Brownstone Boys: Planning for Change Orders in Your Renovation Budget
When renovating a 100-plus-year-old house, there is a lot of opportunity for surprises. You’ll want to go in with a budget ready to handle whatever comes up.
Brownstone Boys: A Quick Guide to Restoring Finishing Details, Trim and Molding
Trim and molding aren't just the icing on the cake, they're an important architectural feature of your home and can serve to protect the walls from damage.
Brownstone Boys: Our Stoop Makeover Is Nearly Complete
The first thing we did was strip the many layers of peeling paint off the iron railing, using a blowtorch and a lot of patience.
Brownstone Boys: Finishing a Basement
Turning a damp scary head-knocking cellar space into a useful area can mean increasing ceiling height, reducing moisture and finishing the space.
Brownstone Boys: How to Strip Paint Off a Beautiful Marble Mantel
All the fireplaces and mantels were removed from our house long ago, and we knew from the beginning that one day we wanted to restore at least one of them.
Brownstone Boys: Should You Replace a Lead Water Main?
Changing all of the pipes in your home may not solve the problem if the water main coming in from the city’s line is also lead.
Brownstone Boys: Repairing Our Stoop and Historic Ironwork
Some of the most iconic features of historic brownstones are the front stoop, iron railing and newel posts.
Brownstone Boys: How Green Can You Go? Energy Efficient Renovating in Brooklyn and NYC
Whether you want to do your part to lower your carbon footprint or maybe just keep the energy expenses in check, there are lots of eco-friendly options to consider when renovating.
Brownstone Boys: Top Surprisingly Big Expenses When Renovating a Historic Home
Restoring a historic home is full of surprises! Some are welcomed, like the pocket doors we discovered sealed up in the wall or the 1906 Brooklyn newspaper we found under a bathroom.
Brownstone Boys: Can You Cool and Heat Your Home Exclusively With a Mini Split and Heat Pump?
Our new mini split system is working so well to cool our home now that summer's here, we're considering using its heat pump to heat our home in winter without any additional heat source.
