Three Point Oh.

Hey, notice anything different around here? How about how EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT? If you’re reading this post via an RSS reader, now would be a great time to come back over to the site and reacquaint yourself. Manhattan Nest got a big overhaul, and bitch is looking gooooood.

Of course, all of this awesomeness was only made possible by the incredible design force that is my friend, Anna Dorfman. Anna is, like, the most amazing. She redesigned the site once already—two years ago when we moved from my little .wordpress ditty—and now she’s back and has done it again.

Now, as I have made clear in the recent past, I am a nightmare. But the amazing thing about Anna is that somehow, some way, she’s able to look past that. I honestly don’t think I can put into words how lucky I am that she would choose to work with me on redesigning my site TWICE now, and that she did such an amazing job both times. Her only goal has always been to design a site that I love, and guess what? I love it. But more than that, working with Anna always leaves me a little bit in awe of how she’s able to take my totally nonsensical ideas and feedback, combine them with her own intuition about what I’m trying to express, and somehow turn that into a great design. It’s all a little bit magical, honestly. When I think about all of the hours that Anna has dedicated to helping me through stuff, blog-related and otherwise, designing for me, let alone being my friend at all, I really just don’t understand how I got so lucky. So even though three measly words aren’t nearly enough, I’ll say them anyway: thank you, Anna!

So go explore! There are some new features to check out (hello, Instagram gallery!), as well as a new FAQ page, an updated About page, and some fun new stuff in the sidebar. The great thing about this new site is that it’s designed to expand a little, so we’ll be adding a few more great features in the coming weeks. Also, do me a solid and let me know if you notice any glitches or anything when navigating the site, and some internet-voodoo will be performed to remedy them.

Oh! Also! Guess what? Manhattan Nest now has a Facebook Page! I don’t know quite how I’ll even use it yet, but feel free to go “Like” it. I’ll probably post links I find interesting, photos, and other stuff that doesn’t make it onto the blog, so stay tuned. I think it could be fun for all of us?

(Above photo taken by Anna Dorfman with Instagram on my 23rd birthday, which was on Thursday. Max had a late class so Anna and I had celebratory dinner and cake together, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.)

About Daniel Kanter

Hi, I'm Daniel, and I love houses! I'm a serial renovator, DIY-er, and dog-cuddler based in Kingston, New York. Follow along as I bring my 1865 Greek Revival back to life and tackle my 30s to varying degrees of success. Welcome!

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Archives: 2010-2022

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62 Comments

  1. 10.1.12

    Can I just say how great it is to have been a part (in my own small way) of the hulking machine that is Manhattan Nest over the last couple of years? It means the world to me that you’ve trusted me with your blog’s face not once, but twice now. MN is a special place. You’re an awesome writer, Daniel. I’m glad lots of people know that. xx

    Yeah, and if there are any bugs…I’ll be out of the country. See ya!!!!!

  2. 10.1.12

    Looks GREAT. Love the BRKLYN stamp. Good work, Anna. Lovely!

  3. 10.1.12
    Lucía said:

    Congrats on the redesign! Looking great… love the BKLYN stamp too… Good job Anna!

  4. 10.1.12
    Ann said:

    The redesign looks great. I love your photo on the FAQ page (the answers too!!)
    On the FAQ page under Mekko & Linus there are no links to read about them.

    • 10.1.12
      Daniel said:

      Oh, thank you! I’ll fix that!

    • 10.1.12
      Ann said:

      *oops love the photo on the about page*

  5. 10.1.12
    Lena said:

    Looks nice! the new layout with the freelance section made me check whats in there and then made me realize, that I think you promised to show more of the Daniel Vosovic project and never did?

  6. 10.1.12
    Dawn said:

    One word: LOVE. Make that four words: love, love, LOVE it! MH has always been home to humor, heart, and inspiration, regardless of the backdrop it’s been set against, but now, thanks to Anna’s inspired redesign, your wit and wisdom will shine through all the more.

    Amazing job, Anna and Daniel!

  7. 10.1.12
    Dawn said:

    Oops – I meant “MN” (not MH). There I go uglying up your beautiful new blog with my typos. *sigh*

    -Dawn (…again)

  8. 10.1.12
    Jay said:

    Love, love, love this new site Daniel! I’ve been poking around and I just can’t pick out one thing that I love more than another! Congrats on the relaunch and to Anna who certainly took your nonsensical ideas exactly where they needed to be!

    (PS. You’re only 23? You are wise beyond your years Mr Kanter. A very happy belated birthday to you and dear god, I hope 23 is better to you than it was to me! I was a nightmare!)

  9. 10.1.12

    Omg! I love it! Anna, you’re fantastic. I especially like the subtle grid/tile background, and little bits of “grit”. I feel like I could pet the page.

