Crown Heights Reno: house

there were times when i thought it might never happen
but…
we have a contractor
and
we have approved plans
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

demo plans,

elevations,

it’s a little strange right now
on every surface there is either
an “X”
a “remove & save”
or
a “do not touch”

all those XXXs tug at my heart strings

but this is a little promise of what’s to come:

the kitchen:
all bright & airy with glass & aluminum and some really light patterny wood

parental guidance warning:
if you don’t like a bit of personal introspection served up with your reno blog,
skip this post, imho process doesn’t come in only one flavor

for me, the hardest thing about this whole endeavor has to do with process.
i might be a visual person, but i am “additive” by nature.
i am a collector and a collagist,
i build paint up, i scrape it off,
and i never have an inkling of how something will resolve itself,
until it does,
i never have a clue of how a painting will look in the end.
(in this way my process is like that of a sculpturer,
whose approach is to reveal the form “hidden” within the material they are working with.

well,
unless you have VERY deep pockets,
nothing resembling this approach works in a renovation…
here the goal is to envision as much as possible in advance.
this means having an understanding of what the relationships between
the various textures, colors and forms you are using will be,
before you actually see them together.
so that you have all the materials that you will need
ready at the precise moment they are required for installation

when this works
you get a 1+1=3 situation;
the beauty of each element separately
and then the additional “aaahhhhhhhhhh” when they are put together.
for me,
this is the moment that tells me a painting is “finished”
sometimes i can’t even see it for months
and never until i physically move the work out of the studio
often,
i am as surprised as the next person to see what i have made

so,
this concept of starting from a place of understanding
how it will all fit together at some (very undefined) point in the future,
is not a place where i live:
and it’s a place that is scary for me

example: “tile”
a subset of the larger concept known as “floor”
(and to some extent: “wall”)
i mean, how do you make sense of all this beauty…

most of these are pure fantasy for me
(as in: glass tile tends to run $40/sq. ft)
fantasy and inspiration
but i have to immerse myself in it
in order to understand what i am looking at,
what i respond to
and what i really want to live with
nb: that white with red is only $4.50/sq. ft, that’s definitely one bathroom floor

some of the things we’ve considered,
(some of which, thankfully, run between $6-9/sq. ft.)
these are mainly being considered for the ground floor entryway & hallway
and the master bath floor & shower enclosure
we were considering some for the kitchen floor,
but i think we have decided on linoleum there
(softer on the feet and things break, as opposed to shatter, when dropped )

getting a bit more practical and thinking about the edges
looking for simple, inexpensive solutions

all in all i believe we have found some beautiful colors and textures to work with
and it will be a matter of choosing the right
(probably expensive) accents in order to create something special.
but i still feel i need another round of “immersion”
before i can decide on final solutions
and
a big shout out to the bed stuy reno blog
i might even attempt to tile the ground floor bathroom myself
(and really go wild)

all in all it’s like having another medium to learn to work with
i do find that fun
and i do like a challenge

but doesn’t stop with tile;
there’s wood
(and the myriad of details involved with moldings & fixtures & finishing)
wrought iron
(who knew that could be so wonderful AND so confusing)
fabric…

that all have to be resolved individually
and then brought together into a
(and this is the operative word)
cohesive unit

when we last left the basement, it looked like this.

we had decided that one of the things we could take out of the scope of work defined by the architect’s plans would be the basement demo and rebuilding
and g/ figured that when the time came to assess the building’s systems, we would be one step ahead of the game if everything was exposed

while g/ had tackled most of the walls and the ceiling,

we had atlantic contracting (who did our pavement rehab) remove the funky (illegal) bathroom

break up the cement

haul the debris

and dig an exploratory hole to see how far down the foundation went

this was a request from our architect and it’s at least 3′ before the side walls end

sometimes it looked a little creepy down there

and then we decided to bite the bullet and dig down another foot

this will give me double rows of painting racks
and will give g/ a ping pong table (among other things)

happy new year all

it’s time to look at plans,
we had our 3rd meeting with our architect this week
and things are moving along

there weren’t any drawings of the house when we bought it
so here are the basic floor plans:

after our first meeting, this is what he came back with:

starting with the ground floor on the left:
the front 1/2 of this floor is g/s work space which he will be taking on at a later date, so there is not much going on there
the back 1/2 is my studio; this will incorporate what was the ground floor kitchen with the new extension
the stairs that you see on the right wall currently go from the basement to the garden. they will now be inside my studio space allowing easy access to my storage area in the basement
on the left wall in the center, is a simple kitchen and bath; which will serve both our work areas.
the kitchen (aside from being necessary to keep a 2 family designation) will allow us to minimize the size and number of appliances in the main kitchen by giving us a second oven and an extra fridge downstairs.

