55D 229th ST Bayside, Astoria, Queens, NY                 PAID: $729k

Bayside, in Astoria, has two main communities. The first is Bay Terrace, which is an affluent community and also where Lorenzo grew up in his parent's house, and the second is Oakland Gardens, a middle class neighborhood. Lorenzo and Nicole live in Oakland Gardens as of September 2015. They're lucky enough to be close to Cunningham Park, which makes it convenient to walk their dogs and keep their fitness regime on point. They were lucky enoug hto find a three bedroom, two bathroom home that's considered a medium sized build and sandwiched between two families that have lived their for more than twenty years combined.

The entrance of the house reveals immediately that the ground floor is split into two sections. The most immediate section after opening the door is the mud space, where a padded bench framed with cabinets and drawers making storage convenient, which flows effortlessly into an updated kitchen. No sight lines are obstructed in any way as the kitchen unfolds into a generous living space, creating an ideal open concept. Clever furniture arrangement makes the space feel even larger, as does natural light and an abundance of windows. Furniture was all hand picked by Nicole, with Lorenzo only giving his opinion when asked.

Section number two of the ground floor is two small bedrooms that are connected to the living space by a short, nearly nonexistant hallway. Both rooms are also connected to each other by a jack and jill bathroom. The bedrooms have very small closests; unfortunately, no other storage -- not even a linen closet -- is avilable for this part of the space downstairs. The original storage closet was turned into a mud space to give the home a bigger price tag. Again, Nicole did the majority of the decorating; however, Lorenzo did pick out all the hanging art. All he did was the manual labor of assembling everything Nicole picked out for the space.

Finally, in the master bedroom, Lorenzo decided to have some opinions. Red was the only bright color he wanted, everything else he wanted neutral. They opted for an oversized lounge chair in front of the window instead of a love seat. A small, compact computer station is at the very top of the stairs, right before you turn into their bedroom. The bathroom is the most outdated part of the house, because the tiling could use some work, but neither of them care. It has a shower, an antique wardrobe, and shelves for storing. Again, though, there is no closet for storage, just the conveniently hanging shelves. The closet was custom built by the owner's five years ago. Finally, there isn't any digging and cramping and losing track of clothes.
The outdoor space was a gift from Gio, Lorenzo's older brother. As a child, Lorenzo would dream about having a backyard to host dinners and grow vegetables so that is exactly what he gave his brother. All the furniture is weather proof, even the art. There is green space enough that Gio put in a small gardening center in the back. It's covered so that it can be used, except for in the roughest winter months. The living space, thankfully, is large enough to hold a dining room table for those months each year.