Interiors
December 2, 2008
Interiors: Modernizing a Row House in the Slope
The folks from Coburn Architecture, based in Dumbo, have taken on the task of updating, and adding to, a row house in Park Slope. If you have interior projects large or small, amateur or professional you'd like to share, please contact us.
This mid 19th century row house on a quiet street in Park Slope was in relatively poor condition when purchased by the client. The house next door had burned down many years before, leaving the lot vacant and overgrown, and the new owners wanted to build a structure in its place that would connect to the existing house.
The client’s ambitious program for the new structure required a new master suite with a spacious bath and dressing room, a dining room, a garage with a driveway (a luxury for city dwellers), and some outdoor living space. To avoid having to move to temporary quarters, the client elected to complete the project in two architectural phases, followed by an interior design phase.
UPDATE: Brendan Coburn just dropped us a note to clear up a couple of things: 1) The house is only a combined 3,400 square feet, as the addition is just two stories high; 2) The construction and renovation took place in four phases over eight years.
December 1, 2008
Brooklyn Modern #4: Green, Industrial Wonderland
And now, the final in our mini-series looking at homes featured in Brooklyn Modern by Diana Lind, with photographs by Yoko Inoue. Here's Diana's installment #4:
Susan Boyle and Benton Brown live the dream that probably many Brownstoner readers have only the time to fantasize about. The couple bought a package of industrial buildings in Crown Heights, re-selling a few and keeping two of the most precious to renovate into a green residential loft building and a commercial rental building. Their own duplex apartment sits on the penthouse of the former building and features reclaimed materials throughout. A stunning bookcase is made from timbers found on site, the bathrooms are fitted with vintage fixtures and tubs and sinks, even their bedroom closet's doors are made from former ambulance doors. The buildings were renovated with a 30-year plan in mind — but for now, some eco-friendly aspects such as a green roof that catches rain run-off and tall windows that provide natural light and ventilation are already cutting down the building's already-low environmental impact.
November 26, 2008
Brooklyn Modern #3: Fort Greene Frame House
This week, we're looking at homes featured in Brooklyn Modern by Diana Lind, with photographs by Yoko Inoue. Here's Diana's installment #3:
Scott Oliver and Margarita McGrath of noroof architects excel at maximizing space. They bought a 1,000-square-foot frame house in Ft. Greene and divided it up into an owner's duplex and a rental apartment. With just 600 square feet for themselves, noroof did more than just fit in the basics of bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. Every space has a double purpose: a guest bed is hidden above the kitchen shelves, a deck sits above the rental apartment's roof, a sliver of room behind the staircase is filled with storage designed by the architects. In a similar fashion, a beautiful tree frames the house from the outside, casting shadows on the facade — from the inside, it seems that the windows frame the tree.
November 25, 2008
Brooklyn Modern #2: Gut Renovated in Boerum Hill
This week, we're looking at homes featured in Brooklyn Modern by Diana Lind, with photographs by Yoko Inoue. Here's Diana's installment #2:
From the outside, Jordan Parnass's Boerum Hill townhouse looks like almost any other. Inside, he gut-renovated the dilapidated building by keeping only a few small details like a marble mantelpiece and chucking everything else. With about 2,000 square feet to work with, he opened each floor to the next, allowing light to flow through from the third floor's ceiling to the basement which serves as an airy office for his wife. The result is an intensely customized house — from site-specific artworks made by friends to a built-in spice rack for his wife — that perfectly suits his family.
November 24, 2008
Brooklyn Modern #1: Craft Modern in Fort Greene
A special treat to go along with your turkey and cranberry this week. We've invited Diana Lind, editor of The Next American City and author of Brooklyn Modern to share some photos and thoughts from the book. For those of you who haven't seen it, or read the accompanying essay by one Mr. B, Brooklyn Modern explores "the connection between Brooklyn’s astounding rebirth and its emerging architecture." For the real estate boom, as we all know, was not just about brownstones, but a pioneering aesthetic style that we've explored even here (remember the Modern Townhouse thread?").
