My Jackson Heights Apartment Is in NY Times - The Hunt

NY Times "The Hunt" covered a couple's move from Astoria to Jackson Heights – and I'm in it! 

Hah! Don't blink or you might miss the reference: 

"Early in their hunt, [the couple] saw a nice two-bedroom at an open house at Carlton House, a 1946 brick co-op building. ...Another two-bedroom on a higher floor, not as nice, was listed at $279,000. They disliked the wall of mirrors in the living room. ...The place they liked sold for $416,000, and the place they didn’t for $265,000.)" 

The "not-as-nice" apartment the couple disliked so much is mine. Yikes!

Ikea Hack: Built-In Bookcases

Who would think you could jump-start your built-ins using inexpensive Ikea bookcases and and some decorative trim and get this? 

A beautiful home library! 

About 7 years ago in a previous home, I commissioned a contractor to build floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcases along the hallway to house my library. It cost me about $5k in materials and labor. Here's what that looked like:

I opted to paint them myself to save money – and the task was a beast! All those shelves and trim pieces.

This time around, encouraged by the work of AM Dolce Vita and Centsational Girl, I hacked Ikea bookcases for about $800.  Here's the schematic that I drew up for my contractor.