Friday, March 16, 2012

Remind me why people agree to be quoted by NYT lifestyle reporters.

Sometimes, tragedy strikes:

Their price range included “places we thought we could talk down to $1.2 million,” said Ms. Rondeau, 37. She is a former shoe designer, while Mr. Beach, 40, works as an information technology manager for a real estate finance company.
Their taste for the historic was obvious. “Every time they saw something with lots of original detail,” Ms. Levine recalled, “they lit up, even if the property wasn’t viable for other reasons.” 
They were disturbed when they found renovations that destroyed the integrity of the original construction. Often a place “looked like a brownstone on the outside and a new condo on the inside,” Ms. Rondeau said, “and it kept making us really sad.”

3 comments:

Flavia said...

"If there was a Jacuzzi tub or a Toto toilet, it was off our list."

What standards! What principles!

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

Yes, well, they miss that they're coming across as a parody of themselves. And they're probably fine in real life - it's just that these stories show people from the worst possible angle. Thus my mystification at why anyone agrees to be profiled.

I just Googled "Toto toilet" and it looks like a perfectly ordinary toilet. Do they want a "historic" toilet? What would that even mean? And why, with that particular item, would you want anything but the newest and best-functioning model?

Anonymous said...

There's plenty of new that looks old, e.g., "Our stylish corner high tank elongated toilet will lend your lavatory the charm & ambiance of the Victorian age."
http://www.rensup.com/Pull-Chain-Toilets/16463.htm

E.H.