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March 22, 2006
House of the Day: 1910 Brick in Midwood
This place in Midwood looks interesting at $675,000. The beautiful facade and charming porch are what grabbed our interest, but we're also digging the original floors and plasterwork. The bathroom and kitchens have that unique blend of newness and poor taste that screams flipper, but at this price the buyer can scrap the Home Deport cabinets and spring for a decent bathroom sink. While he's at it, we'd try to find some original doors to replace the sliding ones leading to the deck. We'd also put in bigger windows in the rear to match what was originally there.
Midwood 1910 Brick [Brooklyn Properties]
Comments
I'm curious, lot's of talk about "Home Depot Cabinets" on the site Mr. B. What kind of cabinets did you use on your reno?
Posted by: anaonymous at March 22, 2006 12:37 PM
Ikea!
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 12:48 PM
I must say I think this is a solid buy for the asking... its a two family so there's rental income and I don't think its *terribly* overpriced in Midwood. if I had it to spend I'd probably choose bedstuy but I'm partial to the stuy :-) I like this property though, from the pictures the reno is clearly not what one would consider upscale but I'd argue that its in move-in condition which is a huge deal within itself in a market where SROs, gut-renos, fire/water damaged houses and anything barely standing sells for over a million dollars.
Posted by: blkbuttrflie at March 22, 2006 12:51 PM
oh yea, and brownstoner used IKEA cabinets and although I'm not too versed on the quality of IKEA vs Home Depot I don't have a problem with either I kinda like brownstoner's cabinets but I wonder if now that everyone with a keyboard in cyberland takes a stab at his house as a defense for their opinion he regrets showing the interior to perfect strangers...
Posted by: blkbuttrflie at March 22, 2006 12:54 PM
I'd rather contractor put in cheap Home Depot cabinets - easy to rip out and put in what I want and not charging 10x their worth.
Buy a condo these days and buyers very willing to pay 50 thousand extra -when developer probabaly spend extra 10 at most on cabinets/countertops/ trendy appliances. So easily awed.
PS - I think the condo cabinets also Home Depot also- just a nicer looking line.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 1:01 PM
We happen to think the Ikea cabinets look a LOT better than the Home Depot ones and tend to be a bit cheaper...
Posted by: Brownstoner at March 22, 2006 1:07 PM
Ikea cabinets and Ikea furniture in general is "throw away" stuff for 20 somethings.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 1:08 PM
Where is Midwood exacly?
Is it in the "middle of woods"?
Posted by: przem. at March 22, 2006 1:11 PM
You can't generalize about Ikea...some pieces are much better made than others. You gotta look at the stuff in person.
I think the cabinets are great--much more stylish than Home Depot. I've put them in two apartments, including a rental, and they've held up well. And if you break or ding a cabinet component, you can easily order a replacement that can be UPS'ed to you.
Posted by: tinarina at March 22, 2006 1:15 PM
viva IKEA! I love that place. I must admit I'm recently out of college myself so maybe I'm still going through that phase but I assure you if I get a rental property I wouldn't think twice about putting IKEA cabinets in it since renters tend not to make a decision based on that and from a owner stand point I know they're a good buy as someone mentioned before about the ease of replacement. someone also made a good point about IKEA being good for some things but not so much for others, their prices are good but sometimes they're not that great however, since IKEA is known for being affordable they either tend not to care or tend not to realize that they could get some things cheaper elsewhere.
Posted by: blkbuttrflie at March 22, 2006 1:21 PM
Ikea?! With all of the smugness and snobbery on this site ;), I thought for sure you guys were using Wood Mode or some other high end stuff. I try to recycle cabinets in my renos. I either paint the existing cabinets or buy vintage and make it work. But then...I have more time than money. If I had more money than time, I'd be spending way too much for cabinets. Anyway, lovely house. I love the dark wood. I don't think of rowhouses when I think of Midwood.
Posted by: anon at March 22, 2006 1:44 PM
IKEA kitchen cabinets are a great option if you have a good contractor who can install them well. The ones in our tenant's apt are showing zero wear and tear 6 years later. we would have used in our part of the house if the space constraints hadn't forced us to do custom (which look nice but are actually very under-constructed compared to the IKEA cabinets).
