Crown Heights Reno

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November 16, 2006

a peek inside: the ground floor

originally i thought i would make one big post,
a kind of walking tour of the house as we bought it,
but have decided that you could get bored and i might burn out,
so instead i'll be dividing it in to into a post per floor...

this is the ground floor entry looking out towards the street,
you can see a bit of the gate and the door to the "under the steps" storage area which was a truly gross situation...
g/ did an amazing job clearing it out;
disposing of the debris entailed waiting for sanitation bulk pick up (somewhere around 6:30 am, 2 weeks in a row) and loading it in ourselves.
in the back we also had 2 extra refrigerators and a washing machine, we intended to put those out for recycling but found there was a "junk man" who came around, just ahead of the recycling truck and picked stuff up, so we made arrangements for him to take it away instead

this room (and the one between it and the current kitchen, no pix yet) will be g/'s space, even though it is the ground floor, it gets beautiful light.
there are no set plans for it at the moment and it will probably be one of the last areas completed

one of the kitchens
yes it is ugly, no i didn't style it before i took the picture
g/ actually still finds this the most depressing part of the house
but (one fine day), it will be part of my studio,
there are 2 windows and a door going out into the garden (and what will be the rest of the studio)
at the very least i will open the windows down to the floor, but how much structural support is required (and at what cost) will determine how much of the back wall gets opened up.

the house has no C of O but it is designated as a 2 family and we intend to keep it zoned that way.
the kitchen (which will be shared by our studios) for what can be considered the "second" unit will move to an area to the left of this room
and there is an existing bathroom beyond that which will get a face lift
btw, that big pot on the stove is not some marvelous stew, it's my attempt at getting some moisture back into the air. as i mentioned the boiler is quite old and there is no humidifying system on it, when the heat goes on it is dangerously dry, but this is a whole other topic...

the steps leading up to the parlor floor...

n.b.
if you haven't figured it out already, i take a lot of pictures, and one of the hardest things for me in putting this all together is realizing all the images i am missing. i am keeping notes of what i want to shoot and show you at a later date, but if there is anything you want to see that i've left out, leave a comment and i'll try to accommodate you.

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Comments

RE: Dry air in the house
Try putting water in a glass jar near the raidtors. It seems to work fairly well and it will clear up a burner on your stove....

Posted by: Anonymous at November 17, 2006 10:37 AM

Dry is good in the basement. I get lots of waterbugs when it gets too humid. Careful with that french door with the painted glass. Also there might be pocket doors in that jamb, if not probably space for them. So much paint everywhere..argh!....
Careful with running the windows to the floor, if you get too close to the ground you may get water infultration..damage, termites etc...
Beautiful house.... GOOD LUCK!!!

Posted by: tom at November 17, 2006 1:19 PM

Your photographs are really great - they give a good feeling - very well composed - can tell that you like your house - keep em coming - the more the merrier - makes me wonder what you're not showing us.

Did you find this through a broker...was it on Craigslist ?

Best of luck with everything.

Posted by: Jealous at November 17, 2006 9:30 PM

@ tom
thanks, yes dry is good in the basement, (especially when you want to use it for painting storage!!!) and re: pocket doors - we have excavated on the parlour floor, so far, just the space, no hidden treasures)

@ jealous
nice to have the photos appreciated, my main trick with them is the skew tool, getting those lines (close to) parallel helps a lot for architecture
and yes, it was a craigs list find!

Posted by: neene at November 18, 2006 12:42 AM

Thanks for Craigslist confirmation - it was a sheer curiosity for me. I thought I remembered seeing it on CL, got a good vibe from it at the time. Your pics confirming my instincts. Delighted to see it popping up here.

Can I ask how you feel about the transition from loft style living ? from manhattan ?

We're two loft residing artists here, living in the city last 20 yrs, in a super convenient spot, thinking of making the change ouselves - judging by what I remember the price of the house to be, we have probably a similar or close budget to yours - not sure if we will be able to cope :)

Posted by: Jealous at November 18, 2006 1:33 PM

@jealous
email me: littlemerry at gmail dot com and i'll be happy to discuss this further

Posted by: ms. crown heights reno at November 18, 2006 2:45 PM

VERY impressed with the meticulous photo details and commentary! We are currently remodeling a home from 1901. Wish I could be as organized and thorough!
Nice work! Thanks for sharing. You should be proud!

Posted by: guest at January 17, 2008 5:03 PM