Crown Heights Reno

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November 25, 2006

finally we'll have a guest room: the third 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.

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Comments

I love the guest room colors! Maybe you SHOULD leave them.

Posted by: dt at November 26, 2006 11:55 AM

People love to toss around the term "gut reno" for any old building that requires some work, but that's obviously not what your house needs or what you are planning for it -- despite Brownstoner's intro from the main reno page. Your house appears to be in wonderful condition top to bottom, and there's certainly no need for gutting anything. (Although I would probably tone down those paint colors.)

Posted by: anon at November 26, 2006 7:04 PM

honestly, i don't believe i am "tossing around" the term

i understood a gut renovation to mean one where the "guts" of the house (as opposed to the "skin") are completely redone (i.e. the mechanicals). we will be replacing the heating system (possibly moving from forced air to hot water and adding a/c), completely redoing the electric and replacing most of the plumbing). The one thing that is (thankfully) sound are the beams.

as far as whether or not there is a "need" for "gutting", that is dictated by how we will be using the space:
we will live in half the house (the top two floors)
the other half (the ground floor and the basement) will be our work spaces.
so
while it is true that we will be leaving the majority of the parlor floor and one bedroom intact,
the scope of work entails:
ripping out 2 kitchens and building 2 new ones from scratch (we will be maintaining 2-family use),
building 1 new bathroom and completely renovating 2.5,
combining 2 rooms on the top floor to create 1,
basically gutting the ground floor to create 2 work spaces (with an eye to keeping as much of the detail in the front room as possible).
ripping out everything in the basement and possibly digging out a portion of it.
building a 400 sq ft studio extension with a deck on top
and replacing about 2/3s of the flooring in the house

it might not qualify as a total "gut" but i believe it's a little more involved than "toning down" some colors

Posted by: ms. crown heights reno at November 26, 2006 8:05 PM

Your post was about paint colors, so a comment about toning down the paint was on-topic and not a slight on what else you're doing with the building.

Call it a "gut" job, if you like, even if it's not accurate given the work you describe. Gutting is a pejorative term in the context of historic buildings and implies a far more invasive approach (either by design or necessity.) Removing walls and changing kitchens, baths, and floor plans isn't exactly the same as taking an entire building down to the studs.

In a room full of old house lovers, you would get one reaction by simply saying you were gutting your house. And quite another reaction if you said you were restoring, renovating and updating.

Posted by: Anonymous at November 27, 2006 9:04 AM

tearing out that wall is probably going to be a beam and column job as it is no doubt a load bearing wall. Too bad you are ripping all those mouldings out..and the fire place? that too?
The shutters you should take out and have dipped. That is the easiest and quickest way to deal with them. doing it by hand will drive you mad!

Posted by: Tom at November 27, 2006 10:03 AM

@ Anonymous 9:04 AM
let's agree to disagree on the "gut" issue
it wasn't a term i would normally use but it kept getting thrown back at me as i was describing the scope of the work to various professionals

as far as the topic of the post goes, it is NOT about paint color, that was just a little nod to the previous residents of the house, the post is about what currently exists on the top floor and the work we will be doing to it

@ tom
let me clarify,
the blue room will stay totally intact
the direction from which the photos were taken was perhaps confusing,
the wall that is coming out is between the yellow room and the orange and it does not appear to be load bearing.
the moldings in the orange room are not in good shape and we will probably lose that fireplace,
as mentioned the master bedroom is going to be very different from the rest of the house

the shutters are going to need a bit of repairing and refitting as well, will definitely look into dipping as soon as we figure out how much other paint removal we will be doing.

Posted by: ms. crown heights reno at November 27, 2006 12:10 PM

If the wall is runs in the direction from the front of the house to the back of the house (perpendicular to the front wall or back wall) then it is usually load bearing, the beams run side to side and this wall bears their load.

Posted by: Tom at November 27, 2006 4:48 PM

It's tough out there for a reno blogger ;)

Posted by: Brownstoner at November 27, 2006 4:52 PM

Ms. Crown Heights, what is the length and width of your house?

Posted by: Anonymous at November 27, 2006 8:40 PM

Hi, I've just come across your renovation and I'm really pleased you spent the time documenting this. Congratulations on your house and your work. I'm very impressed. We own a 2 family on Lincoln Place in Crown Heights and have spent the last 2 years renovating it. That means 2 new kitchens, 2 new baths, moving walls and radiators around, rewire & replumb 2 floors, new windows, new roof, etc. There's still lots to do but we have 1 floor complete, one nearly complete and a basement that's clean but needs a serious electrical upgrade like we did upstairs.

Posted by: BrooklynWanderer at January 26, 2007 12:19 PM

Hi people! Great job!

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Posted by: HelgD at April 11, 2007 11:30 PM