Darlene and George Lacovara’s renovation led to several moves

Today’s move is the culmination of several: a long, protracted process that began in October. We undertook a gut renovation of our house and construction began in the middle of that month. Since it was a gut restoration, we had to vacate the premises for an extended period. That period lasted 5 months.

After an involved and somewhat lengthy search, we found a sublet right under our noses: one of our architect’s tenants’ had suffered a family emergency and had to hightail out of NYC for an unspecified period of time. It might seem cruel to say, but their family drama dovetailed nicely with our needs. Furthermore, the apartment was 11 blocks from our home and between the same cross streets so it seemed easy.

Moving is never easy. Moving always sucks. I rented a truck and hired 3 of the guys from my work to pack up and assist. What was needed at the apartment (it was furnished) went over there in several trips in my car. The rest went into a self-storage unit 4 blocks from our house. We stayed in the apartment until mid-February.

We then moved into friends’ house while they were on a skiing holiday. Their block was between the same cross streets but only 3 blocks from our house. We kept creeping closer and closer to home on the same axis. Again, many cars trips to and from the sublet to the house-sit accomplished this move. We had to do it all over again at the end of that week.

By then the top two floors of our house were deemed habitable. Another round of car trips, this time from the house-sit to our home, ensued. I also rented a U-Haul van and enlisted my cousin to assist me in moving some of our more essential furniture from the self-storage unit to our house. We set up camp in our living room and toughed it out there for three more weeks.

This week, the ground floor of our house was completed and unveiled. The time had come to move everything back into the house and truly set up our home. I think it more than understandable that I’ve had my fill of moving myself. That’s why I called Rabbit.