Brownstoner Reno: July 2005
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July 30, 2005
Rear of Parlor Floor
The rear of the parlor floor is a separate "kitchen-less" studio that our sister is going to rent from us. In many ways, it's the nicest room in the house. Largest fireplace, biggest windows, most over-the-top moldings and wonderful afternoon sun. This is one of the reasons we decided to put a bathroom in the middle of this floor. Check out the First Floor Plan. The front "Bedroom" will be our office and we'll close off the door so that she has her private dressing room and bathroom. She will enter on the garden floor, along with that tenant, and come up the stairs to enter her studio, thereby preserving the main entrance and hall as our own private space. Of course, now that the only two renters will be our sister and a friend, we will probably be more relaxed about actually closing off these areas.
July 29, 2005
Rental Kitchen With Drawers Installed
The rental kitchen is all finished--though we are waiting to see what size fridge the tenant wants before buying it.
Owner Kitchen Update
Here's an update on our kitchen, with the Bluestar range installed. Here's a reminder of how this Second Floor is laid out.
July 28, 2005
Painting the Doors and Moldings
We're using an oil-based Benjamin Moore Superwhite paint to do the doors and trim. It creates a very strong contrast and gives the wall colors and little extra pop in our view.
July 27, 2005
Rental Kitchen Almost Done
The dishwasher is installed in the rental kitchen along with the sink and counter. There wasn't enough of the marble we purchased to construct the rental sink, so the fabricators actually gave us this granite. It's not our favorite in terms of aesthetics, but it's pretty good quality for a rental. BTW, the marble place we used is called West Side Stone and Marble at 212-222-4999. Ask for Ari.
July 26, 2005
Storage Nook in the TV Room
We wanted to have a place in the TV room to stash DVDs, remotes, etc., so we carved out this little shelf/nook in the corner.
Guest Room Floors Shaping Up
The floors on the guest room (on the top floor, front) got a coat of sealer on Friday. Lookin' good.
Marble Counter in Owner Kitchen In Place
Our kitchen is coming together nicely. The counter we had made from the slabs of salvaged marble have such an incredible rich and warm tone despite their light color. We know some people have expressed reservations about how they will stand the test of time, but for now at least, we're in love. We also like the contrast with the dark wood veneer on the Ikea cabinets, though we've already had our first small chip--at least it's on the inside of one of the cabinets and not really visible even when the door is open. Cheap stuff, though, for sure.
July 22, 2005
Second Floor Floors
The floors on the second floor were tougher than the garden floor (remember how we're labeling floors: garden, parlor, second, third, fourth). First of all, the area in the middle of the floor (the "music" room) was originally four large closets, so the floors were just rough wood, while the rooms at either end had parquet. So we salvaged some old parquet from the Olde Good Things warehouse in Scranton and laid that in the music area, You'll notice a difference in the woods, but overall we think worked much better than laying strip there! We also used some of this parquet to patch the many missing pieces around the rest of the floor. The nook under the arch at the front of the house also was a real bear because it had some very tough-to-remove linoleum on it, but our contractor ultimately was able to get it off.
Second Floor Paint
The first coat of paint has been put on the second (living/entertaining) floor. It's a light brown/grey color called Stony Ground (like the upstairs colors, also from Farrow & Ball). Part of the reason we picked it is that we painted the entire, loft-style floor the same color and the Stony Ground reads very differently in different lights. So the living room will (theoretically) not feel the exact same color as the dining room, for example.
July 21, 2005
Garden Rental's Floor Get First Coat of Poly
A picture's worth a thousand words here. We are thrilled at how these have come out. To think that when we bought the house, these were buried under two layers of industrial carpet! In fact, it didn't occur to us that such nice floors would have been originally put on the basement level, so we didn't even look very carefully until a few months into the job. The first coat of poly on these was glossy. We're taking everyone's advice of doing a satin finish up in our living space, but are considering sticking with the glossy in the rental. Is that sacrilege?
