LIMBO SHOPPING
From big splurges to cheap thrills, New Yorkers share the pandemic purchases easing life in lockdown
AS the COVID-19 crisis drags into week 10, cooped-up New Yorkers are finding joy where they can. For those financially able, new purchases are creating great opportunities for retail therapy. While suburbanites may revel in pizza ovens, fire pits and trampolines, scrappy city dwellers seek some solace in smaller — but no less treasured — objects. From practical cleaning tools to ingenious kitchen extras, here’s how some locals light up their small spaces during dark times.
Clear the air
Brooklyn-based writer and editor John Newton (above) and his architect husband splurged on two Blueair’s sleek Blue Pure 211+ air purifiers ($300, right) for their living room and home office. “Before the pandemic, we thought we knew how much dust and pollution you get in Williamsburg,” says Newton. “But being home all of the time, we became even more aware of the layer of dust everywhere.” The device lowers virus, bacteria and particle levels. “We are hoping to not be suffering from allergies and worrying about whether it’s COVID,” Newton adds. “We’ve been in the apartment for four years with no problem, but after spending 24 hours a day here for weeks, buying these filters seemed worth it.”
Hanger stake
Teacher Kim Steinhorn was looking for a way to reduce the clutter and chaos that have inevitably crept into the Upper West Side apartment she shares with her husband and two school-aged sons. The surprisingly affordable solution came to her via an Instagram post: white wooden Ikea hangers ($5.49 for eight). “When I open my closet now, everything is in order. It’s a much happier place,” she says. “I can’t control much right now, but I can control my closet. And unlike the rest of the apartment, it’s my own private place.”
Music to their ears
For her apartment in the East Village, artist Shannon Curry Hartmann recently bought Como Audio’s Duetto. It allows Curry Hartmann, along with her equally music-loving husband and their 12 year-old daughter to stream music and podcasts from around the world. “We have music on all day long, and are very eclectic in our tastes. This radio, and my Christmas cactus, which was blooming at the peak of the crisis, have gotten me through some tough hours,” says Curry Hartmann, who’s been playing everything from BBC broadcasts to David Bowie playlists to a favorite radio station from Martha’s Vineyard. “I don’t think it’s frivolous at all,” she adds, “the role that music plays in healing or just to distract us.”
Bubbles and yolks
In Greenpoint, communications consultant Elena Gaudino has turned quarantine into a creative exercise, creating a YouTube series called “Corona Chronicles: ’Rona Essentials,” where she highlights “the little things in life that make a difference.” Among her favorite purchases: a Soda Stream Fizzi Classic ($89.99) and the Eggsact Egg Timer ($5). “Sipping on seltzer with a slice of lemon during the day takes me back to the preCOVID days of business lunches, while adding fresh-squeezed lime juice and ample splashes of tequila helps wash away thoughts of powerless uncertainty,” she says. The red timer, Gaudino adds, help her boil perfect eggs. “There’s something extremely satisfying about cracking open a boiled egg and seeing a perfectly consistent, yellow yolk without the tell-tale gray coating indicating it’s been overcooked,” she says.
Panning out
With his wife and two children, chef Ned Baldwin, who runs beloved Soho restaurant Houseman and has just published the cookbook “How To Dress an Egg,” has relocated from his Spring Street apartment to the North Fork. His newest cooking acquisition, a Smithey 8-inch cast iron pan ($100), “is blowing my mind,” he exclaims. “It’s crazy multipurpose: you can fry an egg or roast meat, and I even made chick pea stew in it.” Baldwin’s also taking advantage of the abundance of local shellfish, particularly the Peconic Gold Oysters from farmer Matt Ketcham. “I love big oysters,” Baldwin says. “The shells are super hard, which makes them so easy to open. These are huge, meaty, delicious oysters.” (The farm delivers to Long Island and ships to NYC via FedEx.)
Suck it up
Like a lot of privileged New Yorkers, retired Upper East Side travel marketing executive Nancy Friedman has had to adjust to cleaning her own apartment. “I didn’t know what my house cleaner was using, so I had to experiment,” she says. Friedman’s forays into tidying led her to buy two vacuums: the Roomba-like Eufy RoboVac 11S ($160) and the “wonderfully light” Dyson V 11 Animal ($500). “This has made me much more sensitive to what my housekeeper goes through,” she says. “When she comes back, I’m giving her a raise!”
Hot seat
In the Bronx neighborhood of
Marble Hill, writer Chantal McLaughlin has made working from home more bearable with her new Ergo Ergo Active Stool ($110) in a “bright, happy orange” shade. “This chair is really fun. There’s a mild swaying so you can subtly feel your core working, or you can make a circle and exercise your core while you’re talking or typing. It’s fun and it gets the blood flowing,” she says. “I had my eye on it before the whole pandemic hit. When I started working from home, I knew I had to get it.” For an extra cardio boost, McLaughlin, who has also recently adopted a cat, sits on the stool and pedals her feet on her Stamina InMotion Elliptical machine ($120). It fits under her workspace and comes in a similarly peppy orange hue, too. “It’s almost like it’s a recumbent bike,” she observes. “I just have to be careful because I have long legs and they sometimes hit the keyboard.”