Author: bushwickdesign

Oh hiiiii! The Spring 2021 One Room Challenge has officially kicked off and your boys are so excited to have been selected as one of the featured designers!! The next eight weeks are going to be a mix of emotions while we completely transform a space in our Brooklyn brownstone. So which space is it you might be asking….

If you’re just tuning in….welcome!. We’re Barry & Jordan, a loving DIY couple that are now project managers for historic renovation in Brooklyn NY, We also live in a Brooklyn brownstone that we renovated ourselves.

The One Room Challenge you ask!?

The One Room Challenge™ is now on it’s nineteenth season and is a widely anticipated bi-annual event. Each round, twenty design influencers are selected to take the challenge, as Featured Designers, and transform a space in their home. We are still pinching ourselves that we were chosen as one of the featured designers this season! We are huge fans of so many of the past designers and proud to be included among the 19 other extraordinarily talented designers. We’re secretly hoping to become friends with each and every one of them! Thank you Linda Weinstein for making this event possible and for thinking of us to take on this challenge.

The One Room challenge™ will provide participants with a supportive, enthusiastic forum to share the process of transforming a room. The ORC is not actually a competition, but rather a celebration of creativity, inspiration, and a support for the DIY community. We’re so excited to not only follow the featured designers but also see what other projects people are taking on this spring in their own homes.

Ok so what space are we actually doing you might wonder?

We would like to tell you that we had to think really hard about which room to make over, but we knew immediately! It’s a space that we rarely use and cringe a little when we have to so it was the perfect space for a makeover. It’s not our kitchen, or a bathroom, or a bedroom. It’s a bigger space than all of them combined. Drum roll please!……It’s our really scary Brooklyn basement! In fact, here in Brooklyn it’s technically called the cellar.

If you’re visiting our page for the first time, we live in a Brooklyn brownstone! The narrow and stately row houses with inviting stoops on tree lined streets throughout New York (and a few other cities in the northeast). The stoop is the main entrance that takes you up to the second floor, we call the parlor floor. Below that is what is called the garden floor, but is technically the basement, at ground level. Then below that is the cellar, the subterranean space where the home’s mechanicals are, commonly used for storage, where creepy crawlers reign. It’s an entire floor of the home that has a lot of potential, but is often underutilized. That is definitely the case for us. Don’t judge! It’s unfinished and stacked high with lots of stuff that we should have thrown out long ago. Truth be told, we attempted to makeover this space but gave up right after we started collecting more and more samples. It quickly became our hiding spot for pretty much everything and now it’s FINALLY time to get rid of it all and start over! It’s such a good feeling!

It’s time! We want to make this a useful space and we need it. We now run a very busy business designing and managing renovation projects for clients with brownstones of their own and we need a workspace. We have stacks of samples, catalogs, and design inspiration that we pull out to complete a design. We want to spread it out on a big work table in a space that inspires us.

The Before Pictures (there is nothing cute about this space currently… sorry!)

Let’s talk about the necessities:

• This space must hide some of the ugly basement storage. Currently this room is covered in crap! You name it, it’s probably found in our current basement. We just have no idea where. We will be spending the first couple days just clearing the space out.
• This space has to act as a laundry area. Our units were placed in the scary space right after we renovated and its a place where we go to wash & dry our laundry and so does our tenant.
• We must have room to store samples collected to show clients. We have collected a plethora of tiles, hardwood, and other materials that we would like to display nicely in the new basement area.
• We need an area to work, bring clients, and be inspired. It’s going to be a real challenge but we’re up for this!

So after thinking about this night and day since we were told that we were going to featured is turning our basement into a 1920’s NYC Speakeasy Werk-room! We will actually have a full speakeasy room in the basement. And that space…. folks…. Is still going to be a secret!

We also have some other problems to solve:

• Our first problem to solve is how do we make a dark space like our cellar into a space that will provide inspiration. Well, we’re not going to fight the fact that it’s a space with no windows or natural light! We’re going to go with it! Our space will be New York speakeasy style. An unexpected space intentionally hidden out of view, but cozy, warm, and inviting.
• The space has low ceilings, so we want to incorporate this into the design.
• There are ugly mechanicals that we can’t get rid of (i.e. structural columns, boiler, electrical meters) but need to hide.
• The foundation walls are exposed and the floor is painted concrete.
• It’s dark, and needs attractive lighting solutions.

Inspiration:

Gotta Get to WERK!

We’re calling it Studio 2B or The Werkroom! We can’t wait to give you more details next week but we’re so excited to build the space and share the process with you. Whether or not you have a cellar (or basement) space that you want to makeover, we hope you enjoy the ride and find some inspiration to transform a space in your home as well.

Next week we’ll dive into more details, talk about all things design, and even update the progress. Obviously we can’t share the detailed plans yet… we gotta leave some suspense! This week we’re focusing on clearing all the crap out! Anyone interested in a stoop sale!?

Follow Along!

One small thing we might have forgotten to mention- we are doing the ENTIRE transformation ourselves! Drywall, electrical, and many other DIY projects. If you’re not already following along on Instagram – ,come check it out,,! We’re even posting weekly VLOG videos on our YouTube channel that you won’t want to miss starting this Saturday! We’ll be providing design details, places to shop for inexpensive (and nice!) materials, and other tricks & tips to tackle a DIY project. We’ll write a blog post a week so subscribe below for updates!

See you on the other side and wish us luck!

Xo,

Jordan & Barry

Make sure to give each of the other featured designers some love and checking out their spaces- we’re so excited to see what magic they create:

Ariene C. Bethea | At Home With Ashley | Banyan Bridges | Bari J. Ackerman | Brit Arnesen 
Brownstone Boys| Cass Makes Home | Dominique Gebru | Gray Space Interiors| Haneen's Haven 
Home Ec. | Nile Johnson Design | Pennies for a fortune | Prepford Wife | Rachel Moriarty Interiors 
Sachi Lord | Susan Hill Interior Design | This Is Simplicite | Tiffany DeLangie | Victoria Lee Jones  
Media BH&G | TM ORC 

What if an entire floor of your home was dark, damp, and scary. So much so you didn’t want to set foot in it. What a waste of space that you could be using as an office, or a studio, or a gym. That’s what many people are doing with their dark, scary, and damp cellar spaces. One big obstacle is often the height of the ceilings and the solution is usually to excavate and dig down to create more height and add an entire extra floor of livable space in your home.

Before we can go on we have to address the elephant in the room, what do you call it? A cellar? A basement? Both? In NYC, officially, a basement is a story of a building that is below curb level but with at least one-half of its height above curb level. A cellar is a space that has more than one-half of its height below curb level. So typically in NYC what many people refer to as the basement is actually the cellar. The basement is the story of the house, like a garden level, that has windows and doors and already meets code as a living space. So we are talking about the cellar.

A work in progress excavation and benching project

The first thing that you’ll need for this type of project is an architect and a structural engineer. There are many code considerations and structural concerns that need to be addressed, so although we’ll talk about basics, you’ll rely on the professionals to figure out the details.

Excavating your cellar involves removing the slab and a few feet of soil. It’s a difficult and dirty job. The first thing your structural engineer will consider is how deep your house’s foundation walls go. They will likely want to dig a probe hole next to the foundation wall to determine its depth. It’s very common for the foundation walls to not be deep enough below the floor of your existing cellar to extend as low as you might want to excavate. That’s a problem that needs solving. You can’t excavate lower than your foundations walls go.

Cement Benching in place, before cement slab is poured

There are typically two techniques your structural engineer will take to solve this issue: Underpinning or benching.

Underpinning involves carefully excavating the soil under the foundation walls in sections, building forms, and pouring concrete to extend them down to the desired depth. It can sometimes be difficult when your house shares a foundation wall with a neighboring house. Your neighbor may not be willing to give you permission to undermine their home’s foundation to create your cellar home gym.

An alternative would be benching. Rather than removing the soil under the foundation walls, you leave it undisturbed to continue doing the job it’s had for likely over a century, but encase it in a concrete bench. The bench extends all the way around all of the foundation and acts like a retaining wall for the load bearing soil under the foundation footings. The soil in the other side of the bench can be removed to the desired level to create the extra height. One drawback is that the bench is often about 2 feet wide which eats up some of the usable square footage of your cellar.

You can raise the ceilings in your cellar to the same height as the other floors on your home. It’s possible to create a clean, pleasant, and dry space. It can be an entire extra floor of living space. It can also be an expensive endeavor, clocking in at $60,000-$100,000 depending on the extent of the scope. But for most people who take it on, having an entire floor of their home too freighting to enter is a price too high to pay, and the expense is worth it.

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This post is sponsored by ​LightStream​, but the content and opinions expressed here are our own.

Over the past year that we have all been spending a considerable amount of more time at home many people are taking a harder look at their homes. Some parts of it might be a little tired or not as functional as you would like it to be. With a bit of extra time on your hands you might be dreaming up some renovation possibilities! That’s one of our favorite things to do! Many people hit a dead end on their renovation journey once the dream turns into the reality of the cost. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Investing in improvements to your home can be one of the best financial decisions you can make. Usually the cost of smart renovations can be recouped during the sale of your home down the road. But once the reality of the costs start to impact the dream it might cause you to make some sacrifices, but how many sacrifices are too many, and how can you bridge the gap?

Anyone who has a mortgage knows that when it comes to your home, debt isn’t always a bad thing. Improving your kitchen, bathroom, work space, or even your backyard can make an impact on your quality of life and enjoyment of your home now and the value of it for many years into the future. So for many taking out a loan for home renovations is a smart choice! LightStream is one of the most uncomplicated ways to fund your renovation, allowing you to focus on the dream and not the financing.

Many people don’t know where to begin or think that applying for a loan will be a long, arduous process. Fortunately LightStream allows you to apply in 3 simple steps, all online, and you can have funds in your account as soon as today. ( See important details here.)

That means you can get started on your renovation with no delay and you will have the freedom to make the dream a reality.

Budget is one of the first conversations we have with our clients and often it is the most important. Everyone has one, and it almost certainly will determine the scope of the project. In our own home an open kitchen with a big island for entertaining was very important to us. We also knew the impact it would have on our homes value if we want to sell it in the future. Achieving the big, beautiful, open kitchen we wanted involved us removing a load bearing wall and putting up a structural beam. Although it was a big project, it’s a sacrifice we were not willing to make! The improvement to the enjoyment of our space and the value it added was worth the expense.

In some situations using smart debt to finance your renovation might even be a better choice than using savings. Renovating your home can be extremely rewarding but it can also be stressful. LightStream’s lending uncomplicated philosophy and ease of use can help relieve the stress and make your renovations dreams a reality.

Through our special link ,here you can receive a .10% APR discount on loan, if approved #LightStreamLoans. Visit ,https://ooh.li/4a97169 to learn more.

Happy renovating!

In many old houses walls and floors are not straight, level, or square. It’s something that you learn to live with and occasionally enjoy as a character of a historic home. Watching the dog drop his ball and look in confusion as it slowly rolls to the far wall can be entertaining. Floors often develop grades over the years. But why?! What can you do about it? And how much does it cost?

Why do the floors in your Brooklyn brownstone have grades?

Most Brooklyn brownstones have masonry walls on all four sides. They are very stiff and support the wood joists that pocket into them. The wood joists typically span 17-20 feet and usually have a deflection bearing wall somewhere close to the middle. Because the wood joist is a softer material than the masonry walls over the years it can sag in the middle. So most old brownstones will see the grades all pointing toward the center of the house, the furthest point from the outside walls. So if you’re missing the dog’s toys or just don’t know where all those marbles got to, that is probably where you’ll find them!

All the joists have to be exposed in order to level the floors.

What can be done about it?

This type of sagging usually doesn’t mean there is a structural issue to be overly concerned about. Most of the time it’s a cosmetic issue and can affect the comfort of the space. Having one nice level plane of flooring can be a big improvement to how the space feels. Leveling can be done but it is a big job. It would need to be part of a larger renovation. All of the existing flooring and subfloor will need to come up to reveal the joists.

At this point you can get a good look at them to see if there might be something contributing to the issue beyond the usual settling. Sometimes plumbers cut through them to run pipes. If the damage is extensive it can weaken them. You’ll want to consult your architect or structural engineer for the fix, but usually the damaged joisted can be replaced or reinforced.

To bring the floors up to a consistent level you’ll need to start at the highest point (usually at the masonry walls) and a board can be attached to the joist in a process called sistering. So that the new sistered joist is one flat level surface all the way across. The new board will usually start at the same level of the old joist at the masonry wall and you’ll see a gradual difference until it gets to the lowest point before it slopes back up at the far wall. After all of the joists are sistered a new subfloor and hardwood floor can be installed.

Unfortunately this is rarely the extent of the scope of work required. Since the level of the floor is adjusting up sometimes several inches in the middle of the house all of the door trim and baseboards need to be adjusted as well. This often involves installing all new trim, although if you have beautiful original moulding they can be removed and reinstalled.

