Every Thursday at 11:30AM, The Insider takes an in-depth look at a recent design and/or renovation project in the borough of Brooklyn. The series is written and produced by Cara Greenberg, a longtime design journalist who blogs at casaCARA: Old Houses for Fun and Profit.

WORKING AROUND elaborate woodwork in a Brooklyn brownstone can be a challenge. We prize 19th century houses for their original detail, but when we want to put a 21st century kitchen on the parlor floor, well, there’s no natural place for the Sub-Zero, the Viking, and the Bosch.

The owners of this c.1890 Park Slope brownstone, a triplex with a garden rental beneath, inherited a second-floor kitchen when they bought the house in 2001. They lived with it for a decade, spending most of their time on the two upper floors. “The parlor floor was a big, beautiful, underutilized space,” says Kimberly Neuhaus of Neuhaus Design Architecture (NDA), who was hired to create a new parlor-level kitchen and two new baths. The project, which also entailed updating plumbing and electrical throughout the house, was contracted to Manhattan-based Infinity Construction.

“Our goal was to keep every bit of detail we could,” says one of the homeowners. “Kimberly managed to incorporate and maintain almost all the original woodwork.”

Lots more, including ‘Before’ photos, after the jump.

Photos: Courtesy Neuhaus Design Architecture

 

 

The new kitchen is small but functional. All the original woodwork was retained, with the exception of one closet door on the right, above, replaced with a paneled fridge.


Before: A latter-day bookcase, not original to the house, filled the space now occupied by the range and tile backsplash.


Custom cabinetry is by Precious Woodworks, with countertops of honed pietra cardosa from Stone Source. The blue-and-purple tile backsplash is Opera Glass in the the ‘Stilato’ pattern from Artistic Tile. The four-shaded light fixture over the island is from Hubbardton Forge.


Before: The window in what became the dining area was removed and replaced with a door to the existing deck.

 

The new glass door leads to a catwalk made of subway grating and from there to a steel deck. The hanging fixture is from Hubbardton Forge, the art print by Kate Temple.

 

Before: The old kitchen/dining room on the 2nd floor became a new master suite including a bathing alcove, below, with a relocated tub original to the house.


The porcelain floor tile in the bathing room as well as the tile wainscoting and wall border, are from Artistic Tile. The pale yellow walls are Jumel Peachtone by Benjamin Moore.


Before: The original marble slab walls in the bathroom were intact, as were the tub and marble sink.

 

The tub was removed and replaced with a glass shower, and the sink restored. The marble slabs on the walls were taken off to access plumbing and then put back in place.

 

The basketweave mosaic on the shower floor and the polished wall tile are from Artistic Tile.


The pietra cardosa vanity countertop in the children’s bathroom is from Stone Source, the wall tile from Artistic Tile.


 

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What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I can tell you that if you want to re-do a teeny tiny bathroom with plaster, painting, new bead board all around, new salvage toilet, new salvage sink, a little bit of plumbing through the ceiling below, keep the old claw foot tub, re-do the shower extension, by a licensed contractor who actually know what he is doing — oh and ours milled all the bead board by hand to match the original — it’s going to cost approximately $5,000 to $7,000 or so.

  2. M4L, it depends what you mean by gut reno. This isn’t a gut. If it were, we wouldn’t see any of the nice molding and woodwork. No need for a homeowner to gut instead of skim coat — unless you’re moving walls — because anyone with decent skill to dry wall can also skim coat for close to the same price.

    I used to hear an inexpensive bath renovation was about $7,000. I just heard of a fancy one (large, wet area, walk in shower) that was estimated at $30,000. The plumbing alone was quoted at $10,000.

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