Every day but Turkey Day this week, we'll have a peek at a Brooklyn Modern creation, with a few words by Diana Lind with it. The photography is by Yoko Inoue. Enjoy installment #1.
Lena Corwin is a fairly well-known textile designer and blogger in Brooklyn. She and her husband Josh bought a brownstone in Ft. Greene several years ago and took the lower duplex for themselves while they rented an apartment upstairs. With a little help from Glamour magazine, which paid for a basic make-over, the couple renovated their duplex. They highlighted the apartments original assets — very high ceilings, plank wood floors — and modernized the space with crafty wallpaper, modern art, and brightly colored furniture.
November 10, 2008
Finding the Loft in a Brownstone
If the icon of old Brooklyn is the Brownstone, with all its ornate detail and small spaces, and the icon of new Brooklyn is the open floor plan of loft-like spaces in glassy towers, perhaps the house featured in the NY Times this weekend represents a happy medium, a meeting of the two. The current owner of the house on Park Place moved there in the 1970s (her mother bought it for $39,000), and eventually decided on a high-modern makeover for the place. The moldings had already been removed, much of that detail scraped off by an earlier owner. "They agreed that the garden floor would become the rental apartment and they hired an architect, Ron DiDonno, to reconfigure the space." That garden floor ended up being so open that they've rented it out for television commercials. "To get the home they wanted, everything had to go. 'It was a brick-to-brick renovation,' Ms. Marland said. 'Nothing is left but the staircase and the downstairs kitchen.' To that they added a B&B Italia sofa and Donghia dining table, bought at sample sales, though not all the modern flourishes are high-end. “We still have $8 paper shades from Pintchik’s on the windows."
An Old Brownstone's Loft Aesthetic [NY Times]
Photo from Property Shark.
October 30, 2008
Music: The Final Frontier of Outsourcing for the Home
File Under: Extremely Lame. We get why some people need to use interior designers for their home, but music stylists? Unfortunately so, reports The Times. “Our clients are the type who send people all over the world to find the perfect spoon, or doorknob or type of marble,” said Jeffrey Reed, a club D.J. and a founder of Audio Sushi, a custom music service in London. Puhleez!
October 27, 2008
Nestling In at 110 Livingston
Who wants to pay top dollar to live near the Brooklyn House of Detention and the perpetual traffic jam approaching the Brooklyn Bridge? Lots of folks, in fact, and this week the NY Times' Habitat column checks in on a couple living in what they see as their oasis, at 110 Livingston St (after selling one of the condos in the old Board of Ed building). "The building has a courtyard where Rosalie can play with other children on nice afternoons. There is a well-equipped gym where Mr. Winters can fit in a quick run on the treadmill almost daily, which he considers a blessing," they write. "With views all the way to the distant F train on the elevated tracks over the Gowanus Canal, the apartment is filled with sunlight." Others must feel similarly. At least according to Streeteasy, there are no rentals or sales left.
Finding the Best Side of Downtown Brooklyn [NY Times]
October 15, 2008
Interiors: Small Spaces in Prospect Heights
Welcome to our new interiors feature. The week, Framework Architecture designs a wall to help organize a small apartment on a $50,000 budget. Got a project you'd like us to publish? Send us some photos and a note.
The project consisted of the removal of a wall separating kitchen and living room, the removal of kitchen appliances and finishes, and complete renovation of the bathroom. We left the wood flooring, but stained it to contrast with the wood slatted wall. Joe's Wall, as we called it, was used as the organizing element of the space. It was used to display the owner's artwork at the entry, to store his food by the kitchen, and to store his clothing in the living area. The wall also expands to create a space for the bed, giving the sleeping area a bit of separation and privacy. To keep millwork cost down, we used Ikea wardrobes, but replaced their doors with wood slats laminated to MDF. The custom doors made the wardrobes integral with Joe's Wall. The kitchen and medicine cabinet are also from Ikea.
