Paola was a wonderful host. She was out-of-town and we communicated by email but this worked out perfectly. She answered all my questions promptly, was understanding and flexible. She clearly wanted us to enjoy ourselves. Alda, who takes care of the place when she is gone, was also lovely and helpful.
Her place is beautiful - just like the pictures. The kitchen is really open and bright, as is the living room. I wish I could bring that kitchen home with me! Everything was new and clean. She had thoughtful little amenities like eye masks and extra toothbrushes in the house. There is a surprising number of air conditioning/heater controls, so every room can be at your preferred temperature. I really enjoyed the heated bathroom floors and the deep bathtub. The beds and comfortable and the linens were nice. The building is small and very quiet with only one other apartment on the floor.
We didn't use the balcony/terraces due to the weather, but they would be lovely when it's warm. Our five year old daughter is a little wary of heights, but just in case I threatened all sorts of punishment if she went outside. If you have smaller children, I would suggest buying or bringing some child locks.
We were only about 5 minutes from the subway and the restaurants and shops are within a 5 to 10 minutes walk. Same goes for McCarren Park. The Whole Foods is HUGE - bigger than any I've seen in Los Angeles. There are also a few restaurants one block away. It's hard to get a reservation at Lilia (one month wait), but we walked in and lucked into a table. Highly recommend it. We had breakfast almost every morning at Reunion. I usually like to check out different places, but instead we all agreed we'd rather work our way through the menu there. It was that good. There's also a cool little Japanese fusion dessert place near Reunion that I'd recommend.
All in all, I couldn't recommend this place more. Enjoy.