Old House Links

What we are reading this week about decorating and renovating old houses:

Our favorite interiors blogger Cara Greenberg details her “budget” Hamptons renovation that is turning out to be not quite-so-budget after all. (Oh, how we can relate!) She’s painted the plywood floor in the living room, restored all the original windows, cobbled together a functioning kitchen, and is thinking about adding clerestory windows above the French doors in said living room — maybe in “Phase 4,” as she put it. We are starting to see how this could shape up to be a really cute 1940s modernist-rustic vacation cottage.
Hamptons Pre-novation: End of Phase 1 [Casacara]
Photo by Casacara

We just cannot resist photos of Door Sixteen’s bead board porch ceiling — and the rest of this post about tidying up the front yard for spring is awesome too. Click through to the story to see photos of the original Victorian herringbone brick floor under the stoop. There are some great visual references in this post if you are looking to bring back some of your outdoor or utility areas to their historic appearance or landscape a city-sized front yard.
Revisiting the Front Garden [DoorSixteen]
Photo by Anna Dorfman

We are totally digging the decor in this Sutton Place pad now on the market for $2,425,000. The building was designed by Rosario Candela and dates from 1927; owners Jeffrey and Katy Amling gutted and restored the apartment with herringbone floors, moldings and a salvage 1920s mantel for the wood burning fireplace in keeping with the original look of the apartment. They decorated with bright colors to remind them of Florida and commissioned a custom scenic wallpaper of their own design in the foyer, which cost $50,000. Wow. It looks more influenced by 1830s New England than Florida to us but we love it.
A Colorful New York Pied-a-Terre [WSJ]
Photo by CORE Real Estate