NY Mag Tackles Home Design
Fort Greene backyards, Williamsburg roof havens — NY Mag's home design issue finds enviable outdoor and indoor spots in Brooklyn to profile. Check out this slideshow of a Fort Greene duplex, purchased and made over by a reluctant-to-leave-Manhattan resident; he created a backyard "built for entertaining" and "made the space an extension of his living room with a big dining table and a chair that hangs from a tree limb (only to be used by very lightweight visitors)." The Williamsburg roof, however, is actually home to the pigeons.
The Country in the City [NY Mag]
Photo by kevinbondelli.
October 9, 2008
Interiors: Expanding the Space But Not the Debt
Our own Wasder has sent in his notes and photos on what he calls "the great experiment in cutting monthly outlay while increasing living space." If you have a tale-of-the-interior, let us know.
Hey Brownstoners: I spent the first half of this year trying to figure out how to get my growing family more space while at the same time reducing my monthly outlay. My family and I have been living in a two-bedroom coop on Clinton Ave and wanted to stay in the neighborhood, but we had clearly outgrown our apartment and houses in Clinton Hill are quite expensive as you have seen documented here. Anyway, after reading (but not posting) on Brownstoner for many months I joined the conversation. To my surprise, there were many people like myself who were similarly trying to expand their living space without putting themselves in the poor house. So this is my story of how I made it work for me and my family.
Continue reading "Interiors: Expanding the Space But Not the Debt"
October 6, 2008
Interiors: From Warehouse to Warm
Got an interior design project to publish? Send us a note.
Jared Cohee, principal of 20Seven Design, took an old musical instrument manufacturing warehouse in South Williamsburg and transformed it into a two-bedroom apartment. "I basically started with a blank slate," he says, "The budget was not endless, but the clients were open to spending money when the right opportunity presented itself." Those opportunities included one-of-a-kind pieces like a coffee table made from Cohee's design. The aesthetic was minimalist but livable. "We saved splashes of bolder color for the office (second bedroom) and in the small bathroom, with a textured and rich wallpaper on one accent wall, to compliment the otherwise white and metal modern design styles."
September 30, 2008
Interiors: Sleek and Minimal on Sterling
Welcome to our new interiors feature. The week, the transformation of a featureless 800-square-foot two-bedroom on Sterling Place into a sleek, minimalist and comfortable place for two architects and their burgeoning family. Got a project you'd like us to publish? Send us some photos and a note.
Leone Design Studio describes the layout of their apartment as a "box with a tail," re-conceived as a loft-like living area: kitchen, living/dining area and office nook wrapping a flexible space defined by open bookshelves that maximize sunlight. The flex space is used as a sleeping room, playroom and den, with Japanese futons stored in a specially designed nook. The palette is simple and bright: white acrylic for the bathroom door and white lacquer for the cabinetry. Oak floors were stained a dark walnut, to set off the white. The ceiling over the entry hall was dropped make main living space ceilings feel higher.
September 22, 2008
Interiors: Affordable and Attractive
All units in Morris Manor are studios and are furnished and include kitchenettes, full bathroom, soloar shades and ceiling fans (Brian Rose)
Welcome to installment #2 of Brownstoner Interiors (okay, in this case, a bit of exterior, too). We're publishing interiors from Brooklyn architects, designers, renovation buffs and handy/artsy types. If you have a project you'd be interested in publishing, please send us a note.
Harden + Van Arnam is a Brooklyn Heights-based firm specializing in affordable projects...not that you'd know it from the look of them. "We use affordable materials detailed in a way that makes our buildings look like anything but 'low-income housing,'" says Cindy Harden. "We also provide fixtures and finishes that one would expect in market rate projects."
HVA has been in business since 1989. Harden is the former architectural director of the Pratt Architectural Collaborative and Van Arnam, a Pratt graduate, has been a general contractor; both have been long interested in housing issues, and the great majority of their work is for non-profits.
One trade secret for making affordable housing attractive includes large windows and higher floor-to-floor heights than often used. "They give our buildings a great sense of scale," says Harden. "We believe that if you treat people with dignity and respect they will respond likewise and they do. We also believe that everyone has the right to a safe, dignified and beautiful home." Below, she speaks on designing for specific populations, community opposition to affordable housing, dealing with the DOB and green design, and you'll see photos of two of their projects: Morris Manor, on Newkirk and Flatbush Avenues, and Red Hook Homes, developed by the Fifth Avenue Committee on Wolcott and Coffey Streets.