One of the more complicated situations that can arise is the level of stairs. Often adjusting the floors up will mean the last step will get higher…sometimes too high to meet code or just to be comfortable. In that case the stairs also need to be adjusted. Sometimes each tread needs to be adjusted or the entire staircase can be jacked up to a new level.

Adding trim to a recent re-leveled staircase

How much does it cost?

If all of this sounds expensive, it definitely can be. Removing and disposing of all of the subfloors and flooring is a big job. Sistering every joist to create one level takes precision. All new subfloor and flooring is a lot of material to purchase. Finally the fallout of adjusting the trim and stairs takes time and skill. Depending on how extensive the scope it might cost $20-30,000 per floor. Some of the work might even already be part of the scope which can reduce what the additional expense ends up being.

Having one nice level plane of flooring throughout a space can make it feel cohesive. We’ve seen it completely transform a space. Depending on how bad the grading is on the floors it is often worth the expense.

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Montauk Quartz from HanStone fits beautifully in our kitchen and bathroom.

Photos by Bridget Badore

Choosing stone is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your kitchen renovation. You can go with something dark and moody or something bright and white. You also have your choice of many types of material like marble, quartz, or granite.

There are lots of options out there but we have our favorite. We like to install quartz because of it’s low maintenance, durability, and stylish aesthetics. Most of our projects are for homeowners who are busy families. They need something that will clean-up quickly and easily without showing stains and etching as you can see in natural stone.

Natural stone is undeniably beautiful, so it was important for us to find a quartz company who makes products that we feel are equally as beautiful. As important as durability is we didn’t want to sacrifice looks!

,HanStone Quartz is by far our favorite. We love the designs and natural looking marbling. Whether we are looking for subtle veining or something more dramatic, we are always excited to bring in their stone for install! It’s affordable for any budget and

A look that we can’t get enough of is running the same quartz that is on the countertops up the backsplash as well. It looks amazing and makes for a very easy clean-up. If you have ever tried to clean spaghetti sauce off of backsplash with a lot of grout lines you know what we’re talking about!

One of our go-to styles from ,HanStone is Montauk. It has a pearl off-white base so the veining appears more subtle than on a brighter white base . It reminds us of the look and vintage feel of carrara marble.

We also love Chantilly. It has a brighter white base and more dramatic veining. It’s a perfect component to white, dark, or wood tone cabinets.

We agonized for weeks over which stone to install before we found Hanstone Quartz in our own home. Now that we are helping other families choose finishes in their homes we are always confident bringing ,HanStone Quartz samples over to them to choose from.

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Most brownstones or townhouses are narrow and long. Usually 20 feet at the street and 40 feet long. Natural light only enters at the front and back so that leaves a long stretch in the middle with no windows. Squeezing every bit of natural light out of the windows that are there is crucial.

Lighting is very important to design, and no kind of lighting is more important than, natural light. It’s something that no light bulb, no matter how sophisticated, can replicate. Natural light helps any space look warmer and more vibrant. It also makes spaces look larger and more open. A small office or reading nook has an inviting and cozy feel when positioned in front of a window. Suddenly the size of the room isn’t as much of a drawback, but imagine that tiny room with no natural light and it has an entirely different feel.

How can you make sure you are taking full advantage of every bit of natural light entering your home, especially if you live in a brownstone? One of the first things we do is take note of the direction light enters a home. Get a compass out and determine which direction is south facing. The main advantage of a south-facing window is the amount of sunlight you’ll enjoy. As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the south side of any house will see the most hours of sunlight during the day in the Northern Hemisphere. Also note the location of trees (considering trimming them) and other buildings that might obstruct the natural light from streaming in. This will prepare you to design your space to maximize the natural light that you get.

Big Reno

Not everyone has the ability to rearrange walls in their home, but it might be the easiest way to help light flow freely. If there is an opportunity you should take it. Even removing a small section of wall can greatly increase the amount of light flowing through. It’s also rarely possible to put in a new window in a brownstone, but it could be possible to replace them with new ones that let in more light. Removing dark trim and anything else that might obstruct them is also helpful.

On the top floor it could be possible to add skylights to rooms. We added a big skylight to a bedroom we have with no windows and it’s now the brightest room in the house! If the room isn’t on the top floor try a sun tunnel. It’s a long tube that can go from a skylight on the roof, through a wall, and opens to a room on the next level down. It might only be done during a bigger renovation, but it doesn’t add that much expense if work is already being done.

No Reno Necessary

Many people have window coverings that are permanently installed to cover some of a window. Look for options that extend beyond the window that can completely open to reveal the entire glass.

Position furniture to take advantage of better natural light. Create spaces that give you the best opportunity to soak up the rays in your own home. Place a comfy chair and table next to a south or East facing window to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea in the morning to start your day off right. Position furniture in a room you might spend much of the day in to maximize the natural light you will get.

Not all rooms are created equal when it comes to the amount of natural light it gets. You can’t change the fact that some rooms might be north facing, have a lot of tree cover, or possibly another building blocking light. Make sure those rooms are painted with light neutral color. Don’t be afraid to use white! There lots and lots of shades of white. Think Scandinavian design. They are pros at dealing with very little natural light. Any Scandinavian designed space will include white walls, light wood tones, natural elements, and small pops of bright color. It’s the perfect solution for keeping a space light, bright, and airy even when there is little natural light.

Try going up one sheen level on the walls and ceiling to help bounce light around. We are fans of a matte/flat wall paint but in our north facing bedroom we painted the walls and ceiling with satin paint. There is a slight sheen to it when the light hits it the right way and it definitely helps brighten the room.

Install a big mirror. Plain and simple, it will bounce a lot of light around a room and can almost give an effect of an additional window.

We like installing interior doors with glass in them to help light move around the space. In our guest bath we installed a vintage door with chicken wire glass and stenciled “WC” on it. It’s a fun feature and brings natural light into the hallway, which is usually a space that doesn’t get a window.

Finally, lose the clutter. One of the hallmarks of Scandinavian design is a cozy but minimal space. Too much stuff will take the focus off the natural light and how it strikes the surfaces of the room and on all of the stuff filling up the place.

Whether or not you can go as far as moving or removing walls there are so many ways to take better advantage of the natural light entering your home. Even some simple changes can improve how your space looks and feels. So take some action and soak up those rays!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFacGPA7lGk

Before & After of our DIY Ikea Hemnes Hack

This #valentinesday we’re embracing our strongest love/hate relationship ever….. Ikea!

We all have that one Ikea piece of furniture that’s been with us a little too long. For us, it’s the Hemnes 3 drawer that’s hiding in our guest bedroom. We decided it was time for a little #diy love-makeover. This makeover cost us under $50 and took us just a couple of days to make! Now, we have a new “old” dresser

TOOLS:

• Cordless drill & drill bit
• Stapler & staples
• Paintbrush
• Clamps (or tape to hold the moulding in place while the glue dries
• Jigsaw
• Mitre Saw (Alternatively: Fine saw & mitre block)
• (If you don’t have power tools and don’t want to get any, you can take the drawer fronts to a local wood store and they might cut it for a small fee.)

SUPPLIES:

• Ikea Hemnes Chest of Drawers (we have had ours for over 8 years!)
• Handles –we got ours from House of Antique Hardware
• Cane Webbing- Amazon (cheap and ships fast!). Make sure you order a little overage
• Moulding for Cabinets- we picked up simple 1/4″ rounds at Home Depot. Our advice is to get one that is on the smaller side and doesn’t feel too large in the drawer.
• Sandpaper
• Wood filler
• Wood Glue – this is our favorite wood glue
• Paint – we went with Clare Paint Greyish. Clare has our favorite colors to elevate any space. We love that this color is a mix of grey, white and green!

1. DISASSEMBLE THE CHEST OF DRAWERS

You will want to get everything out of the drawers. We have been hoarding a lot of our clothes we don’t usually wear in these drawers. So this gave us the perfect opportunity for some early spring cleaning. Once everything was cleared out, we removed the drawers and then took off the existing hardware. It’s Ikea, so you won’t need any special tools for this – a screw driver will do! Remove the cabinet fronts and make sure to keep the screws for them!

2. MEASURE, MARK & CUT

Next, cut the square holes into the drawers. You’ll want to decide how much border you want around the webbing. You don’t want it to be too narrow otherwise it could leave the drawer too weak and don’t forget that you also still have to have enough space to attach your new handles, too (if you will be using handles!)

We went with about 2″. Measure all the way around and draw the square you’ll be cutting out onto the drawer front. Now you’re ready to grab your jigsaw and start cutting! If you don’t have any power tools you can bring this to a local wood shop and they may be able to cut it for you. But we recommend having a few handy tools around and maybe this is a good project to get your toolbox started! Before you can start cutting you’ll need to drill a hole inside the area you’ll be removing that’s big enough for you to insert your jigsaw blade. Carefully cut out the square and try to follow the lines exactly. Don’t be discouraged if this is difficult at first if it’s your first time using a jigsaw you’ll need a bit of practice. You will also be putting trim around the cut edge to hide some imperfections.

3. SMOOTH THE EDGES & ATTACH THE MOULDING

Sand all edges with sandpaper and make sure everything is as smooth as possible. Since the edge where you cut will be unfinished (and possibly with some imperfections from the cutting) you’ll want to hide it with moulding. We used a 1/4 round trim to give it nice curved edge detail. You need a miter saw or a miter box to cut the moulding on a 45° angle and miter it at the corners. If you’ve never done this before our advice is to get an extra couple of lengths of moulding. It’s a little tricky and you might have to re-do a few of them.

Assemble the moulding into the cutout to make sure it all fits. If it’s not perfect at the miter joints and if there are small gaps where the moulding meets the cutout it’s OK! We’re going to fill it with some wood filler before painted. Glue the mouldings onto the cut edge and use clamps to hold it into place until it dries. If you don’t have clamps just hold it in place for about 2 minutes and it should be good from there. It should be dry enough to continue after a couple of hours, but we waited until the next day.

When it’s dried, fill any gaps, uneven cuts, or chips from the cutting with some wood filler and let it dry before sanding everything so that it’s smooth and ready to prime and paint. The wood filler is sand-able and paintable so you won’t see these imperfections after it’s painted.

4. SAND, PRIME & PAINT EVERYTHING

When you’ve finished all cutting, glueing and filling it’s time to give everything, including the entire dresser, a sand with some 120 grit sandpaper. We just did ours by hand!

Sanding the surface will roughen it up ever so slightly and provide a good base for the paint to stick. Give everything a wipe down to make sure it’s dust free before painting.

Now we could have used primer (might be recommended) but we were working with Clare Paint so that we know is a durable paint. We skipped priming since the existing cabinets were white and just decided to give a couple coats of fresh paint. Don’t forget that you also have to sand between every coat of paint to remove any imperfections, air bubbles and provide more little grooves for the next coat of paint to stick to.

5. ATTACH THE WEBBING

When you’ve finished painting and everything has thoroughly dried (give it a good 24 hours just for good measure) you can start to update your Hemnes dresser with cane webbing. Flip over the front of your drawers and staple a piece of webbing over the opening. Cut and measure the webbing first! Also, we made sure to flatten our webbing a couple days in advance. It comes rolled up and will be hard to work with if it’s constantly curling up on you.

6. ASSEMBLE THE DRAWERS & ADD HANDLES

Once everything is looking like its back to being a dresser, drill the holes for your new handles. We used these beautiful handles from House of Antique Hardware which meant that we had to drill two holes into each of the larger drawers and one each in the smaller drawers.

TIP- we could have spent another couple hours measuring exact screw locations for the hardware but we just used painters tape to mark the screw holes and then transfer that from the tape onto the the drawers! This will save you so much time and be more precise!

7. PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK IN & A NEW DRESSER!

We’re absolutely in love with how this Ikea Hemnes dresser with cane webbing turned out! It’s fitting right in with our vintage botanical room and the dresser has a whole new life that we will enjoy for several more years!

We’d love to know what you think of our Ikea Hemnes dresser with cane webbing! Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to check out our Instagram for more details!

Everyone’s got one. That small and possibly awkward space that just isn’t nearly as functional or beautiful as you would like it to be. Maybe it’s a tiny powder room or a guest bath. Is it your kitchen or office? Or maybe it’s your entire apartment! Any room or home that is short of square footage can be a challenge to design. How do you squeeze every bit of space out of it without a cluttered look? Whether you are renovating or rearranging, we have some tips!

Customize Your Storage

Off the shelf storage solutions are great but only go so far. If you want to truly use every inch of space you’ll need to take it a step farther. Basically it comes down to creating space for the way you live and work. If you’re an inspiring chef have organization for your spices and gadgets, if you’re a book or record collector have dedicated storage that makes you comfortable to continue collecting, if you’re a designer or artist have space to organize your brushes, pencils, tools, and a workspace that keeps you inspired. Use space under seating, above cabinets, behind or above doors, there are a few options you likely haven’t considered. If you have a space that is too shallow for an off-the-shelf unit building a shallow storage can be incredibly useful for the right items.