    (Also, I totally can’t believe you’re younger than me, Daniel. That is ultra-bizarre. You seem so put-together and I’m still trying to catch pieces of my life and shove them into the right place.)

  10. 10.1.12
    Ana said:

    great job. the redesign looks fabulous and great photo on your about page. well done!

  11. 10.1.12
    Kwon said:

    Pretty!

  12. 10.1.12
    Kay* said:

    So so good. So good.

  13. 10.1.12

    Anna does it again! Stunning re-design. I am just amazed at how well she can really reflect the blogger in the layout/logo/style, this blog being a great example as well as http://www.sfgirlbybay.com, http://www.chezerby.com, etc.

    Especially love the Brooklyn stamp, latest DIY, and instagrams! AND the new “About” page is totally perfect, just love you. So excited to see how things “expand.”

  14. 10.1.12
    susan said:

    Nice job on the redesign. I did a quick look-through and everything works. I’m on a Unix machine using Chrome as my browser.

  15. 10.1.12
    Andrew said:

    The site looks GREAT! It is very appealing and easy to navigate. Happy belated birthday; I like that you are sporting a five o-clock shadow – it’s a good look!

  16. 10.1.12
    Kay* said:

    Oh and happy happy birthday! (previously commented before I read the post–I’m easily excited :-/

    Can’t believe you’re only 23! Hope you had a fantastic day!!

  17. 10.1.12
    Ann said:

    The site looks lovely, but the type is a little small — a little bit hard to read for someone like me who is in denial about perhaps needing glasses. Do you think you might think about making it just a bit larger?

    • 10.1.12
      Daniel said:

      Possibly! Thank you for letting me know!

    • 10.2.12
      Mom said:

      I agree that was going to be my comment. Is that plain old Courier? UGH! How about Hipper and Bigger?

  18. 10.1.12
    Louise said:

    The new blog looks even better than the first ^^ I appreciate the addition of a ‘back to top’ button = decreases my risk for carpel tunnel :D

  19. 10.1.12
    Shannon said:

    Looks freaking amazing! Awesome job, both of you!

  20. 10.1.12
    nicolezh said:

    What a hot blog redesign! I like it very very much- thank you for putting so much effort in this great space of the inter webs. Your blog is pure bliss to me, you are a constant source of inspiration and fun. Happy Birthday to you and an awesome new year in your life with lots of adventures, diy-ing, coffee, cute guys and brave dogs!

  21. 10.1.12
    nicolezh said:

    ah, I am also a lefty and a twin! That’s fun…
    (random info to the sparking new comment field…)

  22. 10.1.12
    Melissa said:

    Dan! Happy belated birthday! How did I not know it was your birthday? Plus the blog redesign looks amazing!!! See you at school!

  23. 10.1.12

    I discovered Anna very recently and now I found you and your cool blog! My blogosphere just got cooler :) However, I’m a little jealous… I’m currently re-designing my blog and wasn’t lucky enough to snag Anna, she’s a busy girl!

  24. 10.1.12
    Teresa Amaral said:

    Superb!

  25. 10.1.12

    Daniel and Anna, Nice work! It was good before, but yes it’s better. Fresh is good right. I will second then genuflection for anna’s work. (genuflection = bending at the knee in awe of ones work)

  26. 10.1.12
    Jaimie said:

    looks great! but you know, your site (and anna’s) has never worked with my RSS feed. I just wait for your tweets about new posts.

    • 10.1.12

      Jaimie, just curious, what do you use to read RSS feeds? What address are you using to subscribe? I think Daniel and I both have many thousands of RSS subscribers and no one has ever reported a problem to me, but maybe they’re just being polite! ;) if there’s a problem, I definitely want to fix it! Thanks for the heads up.

  27. 10.1.12
    Juliska said:

    Well, that was worth the wait! I know something was afoot when I couldn’t log onto your site yesterday. I kinda miss the cute picture of you at 15 (sorry, 20) with a curly mop of hair, but I don’t want to come off like my grandmother, who used to sigh about how cute I was at six, when I had braids. Besides, that picture is probably in the archives, anyway.

    The design is great — clean, easy to read, and I love the new logo! If I can ever afford to hire Ana, I will.

  28. 10.1.12

    So pretty! (But I knew it would be.)

    Daniel, I hope this inspires you to blog at least 3x a week now. ;)

    • 10.1.12
      Daniel said:

      THREE TIMES?!?! Let’s meet in the middle…1-2? How’s that sound?

    • 10.1.12

      Fair enough. And one post must be about dogs.

  29. 10.1.12
    Kelly said:

    Gorgeous! Would it be possible to enlarge the font slightly? I am enlarging it four times (via Macbook “command-+”) to get it to readability on par with my other pages.

