hollander's Profile
Author's Posts
August 14, 2008
Window decoration stores in Brooklyn
Hi Brownstoners,
Do you have any recommendations for me for stores in Brooklyn that make good blinds (both wooden and fabric). Also, any idea of what looks nice in bay windows?
Much appreciated!
August 13, 2008
Looking for a door "thingy"
I'm converting pocket-doors to double hallway doors (that swing into the living room). I need the appropriate hardware and would like to have one door fixed with 2 latch/thingys (top and bottom) so that I can use the other door, except when moving larger things through the opening. Not sure what those types of latches are called and where I could get them. Any suggestions? The Rejuvenation website does not carry them
July 21, 2008
Color-b(l)ind
We are looking for suggestions on the following: we are picking out colors for painting ceilings and woodwork (casings, etc.). We tried Benjamin-Moore's "white-dove" on the ceiling but it looks kind of brown-ish. We are now considering B-M's "ceiling white". Our contractor told us that generally, people use the same color of the ceiling on their woodwork. Does anyone have thoughts on this and/or suggestions for what off-white would work for our woodwork? We have a variety of colors for the walls, including a light apricot, a light grey/blue, and a pale yellow for different rooms in the house. Thanks
April 13, 2008
Garden Advice
We need quite a bit of help with our garden and are clueless as to where to start. The garden needs to be regraded, a wooden fence needs to be installed, a tree pruned and we would like to put some grass and some stones. Can one company do all of this? Can anyone give me a recommendation?
Thank you for your help!
January 4, 2008
Steam boiler
It looks like my steam boiler (Burnham) is leaking steam. In case I need to replace it, does anyone have recommendations and insights into costs for a new boiler and good installer? Thx
November 4, 2007
Stripping Door Hardware
We are having our doors stripped and removed the door hardware in the process. What is the best way to strip door hardware? Any advice appreciated!
Author's Comments
We had our facade repointed last year and are very happy with the results. I think the cost was about $7,000 (but am not sure). We used Amin home improvement (718-930-7025). We liked hime because a) he did quality work b) he was always on time and c) the crew always left the work place clean.
Posted by: hollander at September 22, 2008 1:10 PM in response to RePointing a 150 Year old Brownstone
great - thanks to all! I think I found what I was looking for!
Posted by: hollander at August 13, 2008 2:53 PM in response to Looking for a door "thingy"
Dave - thanks for the link, but can't find what I'm looking for there either. The "thingy" is closer to a bolt, but sits on the inside of the door (where both doors meet, so it's flat, with a small indent that you can move up/down to open/close). Probably not doing a great job explaining, but any help would be appreciated...
Posted by: hollander at August 13, 2008 1:04 PM in response to Looking for a door "thingy"
Curtain question,
Our house has a couple of bay windows. They don't portrude a lot, but there is definitely a small triangle of three windows. My question is: How do you solve the curtain question? You can't hang a straight rod, three seperate rods look strange also. How have you solved the problem?
Posted by: hollander at August 11, 2008 9:29 AM in response to Extermination Advise
The quote we received from DeGamba was twice we ended up paying for the wood stripping of our house. The guys we used are reachable at 646 420 6572 (I am embarrased to say that the name is escaping me). We were very happy with them.
Posted by: hollander at July 22, 2008 12:00 PM in response to Woodstrippers around Park Slope
We looked at homeannex.com, and homeclick.com, but heard less than flattering things about returns, timing of shipments, etc. In the end, we worked with Park Slope Plumbing (on 5th ave around 17th street) and were quite satisfied since we had a lot of things (all delivered free and in one go if I recall correctly) and price worked out to be within 5% of online, plus we could go to someone to talk/complain about things. They don't have a great showroom, so it is better to do your research etc online and in HD Expo, etc. and then ask them to give you a quote based on the items you like.
Posted by: hollander at July 21, 2008 5:36 PM in response to Where to buy toilets, sinks, faucets, etc.
Thank you all for the advice,
Tinarina, we will get a sample, good idea.
Mrs Limestone, do you have a recommendation for an offwhite you like?
Posted by: hollander at July 21, 2008 12:46 PM in response to Color-b(l)ind
Also, for that price, would you not want a garden?