Build Up

In New York City, where some spaces lack square footage they make up for it in ceiling height. Build up! If you can’t reach it, store things that you don’t use often like the expensive juicer that takes half a cabinet that we got 5 years ago and used 5 times. Or have a step stool or attractive ladder on the ready when you need it.

Closet Culture

If you are lacking in closet space (who isn’t!) make sure you are squeezing every inch of space out of it. Invest in a closet organizing system to turn your small closet into something that rivals many walk-ins. If you have a standard 48” wide closet and install double handling in ¾” of it, you now have 7 feet of hanging space. Maybe there is room to squeeze in a shelf or 2 and possibly some of our favorites, coat hooks!

A recessed niche and nook will give any room extra character! It’s also a great use of space.

Nooks and Niches

You might know that we love a niche! They just make so much sense. If you’re renovating and building a wall, it costs nothing (or very little) to take advantage of the space in the wall and build it with a niche. We’re fans of putting them in the bathroom by a vanity, or in a bedroom over or next to the bed, or in a hallway where the walls are almost always useless. Books and other items can be tucked away and you can eliminate the need for additional pieces of furniture.

We utilize our kitchen island and dining room table as both a eating area and a work space.

Dual Purpose Furniture

Don’t crowd your room when you can have furniture that can do double duty. A dining table can double as a desk with a long bench seat that can tuck neatly under when not needed. Keep the seating flexible. Your living room likely doesn’t always need seating for 10. Floor poofs that tuck under a coffee table can easily be pulled out to squeeze in the guests (post pandemic obvi).

Declutter and Purge

Get your Kondo on and purge! If you don’t wear something or use it over the course of a year, do you really need it? Do you have too much stuff? Have a stoop sale. Invite your friends and maybe some of your stuff you may not want to part with will find a nice new home and you can visit. Remember, less is more!

Lighting

Don’t underestimate the role lighting can play in helping your space appear larger and more appealing. Especially when combined with the above mentioned recommendations. If you layer lighting it can help define areas within the room and make it feel cozier and more purposeful. A single center light fixture creates a bland generic space. Instead install a library lamp over a shelf or picture, use a reading lamp in a corner, or use a directional pendant that creates a pool of light over a table.

Your space might not be sprawling but it doesn’t mean that it has to feel cramped. Smart storage, furniture, renovation, and lighting choices can create a very comfortable and cozy space you won’t mind sharing with your stuff!

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It’s hard to believe it’s been about a year since we all carved our office spaces out of our living rooms and bedrooms. We spent more time in our kitchens than possibly ever before, cooking, baking, and realizing it’s not the most ideal space. And then with all the extra time at home dreaming up ways that our homes can be improved. Is 2021 the year to renovate? One of the biggest unknowns to answer that question is the cost.

Let’s jump and explore the costs of renovating some of the most popular rooms in your home that might be driving you crazy right now. Obviously costs will vary depending on the size of your space, finishes you chose, and scope of the work, but we thought it might be helpful to have a basic understanding of what it’s costs to renovate a room. We provided a range. The lower end of the range is for inexpensive finishes, but not necessarily the absolute cheapest thing. You might not want that. The upper end of the range is for high-end level finish, but not necessarily the most expensive luxury items you can buy. The sky’s the limit.

Kitchen

Who doesn’t want a beautiful or at least a functional kitchen! It might be one of the most popular rooms at the top of renovation lists. It also might be one of the most expensive. It often involves removing a wall and opening up the space. Even if not, cabinets, stone, and appliances are all expensive items. Fortunately, it is also where you get most of the bang for your buck! An updated kitchen can dramatically increase your enjoyment of your home and its value when you might sell it. Prices can vary dramatically as you can see depending on materials. This is for a typical kitchen with about 10 cabinets. If your kitchen is smaller you can adjust down.

Cabinets: $7,000-$30,000 (Ikea to custom)

Counters: $3,000-$8,000 (simple quartz to natural stone)

Appliances: $8,000-$12,000

Faucet and sink: $1500

Backsplash tile: $1,000

Lighting: $1,000

Hardware: $500

Construction, Labor and Installation: $10,000-$15,000

Total: $22,000-$68,000

Bathroom

A beautiful and calming bathroom is one of the best ways to make sure you get your day started right and you unwind at night. Making sure it sets the mood right can make a big difference in getting you started in the morning and peaceful in the evening. It’s usually the most plumbing heavy room in the house. So depending on if you want to reconfigure a renovation can get costly.

Plumbing fixtures: $2,000-$5,000

Double vanity: $1,500-$5,000

Tub: $1,000-$3,000

Tile: $600-$2,000

Lighting: $750-$1200

Hardware: $300

Construction, Labor, and Installation: $9,000-$12,000

Total: $15,000 – $28,000

Basement Finishing

Are you scared to go into your basement? It is full of creepies and crawlies and generally nowhere you want to spend a considerable amount of time, if any? We hear you. No matter how many of those kinds of basements we go into we don’t spend any extra time than necessary. It doesn’t have to be that way! With a bit of finishing you can add an entire functional floor to your home! Sure you’re not going to necessarily make a bedroom down there (please…unless it has a window, light, air, and meets other code requirements) but having an organized clean space for storage, a laundry area, maybe a gym, a craft space, you name it! The possibilities are endless.

Walls and drywall: $15,000

Lighting and Electrical: $4,500

Floor tile, cement sealing: $5,000

2-piece bathroom: $8,000

Office

We said the kitchen is often at the top of the renovation list, but might the office have climbed up to the top as well? After a year from working from the dining table or the couch you might be ready to commit. WFH life doesn’t seem to be ending anything soon.

Built-ins: $5,000-$15,000

Desk: $250-$2500

Lighting: $300

Outdoor

If you have had a nice outdoor space for the past year you are probably really thankful for it, if you haven’t you probably never wanted anything more, and if you have outdoor space that wasn’t in shape to use it might be most painful of all. A deck or backyard makeover can give you a much needed outlet to get outside starting this spring.

Deck – Here in Brooklyn a deck usually needs to be made of non-combustible material like steel, concrete, and tile. The typical steel deck you find on a Brooklyn townhouse ranges from $20,000-25,000.

Backyard Makeover – You can always DIY your backyard like we did! But most people have a beautiful image of a backyard with hardscape, softscape, planters, and with new lighting incorporated. In that case you might want to hire some help and you can expect to spend $8,000-$25,000 depending on exactly what you want.

We know this is a quick overview but we’re excited to break down the reno cost and process for each room in upcoming blog posts! Let us know if you have any suggestions for projects that we missed! Happy renovating in 2021!

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2020 is a year we are all anxious to put behind us! Not just because of its difficulties, but also because of many reasons we have to be hopeful for 2021. At the end of any year we always like to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned and the good things that have happened. Like everyone, we spent more time at home in 2020 than ever before and it gave us the opportunity to tackle a few big projects at our place! We thought we would reflect on what we’ve done and prepare for some exciting projects we’ll tackle next year!

Backyard Makeover

We realized early in the year that we would be spending a lot of time at home over the summer. Our backyard was something we always planned to redo in the future once the renovation was complete. After a major renovation tapped us for funds we needed to get creative to make our backyard beautiful on the tiny budget of $2000! We think it turned out great and boy was it a lifesaver this year! We grew grass in Brooklyn! Check out ,,part 1 and ,,part 2 of the full post.

Custom Kitchen Storage and Shelves

For the last year we had a big empty blank canvas of a wall in our kitchen. It’s a project we saved to give us time to figure out exactly what we wanted to do. It was a challenging space. For starters, it’s huge. We knew anything we did would be a big feature of the entire house. We went through many ideas before we finally settled on a design. We needed storage, but we wanted the project to compliment the rest of the space. We came up with a streamlined design that solves the challenges of dealing with the old fireplace bump out and a not so ideally placed radiator.

Now that it is done the more we look at it the more we love it! The tall storage on the right is exactly what we needed and we love the dedicated space bar space on the left. The white oak veneer and flat cabinet doors have a bit of a modern Scandinavian design feel. The feature that really makes it all work are the 2 upper shelves that change in depth to minimize the bump out and tie the 2 sides together. Check out the entire story ,,here.

Stoop Makeover

As you might know, someone stole our front stoop newel post 2 days after we closed on our house! It was very sad that something that was there for 130 years was gone! It has been on our list to replace since. Our stairs also needed a little TLC. They were slowly chipping away more and more since they took a beating during the renovation. We also had the deteriorating masonry beneath the stairs repointed so that they can last another 130 years! Not to mention it’s now usable storage space for us. ,,Read all about it!

Basement Laundry

We don’t even have an answer for why we waited so long to install a washer and dryer in our basement! Even though it is still a WIP it might be one of the biggest transformations for us personally! The connection was there but we needed to install venting and build a new wall. The rest of ,,this project is on the list for 2021!

New Business

One of the biggest things to happen to us in 2020 was starting a new business! We both officially became full time Brownstone Boys! We manage and design renovation projects for others. It’s been fun and rewarding helping people realize their vision for their homes! This was a huge thing for us. We both quit our full time jobs in the middle of a pandemic and now we work together as life and business partners!

Next Year

We’re excited for 2021. We have more projects at our place, lots of exciting renovations, and we’ve even hopeful for the world!

We are going to continue our basement makeover, hope to install new windows, and redo our roof and cornice. We also have a few fun DIY design projects to keep us busy.

We are grateful for the opportunity to share our renovation and home improvement story! Thanks for reading, commenting, being part of our reno family!

From our stoop here in Brooklyn, we wish you a healthy and wonderful 2021!

With love,

Barry & Jordan

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We’re taking you inside a Harlem Brownstone we recently visited! Some parts are available for sale before the home is listed and we have first dibs! Take a first look and if interested in a piece let us know which item in comments . We will follow-up shortly with additional information once we have pricing, exact measurements and other details.

Happy Shopping!

Jordan & Barry

Antique Piano

Hutch with cabinet doors

3 X Marble Fireplaces

Iron Ladder

Lots of wood baseboard, trim, casing, etc…

Iron railing & gates

Original Brass shelf

Lights

Antique Stove

Iron newel posts & Large Exterior Sconces

Our stoop makeover has begun and we are already seeing some new life to our old stairs and railing. The paint was peeling off the railing and rust was showing through. Our stairs were chipping and cracks could be seen in the layer below. We needed to not only make everything look a lot better but also protect for decades to come.

The tedious process of blow torching iron railing. This allows a smooth coat of primer before painting the iron black

The first thing that was done was to strip the many layers of peeling paint off the iron railing. This was done with a blowtorch and a lot of patience! Slowly and meticulous heating and scraping the paint until the bare iron could be seen. After it was completely cleaned it was painted with a primer that would protect it from rusting. The final step was to apply 2 layers of glossy black paint to keep the water sliding off without penetrating the barrier. It looks clean and fresh with many of the ornate details more visible after all of those messy layers of paint were removed.

Priming the railing was therapeutic and a nice way to enjoy a warm-ish fall day

Next the stairs and stoop itself got the rest of the attention. Here is where we had a hard decision to make. We could either repair and paint our stoop or we could redo the entire brownstone to bring back the definition in some of the design. Our building is painted and not exposed brownstone (and we are still coming off of a major renovation) so although it was a hard decision we decided to just repair and paint our stoop for now. Leaving the full brownstone repair (possibly for the entire house) for another day.

We are ready to install our new newel post but we’re missing the top floret. We searched a local iron yard for the missing piece with no luck

The top layer of painted cement was chipped off, which wasn’t the hardest task since it was already coming off. Then a fresh layer of cement was spread on to seal the cracks and make our stairs attractive and safe again. Two layers of textured paint was applied to form a non slip surface to protect the stairs for years to come.

Under the stoop we needed some serious repairs as well. The 130 bricks that supported the very stairs, as well as everyone who walks up them, needed repointing. We also had some chipping and cracking cement on the walls and ceiling of the entrance area under the stoop. Some repointing and a fresh layer of cement was applied to make the area safer, sealed up, and look much better. We’re now even dreaming of a bike storage area under the stoop!

The last step yet to come is the installation of our replacement newel post that was stolen right after we bought the place! We hope to have it in with pictures to prove it within a few days!

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We’re about to embark on another project at our house. We’re making over our cellar (aka basement) as a laundry room and storage area. Often the cellar is overlooked as an entire additional floor of living space in a Brooklyn Brownstone. While you might not want to sleep in a subterranean room, it’s a great place for a gym, laundry room, craft or artist studio, or even entertainment area. But how do you turn the damp scary head-knocking space into a useful area? Our space is going to be a DIY project but sometimes the project can be much more involved. Increasing ceiling height, reducing moisture, and finishing the space can be as involved as renovating upstairs.

Ceiling Height

Do you need to stand with your head tilted to the side in your cellar? One way to really make it feel like a part of the house is to increase the height of the ceilings. It’s very unlikely you’re going to move the ceiling up, so the best option is usually to dig down! We’ve heard from a lot of homeowners in Brooklyn looking to do that, and while fortunately we don’t have to in our cellar, we wanted to share what we learned about the process and possibilities.

