Condos of the Day: 4 South Portland Avenue
It’s hard to argue with the location of this brownstone condo conversion at 4 South Portland Avenue. Just steps from Fort Greene Park and located on the quintessential brownstone block, the five-unit project just hit the market at the beginning of the month with prices ranging from $700,000 for a 1,012-square-foot floor-through to $890,000 for…
It’s hard to argue with the location of this brownstone condo conversion at 4 South Portland Avenue. Just steps from Fort Greene Park and located on the quintessential brownstone block, the five-unit project just hit the market at the beginning of the month with prices ranging from $700,000 for a 1,012-square-foot floor-through to $890,000 for a 1,543-square-foot duplex. We’re not digging the kitchen cabinets (big mistake) but the bathroom looks okay if a bit glitzy and they’ve otherwise left well enough alone when it comes to crown moldings, fireplaces and the like.
4 South Portland Avenue Listings [StreetEasy] GMAP P*Shark
I don’t dig granite either. Too dark, too pattern-y.
Course, I’m not sure what I *like* for counters. Surely not marble, nor stainless, nor tile, nor composites, nor plastic. All of those are awful.
Wood looks okay but it’s a bacteria farm unless you polyurethane the hell out of it, and then it just gets banged up too easily.
Polished concrete is kind of neat for an industrial look, but it wouldn’t work in a brownstone.
Meh. Whatever you choose, it’s going to look dated in ten years anyway. 🙂
SO much hate on this site. For granite no less.
The problem with granite for an “old hand” (read “old bag”):
1)annoying stains: hand cream, lipstick, olive oil bottle…horrible! They should warn you in advance!
2)smashed glasses: once a wine glass shattered like someone hitting high C in a movie. It was amazing (and dangerous!)…and I was simply setting it down, granted a bit hard, but I didn’t drop it.
3)the afore-mentioned water puddles that are nearly invisible
4)a very hard, unforgiving surface when knocking elbows, hands, etc.
5)you can scratch the finish with most any abrasive cleaner.
I will go with butcher block next time around…at least it can be sanded down to a new surface and is soft on fine china and glasses. We looked for zinc many years ago but it was not apparently available in the sizes we needed…that was before the internet so things were not so easy to research.
It’s not a cleaning issue Sam, it’s an eyesight issue. 😐
You have trouble cleaning a granite countertop?
What other types of countertops have you had?
The countertop thing- I have very dark green (almost black). I’ve lost count of the many times I’ve put my elbow (or something else) in some spilled substance because I didn’t see it because the granite pattern hid it. Grr!!!
Any countertop that I have to lean a certain direction to check and make sure it’s actually clean is too much work when you’re juggling babies, food and all the other junk that ends up on my counter. Give me butcher block and stainless any day. One glance and I can see it’s clean. My elbows are safe! lol
Hide the forks!!!!
ennuiator,
just remember that the costs of a renovated apt, brownstone, hovel, etc., includes the aggravation and risk of dealing with contractors, expeditors, architects and the dept of buildings. Any of them can make the potential profit on a renovation disappear.
MIne are Uba Tuba granite. What’s wrong with black granite countertops????