the parlour floor:
very little is being done to the living room aside from restoring pocket doors and dealing with the ceiling which we still haven’t uncovered, but expect to find in similar condition to what we exposed in the dining room

the bathroom that was on the left back wall will be incorporated into the dining room to create an open kitchen/dining area. what you see above is appliances on the left wall, an island and a dining room table
double doors will open to a deck that will be on top of the studio extension.
in order to maximize natural light coming into the studio, there will be skylights on the right and left of the deck and then along the back end.

the top floor:
we are leaving the front (blue) bedroom as is and putting in a guest bath (with tub) where the 2nd kitchen was.
the middle (yellow) room becomes a dressing room/closet that opens into the bedroom (the orange room).
we will take out the tub in the existing bathroom (along the back left wall) and replace it with a large enclosed shower to create the master bath.

after this week’s meeting, here is where we are at:

ground floor: no real changes except that there will be an open coat closet along the left wall when you walk in. finding a place for this was kind of difficult, i had originally envisioned it on the parlour floor, but it really doesn’t work there.

the parlor floor (detail):

is that flying saucer????
no, that’s the new island;
ovoid and able to seat 6 (counter height) on one side,
it will be the primary kitchen counter surface on the other
it will have 2 round shapes incorporated into it:
a little sink at one end (for washing vegetables)
and inserted into the surface will be an ovoid cutting board
i am thinking maybe blue for the counter top (but no one really knows that yet)

after much deliberation, we nixed the idea of having a formal dining situation.
unfortunately, one of the few things that we didn’t sell when we moved was a great table (3 leaves) & 8 fabulous chairs and now i am not sure they’ll fit in…
but the reality is that we always eat at the counter, and the bulk of our entertaining always seems to be centered in the kitchen.
we will need to have a table that can seat at least 12 for those big dinners, but i am thinking it might be something with a drop leaf that can go against a wall
or hell, my sister-in-law does incredible formal holiday dinners on 2 folding tables

we have also decided to add some sort of light transmitting (to my studio below) detail as a transition between the original house and the new extension, but this is not quite fleshed out yet
the stairs leading down to the garden will be straight, not circular

top floor/bedroom (detail):

in the second round of plans we had the bed centered in the room
(which does not mean centered with respect to the 2 windows)
oriented to be looking out the windows into the garden
it was going to be up against a 3/4 height wall that would act both as the partition between the bedroom and closet area and as a headboard
unfortunately, the room is not wide enough to allow both ample walking space AND end tables. now we are thinking of moving the bed on center with the windows which will create a wide enough passage way on the left side and eliminate the walk-through on the right.
with the next set of drawings, this should be clearer.
we will also have a version with the bathroom moved to where the yellow room is now, creating a bathroom-to-dressing room-to-bedroom flow
and allowing us to open up the bedroom to the full width of the house

the first bit of renovation has been successfully completed.
“strange”
you might say,
“to start with the pavement work,
why not save that till the end,
after all the demolition, etc is completed.?”

basically (and briefly), 2 reasons:
1. we were on notice from our insurance company to repair our pavement
(yes i have read the threads on the forum about brownstoner, if anyone would like to leave an alternate suggestion here, thank you in advance)
2. we had money in eskrow from the seller to cure a previous sidewalk violation

and no,
it wasn’t all that bad
(for some reason i don’t have the plethora of “before” pictures that i thought i did, tho if you’ve seen one crack, you’ve seen them all)
anyway, there was nothing too dramatic going on
nothing like those sculptural buckling tree roots heaving huge blocks of cement out of the ground.

we started out by getting bids from about 3 companies who we saw doing work around the neighborhood
this was actually kind of a juicy job,
since eventually we will be redoing the entire facade & the steps
as to be expected,
the estimates varied wildly;
not only in price,
but by how many days
and whether or not permits would be applied for.