This is a project for the professionals. You usually need an architect to file plans, city approval, and likely structural engineer depending on how deep you want to go. They will start by digging probe holes in the slab at the foundation to understand how low it goes. You can’t dig your cellar down past the bottom of your house’s foundation. So sometimes the foundation will need to be strengthened, a process called underpinning. Another technique is called bench footing, which will provide the necessary support so that the foundation isn’t compromised. The existing slab will be demolished, tons (literally) of soil will be removed, and the foundation will be reinforced (with the method of choice mentioned above) and a new slab poured. Now with your new high cellar ceiling (or lower slab) you carry on finishing the rest of the project.

There were many jobs in our basement that we did with the initial renovation

Waterproofing

If you’re going to finish your basement with new electrical, flooring, plaster, and paint, you’ll want it to be as dry as possible. The place where the most water tends to penetrate the foundation walls is in the back. The sides are typically other houses, and the front is usually mostly cement to prevent much water from entering. To truly make the back wall of your foundation impenetrable you’ll want to dig down in the backyard to expose the entire back of the foundation wall. There are many waterproofing techniques that can be used including building a secondary masonry wall or using a waterproofing tar like material. Once the back of the wall is water tight the trench can be filled back in.

The interior of the foundation walls can be repointed all the way around to make sure they are as water tight as possible. It can also leave them clean and tidy if you want to keep them exposed for a subterranean look and feel.

Finally, add a permanent plumbed dehumidifier to keep the air and walls dry.

Inspiration laundry stations for our basement makeover.
1st photo by Julie Carlson for Remodelista

2nd photo by Daniel Kanter for Manhattan Nest

Finish materials

If you want the cellar to feel more like a real room like the rest of the house you can drywall, plaster, and paint. Typically a studded wall is built all the way around in front of the foundation walls. Separate rooms can be created for the utilities to keep them out of the way of the living space. Many people choose to use cement boards instead of drywall just to further protect the space from moisture problems.

You can add electrical outlets all the way around for any appliances and recessed lighting can keep the ceilings feeling high.

On the floors, depending on what you plan to use the space for, you can do anything from putting a functional coat of drylok paint or laying tile or other finishes on the floor. Hardwood floor is not usually recommended because of the potential for humid and wet conditions, even with the precautions we mentioned.

One of the things we need more of in our basement is storage space and a designated area for tools and supplies

Plumbing

Most houses in Brooklyn have the main sewer pipe along one of the foundation walls about 3-5 feet off the cellar floor. This means that other than a washer and dryer, which can connect to the sewer through a hose, most plumbing will require a pump since waste will need to travel up to reach the sewer pipe. NYC code allows for a 2 piece bathroom, sink and toilet, but in our experience showers or bathtubs are not allowed.

Before we get too many ideas for our space, we better get to work on our DIY project. Happy renovating!

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Replacing all of the plumbing is usually on the agenda for many people renovating an old home. If you’re moving around kitchens and bathrooms or if the pipes are deteriorating it’s often best to replace it all. If your pipes are old enough there is also a chance that they could be introducing lead into your water. Lead pipes were commonly used in homes built before the 1980’s. 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. Many renovators wonder if its worth going through the cost and trouble of replacing it.

How do you know if your water main is lead?

One way to know if you water main is lead is to test the water. A less scientific way would be to take a look at the main pipe. You can locate your main in the basement usually coming in from the front of the house. You’ll see a pipe less than an inch in diameter connected to a small meter. To determine if it’s lead, follow these steps. You’ll need a flat head screwdriver and a magnet.

1. Pick an area on the water line between where it comes into your home and the meter.
2. Scrape it a bit with a flat head screwdriver to get any corrosion off.
3. If it’s silver and shiny in color and a magnet does not stick to it, likely it is lead.
4. If it’s a dull grey color and a magnet does stick to it is likely galvanized steel.
5. If it’s a brownish copper color then your water line is copper.

If you have a lead water main should you change it? That is up to you. To some people it isn’t a concern, to others no amount of lead in their water is acceptable. Many families with kids err on the side of caution.

It sounds like a big, expensive job.

Your water main runs through your foundation wall, under the sidewalk, and depending on what side of the street the city’s main line is on, under the street. It connects to the city main through a device called a tap. There is quite a bit of digging and breaking up cement involved. The extent of the work and cost involved has a lot to do with whether or no you live on the side of the street where the city’s water main line runs. The easiest way to determine that is to look at where the fire hydrants are. If they are on your side it is a shorter distance from your home to the city’s main, if they are on the opposite side, it’s farther. The contractor will break the cement, dig a trench, and change your water main to a copper one. The entire job usually takes a day or 2.

How much does it usually cost?

Changing your existing water main on the existing tap can cost about $6,000-$8,000. The variable usually being the distance to the main. There can also be trees and other obstacles that might affect the price.

You may also choose to upgrade your water main and tap while you’re at it. We use a lot more water than we did 50 years ago. We have more bathrooms with more plumbing fixtures, dishwashers and washing machines than ever before. Standard sized old mains for residential homes are about 5/8 of an inch (this can be looked up in the city’s records on your home). That may be a bit undersized for a modernized home with multipolar full bathrooms and the above mentioned appliances. It’s possible to upgrade to some like a 1 inch tap with a 1-1/4” copper line. This is considerably more expensive due to the DEP permitting required to change the tap on the city’s line. Expect the price to go up to $12-15,000.

A good contractor will get the job done in a day or 2 and will put everything back just like they found it. They will provide new concrete for the sidewalk, patch the street, and close up any other holes they need to dig.

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Labor day is coming up and we can’t believe that fall is already approaching! It’s been quite the year already with a global pandemic affecting millions of people. This Labor Day we want to pay it forward with something that means everything to us, community. We’re working with Lowes this Labor Day to,, #BuildThanks and we have a DIY project below to increase your houses curb appeal that you can DIY for under $50!! This outdoor bench is easy to build, will change any space, and an easy way to pay gratitude for a loving community member or neighbor that might deserve it – we can’t wait to share our labor of love with our neighbor, Karen.

We met Karen when we first moved to our block two years ago. After several stoop visits we instantly fell in love with Karen’s generosity, kindness, and willingness to make us part of her extended neighborhood family. Karen lives alone as her daughter is off to college. During these tough times we have been thinking of Karen quite a bit. She is an essential worker and has been going into her job on a daily basis, even when Brooklyn and New York were COVID hotspots. Karen works as an art psychotherapist at a mental health clinic in Brooklyn at a mental health clinic in the Bronx. The clinic requires Karen to be available on site for those patients that are in crisis and need face-to-face sessions. She has also been doing a lot of teletherapy to keep patients safe, but she still needs to be onsite. Karen also runs art psychotherapy groups for a program called Life is Precious for young Latina teens. We walk by Karen’s brownstone on a daily basis going to the grocery store and catching the subway pre-covid. While she has a beautiful home we always thought her front stoop deserves a little love. It’s been a tough past couple months and we are so fortunate to have an opportunity to create a little oasis for Karen to enjoy.

Head over to ,,Lowes.com for the step-by-step tutorial to create the bench.

We hope you have a wonderful Labor Day and we hope you will join us ,,#buildthanks for a loving neighbor of your own!

Some of the most iconic features of Brownstone design are the front stoop, iron railing, and newel posts. Without that it just wouldn’t be the same. The week we closed on our house, now almost 2 years ago, on one of our first visits we were shocked to discover that one of our 2 front iron newel posts was missing! We probably walked by it twice before we even noticed. We were in such disbelief that we had to look up photos that we took only a few days before to make sure it was there to begin with! It stood there for 130 years before someone ripped it from its home, within 3 days after we owned it. It was upsetting because it has been our dream to live in a Brownstone, and this is one of the things that makes it what it is. We were determined to replace it. Fortunately the design is a popular one in Brooklyn and it wouldn’t be too hard to find. We weren’t in too much of a hurry since we had a big renovation to get through, but it’s time! In fact, our stoop project had even grown since then.

Shortly after we closed our iron post was stolen. We’re going to make sure its welded together so no one can steal it this time.

The first thing we wanted to do is learn what made it an easy target so that the same thing wouldn’t happen to the other one or the one we replaced. What we learned is that there is a steel rod that extends from the very top all the way into the cement base it sits on. After decades that steel rod can rust and then completely sever. The small cap that sits atop the post can then spin and wiggle. This is what gives away to would-be thieves that it is loose and ready for the taking. Fortunately our other post is solid, and we’ll keep an eye on it to make sure it stays that way.

The new post that we found at a salvage yard matches ours exactly, except it’s painted brown. All of the paint is flaking off. The iron railing and posts need to be painted every few years anyway to prevent rusting. So we are going to install the new post, then scrape everything down, and put on a fresh coat of black paint.

Our stoop stairs have also been slowly chipping away as well. We find that it’s a common occurrence during a renovation. Once it starts it doesn’t stop! So our stoop repair plans include replacing a layer of brownstone over the entire stairs. That’s not a DIY project we feel comfortable to tackle ourselves so we already have a few quotes- ranging from $2000- $4000.

This is the project we were always coming back to once we wrapped up all of our living spaces inside. So it feels great to be moving on to it! Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

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One thing is for certain in an un-renovated historic Brooklyn home, it’s leaky. And we’re not talking about the roof. Most modern forms of energy weren’t even invented when they were built so energy efficiency had no bearing on the building process. A common goal of Brooklyn renovators is to improve it but many wonder how far they should go. Insulation, solar panels, windows, heating/cooling systems, gas vs electric…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.

We’ve been interested in the concept of passive homes and set out to learn more about how to achieve the best energy efficiency and to understand what makes sense in Brooklyn renovations. Never heard of a passive home? If not, you’re not alone, but it most certainly is going to dominate the future of building and renovating. New York City updates energy codes every 3 years or so and it’s getting more and more demanding. Everything is moving in that direction. The concept focuses on creating a building that uses very little energy (especially for heating and cooling). Some can even achieve zero (yes, zero) energy expense, and there is a level that qualifies for certification. Even if your goal is not to have a certified passive home, many of the concepts can be used to greatly improve your home’s energy efficiency. Cost and scope of work are big factors in deciding what you can and cannot do.

What’s the most important thing?

One of the first things that comes to mind for most people when they think about lowering every bills are solar panels. They can be part of a holistic approach to energy efficiency but they are certainly not the most important. Passive houses’ main concept is around making the home virtually airtight. On average a home can lose up to 12-15 times the air volume of the house in 1 hour. That is the equivalent of buying a dozen eggs and throwing away 11, over and over again. A home can be certified passive only when it’s reduced to .6 air change per hour. It’s a dramatic improvement and would require virtually no cost for heating and cooling. So the most important thing that you can do and the first place to put money is in creating an airtight envelope.

How to do it?

To create an airtight envelope the exterior walls need to be stripped to the studs/masonry and the ceiling under the roof needs to be opened up. It’s a big job and a major renovation. All areas need to be super insulated with the latest insulating technology that is several times what code calls for. Triple glazed windows need to be installed. Finally, a layer of insulating material may also have to be installed under the cellar slab. This should create a home that is virtually airtight.

Evaluating the roof for solar panel installation

What about ventilation?

The next question is, with such an airtight house, how do you get fresh air in without breaking the envelope? A device called a heat recovery ventilator solves the problem. It takes the warm stale air from inside the house, pulls the warmth out of it, and uses it to warm the fresh air it pulls in. So you can have all of the fresh air you need without letting all of your heat out of the building.

So, what about solar?

Solar can be an important part of the puzzle to reduce your energy use and carbon footprint. If your home is well insulated it is possible for solar panels to produce 100% of your energy requirements during the day. They may even produce more than you need and excess can flow back into the grid. At night when your solar panels aren’t producing electricity you can draw power from the grid, however the cost can be offset by credits you can receive for the electricity that flows back to the grid during the day.

What’s better – gas or electric?

We have good news that sounds like bad news. Your gas stove might have to go. It is the standard belief in most of America that gas is better for cooking than electric. Whether or not you are among those who hold that belief, what is a fact is that natural gas is a finite resource. We inevitably will be using less and less of it. Burning it is not that good for us or the earth. It releases CO2 and other harmful emissions into our homes and the atmosphere, while it only transfers a measly 35-40% of its heat to the pot or pan on the burner. Not to mention that it’s dangerous as it courses through aging infrastructure. A passive house must be 100% electric. Modern induction cooktops transfer up to 90% of it’s heating energy to the pot that is sitting on it’s eye. As long as the energy powering it is 100% from a renewable source (hello solar panels), it has a neutral impact on your carbon footprint. Also, if you talk to anyone who has an induction cooktop, they swear by it. Finally, there are places where there is a moratorium on new gas lines for all of these reasons. It’s only a matter of time before NYC follows suit for new construction and renovations of existing.

How do I heat my home if I can’t use gas?