September 15, 2008
Interiors: Boerum Hill Townhouse in Shades of Red & Gray
Grey wall, Jackie O and Paul Rudolph photos, CB2 rug, Ikea pillows, Target enhanced pillows, white on white table, smith and noble solar shades
Welcome to another new feature here on Brownstoner. In addition to our new Green on Brownstoner posts, we're publishing interiors from Brooklyn architects, designers, renovation buffs and handy/artsy types. If you have a project you'd be interested in publishing, please send us a note. And now, Interiors #1:
The principals at Brooklyn-based Bouratoglou Architect, PC renovated their own three-story Boerum Hill 1860s row house and oversaw its construction. It had been owned by the same woman for 50 years and needed a massive overhaul, and a green one at that (a list of green materials used is on the jump). Jill Bouratoglou had been designing a green curriculum for New York City Technical College called “Sustainability through Architecture," and her neighbor was Lori Bongiorno, author of Green, Greener, Greenest, so she was well-prepared. She describes the aesthetic as "a mix of expensive and IKEA, eBay and found items." Soft grays are interrupted with bursts of orange and red, solid walls are interrupted by flashes of pattern. Look for Purl Soho bedding, homemade curtains, Eames wall decals, Chiasso carpets and even a couple of things from CB2 in the photos. She even hand-embroidered Target pillow. She says, "After a two week trip to Seattle over Christmas, I came back and selected the paint colors. Maybe it was 14 days of gray weather, but I selected five shades of gray along with a matte black for the handrails. I selected wallpaper from Cole and Son with shades of grays and black, screened from England. In areas where the walls are gray, the adjoining walls sometimes appear another shade of gray depending on the daylight, and then sometime they are just super white as painted. The play of grays throughout the house, become darker in the master bathroom, become more silver on the top floor as the light penetrates through the oval skylight."
Continue reading "Interiors: Boerum Hill Townhouse in Shades of Red & Gray"
August 13, 2008
An Inside Look at the Masonic Temple
Jacob Blickenstaff, a blogging music photographer, sent us these images of the Masonic Temple, that beautiful and mysterious building that happens to be located across the street from the Brooklyn Flea. Like so many once grand religious institutions, this one seems to be in its faded glory days but gorgeous nontheless. You can see the full gallery here.
May 27, 2008
Where's the Smallest, Coolest Apartment? Fort Greene
Every year, interior design blog Apartment Therapy holds its Smallest, Coolest Apartment contest, soliciting submissions from creative apartment dwellers across the globe. The 2008 winner? A couple residing in a 460-square-foot studio in Fort Greene. Pretty impressive!
Tony and Hilary's 3 in 1 Studio [Apartment Therapy]
Call the Apartments Cozy... [Daily News]
January 2, 2008
Sourcing House Parts: Remodelista's Best of '07
Interiors blog Remodelista has a great year-end round-up of fixture picks, from hooks to lamps to doorknobs. Also in the mix: Environmentally-friendly countertops. Well worth a look for anyone thinking of sprucing up the homestead in 2008. Any items that aren't on their lists that should be?
December 4, 2006
Beadboard and the Meaning of Life
The Times raised an issue last week that's up there with global warming and world peace: the appropriateness of beadboard. First, a little history:
Beadboard began as the Victorian equivalent of Formica, a millwork sheathing used only for rustic retreats, and for kitchens, back halls and other rooms hidden from public view. Because it was made from scraps, it was inexpensive, and it could be installed by practically anyone. Beadboard is milled with a thin ridge or tongue on one edge and a groove on the opposite edge so that the panels fit together easily.
After years of being relegated to the country house, the "lumberyard’s answer to blue jeans" is taking urban homes by storm. We generally like it but think it should be used in moderation in the city, with bathrooms being the obvious place. Kitchens can work, too. What do you think? Hot or not-so-hot?