we ended up going with Atlantic Contracting of NY (718-331-7581),
2 people had recommended them in response to a question i posted on the forum
and all i can say is:
thank you
thank you
thank you

from our initial meeting it was clear how knowledgeable and professional they are
and we were not disappointed in any way;
the job went exactly as planned,
we actually got a bit more than what we had contracted for
in the time expected
and there was always someone on-site who was able to address our concerns.

one of the first things we needed to do was check to see if there was enough play to raise the emergency gas shut off valve to the sidewalk height.
(it was sitting in a depression creating not only a trip hazard but also a place for debris to collect)
keyspan wouldn’t come out to do it until we had the sidewalk open,
but alerting them the friday before went a long way towards getting someone on-site on tuesday to take care of this..

even during the breaking up and removal of the old sidewalk,
everything felt well organized,
the dumpster shows up,
it turns out to be exactly the right size
(dashing our hopes of getting rid of a little extra demolition debris that we have accumulated),
and at night it was properly secured to keep people taking advantage of it.

the next step was to trim some of the curbing,
raise some that had become recessed,
remove the wrought iron fence that was in the way of the job
(more on that later)
and lay the wire mesh

every step of the way, it was clear that these guys took a real pride in doing their work carefully and properly, they were a pleasure to watch.

then the ballet started
the dumpster leaves
the cement truck arrives
the boots go on
a bit of antifreeze goes in
(though we REALLY did luck out weather-wise)
the buckets and the wheelbarrows get filled
and the pouring
and the smoothing
and the pouring
and the smoothing
begins

everything is attended to with the utmost care

smooth as glass
how seductive

NOW
the guys stayed until 5 pm, watching over it
and then it was our turn
because WHO can resist virgin cement?
(like the surrounding caution tape is going to stop any mischief makers…)

our neighbor up the block told us he watched his job for 5 hours,
went around the corner to pick up some chinese take-out
came back and…
there was a kid doing the twist in the middle of his new sidewalk
hmmmmmmmmmmmm

g/ did the first watch but had to leave by 7:30
we figured i would need to be on the stoop until 9:30
after that the cement would have cured enough so that no real damage could be done…

so
i called my mom for company
and watched

at about 8:30,
out of the corner of my eye
i see 2 kids
and they start running
full speed down the block
towards the house
about to bust through the tape.
when
at the top of my lungs
from the pit of my stomach
i yelled
“don’t F***ING do that”
they stopped on a dime.
didn’t even look up
and walked out into the street:
me: “thanks”
them: “wha’s that?”
me: “thanks for not doing that”
them: “your welcome”
phew…

but we hadn’t made our mark in it
and i felt weird about that
i tried scratching in a date by the entrance way
but it was so ugly & rough that I smoothed it out

2 emails and a phone call on the subject later
i realized i needed to remedy this
i said to one friend:
“i want to embed something in it”
she says:
“like a bone or something”
(this is why we are friends)
we both decided: heart shape rocks
we both collect them
but mine are all in storage
and hers won’t travel through the phone lines…

what we each added:

left: 2 chains to lock around the vespa;
embedded in the cement
and connected by a metal bar that runs under the wire mesh & the 6″ slab,
they’re not going anywhere

right: beach glass and a heart token

having a really usable basement is actually a big deal for us
and in the course of looking at houses,
i had more than one realtor look at me askance as a result of my unbridled enthusiasm on finding a good one.

For me it means painting storage,
i make a lot of work and this is ALWAYS an issue.
high ceilings and dry were a must.
of course the painting racks will be raised and it will need some dehumidification as well.
(my mantra as i am biking the last 15 uphill minutes home is:
“but i can store my work in the basement,
but i can store my work in the basement,
but i can…)
g/ will also need part of the space for his work
and we can’t wait to have a little “shop”,
a work bench with a table vice figures largely in our dreams

currently the basement is a little chopped up,
this view is at the bottom of the steps looking towards the back of the house

there is a large room that seems to have had clothing closets
but also looks like it was used as a work space

in the back are steps leading up to the garden,
actually right into the space where my studio will be, which will make moving work around much easier than if i had to use the internal stairs.