Have you heard of a heat pump? If you haven’t you will be hearing more and more about them, especially in New York City. There is a movement to install more heat pumps for heating and cooling. A heat pump’s technology is hard for people to wrap their head around. It removes heat from the exterior air and pulls it inside to heat the home. Sounds easy right now while it’s 90 degrees outside, but what about when it’s 20 degrees? Even though you might not want to spend long periods of time outside when it’s that cold, believe it or not there is still heat in the air that the system can use to heat the home. The best heat pump technology still has 100% heating capacity down to about -14 degrees fahrenheit. Pretty safe for even the worst winters in NYC. Also, with your super insulated envelope you might not need to run it much!

I can’t go full certified passive house, but what can I do to improve my home’s energy efficiency now?

One of the leakiest things in most homes are the windows. Changing them for the most energy efficient that you can, and addressing other leaky spots, can greatly contribute to a more airtight envelope. Also, as you change appliances consider converting to electric. As electricity moves away from dirty coal to renewable sources you’re home will be better positioned to capitalize on them.

We’re still learning and technology is still improving, but we’re excited of the direction we’re going. Energy codes will rightly be moving in the direction to remove greenhouse gas producing and less efficient technology. Renovators are becoming more savvy and the technology is becoming more affordable. All things point to these topics becoming a much bigger part of the renovation conversation now and in the not so distant future.

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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. Some are not welcomed, especially when they unexpectedly cost tens of thousands of dollars!

There are some costs that are big surprises for many people looking to renovate a historic home. They are common, but unlike things like…electrical and plumbing, they aren’t always as obvious if you’re not used to spotting them. Here are our top surprisingly big expenses for Brooklyn historic home renovators.

Some treasure found during demo: original pocket doors & a newspaper clip from 1906

Demolition – It might surprise you to see how expensive demolition can be. It can be a lot of work. And here in New York City debris removal and disposal is a big expense. A gut renovation can easily produce tens of thousands of dollars in demo and debris removal cost.

Demo can add real fast depending on how much debris there is. Plaster work always shocks us when getting different quotes.

Plaster work – Original plaster moldings and walls might be one of the things that attracts someone to buy a historic home. To us they were precious. We were willing to do whatever we needed to do to save and restore them, but we weren’t prepared for the cost! Plaster work is more of an art than a skill. There aren’t that many people that do it and it’s very time consuming. If you see cracks or pieces missing you can very quickly get into the tens of thousands in repair cost. If plaster walls are decaying they will need to be skim coated. When that is done properly it not only refreshes the walls appearance it strengthens its integrity. To skim coat all walls in a 3-4 story brownstone or row house it might be one of the bigger ticket items in your entire renovation.

Floor Leveling– Chances are when you are looking around at renovation projects you’re walking on floors with varying levels of slants or grades. If it’s something that needs to be fixed or just something you want to fix it can be a big expense. Usually it’s done by demolishing and disposing (a big expense in itself) the flooring and subfloor, sistering joists to a single level, then installing new subfloor and flooring. If that was all of the cost it would be expensive, but it’s not. When floors are leveled you usually raise the plane up to the highest level. That means in many places the floor will adjust up, making it necessary to replace or adjust baseboards, window and door casings, stairs, doors, and potentially other items. It’s a big job with a price tag to match.

Structural work – Most people that walk into a home they want to renovate extensively see a wall or 3 that they would prefer to remove with a quick point and nod. But these old homes are held together by their sturdy bones. Some walls are bearing necessary loads from above and some that weren’t designed that way end up doing some of the heavy lifting anyway. Removing them often requires extensive work to transfer those loads in different ways. You may even need a structural engineer to design it, file it, and provide special inspections of the work (a nice chunk of budget before you even start!)

An old home is worth all the money spent into restoring some of the original details. We splurged on the tapestry in the vestibule and our original staircase. Photos by: Bridget Badore

Restoring a historic home can be rewarding. Bringing the old features back to life will almost always be worth it when it’s done. Getting there just might cost a bit more than you might expect when you are first wowed by the history of your home.

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Now that the summer heat is setting in we’ve been regularly using our new mini split system to cool our home. We had some questions about how good the system and configuration would work. We only installed one 18,000 BTU unit for the entire parlor floor. Even though it is fairly open, it’s about 800 square feet. Recommendations call for much more than that one unit. After some pretty hot and muggy days we can definitely say that it passed with flying colors! It gives the parlor floor a department store level of cool in just a couple of minutes. We even find ourselves turning it off if it gets too cold. The smaller 7,000 BTU units we installed in each bedroom are doing just as well. It has us thinking: could we exclusively use our mini split systems’s heat pump to heat our home as well?

It might be the last thing you want to think about right now, heating your home, but if you’re planning a new AC system it might be the time to consider it. Manufacturers of mini split heat pumps have been touting new technology that supposedly makes it possible to use as an exclusive heating system, but many people still warn against it. Saying instead that it’s really meant to supplement a traditional heating system with the northeast’s frigid temperatures. So which is it?

How Do Heat Pumps Work?

Let’s start with how heat pumps work. We won’t go too deep into the physics of it (because honestly some of the details are even foggy for us!) but unlike traditional heating systems that burn some sort of fuel source to heat water, steam, or air, heat pumps simply (or not so simply‍♂️) pull heat from the air outside to raise the temperature in your home. Yes, even when it is well below freezing outside. That can be hard for some people to wrap their heads around, but even if it’s 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside, there is still enough heat in the air for the heat pump to operate at 100% heating capacity.

Can It Exclusively Heat My Home?

Depending on the brand and features some mini split heat pumps can continue to operate at 100% heating capacity down to -15 degrees Fahrenheit. At some point all of them will provide less heating capacity if it gets cold enough, which unfortunately might be when you need it the most! For those early adopters of the new technology they are betting on temperatures not sinking that low, and it’s probably a good bet. The coldest monthly average low in New York City is 26 degrees. The lowest recorded temperature since 1869 was in 1934 and it was (ironically) -15 F degrees. In the last 10 years, negative temperatures have only been reached once, and it was -1 F. So the bottom line is that if you get the right system you should never experience a situation where you have decreased heating capacity. Also, remember that even if we have a once-in-a-century cold spell it doesn’t mean no heat, just less. Potentially it may operate at 70% heating capacity rather than 100%. If you’re reading this from northern Saskatchewan, maybe a mini split heat pump is not for you.

Other Considerations

One of the advantages a mini split system has over a ducted central cooling system is its ability to be operated in zones. You don’t need to cool parts of your home you’re not using. Obviously that’s much more efficient than cooling potentially thousands of lonely square feet. For heating, we personally feel this might not work as well if you’re using it exclusively. We prefer to have our entire home cozy and warm. It doesn’t really work to heat some rooms and not others (our home is not that big!) So we would likely have all units running to heat the entire house. We also didn’t install units in the bathrooms (nor would most people) so those rooms would need an alternative heating source (heated floors anyone?).

If you’re interested in going green or having a carbon neutral home, a mini split system can be a piece of the puzzle. If you install solar panels and you are able to produce enough amps to run your home and HVAC system you can be a step closer to operating off the grid.

We’ve been stubbornly resistant to considering making the switch to cooling AND heating exclusively with a ductless mini split heat pump, but the better the technology gets (it’s pretty much there), the more we learn about it, and the increasingly positive reviews we hear from those who are doing it is slowly but surely is changing our minds. Maybe we’ll give it a go this winter and report back our own review!

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We always loved the small touches of character in original homes like built-ins nooks and niches. Some much care was given to creating interesting features and moments in the design. We remember walking through several brownstones in the search for our perfect home and finding interesting ornate niches built into the staircase. Some were staged beautifully with statues, vases, and pictures. But some looked like they haven’t been touched in quite possibly a hundred years. When we purchased our home, there were some beautiful original details, but a lot of what was here originally was removed over the years. We don’t know if the place may have had a few of these architectural touches at some point, but we felt like some areas could use a bit more character. We wanted to put something back into the place to create some of these interesting moments, even if it wasn’t necessarily going to resemble something that was original.

The before and after of the recessed niche.

We painted the niche in a two-tone pink from Clare Paint.

When we bought our place we noticed that the first thing you saw when walking in was an unattractive, very utilitarian door at the top of the stairs that led to the roof hatch. We felt like we could do better as a first impression when walking in the door. We relocated the roof entrance around the side of the wall and built a niche of our own! Albeit a more modern version of the ornate original ones that we loved so much. It cost us basically nothing extra to build since we were doing so much work already. Our hope was to create an interesting feature much like the intention of some of the original versions we loved. We really love the way it turned out and feel that it fits in very well with our place.

Our guest bathroom is one of the few brand new spaces in our home. It was formerly a small bedroom, so we needed to build all of the plumbing and completely transform the space. We were drawn to making it feel like it has been there for many years. All of the finishes and fixtures have a vintage feel. We thought this would be a great place to create another built-in nook. It’s one of the features we get the most compliments on when people use our guest bathroom and again it costs nothing extra to build. It gives the bathroom some interest rather than just having 4 flat and boring walls. It also helps the room feel more like it was always supposed to be this bathroom.

In our master bathroom we built a big double shower that extends across the entire width of the room. It’s the primary feature of the space and we wanted to give it a useful feature that would be the icing on the cake! We built an inset niche that spans the width of the back shower wall, just as the shower spans the width of the room. It’s a useful place for us to keep shampoo and soap bottles, as well as succulents and other items that make our shower more interesting.

The last built-in feature that we created was in our bedroom. This one happened more out of necessity. Our bedroom, like many in Brooklyn, has an old fireplace bump out. The fireplace is long gone. Removed and bricked up in a prior senseless renovation. What’s left is just a 5 foot section of wall jutting out into the room. It made it very difficult to figure out how to place our bed on that wall and the bump out was not centered in the room. . Our solution was to build a wall to extend the length and center it in the room. Now we have a bump out that extends most of the room and is a perfect backdrop to our bed, but it leaves about 2 feet of space on each side. On one side one of our closet doors slides comfortably into it, and on the other side our radiator is at the bottom. We decided that this little space that was created out of necessity would make a great built-in shelf feature! We used an old Ikea table top that was left in our basement, cut it into shelves, and stained them. It cost us a few hundred dollars to have our contractor build the wall, but it cost us nothing to put in the shelves into this special nook. It’s one of the things that gives the room it’s character and something that makes us happy to see everyday.

None of these features were especially hard or expensive to create. Although we know it’s nothing like what original brownstone builders would have done, it makes us feel like we have contributed something back into what is the living, breathing, and evolving (for better or worse) character of our home.

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Outdoor space seems more important than ever right now. If you’re fortunate enough to have a backyard, it’s time well spent giving it a makeover. We’ve been working tirelessly in our backyard for the past few months but we’ve been dreaming about it even longer. After going through a major renovation of the house, we had basically no budget for the backyard. We saved up $2500 and set out to transform the space as much as we could.

Our backyard is not only a retreat for us to relax, it’s also a way for us to connect with our friends. Now that pandemic related precautions are lifting we are very much looking forward to social distanced outdoor fun with small groups of friends this summer. We built our space with those 2 things in mind.

After using a jackhammer to take up a lot of cement, relocating soil over our entire yard, carrying hundreds of bags of sand and gravel in, carrying many bags of excess soil out, leveling pavers, and lots of planting, we are finally done! We can’t wait for you to see!

A before and after of our Backyard Makeover. After photo by: Shahnee Naftali

Time for the tour!

Walking out of the back door you step onto our 18×8 foot steel deck. It’s made of steel and concrete to comply with NYC building code (because our deck stretches from property line to property line it must be made out of non combustible materials).

The most important use for the deck for us was cooking and al fresco dining. We have a beautiful grill from DCS Grills (purchased before our backyard makeover) and a round table that expands for larger al fresco dinner parties! We introduced a pop of color with sun yellow chairs from ,,Article.

At the very bottom of the deck stairs you land on our hardscape area. We installed a pea gravel and bluestone patio. We used bluestone that we found in various parts of our yard with pea gravel in between. Pea gravel patios always remind us of Mediterranean gardens so we really like the feel it gives our backyard. This space was designed to have relaxing seating and a fire pit. It’s a bit more comfy than the seating on the deck and you have the feeling of being immersed in all of the planting around you.

Between the patio and the building we built a 24” raised raised flower bed that stretches across most of the width of the yard. On one side are the deck stairs and the other a small path. We painted it matte black to match the deck. We wanted to create some interest with varying height in the garden and also create a separate private space for our tenant. It serves both purposes well!

The back half of our yard beyond the patio is grass! It was dirt…but we seeded a lawn! We had major doubts we would ever see one blade of grass, but we spent time making sure we had the right grass seed. Then after taking care of it like a mama bird takes care of her chicks for 5 weeks we had a full lawn! (Watering 3 times a day!) We used a special grass seed mix for yards that don’t get full sun. It’s dog-friendly and drought resistant (aka us forgetting to water). The seed we used is #769 from ,,PT Lawn Seed. At less than $20 for a bag of seed it was definitely worth the 5 week wait over the more expensive but instantly gratifying option of installing sod. It definitely paid off because it’s a beautiful bright green carpet of grass!

There are 2 more relaxing places to hang it toward the back of the yard over the grass. A hammock and 2 Adirondack chairs.

