Would You Tackle a Renovation Again?
I’m contemplating a complete restoration/renovation of a 1900s era townhouse in Bay Ridge. I love the house, but it needs a ton of work. I can afford it (I think) and I can afford to continue to rent while it is done. But is this likely to ruin my life and my peace of mind…
I’m contemplating a complete restoration/renovation of a 1900s era townhouse in Bay Ridge.
I love the house, but it needs a ton of work.
I can afford it (I think) and I can afford to continue to rent while it is done.
But is this likely to ruin my life and my peace of mind completely?
Though quite an old lady, I am a total newbie at homeowning!
TIA!
the “I can’t buy this at home depot” really made me laugh donatella!
Rowhouse your garage area is gorgeous! I especially like the way you did the area above the garage.
Ah, all the flashbacks I am having at the moment. Almost makes me want to run screaming into the night.
Remember quitting time and Miller time start early in the wonderful world of renovation. Good if you are an early bird.
Please let us know what you decide Nona.
Actually, I left out others when saying my renovation matched other posts — also going4broke and brooklynbemused. It is really consuming and as I went along the project got bigger when discovering all the structural stuff that was screwed up with the house.
Who said that it is like childbirth. That you forget the pain when enjoying the fruits of your labor. That analogy has occurred to me too.
Silvermax,
Glad to hear you were pleased with your renovation and your architect, David Cunningham. I had been following your blog and was concerned that you seemed to have disappeared. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the process in gory detail! And Brownstoner, please do include Silvermax’s blog more prominently. It was clear that she was putting a tremendous amount of thought into it.
Brooklyn rowhouse: Great to see your post. I used to follow you on houseblogs.net.
I started my Bay Ridge renovation of a 1900s-era rowhouse in 1999. It’s still not DONE done insofar as I’ve still got some stained glass to make, basement drywall to hang, etc. I kept a photo blog of it here:
http://www.brooklynrowhouse.com/house/front
I hired licensed contractors where I needed to but most of the effort went into the woodwork, walls, floors, tiling, stripping, etc… stuff I can do myself.
I didn’t do a gut rehab because I was living here and didn’t want to live in a construction site for years. So I focused on a room at a time.
This was my third home construction project (the previous two were downtown Manhattan lofts) and I’ve learned something from all of them. One thing I learned from this one was to have a coherent architect’s plan for the entire house before you start. It will help you avoid things like spending a week renovating a wall only to find yourself needing to rip it open next year when you do the upstairs bath.
What a great thread!
(Also, a reminder of how very much I can’t afford a house. 😉
I am loving this thread because I wrote a very pulled together post earlier but my experience matched EXACTLY guywithahouse, dancing girl and slopefarm. Slopefarm knows because I spent a lot of time after the fact pouring out my knowledge and contacts and caveats, but wow, what a trip. I can honestly say that it ate 2 years of my life, while I had a demanding job with a lot of travel. For stretches of time, I was fighting with Home Depot (had a major fierce battle with them over a kitchen), contractor, tenant in court (another story entirely) while trying to stay on top of my contractor. His favorite line …in response to my trying to source materials which were in line with the historical character of the house…. “I can’t buy this at home depot”. I had SO MANY battles with this guy, jeez. I spent massive amount of time researching materials, fixtures, etc. I checked everything the guys did, because the GC didn’t supervise them and things seem to run away if you are not on top of them every day. Also, the business of not knowing exactly what you are getting….wow that is true. When we took down walls, holy moly. I had unvented sinks (explaining the stinking gas smell in the house) for Chrissakes. Electric was a mess, plumbing had to be redone.
I am glad I have this house. I like it. If I were ever to do it again, I would know what to do differently but it is fine. People love the way it looks, I do too, but I did pay a price and people on this site sometimes remark that the market does not recognize and value this effort — which is true I believe. But you do get the house that you want (or think you wanted).
Good luck.
dancingirl does not lie!
Are you doing this alone? It will take more out of you than you can imagine and more than your thought you had. Is this really how you want to spend your time and money?
What I did alone in my 30s without really knowing what I was getting into (even though I had planned for years and had advisors), I would not do in my 60s even with that knowledge and experience. That said, in my 50s, with 20 years of renovation experience, I was the gc for a 2 story addition to my house, plus, plus. I had a great time and it came out great. It was also my full time job. It was also optional and I had more than enough money for it.
Tread cautiously.
After our gut renovation, we have a beautiful house (with oodles of restored original detail) that is to our taste and a pleasure to live in. That said, if I ever think of the life turmoil and stress of the renovation that I experienced that that I put those around me through (even though we didn’t live in the building till it was finished), I can’t help but regret starting the project. I was (effectively) GC & architect which was a huge mistake (though not my worst). While reasonably capable & detail oriented, the fact that I was working full time at a demanding job & raising a young family while doing the renovation was a big problem. That I complicated the whole dynamic by involving friends was the last straw. Renovation is consuming and if I have any advice beyond the good words you have above it is that you should be prepared to sacrifice more of your life than you expect. If you already live within non negotiable constraints of time / responsibilities / family then be prepared to pay more money to buy your way out.
PS thanks to dancingirl for making me laugh.