Brownstoner Reno: June 2005
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June 30, 2005
Removing Linoleum
We finally took up the linoleum that was on the foor of the small rear bedroom on the top floor. Hopefully we'll be able to remove all the old glue without damaging the wood floors.
June 29, 2005
Adding Some Closet Space in the Rental
When we realized that we had failed to give the rental unit enough closet space, we scrambled to build some. We think it works fine in the space--plenty of room in the bedroom still.
June 28, 2005
New Wallpaper for Front Hall
Here's a sample of the new wallpaper that's going in the front hall.
Wallpaper Detail, Feeling Guilty
Here's a detail of the existing wallpaper in the front hall. It's in pretty bad shape and several portions are destroyed, but we still feel a little regretful about removing it, especially because there is lincrusta under much of it. In fact, not restoring the lincrusta is arguably the biggest crime against preservation that we're committing in the whole renovation. We are preserving a well-preserved section of the lincrusta in the staircase from the basement to the parlor floor.
June 27, 2005
Floor Tiles in Rental Bathroom
The floor tiles in the rental bathroom were put in last week--as were the wall tiles.
Score: Five Panel Victorian-era Doors
We're getting down to the wire on finding doors. There are a bunch of beautiful six-panel doors in the house, but there are also 8 or 9 crappy doors that need to be replaced. We found a batch that would work at Demolition Depot, but they want $350 a pop, way too much for us. So we were quite pleased to find of these doors at Moon River Chattel (62 Grand Street, 718-388-1121) on Saturday. Granted, they are 5 panel not 6, but the style of the raised moldings is an exact match and at $75 apiece, we felt like we were paying a reasonable price.
June 24, 2005
Second Floor Closets View: Before and After
Here's a picture we dug up of the closets in the front room of the second floor as they were when we bought the house. As you can see from the bottom photo, these have since been cleared to open the floor up, though the moldings were retained and repurposed around the archway that now leads into the "music room".
June 23, 2005
Ceiling Fans Getting Installed
A shot of a fan getting roughed into one of the bathroom ceilings. Incidentally, we picked the cheapo model from Home Depot. Hope we won't regret it.
Stripping Fireplaces Revealing Fun Surprises
As the stripping of the fireplaces has continued, we've started to see more and more interesting details. In the case of the mantel in the front Parlor, this includes a lovely brass ornament around the fireplace. We love it!
June 21, 2005
Shelving To Accommodate A/C Boxes
To hide ugly interior A/C units, we're boxing out spaces in the wall to recess them, and will then cover with salvaged grills. In the music room, we are building a long shelf that incorporates the A/C box (furthest section to the right).
June 20, 2005
Grouting the Wall Tiles
These wall tiles have been grouted with white grout and we're not sure we like the effect. Should we go over it with some darker grout to get some contrast or not? The rest of the bathrooms are still ungrouted.
Decisions, Decisions: What Color Grout?
The 1"x1" hexagonal floor tiles have been laid but not grouted. We're partial to a darker grout that will accentuate the lines between the tiles (similar to as they appear now) while Mrs. B is leaning towards a white grout. What do others think? We need to decide by the end of the week. We're facing the same issue with the wall tiles too.
June 17, 2005
Glass Panel Door for the Master Bathroom
Another design choice to offend the more modest: Here's a salavaged glass door we picked up at Eddie's Salvage last weekend for $20. It came out of a house on Vanderbilt Avenue. It looks like it's in worse shape than it is. The peeling paint is all bark and no bite. It actually a very nice, old door that should fit in rather well. And the price was right.
June 16, 2005
Music Room Parquet Complete
The salvaged parquet has been laid in the music room and fits seamlessly with the existing parquet in the living room at the front of the second floor. We're sure they won't look exactly the same when they are sanded and finished, but we think it'll turn out nicely.
June 15, 2005
Springing for Wood Windows on the Second Floor
Since the second floor is our main living/entertaining space for the next few years, we decided to spring for wood windows in the rear. For Landmarks conformance, we are doing all wood windows on the front, but other than the second floor, all the rear windows are dark aluminum.
June 14, 2005
Reusing Doorway Moldings in Parlor Hall
The dividing door in the parlor hallway is moving along. We repurposed the moldings from an old doorway to add some nice detailing to what is an unfortunate but necessary detraction from the glory of the front hall. Check out the view from one week earlier on the link.