All the way around the perimeter of the yard are shade tolerant plantings. With help from our backyard beautifier, Jeannette Williams from ,,Loam Brooklyn, we picked out plants that would work well in our yard and provide the relaxing environment we were looking for. We planted Bugloss, Hardy Geranium, Ghost Ferns, Ostrich Ferns, Echinacea, Butterfly Bushes, and 2 Ruby Falls. With Jeanette’s help we got all of our plants from wholesale places, and we are patiently waiting for them to grow in a bit and fill the space.

The last piece of the puzzle, that really sets the mood, are the 2- 60 foot strings of lights running from the house all the way to the back of the yard.

The result has really exceeded our expectations and dreams. We have spent morning, day, and night in the backyard ever since we finished! It was time and money (even with our limited budget) well spent. The total amount we spent ended up being about $2600. It might look a bit more DIY than what the $35,000 quotes we got would have, but we enjoyed the process and now really appreciate the result even more!

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Our renovation budget required us to get creative to stretch it to the finish line. We tried to combine inexpensive items with some higher-end touches to achieve the overall outcome. Sometimes off-the-shelf items just won’t get you to the gorgeous finished look of that inspiration photo you’re swooning over. We certainly didn’t have the budget to go custom in many places but where we did (and will!) it’s worth it! A custom built-in or piece of furniture allows for personalized design to fit your space and taste. What’s the possibilities, how do you make it happen, and how much does it cost?

Our first custom piece of furniture in our place was our master bathroom vanity. We searched high and low for the right piece. Many that we found were too big for our urban-sized bathroom, which isn’t tiny at 10’X6’, but still requires a compact option. Hours and hours of searching led us to the same styles and look over and over again. Anything that we did find that we liked was either too big or too expensive. We knew what we wanted so we turned to a carpenter. The cost was still a splurge, but we felt it was worth it because it was cheaper than the off-the-shelf options that we liked and we could customize the size so that it improved the feel of the entire room.

In the past we have had a dining table and a coffee table custom built as well. It’s such a great solution to get a one-of-a-kind piece likely for less than an expensive off-the-shelf item. It’s something you’ll have for years and you’ll be happy to talk about when someone admiringly asks, “where did you get that?”

Built-in cabinets and shelving can dramatically transform a space. And sometimes it is the only option. That’s the case for the largest unfinished area of our house. If you’ve seen pictures of our mostly finished space, you probably haven’t seen the large blank wall where something is obviously missing. We do our best to keep it out of our finished photos. It’s opposite our kitchen. We have stared at it more hours than we would like to mention trying to figure out what we want to do. We know we need more storage so we always planned on putting something there, but we just didn’t know what we wanted it to look like or even how we wanted it to function. It’s going to be a large feature of the room. We thought about buying a piece (or pieces) of furniture, but we now know the only solution is a custom built-in. We finally have our inspiration ready and we are going to embark on the project soon.

We are in the beginning stages of designing our custom built-ins across from the kitchen island. Inspiration photo found on Pinterest. Photo by: Remodelista

How To Get Started?

Free your mind and the rest will follow. The best thing about custom furniture is that you can build whatever you want. You don’t have to be restricted to what you’re seeing out there on the store shelves. Start by evaluating your needs and wants. Do you need lots of storage? Or do you want a place to display items? Examine how you live and how you’ll interact with the piece. That is one reason we have waited this long to fill this empty hole in our house. We decided we didn’t want to rush it. We wanted to build what would work best for us and to understand that we needed to live in the space for a while.

Look for inspiration. If you’re like us you might need some direction on the aesthetic. The design was not going to miraculously appear to us in a vision. We stockpiled visual inspiration. We spoke to friends who have an eye for design. And we saved lots of Pinterest pins, Instagram screenshots, and scoured our favorite design inspiration blogs. From there we pulled some features from our favorite inspiration and combined it with our list of needs. We have a concept!

How To Make It Happen

The next step is to find a builder. You can work with a furniture builder, a cabinet maker, a millworker, or a carpenter. One thing that we need for this project is someone to take our concept and put the last few finishing touches on it to make it a reality. So we wanted someone who had the ability to design and build it. Some millworkers and cabinet makers might require detailed drawings with specs for them to build from. Others will take your inspiration and concept and provide the finishing touches and detailed drawings. That is what we need. Fortunately it isn’t too hard to find a builder that will help with the design. You’ll just want to make sure you have a clear enough vision and a solid inspiration to convey what you want.

You can provide detailed measurements or it could be a better idea to have the builder come in person to see the space and take measurements. For furniture, it could be a bit more straightforward. For instance, we knew we needed our vanity to be 55” wide and 18” deep. We could provide that to the builder ourselves and there was no need for him to come out before. For our built-ins, since he will be fitting them into place, it’s best for him to come out to take his own measurements. He will be aware of features that might require some special requirements to fit properly.

How Much Does This Cost?

There is always a less expensive option than building custom. For instance, we’re fans of taking off-the-shelf cabinets and fitting them in to look built in. You might still need the skill of a carpenter but it can save thousands in materials and special skills. Sometimes, like with our kitchen wall, custom is really the only solution to achieve the desired outcome. So for us it’s worth the extra expense. Drawers, cabinets, and other working/mechanical features are what contribute to the cost the most. The type of material used is also a big contributor. For a custom vanity you could be looking at something like $3,000-$5,000. That might be more or less than the off-the-shelf items. For custom built-ins like the ones we want to do in our kitchen the cost could vary more depending on those variables but a range might be $4,000-$9,000 if you keep it relatively simple.

Custom furniture and built-ins might seem expensive but for items that will last decades we think it’s worth working it in a few areas. We can justify it by giving our strapped budget some breathing room in other areas. Mixing some off-the-shelf very inexpensive items with some upgraded custom features will contribute to your overall unique style while hopefully keeping your project affordable.

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Now that we have been living in our renovated house for over 6 months, a lot of people ask us what we would have done differently. One of the things we immediately say is the lighting design. We didn’t make any huge mistakes (well except for the guest bedroom light switch ending up behind the door swing!) but there’s a lot of little things about how we live and interact with the space that we didn’t think about…and some that we did and are happy about it daily. Although we could not have lived in the space to understand the patterns of how we would use it, we could have made the lighting design more livable with a bit more forethought.

Placement of Switches

As we mentioned, we messed up. A renovation is a whirlwind of decisions, choices, and moving parts. Measurements, colors, sheen, door swings, hardware options all come flying at you quickly. There are even 1,000 shades of white to stare at looking for subtle differences. Something was inevitably going to slip by. For us, it happened in our guest bedroom. Once we put in the door we excitedly opened it for the first time only to find ourselves hopelessly searching a blank wall for a light switch. It was behind the door! Fortunately, it’s a guest room that we don’t use often, and we plan to fix it one day, but for now if you want light in that room you need to close the door to turn it on! We could have caught that if we would have been paying closer attention. Although that was a pretty big mistake, there are many small things that can make a big difference if you only spend a few more minutes with your lighting plan envisioning yourself moving around the place. Should the light switches be on the left or right? Should they be on the outside or inside of the room (obviously inside usually but there are certain circumstances that might call for a light switch outside a room) Should they be grouped together or spread apart? Finally, do you want multiple lights on one switch or do you want greater control over which lights are on and which are off with separate switches? Imagine yourself moving through the space, in and out of each room, and think about what would make it easier.

A series of switches and recessed lighting in our renovation. Can you spot which one is incorrect?

3-Way Switches

We decided to put in 3-way switches on all of the lights upstairs and downstairs in the stairway area. When we go to bed we can turn lights off downstairs from upstairs and vice versa. There may also be places that you might want a switch for a light at 2 sides of a room. Our parlor level is pretty open. We put the living area light switch near the front entrance to the room, but now that we realize we spend most of our time in the kitchen it would be nice to be able to control that light from the kitchen area in the back as well.

Dimmers

For us, being able to control the level of light is crucial. Fortunately, it is an easy fix if you want to swap out a light switch for a dimmer switch. Do yourself a favor though and put them in everywhere. We are very happy that we put them where we did (almost everywhere) and occasionally wish we put them where we didn’t.

Recessed Lighting

We cannot lie to you. We are not fans of recessed lighting. Maybe it’s because we decided to stake our claim on a piece of Brooklyn history, and recessed lighting, in our opinion, just doesn’t fit in. We love our plaster moldings and original wood and scaring any of it up with a ceiling full of potholes and channels just wasn’t what we wanted to do. It’s also not the kind of light we prefer. With that said, they have their place! We have a recessed light (one!) in our beautiful master bath double shower, and we put 3 recessed lights in our kitchen where we were already replacing the ceiling. We like them, but we could have easily installed some over cabinet articulating sconces and would have been just as happy, or happier! On the plus side, LED recessed are made to be very low profile and thin these days so they are easy to install in places where they can be useful, like in the cellar, in a closet, or in a shower.

Smart Lighting

Many of the concerns about 3-way switches, switch placement, dimming, and more can be solved with smart lighting. You can connect all of your lights to a hub or an app on your phone through WiFi. You can turn off upstairs lights from downstairs or from anywhere in the world. You can even create schedules and settings that change the lighting around the entire house with a tap(or it just happens automatically.) There are lots of options. You can have a hub with wired or remote connection. You can also just pop out your switch and put in a new one, then connect through WiFi and an app. Or you can even just change the bulb and connect it through WiFi. It’s easy and affordable. One thing to note that you might want to give some thought tops that some smart lighting switches require a neutral wire. Many old homes with replaced electrical end up without it in places because of the difficulty in running wires in existing walls and not trying to open up too many holes. There are some smart light switches that don’t require it but most do. If you are really into the best of the best smart lighting and don’t want to be restricted in your choices, make sure you run a neutral wire to all switches where you want it.

Other Interesting Lighting Ideas

Give a lot of thought to the amount of light you want in your space. Are there places you want more light, less light, or more control over lighting levels? Under cabinet lights (we have them and never use them), closet lights that turn on when you open the door, sconces to throw light up or down in interesting ways, and remember kitchens and bathrooms need more light sources…there are a lot of fun ways to customize your lighting design!

Fixtures

Finally, once you get the lighting design down it’s time to choose fixtures. Your lighting design might even depend on the type of fixtures your want. Pendants over the kitchen island, up-turned or down turned sconces, multiple bulb fixtures and chandeliers, even if you don’t choose the actual fixture while you are doing your lighting design you will want a general idea of the type for each location.

Lighting design is the area that we think about the most when we are asked, “what would you have done differently.” Ironically, many of the things we would have done differently would not have cost a penny more, or would have been marginally more expensive. It just requires a bit more thought and patience to spend time thinking through it. A renovation will throw a lot of decisions at you, many of which you need to make quickly, but this is an area we strongly recommend taking a bit more time to think about.

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Tis the season for gardening and planting! The sun is out and birds are chirping and we’ve been working on our backyard makeover the past 2 months. It’s been a really fun 100% DIY project and the perfect distraction from the problems of the world. We have already planned our space, torn out a lot of the existing features, built our hardscaping, and now we are finally ready for planting! Our budget is tiny so we really needed to be smart about choices. Over this past weekend we did a Instagram Live Q&A with our back-yard-beautifier and gardening guru, ,,Jeanette Williams, to help answer questions. We thought we would talk about everything we have learned and provide as much info as we can (with the help of Jeannette of course) to help you get your gardening on too.

Backyard Recap

First a quick recap of where we are in the process. Our backyard was always a project we put off until after our larger renovation was complete. It was a pile of rubble for a lot of it and it was an overgrown mess for all of it. We built the deck as part of the renovation but it wasn’t even a pleasant place to be because the rest of the yard was not very inspiring. We were so fortunate to find Jeannette who is so good at everything we are not when it comes to gardening. We had questions. Can we have grass with a shady yard and a large dog? What kind of plants should we get? What kind of patio/hardscape will fit into our very small budget?

We planned, designed, and started installation. We removed all of the existing features including a lot of cement. We fortunately found some bluestone that we are re-using, we built a large raised flower bed, and we planted grass! Our backyard is already completely transformed and we have one more big step of putting in all of the plantings.

Where To Start

If you’re like we were, you are currently staring at your overgrown or not-so-inspiring backyard just not knowing where to start. Fortunately, the first time Jeannette came over to see our space we developed a clear plan! She suggested that we first just observe our space. Noting where the sunlight falls (we took a picture every hour on the hour of the backyard so we can understand where the sunny spots are). We also gathered inspiration from photos of spaces we loved and tried to envision ourselves in the space. All of this pretty quickly developed into a plan. We noticed that the back half of our yard gets a good amount of sun, while the front half gets almost none. It made it very easy to determine where our patio space would be and where we would attempt to plant grass. We also listed our priorities for the space (relaxing, eating, dog play…etc). It all clicked when Jeannette suggested the perfect inspiration picture and we were ready for the next phase!

Designing The Space

Designing the space is the most important part. It’s where you’ll decide where to build the hardscape, where to put softscape, what plants to go with that make sense for your yard, and of course budget.

We seeded the grass seed from PT Lawn two weeks ago, the grass has grown quite well.