Posted by: Anon at March 22, 2006 1:53 PM
Ikea cabinets are generally better constructed (come with a 10 yr warranty) than home depot and come in many more styles with some actual design to them (don't look like something you get in an 80s suburban tract home). That said, I did the custom cabinetry in my kitchen. Cost a small fortune but worth it. In the rental, Ikea all the way, for cleaness of line and value.
As for Bstoner, I think he made a good compromise considering financial constraints and the fact that he and his wife would consider replacing the cabinets in the future when funds permit. To knock his kitchens with the salvaged/rehoned marble countertops and Ikea cabinets because he says the listing has a flipper Home Depot kitchen is apples to oranges to me. Look at the kitchen pics of the listing. Livable, move in, yes, of course. Passable as something more high end (or at least not cheap looking), no way. Bstoner's finishes in his kitchen do not look like a cheap flip job, even if he and his wife would have preferred more expensive cabinets from the get go.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 2:12 PM
Here's a shot of the IKEA cabs in our kitchen. Most of have to pick and choose where to spend our dollars. If we had a cheap looking counter, the IKEA cabs might not look so hot. As it is, though, we thinkg they're working okay, especially since they cost a total of, what, $1,400? No matter how you slice it, IKEA cabs kick HD's ass.
http://brownstoner.com/renovations/archives/2005/08/another_shot_of.html
Posted by: Brownstoner at March 22, 2006 2:26 PM
I used to work in a stunning design studio that was featured in HOW magazine. I specifically admired the kitchen cabinets, and my boss said they were from Ikea. The design was clean, lovely and not at all cheap-looking.
Posted by: gloworm at March 22, 2006 2:53 PM
Agree that IKEA has some interesting designed kitchen cabinets. Just bought some myself and picked up yesterday-
for a 2nd home upstate.
What is your counertop Brownstowner?
Can't tell from pics.
Posted by: pete at March 22, 2006 2:59 PM
speaking of cabinets, I was looking at the cabinets again since this is such a hot topic and can someone tell me why there's a random cabinet between the two windows in the kitchen?
Posted by: blkbuttrflie at March 22, 2006 3:05 PM
Nice house in Midwood.
The key to making cheap look beautiful is talent, not money. Some have it, some don't.
Posted by: Hal at March 22, 2006 3:13 PM
That space might be where the refrigerator goes.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 3:19 PM
Doesn't the style of the cabinet have a lot to do with it? For some reason, all cheap renovations seem to use that awful arched cabinet design, which does indeed scream '80s. IKEA, to their credit, doesn't carry it. (And why don't the cabinets in the photo have handles or pulls?) For all that, it's a great house for the price, but then the reason it's cheap is because it's way the hell out there.
Posted by: anonymous at March 22, 2006 3:39 PM
What's the address here? I confess to not knowing much about Midwood (beyond the occasional forays to Di Fara's), but would love to hear more -- didn't even know they had houses like this there -- all I've seen is apartment buildings and detached houses.
Posted by: babs at March 22, 2006 3:42 PM
Midwood is huge... If it is near Avenue J, then it is adjacent to the greater Ditmas Park area, and adjacent to Kensington... So not far from other homes that are featured here all the time... If it is on the Southern End, you're talking Kings Highway. Plus point - both Avenue J and Kings Highway have decent amenities, if not high end. Also, I have only good things to say about the Q train, unlike some other posters sometimes on this site....
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 4:01 PM
It would be laughably easy to get rid of those cabinets and put in something better, Ikea or Smallbone (my fave) or whatever... Kitchen is a good size. Maybe an island of somesort....?
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 4:02 PM
It cracks me up when people look at house, condos, etc. that have perfectly serviceable kitchens and declare they NO ONE could possible live there with a gut reno of the kitchen. Face it, not everyone is a gourmet chef (or thinks they are) and needs such a high end kitchen.
Do the appliances work? Are there doors on the cabinets? Are the countertops in good enough shape that their not going to harbor salmonella in huge cracks? Then you CAN live there and use the kitchen.
People need to get a grip and worry about how sound the roof and foundation are, will the basement flood. Is the building settling and cracking the walls. These are things that should make or break a sale, not if they have some frelling high end cabinets or not.
Even if they put in massively expensive solid wood cabinets, some spoiled buyer would declare they hated the color of the wood stain and there for the whole kitchen would have to be reno-ed.
