House of the Day: Mint But Missing Something
This new listing in Fort Greene from Brooklyn Properties has been nagging at us since we saw it online yesterday. Given how much carping we do about the importance of historic details, you’d think we’d be digging this place. But we’re not. Is it the light fixtures? They’re a bummer but can easily be changed….
This new listing in Fort Greene from Brooklyn Properties has been nagging at us since we saw it online yesterday. Given how much carping we do about the importance of historic details, you’d think we’d be digging this place. But we’re not. Is it the light fixtures? They’re a bummer but can easily be changed. The landscaping? We could do without the amoeba-shaped design but that’s not it either. What’s really bugging us, we realize, are the floors. The combination of what appear to be new floors and what appears to be a very glossy finish clashes, in our opinion, with the true character of the house. We love our creaky old floors that we pieced back together with salvaged wood–they have an effect upon the feel of the house that can’t be gotten with new wood. We’ve spoken to a handful of brownstone owners over the past year who tell us the biggest regret of their renovation was using new flooring. Anyway, all these things are fixable–even the floors–and the details (moldings, plasterwork, fireplaces, etc.) are in great shape so it’s really not that big a big deal, but it just feels like the house lost something in the process of getting its “mint” renovation. And for $1.85 million in Fort Greene, character is one thing we’d be unwilling to do without.
Mint 2-Family [Brooklyn Properties]
This is definitely the house corcoran had on the market last year which faces the back of the green house condos. Forget the floors. The place is narrow, facing a brick wall and a tall building which ruins the character of the area and blocks light, and was previously on the market for 1.1 million. What hubris!
I think it sounds a little pricey for 18 feet wide, but whatever the market will bear. Bathrooms are pretty ugly. As for the floors, while replacement original wood would have been nice (if the old wood was too far gone), as far as houses go, it’s not too bad. I do not think the floors look too shiny either, at least not in the pictures. Floors often look shinier in pictures anyway with the flash etc.
I’m not a fan of the paint job, but a another poster stated, that could be easily addressed. The back yard is newly planted and could use a green thumb. I guess you’d expect better “taste” for the price, but overall I do not think it is anywhere near the worst I’ve seen for this price point in a good brownstone brooklyn neighborhood.
the house is perfectly nice, I saw it when it first came on the market and I think the garden is sweet… the shrubs just need to grow in. The small bedrooms are simply the short part of the L in all brownstones- if you don’t need an office, knock out the wall. This only issue is the price. Since I am now in the process of bidding a full scale renovation, I will tell all of you buyers that it is absolutely worth it to get something that is “done”… not only does it take time but ALOT of money to renovate but tons of aggravation. Bids are double what similar jobs were going for just a few years ago. That certainly needs to be factored into the price. The real questioins should be 1)has all the plumbing been replaced? 2)are the windows new? 3)Is the electric new? The property is approx 3k sf…. go from there on the price.
Curtains, rugs and furniture is whats missing from this place. It’s nothing a little home furnishing couldn’t take care. I’m not necessarily fond of all the neutrals. But makes it very easy to coordinate furnishings.
The parlor floors should have been parquet or square blocks, not planks and they should be Red Oak, not Oak. But thats a minor detail.
Mint condition refers to the overall state of the building. Whats the condition of the plaster walls, ceiling and moldings? Are the details intact? Are the restored? Whats the condition of the exterior? Are the mechanicals updated? Etc
I think many of you are making too big a deal about color schemes, which is a minor issue($10K).
Compared to other properties CURRENTLY on the market in FG, this property seems to offer the most for the price.
lord, you all are picky. the price tag on the house is too high, but i liked the house.
I also thought i saw this house in the past from the kitchen pic- it does seem that it is overthetop mint- too manicured and too much in the home depot vain- i feel like i couldn’t walk around freely without stepping over a line i.e. the landscaping… looking back at the pics, funnily enough, the floors now bother me least! great example of someone trying to step into a “historic” feel and missing the whole point. so what would people pay for this place? i mean it does have many qualities amongst the paint, tiles and crazy wall moldings.
Yeh, getting floors right can be tricky. When we renovated the old pine sub-floors on the parlor floor of our house were very beat up and we were concerned they wouldn’t look like much after sanding/refinishing. We also wanted some extra sound proofing between us and our tenant below. We went with 4 inch wide recycled douglas fir tongue-and-groove, finished with satin poly. It looks great and the color has deepened since we laid it. Regrets? I kinda wish we’d tried oiling the floor instead of using poly for a more natural look. Or maybe selecting planking instead of t&g for a more informal look. Also, it’s a tiny bit soft — especially compared to the more expensive recycled heart pine we used in our guest bathroom, which I adore without reservation. We used Pioneer Millworks (www.pioneermillworks.com) in upstate NY and they couldn’t have been nicer to deal with. The floor guys who did the installation were very impressed by the quality of the flooring. I’ve seen other new floors I liked including a neighbor who used birds eye maple and a very high end reno using European white oak (oil finish/no poly) which is the fashionable choice, I’m told, in London these days. In the end we did refinish the pine sub-floors in two rooms. To our surprise they came out beautifully and have lots of character. Some of the success I attribute to good repairs (especially filling major cracks) and good use of stain to achieve a nice even final color.
The floors, and moldings, and lights and bathrooms.. none of it good.
BUT you absolutely can get new floors that are gorgeous. Not at lumber liquidators and probably not from the guy your neighbor recommended, but for the top firms. It will cost you a load, but it’s worth it.
Dan’s right – it’s 202 Clermont. Mighty expensive for an 18′ house on a busy street up by Myrtle, with a Home Depot reno, lame flooring, and a big wall in the red-wood-chip (what’s up with that, anyway??) garden.