Hardscape

This is where budget was a big concern for us. We were hardscaping a pretty big area from the patio that is under the deck all the way out to about half of the yard. Pavers, bluestone, or flagstone for the entire area would have pushed us out of budget. So we decided to use the bluestone we reclaimed from our backyard and pea gravel to cover a large area for the patio. Read more about our patio installation and budget here, but the goal came to about $800. Flagstone runs about $16-$20 per square foot so we feel that it was a great decision!

We’re making some great progress on our DIY Backyard Makeover.

Softscape

Once we understood where the hardscape was going we designed the softscape and plantings. Our backyard is fairly shady although the back half gets partial sun. We really wanted grass at least in part of our yard. Jeannette helped us determine where it would make sense to have grass and also to find the right type.

Grass Update! To sod or to seed that is the question! After carrying 145 bags of sand and gravel through our house and into the backyard getting a 2 pound bag of seed was definitely the way to go rather than carrying sod. It was also much cheaper and gave us the ability to really customize the mix of turf seed. We went with a pet-friendly microclover turf mix. It has 4 varieties grass, fescue, and microclover that is supposed to handle pet urine better as well as being drought tolerant (aka us forgetting to water it!). We prepared the area by removing some excess soil, turning it all over, adding 1 bag of peat moss to aerate, an organic lawn starter fertilizer (you could do without this if you have an issue with it), and just hand sprinkling our seed. We cover it all with bird netting so that the birds and squirrels would steal half our seed. You need to keep the seed moist at all times during germination which means watering 3-4 times a day when it’s not raining. We expected that we wouldn’t see any sprouts for a couple of weeks (and perhaps never since this is our first grass seed planting experiment!) but after one week we had a green fuzz starting to form over the entire area. After 2 weeks we had grass that almost needed cutting! We do need to go back and fill in some places either we missed laying the seed by hand or that possibly moved around while watering. Overall it looks great and we’re very glad we went with seed over sod.

Plantings/Veggies

One of the things that Jeanette suggested for us to do during the observation phase was to get a soil test. That would tell us if there are any heavy metals or anything that we should be worried about when eating veggies grown in our yard. Covid-19 shut down the labs that could do that for us so we had to proceed without it. Because of that we are not planting any edible plants in our yard right now. We could just bring in some top soil for it but we have moved enough soil around our yard for this year/lifetime. We also want to be sure anything we plant is dog friendly. Our dog Zuko loves to take a chomp out of anything green and we don’t want him to get sick. Jeannette let us know that a few of the plants we liked and suggested were potentially toxic to dogs! We didn’t realize how important of a consideration that should be. Since our yard is shady we also didn’t want to set ourselves up for failure with the wrong plants.

We have beds all around our yard and a large 3’X9’ raised bed to cover. We really want to plant mature plants so we were worried about the budget. Fortunately there were many options that Jeannette suggested that fit our requirements for shade friendly and dog friendly plants.

Here are our choices:

We’re doing ferns and geraniums in the extra shady spots, Bugloss and Budleja Unique partial sun, Echinacea magnus in the sunniest spots, and Eastern redbud Ruby Falls for some pops of bright color.

We’re sourcing plants from a few places but we were able to find great prices and selection at: Natty Garden, Kings County Nursery, Hicks Nursery, and Fanelli’s Landscape Supply.

Plantings Budget: We spent $18 on a 2 pound bag of grass seed. To prep the area we spent $20 on a bag of lawn starter and $15 on a large bag of peat moss. We haven’t ordered our plants yet but Jeannette is helping us source all of the plants and put together an amazing spreadsheet so that we know exactly what we are spending. Plantings for a very full and mature garden all the way around and through a typical 20×50 Brooklyn backyard is costing us about $600!

Installation

The design phase is the longest but the installation phase is the most labor intensive. Since it’s a DIY project and we work during the week it took us a couple of months of working on weekends to get to where we are now. Demo and bagging up the existing cement took a couple weekends. Digging, and digging, and digging to remove soil and level the area for the patio area took a couple of days. Installing the gravel and bluestone patio took a couple of days. Removing excess soil and prepping for the grass area took a day. And now we are ready to plant!

Total budget: Right now our backyard makeover which very dramatically transformed our space costs about $1500. We are still working and may add a few things, including furniture, but so far we are pleasantly surprised at how inexpensively we were able to do it. It was a good amount of work but we feel it has been totally doable for anyone even with no experience, especially with help of our gardening guru, ,,Jeannette!

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** Please note we received Bulbrite Solana bulbs as a sponsorship. The opinions and commentary in blog post are our own.

During our renovation we really wanted to put in smart lighting. We wanted it to connect to our devices, set it on a schedule, adjust light levels from our couch, and have it integrated into other systems. By the time we got around to it we just lost steam on making decisions (there so many to make during a big renovation). We were looking at smart lighting options that required us to change switches, most of which required a neutral wire, which we didn’t install everywhere because our project wasn’t a total rewire of the electrical. It was too much to handle at the time.

So we took the easy way out and had our contractor just install regular switches, knowing we would get back to it. And here we are! Now, we think it was a great idea waiting to choose smart lighting. We have had the opportunity to live in our space and understand how we use the lighting in each room. We know where we need more adjustment in the brightness, where it needs to be warmer or cooler (it is amazing to be able to adjust that, more below!), what lights we want to adjust from our couch (all of them, duh!), and what is important to be on a schedule. Also, and this one is very important, it had to be easy to install. No neutral wire and no hubs. And it had to have a user friendly app interface.

We have different preferences in light brightness. Jordan likes it bright and light while Barry prefers lighting to be very dim and for each area to be contained in its own singular, perfectly crafted lighting source. It requires a lot of adjusting for us both to be happy throughout the day. We do have regular dimmer switches (Barry will not live without them), but it’s tough to find the balance.

Tired of the suspense already? Let’s skip to the decision so we can tell you all about what we chose and how it’s working for us. We went with Bulbrite Solana LED Smart Bulbs! Yep! No switches, no hubs, no screw drivers or turning breakers off, or fumbling with wires, or potentially electrocuting ourselves (high potential ).

Features

First of all, changing our light bulbs is a touchy subject for us. Recently the local power company had representatives on our street offering to change all of our incandescent bulbs to LED for free. Barry shoo-ed them away. We are suckers for the warm glow of incandescent Edison bulbs. They are all over our house. We know it’s incredibly environmentally unfriendly and we’re spending lots of extra money running them. We want to do better, but the thought of cold, bluish green LED bulbs the power company was going to provide replacing our beloved Edison bulbs was too much to bare. Bulbrite makes LED Bulbrite Solana bulbs that look exactly like Edison bulbs! We were very excited to try them out! Like we said, we want to do better! Ok…Barry was skeptical. So we did a side by side comparison. We were shocked. You cannot tell the difference. In fact, the Bulbrite Solana bulbs have a HUGE advantage which we have to skip straight to because it might be our favorite feature.

Temperature Control

How? Who thought of this? I want to shake her/his hand. It’s genius. Not only do the Solana LED bulbs perfectly replicate a warm incandescent glow, you can adjust it to a snowy cold and clean bright white or anything in between! It’s actually very useful. It depends on the light fixture, placement, and time of day. In a chair lamp in the evening a nice dim warm glow is what we’re looking for, but in the frosted globes over our kitchen island the incandescent Edison bulbs we have in them have always seemed too orange, and the regular white bulbs we tried were too cool. With the Bulbrite Solana bulbs we can adjust it to the perfect temperature, anytime of day, and from anywhere. It is seriously amazing. We could go on about this but we have so much more to talk about.

App Controlled

We might have skipped ahead on the temperature control, but we had to, so let’s back it up. Once our Bulbrite Solana bulbs were installed (more on that below) they are all controlled through a very simple and powerful app. Very few clicks are required to make adjustments and they are extremely responsive. Everything you need to do is right there in a user friendly package. So this ticks a big box for us: Being able to control our lights from anywhere, especially the couch. Although there are others uses. There have been many times we have gone out thinking we would be back before dark and leaving our 86 pound baby Silver Lab, Zuko, home by himself. If we left without leaving some lights on for him we came home heartbroken he was alone in a pitch dark house for hours. Though he might not have cared a bit we feel like horrible parents. No more! So having everything in an easy to use app that we control from anywhere is important. If you ever even need to open it, keep reading.

Turn Lights on/off

This one is pretty simple, and you’ve probably already gotten the point, but we need to give it it’s own subtitle. A decade ago if this was the only feature it would be a technological breakthrough. You – can – turn your – light – bulbs – on – and – off – from -anywhere – in – the – world (like the couch;-)).

Control Brightness

In addition to controlling temperature, again wow, you also have complete control over the brightness. We’ve walked down the street at night gawking into other people’s houses. You know you do it too. Some are beautifully lit, but every once and a while there will be one that looks like a hospital room, a-washed in an icy cold bright bluish tinted hum. Barry always says he doesn’t know how humans are existing in there. Maybe it was ok during the day but at night, dim those lights for goodness sake!

Create Scenes

You might have thought that was it. Turn the lights on and off, adjust the brightness, and adjust the temperature, all from the app. If that was all of the features we would be happy as clams. But the best is yet to come. You can create “scenes” with different combinations of all of the above mentioned features so that your settings are all saved and can be adjusted with one click. You can also create as many scenes as you would like. So you can have a dinner scene with nice dim and warm lighting. You can have a morning scene that gradually brightens like a gentle sunrise. You can have a stark bright light in every room for cleaning scenes. A cocktail party scene…a romantic scene…a late afternoon/evening scene (you know when you’re at the restaurant and everyone goes, oooooooohhhhh”)…a book nook scene…a poker playing scene (bright light over table in dimly light room)…we could go on, but you get the picture. Once you set the scene you just tap it and your Bulbrite Solana bulbs do all of the work. “Oh but I don’t want to tap even one button to turn my restaurant inspired late afternoon/evening scene on. Why can’t it just do it itself?! UGH!,” you say? Keep reading.

Create Schedules

She thought so too. Schedule away. Your morning scene can come on everyday, at the time of your choosing. Your book scene can be ready for you since you’ll have a book in one hand and your cup of hot tea in the other (who can tap a button?!). Your lights come on at dusk when you’re out of town so that when you neighbors walk by they can admire your perfectly lit home (don’t worry the bulbs are LED so you are not even spending much on running them and the environment thanks you too). The combination of scenes and schedules creates an endless amount of customization.

Installation

Installation comes first, but we had to cover features before we talk about it. If the features don’t tick the boxes who cares about how easy it is to install! Now that those boxes are ticked, we’ll write a few paragraphs on the installation process. Just kidding! A couple of sentences will do. It couldn’t be easier. Download the app, take your old bulb out, screw the new bulb in, it starts blinking, put your WiFi password in ONCE in the app, connect the bulb, give it a name, and assign it to a room. For each bulb you connect after the first one, you just screw it in, turn it on, click to connect on your phone, name it, and assign it. Go get the book and the tea!

How It’s Working For Us

Life is good with our Bulbrite Solana smart lighting. We have found a balance on our varying lighting preferences. We even have new preferences that we didn’t know we had now that we have scenes that automatically come on (the restaurant ooooohhhhh never gets old). Our Bulbrite Solana bulbs have made our home more livable, more enjoyable, and more soothing. It was an easy and inexpensive change for the amount of improvement it has brought to our space. Not to mention Zuko is never left home in the dark.

Cons

We sang Bulbrite Solana’s praises. We really love it, but it wouldn’t be fair not to say that there is one thing that we considered. Every choice has pros and cons. For us there was one area that our Solana bulbs couldn’t help with. Simply, we have some lights that do not take light bulbs. We have 3 recessed LED lights in our kitchen and a special LED light fixture (that we love) over our dining table. Very few, but since we can’t replace the bulbs, we can’t control them through the Solana app. This may not be the case for everyone, and it’s not that big of a deal to us, but it really is the only drawback we can think of.

You don’t need to do a major electrical overhaul and change switches, run wiring, or install hubs to have a smart lighting system that fits into and improves your lifestyle. If you can change a light bulb (come on someone in the house can…a friend?…a neighbor?) and you can download an app (I’m sure you got that) you can have every bit of functionality that those more complicated systems do that we would surely electrocute ourselves installing! Actually even more! You can’t change the temperature of your bulbs with those other systems, and that is now a must-have feature for us!

We can’t recommend Bullbrite Solana products enough. Order your Bullbrite Solana lights today!

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** Thanks to the Allswell team for the free mattress. All opinions are our own:

A new mattress was almost as important for us as picking out new appliances. Maybe more! We spend a lot of time in bed. Whether it’s sleeping, blogging or just scrolling through Instagram, you want something comfortable when you want to unwind from your busy day.

We both were full size mattress people prior to our renovation. It’s quite comical now thinking of two grown guys and one 86 lbs lab sharing a full size bed but we made it work for several years. When we bought our place we made a pact that we were upgrading to a queen mattress. A life changing moment, even though to many people a king bed would be standard. This is NYC!