Room to Improve [NY Times]
June 29, 2006
Before Brownstones: A Loft Remembered
Apartment Therapy's post on this East Williamsburg loft (above) made us a little nostalgic for our former place in Chinatown. In early 2000, we rented an 1,800-square-foot raw loft above Ferrara's on Grand Street. The views on three sides from the sixth floor were amazing and the concrete floor and 12-foot vaulted ceilings made for a great party space. We had to build the entire place out on a budget of $20,000, which on an amortized basis added about $500 a month to the $3,000 rent over the three and a half years we lived there. At the time, there were plenty of frustrating things about living in such a raw space. As time passes, however, the memories get more and more romanticized. As they should.
Elliott and Mark Adapt, Live & Work [Apartment Therapy]
March 8, 2006
WSJ Top Picks for Internet Sourcing
The Wall Street Journal recently listed its go-to choices for home design and renovation web sites. We reprint the list below, with the names in each category ranked in descending order of expense (i.e., the most expensive name comes first):
Antiques
1stdibs.com
florianpapp.com
greatstuffbypaul.com
Art and Decoration
dogpainting.com
mossonline.com
oceanstore1.com
Paint
citronpaint.com
devinecolor.com
ellenkennon.com
Wallpaper & Fabric
flavorleague.com
interiormall.com
silktrading.com
Decorators Name Names [Wall Street Journal]
February 13, 2006
Brownstoner Pals' Basement Bar in Brooklyn
Imagine our surprise when we cracked the Post's real estate section this weekend and saw our friends' basement speakeasy profiled as evidence of some kind of trend in home bars. When Jeff Krasnow, who co-owns music label Velour, and Schuyler Grant, the brains and the body behind Kula Yoga in Tribeca, bought their ground floor condo in Williamsburg's Smith Gray building four years ago, they made the most of their windowless but rather large basement by turning it into a bar-slash-music space. And while we suspect that the reporter may have exaggerated the frequency with which the now-parents tear it up in the hang-out room, we can attest to the fact that it is a much nicer place to unwind than most bars. Then again, we can't remember the last time we made it out to a bar.
The Pour Houses [NY Post]
November 14, 2005
Evolution of a Red Hook Loft
We can't get enough of these renovation tales--like this Red Hook loft redo by a couple of creative folks--but are always left feeling a little lacking ourselves by how how neat and tidy this stuff ends up sounding when it's packaged in an article and tied up with a bow. We guess that's why they call it real estate porn--it's missing some of the messy details that make the actual act so much more real when you're doing it yourself.
His-and-Her Loft Story [NY Times]
October 27, 2005
Period Wallcoverings Out the Wazoo
Here's a neat source for period wall coverings, specifically lincrusta and anaglypta. The website, FYHome.com, has by far the biggest selection decorative materials for Victorian period restorations that we've seen, including borders, panels and friezes. We've never ordered anything from them, but sure would be curious to hear feedback from anyone who has. How about other sources for this stuff?
Lincrusta and Anaglypta Collection [FYHome.com]
October 24, 2005
Look Back: Turn of Century Bedford Stuyvesant
Here's a photo from 1897 of the view from the stoop of 340 Gates Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant looking towards Bedford Avenue. We're a little surprised that the iron fence is not a little more ornate. It looks like the fence one house over might be made of wood, doesn't it?
Bedford Stuyvesant [Brooklynpix.com] GMAP
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Superfine
added December 2, 2008 11:59 AM in Dumbo -
Tillie's of Brooklyn
added December 1, 2008 12:00 PM in Fort Greene -
Provence en Boite
added November 26, 2008 11:58 AM in Boerum Hill -
Melt
added November 25, 2008 12:02 PM in Park Slope -
The Farm on Adderley
added November 24, 2008 12:00 PM in Ditmas Park -
Chez Lola
added November 21, 2008 12:02 PM in Clinton Hill -
Nana
added November 20, 2008 12:02 PM in Park Slope -
Pomme de Terre
added November 19, 2008 12:01 PM in Ditmas Park -
Scopello
added November 18, 2008 12:01 PM in Fort Greene -
DiFara
added November 17, 2008 11:59 AM in Midwood