New York - The plan was simple. Jill Bialosky, a poet, writer and publishing executive, and Mr David Schwartz, a corporate lawyer, both 57, realised how wrenching it would be when their only child, Lucas, left for college. "You know," Bialosky said, "the whole emotional thing of letting go."
So to fill the inevitable void, they took on what they thought would be an appropriately ambitious project: starting over from scratch and building a new nest, one that would not feel so empty.
Their idea was to begin by rethinking the way they were living in the city. For 22 years, they had been in the same two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side and, like most people who are building careers and raising children, they did not have the time or means to perfect every object and every surface in every room.
Since they met in their late 20s at a high-school reunion in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Mr Schwartz had been working long hours as a corporate lawyer and, more recently, building a boutique firm.
Bialosky was moving up the ranks at W.W. Norton, where she is now vice-president and executive editor, and publishing her own fiction and poetry. Her third novel, The Prize, will be published next year by Counterpoint Press, and her fourth book of poetry, The Players, comes out this winter from Alfred A. Knopf.
Many of her new poems are meditations on the dwindling days of full-time parenting. But there was not much time to sit by the window and wonder now because they were busy selling their apartment and looking for a new one. The place they found was another two- bedroom on the Upper West Side, albeit slightly larger and grander.
It was also "a total wreck", Bialosky said. "It hadn't been renovated since the 1970s."
They bought the apartment for about US$1.3 million (S$1.7 million), roughly what they sold the old one for, closing soon after Lucas graduated from high school last year.
Her thought was to create a soothing oasis that would help foster her writing. She also wanted to make sure that Lucas, now a sophomore at Kenyon College in Ohio, was not alienated by their new home. So a larger, more sophisticated bedroom for him - with a full bathroom of his own, something he had never had before - was also part of the plan.
The renovation of the 1,500 sq ft apartment, which was designed by Mr James Wagman, a Manhattan architect and long-time family friend, took a year and cost about US$275 a square foot.
There is something Zen-like about the result, with its dark wood floors and clean-lined built-ins.
But the simple things impress Bialosky the most: watching the light move through the rooms; closing the sleek pocket door to their bedroom. And the pleasure of having well-designed closets.
"And I've never had lit closets before," she said, opening one and admiring the way her modest collection of black coats shined in the spotlight.
New York Times
This article was first published on November 22, 2014.
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