July 20, 2005
Garden Floor Rental's Original Shutters
The garden-floor rental is almost finished. Here's view of the street-side living room with original shutters intact. Original Marble fireplace in this room is in the process of being stripped as well.
July 19, 2005
Another Perspective on Top-Floor Bathroom
Here's a better perspective on the top-floor "Kids" bathroom.
July 18, 2005
One of the Original Pocket Doors
We just discovered that one of the existing six-panel doors has rollers on the bottom and so must have been one of the original pocket doors.
Kitchen Cabinets With Doors
The Ikea "Hallarum" cabinet doors were mounted on Friday. We're pretty pleased with how they look--we'll see how they hold up though.
Brick Arches Revealed
The arches in the cellar were filled with cinderblock and sheetrocked over before last week. We're thinking we're going to put a workbench back there.
July 15, 2005
Baby's Room Coming Along
In the baby's room at the front of the top floor, the floors have been sanded and received one coat of poly and the walls have gotten one coat of paint.
July 14, 2005
Patching Parquet
A lot of the parquet on the garden and second floors was missing, so the carpenter on the job used the leftover parquet that we'd bought for the music room to cut replacement pieces. The coloring will be a little inconsistent, but we don't think that will bother us.
Kitchen Cabinets In Place
The cabinet frames (Ikea, Hallarum) are installed in both the owner (shown) and rental kitchens. Now we're trying to get the marble cut for the counters.
July 12, 2005
Guest Room Painted As Well
The guest room at the front of the 4th floor has received its first coat of paint as well. We chose Benjamin Moore China White for this room, certainly a subtler choice than the other rooms on the top floor. The decision was driven largely by the yellow tiles around the fireplace (below) that were hard to match with stronger colors.
July 11, 2005
Landmark Window Installation
Most of the LPC-compliant wood windows on the front of the house were installed by Park Slope Glass last week and the exterior frames and sashes painted black.
Bold Color Choice for TV Room
We were a little unsure about how this color was going to work out for the tv room on the rear of the third floor, but now that it's up on the walls, we really like it. We have no idea what it's called, but we're sure Mrs. B will weigh in.
July 9, 2005
Parlor Bath and Closet
Here's the bathroom door on the parlor floor and the storage closet across from it. The ceilings are so high it makes the proportions of these relatively small areas a little funny, but hopefully the set up on this floor is not forever.
July 8, 2005
Bathtub in Master Bathroom--Whew!
Afer cranes and much man power, the porcelain tub is now in place in the master bathroom on the third floor.
July 7, 2005
Top Floor Bathroom Getting There
Here's the kids' bathroom on the top floor. We actually think it's turning out better than our master bathroom, but it's bigger and it's hard to compete with that skylight!
July 6, 2005
Test Run with Polyeurethane
Most of the floors got an initial sanding last week and we put down a few patches of poly to guage how dark/light they'd be without stain. This particular photo is of the salvaged 3" oak we laid in both the owner and rental kitchens. It looks like we're not going to use any stain, except on the new pine floors that were laid in the rental bedroom that would be a little too light without it.
Epoxy Time on Old Sinks and Tubs
We put epoxy on the three claw foot tubs and and the trough sink for the kids' bathroom. Next we have to decide what color to paint the undersides.
July 5, 2005
Painting Started on Top Floor
The painter put a first coat on the rooms on the top floor last week. In order of appearance, large rear room, small rear room, small front room. What do you think?
July 3, 2005
Ditto the Front Hall
The whole entry hall on the parlor floor has been plastered as have the stairs.
July 2, 2005
Moldings and Trim Stand Out Against Plaster
Now that the plastering is well underway, it's interesting to see the contrast between the white walls and the existing trim, like this molding in the rear of the parlor floor.
Getting More Mileage out of the Salvaged Oak
We had enough 3-inch oak left over from the salvaged batch we bought from Olde Good Things to do the floor of the rental kitchen (shown) as well as the basement hallway leading out to the garden.