Posted by: hollander at July 14, 2008 1:58 PM in response to House of the Day: 615 2nd Street
As the previous post said, you get what you pay for. In the bidding process we had Perfect renovation do a bid and really did not get a good feeling.
The reason why I recommend ALL Renovation is because everyone always complains about their GC and I have found one that we are extremely happy with, so I figure, share the wealth!
As for charging for a bid, we were not charged, however, ALL spent at least 5 hours with us discussing the process and they were the only ones to give us a detailed broken down estimate.
Posted by: hollander at July 10, 2008 10:43 AM in response to contractor for kitchen and bathroom (park slope)
We are in the middle of a reno and highly recommend:
http://www.allrenovation-ny.com
Posted by: hollander at July 9, 2008 12:58 PM in response to contractor for kitchen and bathroom (park slope)
The contractor we are currently using has an architect and engineer. I think they also do quotos for renovations. We are in the middle of a renovation with them and are very happy with them. They advertise on the banner: Allrenovation.
Posted by: hollander at June 30, 2008 11:34 AM in response to Renovation Estimates Pre-purchase
An open trap with peanut butter works like a charm. (after you have sealed all the cracks!). I know it is mean, but our mice just laughed at the cheese.
Posted by: hollander at June 9, 2008 2:58 PM in response to Good exterminator for mice problem
OP
I appreciate that you took the time to post your experience. At the least it will make future clients cautious. Please don't get discouraged from posting your experiences.
Posted by: hollander at May 7, 2008 5:02 PM in response to Bad Brooklyn Contractors
Is that floor plan correct? It seems weird that both bathrooms are only accessible through the bedrooms. What do the people of the remaining bedrooms do?
Posted by: hollander at March 26, 2008 2:16 PM in response to House of the Day: 106 Park Place
Mrs Limestone,
beautiful work! I actually like the color of the walls.
I also honestly admire your ability to blog and arrange the pictures. I have been having a difficult time with how to upload pictures nicely, any pointers for me?
Posted by: hollander at March 18, 2008 3:51 PM in response to Guest bathroom - abbiamo finito!
we had a lot of woodstripping done a couple of months ago. The guys we used were fantastic, quick, cheap and clean. Their price was about half of other quotes we received. I don't have their info handy but will dig for it tonight and post it later.
Posted by: hollander at February 21, 2008 10:58 AM in response to 4 story limestone restoration
South Stuy Blog
I have a technical question for you. I want to start out writing on the renoblogs and have a blog set up (Holland House Reno) but for the life of me can't figure out how to upload text and pictures and get started. Any tips for me??
Thank you!
Posted by: hollander at February 8, 2008 10:18 AM in response to Stripping......the door
Mrs Limestone
Thank you again for sharing your house with us! You have great taste!
Question, would you mind telling me what faucet this is (in the pictures). I was looking for something like that to put on a Kohler Memoir sink.
Thank you!!
Posted by: hollander at January 26, 2008 10:20 AM in response to Little things
Thank you Mrs Limestone, that helps.
Unfortunately restoring the tin ceiling was not an option as we changed the dimensions of the space, so we are re-installing new ones. We are a little disappointed with how difficult it is in the end to keep original detail... plaster molding etc..
Thank you again!
Posted by: hollander at January 23, 2008 1:06 PM in response to Kitchen Progress Heats Up
Mrs Limestone,
I am very much enjoying your renovation. We are going through something similar and it is good to see what a place can look like!
Where did you get your countertop? I don't know where to start.
One more question: We are looking to have built in ceiling lights like you have. Do you think we could build them into tin ceiling, or would that look funny?
I appreciate your thoughts!
Posted by: hollander at January 23, 2008 10:50 AM in response to Kitchen Progress Heats Up
Thank you for your quick response. I think we need to take some action here. In your view how much does a "diagnostic" aprx cost? Is this something we contact you with?
Thank you again!
Posted by: hollander at January 21, 2008 7:19 PM in response to Reposting boiler and heating information
Master Plumber.