    (Yes, I am 39. Sigh.)

    • 10.1.12
      Daniel said:

      You’re not the first person to bring that up…I’ll definitely consider it! I have to talk to my designer first though :-)

    • 10.1.12
      Anna said:

      Hey, I’m only two years behind you, Kelly! Age is no excuse. ;)

      I’ll see if I can make it a smidge bigger!

  30. 10.1.12
    Nancy said:

    Haven’t explored yet, but Happy Birthday kiddo!!!!!!!!

  31. 10.1.12
    Kate said:

    Found your blog through Anna’s fb page… you’re a phenomenal writer and I like you. Glad to have a new weekly read!

    • 10.1.12
      Kate said:

      ps, are you an arch student? I happen to also be forced into essays about LEED-skyscrapers sometimes. ;)

    • 10.1.12
      Daniel said:

      I’m basically studying a mix of writing and design, so I’ve taken several architecture classes at this point. That paper was ROUGH (as in, boring beyond words), but I did learn a lot about Hearst Tower!

  32. 10.1.12
    Sherry said:

    The site looks amazing, Anna is the truly the best at many things and that cake looks soo darn good! Happy, Happy 23rd Birthday! It weirdly seems both like forever ago and just like yesterday that I was 23. Anyway, hope this year is good to you!

  33. 10.1.12
    Ashley C said:

    Looks fantastic!!!! Also, I am three days older than you, Happy Birthday. Go libras!

  34. 10.1.12

    The redesign looks awesome! Congrats Daniel and great work Anna!

  35. 10.2.12
    caroline said:

    23! Oh my God I’m jealous. I’m turning 28 next week and my blog is still just a boring old blogspot. Where is my Anna? Great job Anna and great job Daniel!

    • 10.2.12

      Hey, where’s MY Anna?!

  36. 10.2.12
    Erica W. said:

    Glitch alert: Under the topic headings (apartment, DIY, life, etc.), “dogs” is missing on my screen. You MUST have a dog stream, right??? :) Happy Birthday youngster!

  37. 10.2.12
    Heidi said:

    Daniel, I’m loving the new format….looks great! Also, I’m dying to know what you’ve done with your kitchen. Pictures! :) Have a great day.

    • 10.2.12
      Daniel said:

      very, very little, sadly! It’s still a big work in progress, but hoping to get things going again in there soon. It’s going to be awesome, but also a lot of work :/

    • 10.6.12
      Nancy said:

      I’m looking forward to updates on the kitchen too.

  38. 10.2.12
    Lori said:

    I love the background color / texture – love the blog – love you and yours and everything you write and the wonderful way you write it – but I third the motion, the font is way too small for me also. I’m on a Dell notebook using IE, sometimes View -> Text Size -> Larger works, on most sites it doesn’t, I’m so computer illiterate I don’t know why that is. I’d be happy if I could just enlarge it here on my end. Any way of setting that up behind the scenes?

    • 10.2.12
      Mom said:

      If you are on a Mac Command + will get the print bigger for you. Not sure what to do with a PC. Trade it in for a Mac?

    • 10.2.12
      Lori said:

      Oh my goodness. I tried Ctrl + and it did get bigger, but then I got a warning saying “! stack overflow !” and the whole thing froze. I had to shut it down via the task manager. Guess I won’t try that again. Hm – maybe time to try a Mac?

  39. 10.3.12
    Kathleen said:

    It’s pretty much the best. Great work, Anna!

  40. 10.3.12
    Ella said:

    Manhattan Nest Brooklyn is alright, but how about the much more cheesy and melodramatic The MAN Nest?! Hahaha sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Great work, you two!

  41. 10.3.12
    Susan said:

    Love it! You are very lucky to have a friend like Anna. I wish I had an Anna, my site sux!

  42. 10.3.12
    eileen marie said:

    You scared me there for a minute! Here I am trying to find the dog bed tutorial and the site has all but vanished! I should have known it was a redesign -the little message resembled the new design. Glad you’re back! And a very happy belated birthday to you!

  43. 10.4.12

    Looks wonderful! I may have given a little design-lust gasp in my cube…this definitely is giving me the ol’ redesign itch. Great job, Anna, and can’t wait to read more great posts in this lovely new layout.

  44. 10.5.12
    Furpants said:

    New design is cool!! Now please explain, why are your dogs so awesome and photogenic?

  45. 10.5.12
    Emily H said:

    Love the blog redesign! Also – Finnstyle is having a Marimekko fabric sale (and apparently a summer sale). Just thought you might want to know :)
    http://www.finnstyle.com/sale-fabrics.html

  46. 10.10.12
    TieDye64 said:

    The new design is killah. Loving it and can’t wait to see MORE posts.

    Oh, and relieved to know you’re not quitting on us.