Parlor Floor Partition [Renovation Blog]June 13, 2005
More Mantel Stripping
The stripping of the marble fireplaces continues apace. We ran the wires you see in this fireplace (third floor tv room) to accommodate the flat screen that will live over the mantel.
First Subway Tiles Are Laid in Master Bath
The first subway tiles were installed on Friday in the master bathroom. We have to finish the walls around the bath before we attempt to move the massive porcelain tub from where it now sits in our bedroom.
June 9, 2005
Wood Floor Should Clean Up Nicely
A glimpse of the old wood floor underneath the linoleum in the small rear bedroom on the top floor. We think this should clean up nicely, although perhaps with a little patchiness around the radiator.
June 8, 2005
Marble Bedroom Sink
Here's one of the marble sinks that are in the four large bedrooms on the top two floors. Unfortunately, the wood cabinet underneath was not salvageable.
Porcelain Tub One Step Closer to Installation
Here's the old porcelain tub that we had to hire Auer's to hoist up through the third floor window with a crane last week. Now we still have to get it from the master bedroom through the bathroom doorway! Man, that thing is heavy.
Picking Paint Colors
We are extremely lucky that an interior designer friend of ours volunteered her time this past weekend to help with paint color selection. For us, this is much more daunting than ripping open walls and picking fixtures. This can really make or break the finished product, in our opinion. Hopefully we got it right.
June 7, 2005
Basement (Garden) Floor
The basement floor is a one bedroom rental. To ensure direct access to the garden for ourselves, we created a public corridor that goes straight back to the garden, whereas the original layout gave access only through the rental apartment. In this configuration, the renter(s) enter underneath the stoop, and we have the main entrance all to ourselves.
First (Parlor) Floor
Given our less than solid financial footing these days, we wanted to create as much flexibility in the layout as possible. We couldn't bear to part with the entire parlor floor and its 14-foot ceilings, so we're keeping the front as part of our owner 3.5 floor unit. The rear of the parlor floor will be rented as either a home office/studio to the Garden floor renters or separately. We put a bathroom in so that it could also be rented to an au pair or maybe a student from nearby Pratt (as it turns out, our sister may rent it). But we didn't want to put in a kitchen because that would have bumped us up from a 2-family to a 3-family and created additional code issues. Obviously, the dream is to take over the whole floor and put the kitchen in the rear with a deck and stairs leading down to the garden. In the meantime, the extra $700-800 a month will come in quite handy. We are also postponing doing any serious restoration work on the floor (i.e. moldings, ceilings, etc.) until we do take it over for ourselves. The front parlor, in the meantime, will serve as a home office/studio for us.
Second Floor
The second floor is the main living/entertaining floor. We ripped out the closets that used to be in the middle of the floor to create an open plan. (This is where the Music Room will be.) We also replaced the bathroom at the rear with the kitchen and opened up the wall that had separated the two rooms at the front. The light and openness is spectacular in here. As recently noted, patching the floors is one of the major challenges in this area.
Third Floor
As you may have noticed, there's no bathroom on the second floor, so we built a guest lavatory at the top of the stairs on the third floor with an adjacent laundry room. Next the that, also at the rear, is the family room/tv room. And at the front: Master bedroom and dressing room, with the master bath (with interior window) in the middle of the floor.
Fourth (Top) Floor
The top floor, which clears all the neighboring houses and thus has fantastic light and views, are where the two kids bedroom will go in addition to a guestroom. We are also left with a situation we never thought we'd face in New York City: An extra room (top of stairs, rear) with no particular purpose at all. The bathroom we are building in the center of the floor will have a skylight as will the stairwell.
June 6, 2005
Laying Down the Salvaged Parquet
The floor guy is almost finished laying down the salvaged parquet we bought from Olde Good Things a couple weeks ago. It's going in the center of the parlor floor where we had removed 4 closets to open up the floor into a loft-like plan. The size and pattern match the adjacent area, but we won't know until everything is sanded and refinished how well it fits in.
June 3, 2005
Parlor Floor Partition
We've started to frame out the partition on the parlor floor that will separate our owner entrace hall from the rental. We're going to get floor plans up next week, we promise!
June 2, 2005
Lavatory Framing and Fusebox
The fuse box in the 3rd floor lavatory/laundry room has been tamed!
June 1, 2005
Old Wood, Good Wood
We bought some salvaged red oak floorboards from Olde Good Things last week that we'll use in the kitchen and the basement hallway leading out to the yard. We also picked up some parquet for patching the second floor.