We have steam heating and we are not sure whether we should call a plumber. The problem is that the tank refills automatically very frequently (sometimes every hour). We looked around the house for a place where steam could be leaking but could not find one. Do you think the fact that the tank needs a refill so often is a problem? Do you think this is costing us a lot of money? (heating bill wise)
Thank you so much for your insight!
Posted by: hollander at January 21, 2008 5:39 PM in response to Reposting boiler and heating information
I don't think so (we purchased the property early last year and it looked approx 5 years old). Anyway, I had someone look at it, and it may be the case that it was only the pressure relief valve (after seeing you point it out in the video...) that didn't close properly. That sounds a lot less expensive than a new heating element or boiler...Thanks!
Posted by: hollander at January 4, 2008 2:56 PM in response to Steam boiler
Thank you for the advice! I will try both methods!
Posted by: hollander at November 4, 2007 10:27 PM in response to Stripping Door Hardware
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
Some advise from my wife [who has been driving me crazy about paint color choices during a painting job ending--I hope-- today]:
1. Do VERY large test patches on more than one surface
2. Examine the test areas using both daylight and the normal room lights (i.e, if you've removed glass from light fixtures, replace it before deciding if you like the color.
To these I'd like to add, when your husband says "it doesn't matter to me" please believe him :-)
Posted by: Bob Marvin at July 21, 2008 4:56 PM in response to Color-b(l)ind
Just make sure you have your choices delivered in time so you don't hold up the contractor. Many things, tile and fixtures, are "special order." Get them delivered beforehand.
Posted by: hoffy at July 21, 2008 8:43 PM in response to Where to buy toilets, sinks, faucets, etc.
I just went out to Home and Stone on Coney Island Ave and they have a good selection. Their website is also very extensive. I picked out several faucets, fixtures and sinks and then came home and checked prices against several websites like homeclick and designer plumbing outlet and Home and Stone's prices were the same if not better. Have not ordered from them yet, but plan to, so I can't speak to the whole process but they were helpful in the store.
Posted by: erins at July 22, 2008 1:58 PM in response to Where to buy toilets, sinks, faucets, etc.
joe salem form woodozone did the stripping and refinishing along with lots of repairs and replacement of some wood in my apt. in park slope. I had him come in to finish the mess that was started by some else.. it took a little longer than expected but in the end it came out great . his # 718-755-6527.
Posted by: rano at July 22, 2008 2:42 PM in response to Woodstrippers around Park Slope
I concur with the recommendations of Joe Salem at Woodzone. Reasonably priced. Good work. He stripped doors and window casings for us, and finished/restored newels.
Posted by: brooklynrulz at July 22, 2008 3:09 PM in response to Woodstrippers around Park Slope
I purchased my Toto toilet through http://www.homeclick.com, it came via Fed Ex packaged well, no breakage/cracks. Shipping was free.
For my farm sink I purchased it through Ebay..from a storefront called BlueBath
Faucets I purchased from Overstock.com
Granite Tile- I purchased from Quality Tile in the Bronx.
Posted by: bellcynt at July 22, 2008 5:11 PM in response to Where to buy toilets, sinks, faucets, etc.
We used Benjamin Moore Opalescent on the walls and a cooler white- I think called Ice White on the ceiling-love it.
Posted by: lan at July 22, 2008 8:04 PM in response to Color-b(l)ind
South slope woodworkers on 3rd ave are very good. Ask for a guy named Dean.
Posted by: sebb at July 23, 2008 1:07 AM in response to Woodstrippers around Park Slope
Take a deep breath. Just get an exterminator to do a thorough job there and either get him in regularly or figure out a plan to do it yourself. This is part of being a landlord. People aren't perfect. And people who demand perfection from you can be very annoying. Good luck and keep your sense of humor.
Posted by: donatella at August 11, 2008 11:28 AM in response to Extermination Advise
By the way, I made a post recently about Guido Amati from Bravo Exterminating. He can help you get the situation under control.
Posted by: donatella at August 11, 2008 11:29 AM in response to Extermination Advise
I would recommend All Renovation (http://www.allrenovationllc.com.) They renovated our home and are very professional and good guys and the work is of high quality.
Posted by: hollander at March 18, 2009 2:52 PM in response to Help me to find a proficient con