On this evening, eight years ago, we moved out of our Chelsea apartment. The truckers had just removed the last box. Our furniture was wrapped and rolling. And our rented mini-van was en route to Pittsburgh--400 miles West. Benji sat in his crate between our seats. Lucky, the parakeet, chirped confusedly from his seat-belted cage in the back. This was a major turning-point in our lives. Had we made the right decision? Tomorrow we would meet those very same movers at our new home, where they would unpack the trucks—and leave us with weeks (months, years?) of unpacking, assembling and arranging.
I miss New York. Every. Single. Day. I miss my Greenwich Village shop, of course, and I miss the customers who graced my days. Most of all, I miss living at The Center of the Universe (yes, it is The Center of the Universe). I miss emerging from my apartment lobby and joining the pulsing bloodstream of the city—a beehive filled with busy, purposeful, ambitious people. And, I sheepishly admit, I miss telling people that "I'm a New Yorker."
But our move was not the wrong decision, either. Providence had a hand in our transition. Within three years, Covid would strike. Had I been required to vacate my storefront, on two weeks notice, what would I have done with 25 years worth of merchandise and fixturing? It would not have fit in our Chelsea apartment. And every storage unit in the Tri-State Area had been rented and stuffed by fleeing Manhattanites. Instead, I endured the lockdown by photographing a store's worth of merchandise and re-building the LEO Design website.
The Covid lockdown also allowed me (finally) to turn my attention to the last of the remaining boxes: all the artwork which we had "saved for last." I cleaned, waxed and buffed each frame. I Windexed every piece of glass. I numbered each picture—researching every piece (extensively)—and created a numerical catalog of our artwork. My hope is to make it easier for our heirs (one day) to understand what they've inherited--and (hopefully) to prevent them from holding a $5 yard sale when we're gone. More than 200 pictures negotiated a tedious process and are now hanging on our walls.
Our Manhattan aerie has become a Pittsburgh nest. The rustic bronze nest, shown above, glimmers with polished bronze eggs. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome piece.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.