No matter what you do with a place, the next owner will declare it trashy and tasteless and rip it all out anyway; so why spend big bucks on cosmetic? Spend the money fixing up the bones of the house.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 4:37 PM
Correction should say w/o gut reno -ooops.
And no soon did I say that someone would complain, even if there were high end cabinets, do I read:
Brownsotner: "The kitchen cabinets, which we're sure cost tens of thousands of dollars in custom labor, leave us a little limp." http://brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2006/03/brooklyn_beauty_1.html#comments
See, you go cheap you'll get complaints, you go high end you'll get complaints. That why companies offer different styles of "X" , because there is no accounting for taste.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 4:49 PM
thank you for posting a listing i might actually be able to afford...thanks thanks thanks
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 5:27 PM
4:37, you are SOOOOO right! It's scary what people cover up when renovating. We've ended up gutting houses that looked fine because of underlying issues. Some people's high end is other people's crap anyway. Sorry, I'm still not lovin the Ikea look, but that's what makes the world go around...we're all different.
Posted by: anon at March 22, 2006 5:42 PM
I completely agree with poster above, you complainers are completely ridiculous and will never be satisfied. Most people would be perfectly happy with that new, neutral, non-offensive kitchen.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 5:46 PM
Ikea cabinets actually get a good rating from Consumer Reports. Our friends installed some and they look great and seem very sturdy.
Posted by: anon at March 22, 2006 8:02 PM
Home depot doesn't make cabinets, they carry several different lines which aren't the same. Some have styles which look more like the ikea look, but are better built (e.g. solid maple wood, dovetail joints, etc), and cost just a bit more.
Posted by: OE at March 22, 2006 9:33 PM
According to the website, this house is on E. 12th, between Avenue P and Quentin. I dunno, that seems pretty far to me...
Posted by: feelingdesperate at March 22, 2006 9:52 PM
I think the reason some people find the cabinets so bad is because they're shockingly out of context. I just clicked on the link for this house, I'm wow'ed by the interiors, it really is gorgeous and the light is everywhere, and then BOOOOM, there's this photo of what looks like a fedders interior.
So, no offense to everyone here who's not a chef and doesn't give a hoot what a kitchen looks like -- it's still in your living space. And if you're on "brownstoner" you obviously care about a certain kind of living space. Those kitchens don't belong there.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 22, 2006 11:00 PM
It's interesting -- and kind of funny -- that Brownstoner uses the term "real estate porn". I know what you are refering to, but I kind of feel like this is porn. I feel this compulsive need to read the site, having just bought an over-priced turn-of-the century Brooklyn townhouse that needs a ton of work, but every time I read it I feel bad about my purchase. All the endless doomsday articles about the housing bubble bursting; the snarky,snobbish comments about decorating taste and pristine historical renovations (guess it helps to work on Wall Street when renovating brownstones); the basic obsession with material possessions and status that is at the root of this blog (my house is nicer than yours,so I'm better, more evolved), though coupled with what I think is a genuine interest in historical architecture. The whole thing makes my skin crawl...and yet, I keep logging on, again and again. I can't help myself.
Posted by: anonymous at March 22, 2006 11:21 PM
"przem" wrote: "Where is Midwood exacly?
Is it in the 'middle of woods'?"
Posted by: In Dutch colonial times Midwood [Midwout]was just an alternative name for Flatbush [Vladbos]--which WAS "in the middle of the woods" in the 17th Century). In recent years, the name is used for the part of Flatbush south of Avenue H. Ironically my house on Midwood Street in PLG (which is the northern tip of Flatbush) is not now in "Midwood" although it was (I suppose) when the street was named in the 1890s."
Posted by: Bob Marvin at March 22, 2006 11:37 PM
Sorry--the words"Posted by" should have been cut.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at March 22, 2006 11:39 PM
East 12th between P and Quentin? Eh. Pretty far out (Kings Highway stop, one block off Coney Island Avenue) in an area being overwhelmed with unattractive new construction. Quiet neighborhood,very frum.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 23, 2006 3:03 AM
11:21, try actual porn, you'll feel a lot better.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 23, 2006 8:49 AM
11:21 - don't feel bad, you have a lot of company. Enjoy your home for a long time and you have little risk (in the long run). Good luck.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 23, 2006 9:16 AM
Like I posted earlier, nearer to Avenue P than Avenue J. Big difference.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 23, 2006 9:21 AM
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