looking towards the front of the house:

to the left is the boiler room,
the boiler is 50 years old and a monster: probably 6x4x5′,
but it works (haven’t gotten a gas bill yet)
we replaced the filters but its humidifier is completely gone,
the hot water heater is fairly new.

sidebar
does anyone else ever get a metallic taste in their mouth from forced air ?
i had never been aware of this before,
but as soon as we turned the heat on, it hit me
then i also noticed the same thing while visiting my mom over thanksgiving

to the right is a (rather gnarly) bathroom,
3 fixtures (toilet, sink & stall shower), no not legal,
clearly someone was living down here

and straight ahead are the meters
(and the door to the coal chute)

we have started some excavation demolition
while we haven’t found any doors in the pockets upstairs,
we did find a mirror down here:

until we decide if we are going to put walls back up, the studs are staying,
they seem to have been reasonably well executed

but the ceiling was a real patchwork job,
2 great discoveries here however:
the basement is about 8′ high and
the beams are thick and in very good condition,
including where they go into the side walls

all in all no surprises so far, with the exception of the floor
it is not a real slab, the concrete was poured over dirt and is about 1″ thick,
so we will be pouring a new floor:

warning: non-traditional colorz ahead

i am not sure who painted this house
but i do know that the last people to occupy it were a bunch of students,
my guess is it was them.
while the paint is not super carefully applied, the color choices are actually extremely well thought out,
so while they might not be everyone’s “cup o’ tea”, they really are beautiful and deserve a little light.

the top of the stairs (yes, there is a skylight),
to the right is a fairly narrow bathroom with a window.
to the left is a bedroom:

which leads into a small center room with a skylight:

the plan here is to take down the wall between the back bedroom and the center room to create a master bedroom.
we also plan to make a large opening in the wall between the bedroom and the bathroom so that the bathroom feels less cramped.
There will be a glass enclosed shower (no tub) where the entrance to the bathroom is now, we will be closing that off to make this bathroom only accessible from the bedroom.
at the rear of the bedroom there will be a closet/dressing area which will separated by a partial wall

we plan to treat this area very differently than the rest of the house.
it will have a strong asian influence: low furniture, clean lines (no molding), a sliding screen to close the opening between the bedroom and the bathroom.
the idea is to create a “surprise” with this room and to make it feel very private since the rest of the house will be so open.

beyond the middle room is the front bedroom which will be the guest room/cozy (tv) room:

we are not going to do very much here,
i might even leave the colors and add some stenciling in the panels.

we will be restoring the pocket shutters ourselves,
there is a working pocket door (a single) between this room and the middle room that we will also probably restore but which will not be used.

this will become the guest bathroom, it will have a tub (with shower)
it will also have the washer/dryer and the linen closet.

we are planning to treat the parlor floor as more or less one open space
since a lot of our life revolves around food, it is important that the kitchen be a part of the living space
(a configuration that has worked well for us in the past).
we also plan to put a deck on top of my studio build out (on the ground floor)
giving this floor its own outdoor space and helping to create a really open, airy feeling as you look from the front of the house to the back and out on to the deck/garden.
( i don’t have a shot of this floor from that perspective from before starting some exploratory demo and at the moment it’s too cluttered to capture that feeling)

so we continue up the stairs to the “dining room”, looking towards the front of the house

while one of the only large pieces of furniture that we have kept from our prior life is a long dining room table and some really great chairs, we tend towards casual and comfortable and i am not sure it’s going to work to use this room as it was originally conceived; with a traditional dining table in the center of the border

this will be one of the main design challenges: integrating the new kitchen with the “dining area” in way that respects the formal elements already in place but gives us the flexibility that our life style requires

to create the kitchen, we will be removing this bathroom and the dividing wall which unfortunately contains one of the only remaining pocket doors (the others seem to have been removed).
yes
we will reuse the molding, and the doors if possible, though every entry way that had pockets differs in dimension from any other.

looking from the back of the house to the front on the parlor floor

some of the detail in the house
left: this plaster work runs the length of the hallway on this floor and up the stairs to the 3rd floor
right: we love this interior front door, the exterior ones are cr*p. we have seen a possible replacement for them at eddie’s, but they are a little narrow and would require coming in about 3″ on each side.

the stairs going up to the third floor