Albany

I just returned from two days in Albany getting S settled in his studio apartment (he will be there part-time; a few days a week).

It’s an odd experience setting up a new apartment in your thirties. As we all settle into our lives/homes/futures, most of us are at the point where we make an effort to find and pay for objects that we love and that will last. We read the Wirecutter, we re-season our cast iron, we eschew particleboard. But since S will (we hope) be Albany for only a short time, that approach didn’t make much sense.

Instead, his apartment is a mix of donated furniture (thanks to Catherine, Kate, and Matt), Ikea, and our pre-moving-in-together duplicates (my old duvet cover! His old couch! The pot I couldn’t bear to throw away even though we had a much better one!). It all came together surprisingly well: our friends are so stylish that even their hand-me-downs are classy.

Architecturally, the apartment is beautiful. It’s in the first floor of a brownstone (built in 1905) facing Washington Park. The building was once a single-family home, and Stephan appears to be living what used to be part of the parlor. There is a (non-working) fireplace, incredible crown molding, and well-worn but beautiful hardwood floors. The kitchen is unremarkable: circa early 1980s with almost no counter space. Judging from our apartment search, the Granite Countertop Revolution of the early aughts never reached Albany.

More on Albany soon!