeded glass pendant from West Elm above the sink. Ignore the ceiling blemishes in the photo; we’ve got some spackling and touch-up paint to handle.
On top of the lighting work, we had new windows installed throughout the house — and the difference is immediate. The new double-hung windows with Argon fill and Low-E glazing look much cleaner, feel sturdier, and have significantly reduced drafts compared with the original 50+-year-old windows. The installation only took about three hours, and after repainting the window trim in glossy white, every room got a noticeable facelift. As an added bonus, these energy-efficient replacements qualify as tax-deductible improvements.
We hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We’re heading back to NYC for a couple of days to visit the neighborhood where we met and fell in love. It should be cold, fun, and full of memories. We’ll be sure to share what we find there — from the new CB2 store in SoHo to Burger’s impressions of the city.