Given living in NYC, room size is always a challenge. Our new master bedroom was the largest room we both ever had. Our room measures roughly 13 x 14. No palace by any standards but for us it’s the perfect size. When planning our bedroom we knew a queen size bed would be the way to go. Now we just had the obstacle of finding the right mattress. You might have noticed there are a lot of options out there now!

Barry always had a Nest mattress and Jordan always had a Casper. We both liked different things about our past mattresses. Jordan loved how hard the Casper was and Barry loved how pillow-like his Nest was but we both knew we didn’t want those mattresses for our new bed.

We spent months shopping, reading reviews, and talking to friends about potential mattresses. The one mattress that kept high on our list was Allswell. It came up over and over again as a very comfortable and very affordable option but ultimately these are the 5 reasons we went with the ,Allswell Luxe Hybrid:

1. Firm (enough)– We personally think Jordan’s old Casper mattress was too firm. Barry was waking up with some back pain on his Nest mattress and we realized it might have been too soft. Our Luxe mattress is the perfect blend soft and firm. It’s even labeled as a “just right” mattress. After sleeping on it for several months, the firmness is holding up really really well. It’s actually still in a “like-new” condition. We are beyond happy getting into bed every-night and we’re both sleeping so well.
2. Price– Compared to other mattresses we were looking at, Allswell comes in at a steal. The mattress starts at $645 and shipped directly to your door. It was so much fun unboxing the mattress and seeing it unfold right in front of our eyes!
3. Signature Quilting with cooling features– might be TMI but we both run hot! With the Plushly quilted top panel with cooling SwirlFoam the mattress runs cool and allows us to sleep comfortably and not wake up in the middle of the night sweaty.
4. Accessories– Allswell has a great line and product aside from mattresses. We upgraded our mattress with the most comfortable percale sheets, matching duvet cover, and an ,Organic Kantha blanket. Everything was so reasonably priced and the quality is better than we were expecting! For us this is really important for a good night’s sleep.
5. Customer Service– We have had difficulty with other brands (we’re not mentioning names) answering some of the questions we had in the process of shopping for our mattress. Team Allswell answered all of our questions in the process (ex, shipping, mattress choices, what if we don’t like, etc.) and even helped us decide what mattress to select!

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Whether you’re in the market for a NEW mattress or you’re just wanting to upgrade your current mattress, we highly recommend ,Allswell. Give it a try! Allswell has a 10 year limited warranty, 100 day trial and free ground shipping over $35! This is the perfect time to consider upgrading your mattress. We all need good sleep right now.

Here’s your chance to upgrade your mattress (or accessories!) today with 15% off Allswell products* using the code BROWNSTONE15.

*Offer expires 6/30/20 at 11:59PM PST. Offer subject to change or cancellation. Void where prohibited. Cannot be combined with other promotions. Does not apply to previous purchases.

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Do you find yourself knowing what TV show your neighbors are binging or worse yet what their daily fight is about? You’re not alone, especially as we are all home more now to hear it. It’s something we considered as we were renovating. We had not yet lived in the place since we just bought it but should we take precautions while construction is in process to sound proof the walls and floors?

It’s a common problem especially in older buildings, and surprisingly even through the masonry walls next door! The good news is that there are solutions. If you already have plans to renovate considering adding ways to soundproof.

What you do to help eliminate sound transmission depends on what type of noise you are trying to reduce. Taking the physics that we frankly don’t understand out of it, there two main ways sounds are transferred. High frequency sound that bounces around and finds any hole or gap to go through and mid and low frequency bass tones that tend to vibrate objects they hit (including the air!). Your plan should include stopping both. Keep in mind that anything that you do will only reduce sound transmission. Short of rebuilding all of your walls and floors with completely different materials specifically with the goal of zero sound transmission in mind, some noise will find its way through.

Diagnosing The Problem

Sound will always find the path of least resistance to travel through. Just like water, any place there is a hole it can travel through. And anywhere materials come in contact with one another vibrations will travel.

Some brownstone dwellers who think they are insulated from their neighbors by a couple layers of brick wall quickly find that even normal conversations can carry through. The first place should be for gaps. Usually a consistent well pointed masonry wall or 2 will do a good job, however after 100+ years there are likely holes and even bricks missing. We can’t even count how many times we have seen drywall or plaster removed from a brick wall shared with a neighboring house only to be able to see directly into the neighbors space! Of course sound is easily coming through. After many decades you never know what state the bricks are in behind the walls until you can see them. If someone did work next door they may have come through to your wall, possibly before it was even your wall. Plumbing and electrical work or just decaying masonry may have created openings.

Maybe you’re living in an apartment building and don’t have the advantage of a masonry wall separating apartments, you still have solutions if you’re renovating. Sometimes it can feel like you are separated from your neighbors by the thin layer of drywall.

The other areas where many people are struggling with sound transmissions are through floors and ceilings. Can you hear every footstep and floorboard creak? A good friend of mine always references the “baby elephants” that live above her in a multi-family brownstone, but likely they are just normal New Yorkers going about their daily lives who aren’t even necessarily heavy footed. The sound transmission is so uninhibited it is all coming through. Unfortunately this is a difficult problem for my friend to solve but if you are renovating a brownstone there are ways to improve it.

So now that we’re all on the same page with the problem let’s talk about some potential solutions.

Masonry Shared Walls

If you are renovating a row house take the extra steps to make sure your side masonry walls are sealed up. If there are bricks missing, have them replaced. If there is missing or decayed mortar, have them repointed. In fact, this is a very good idea outside of noise transmission. The masonry is what gives the building its much needed strength not to mention unwanted pests and rodents that take advantage of openings between buildings. If you have a properly sealed up masonry wall between you and your neighbor you should bring most sound transmission down to acceptable levels for NYC. If you want more protection, skip the exposed brick and put a layer of 5/8” drywall over the brick. Additionally you can add 2 layers of drywall and even sandwich in a layer of acoustic caulk or something like mass-loaded vinyl which will help with the vibration of the adjacent surfaces for the low level frequencies.

Non-Masonry Shared Walls

Same rules apply! You need to stop the high level frequencies from leaking through gaps and you need to stop the low level vibrations. Acoustic caulk can help fill any gap or space and a double layer of drywall sandwiched with something to stop the vibrations will create a barrier. This would work well if you could have a solid wall with no interruptions, but that is unlikely. There are going to be outlets and light switches creating a sound super highway right through your new sound deadening walls. For this it is possible to install air tight gaskets behind the electrical outlet plates.

Floors

If you lifted up an original floorboard you would likely see that it is sitting right in top of the joists, then a layer of air, and the ceiling to the floor below you. There is no barrier to stop or even slow down vibrations and there is very little to stop high frequencies from leaking through. If you have original floors that are in good condition that can be refinished we would never recommend ripping them up just to sound proofing. Hearing a footstep, or a creak or 2 is part of the charm of living in these old buildings. There are modern concrete buildings for those who have a low tolerance. But if your project includes replacing floors it’s a great opportunity to add some sound proofing. Adding insulation and extra layers of material is what is most effective. Laying a subfloor with sound dampening underlayment can at least give you something to slow it down.

Interior Sound:

Are your neighbors not the only noisy contributors to your space? Sometimes the problem is coming from inside the house! Add extra drywall (if you’re renovating), use an acoustic caulk to seal all gaps, and add solid core doors with a sweep.

Outside Sound:

Replacing windows is your best renovation solution to reducing outside noise coming into your home. The more layers the better. Windows with 2 or 3 panes will greatly reduce the amount of noise coming through.

There’s a huge range of potential solutions and costs to go along with it. There are even companies that specialize in sound dampening and engineers who can test for the problems. People spend hundreds of thousands on solutions like acoustic barrier insulation, walls and ceilings hung on vibration-absorbing rails, and floating floors that still only reduce sound transmission. Some solutions that might work 99% of the time in other places may not work for your problem. The bottom line is that we will live with some sound transmission in a place like NYC where we are in such close proximity to other people and noise sources. There are practical steps we can take during a renovation to make sure it’s at a tolerable level. You’re going to hear a few things from next door, unless you’re willing to move to your own 100 acres upstate, but good luck with the crickets!

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Stay home but stay busy! There are several DIY projects that we have had on our list and we’re using this extra time at home to make them happen! Need inspiration for a project of your own? Here’s our top 5 DIY project ideas you can work on while you #stayhome!

Some projects might require some materials you don’t have. You can order anything you need from the safety and comfort of our couch. Some projects don’t require any materials at all. They just require the motivation to get up and get them started!

Organize

Get your Marie Kondo on and purge! Uncluttering can be one of the most therapeutic things you can do with your time. Not only will you have the satisfaction of shedding unwanted clutter and completing a project, you’ll feel great about your lighter lifestyle. This is very easy to accomplish without needing any additional materials, but you can take it a step further and order a new closet system, drawer organizers, or shelves for your basement. We highly recommend ,,MDesign for home organization. Just pick your space(s) and decide if it just needs some TLC given to it or if it needs more.

One of our biggest organizing projects is tackling our basement. It’s still in reno disarray. At one point about 75% of our stuff was down there. Once we were done with the bigger reno project, we only selectively moved up the stuff we wanted. The rest stayed. It’s time to decide what we want to keep, organize it, and throw the rest out. We’re adding shelves, cabinets, and eventually a laundry area.

Redecorate

Spend some time browsing ,,ETSY sellers from all over the country and the world from your couch. Find a vintage painting, or new mid-century dining chairs. Many people who sell online also have brick & mortar small businesses that are probably suffering right now so they would appreciate the business. You can even filter by location and shop locally. For us there are so many shops based in Brooklyn to support.

No extra funds right now, no problem. Maybe you have some interesting things in storage you can repurpose. Paint an old wooden chair, side table, or picture frame a new color. Maybe it’s just time to rearrange some furniture. If you have a few bucks you don’t mind spending just one very inexpensive item might be inspiration to rethink a space.

New Life

On your next trip to the grocery store or bodega grab a succulent, an aloe plant, or some fresh flowers. Brighten up your space and introduce some new life with some new plant babies.

If you have outdoor space (lucky!) don’t forget that we are days away from April! You might need it this spring more than ever. While you’re at the grocery, pick up some veggie & herb seeds (we love growing tomatoes, herbs like rosemary and thyme, and hot peppers!). If you have pots or planters get them set up and ready. If not, it’s a very simple thing to order online. You can even order a bag of potting soil. Gardening, even if you only have a couple of pots in a window, can be very calming. Plus with all of the cooking we’ll be doing at home for the foreseeable future it will be nice to have some fresh herbs.

Our biggest #DIY project is our backyard. We’ve already removed a lot of hardscaping and cement and now we are building a patio before we start planting. It required redistributing a lot of soil. It’s been a welcome project to distract us from mindlessly watching the news. We’ve spent entire days back there soaking up the sun and feeling very accomplished about what we’re doing. We had the concrete hauled away and picked up the compost we needed right before things shut down. Now we’re ordering some other things we need online: landscape edging, ground grid, leveling sand, grass seed (an eco turf good for pets that is drought (aka when we forget to water it) tolerant!), and pea gravel. That will keep us busy for a while until we need plants.

Plan Ahead

Maybe you have something bigger in mind. You might be ready to update the kitchen & bathrooms. Or maybe you want to add a deck. You might even be getting ready for a full gut renovation. Planning takes a lot of time. Get your thoughts together. Use an app like ,,Magicplan or ,,Key plan to visualize your floor plan. Remember that it takes 2-3 months to get through the architectural/approval stage. Architects, designers, and project managers are working from home and you can do virtual meetings.

Order samples. You can put together your entire design and create a sample bin. This will greatly reduce the stress of making so many design decisions during the renovation. Cabinetry, tile, stone, wood flooring companies and others can all send samples so that you can spend this time making decisions.

Build Something

If you’re handy or want to try to be, there are some simple pieces you can put together yourself. We’re a fan of ,,Donald Judd inspired furniture and have been meaning to start a project of our own. It’s a simple minimalist design. You just need some 1” boards or plywood, a saw to cut, screws, a drill, and a bright colored paint. You’ll have an original and personalized piece that anyone can tackle with an open mind and willingness to learn.

Our building projects are simple as well. If you’ve followed along you might remember the niche feature we built at the top of our stairs. It’s been unfinished for months as we decided what we wanted to do with it. We finally settled on something and we’re excited to make it happen! There are 2 parts to the project. We’re working with an amazing pattern and textile designer who is going to make us a custom wallpaper based on our virtual consultation. It’s a small area so it’s an affordable solution that will be bright and bold. The inside of our niche will be lined on all sides with our custom wallpaper, and on top of that we’ll cut, stain, and install wood bookshelves.

In our backyard, we’re building a raised flower bed which will basically be a wooden box. Pretty easy! But it will have a big impact on our backyard design.

Let us know what fun projects you’re working on. Send us pictures, tag #brownstoneboys and we’ll post on Instagram!

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We’re starting the new year off by planning some of our 2020 DIY projects. The majority of our renovation is finished and we can now enjoy our space and dive into our list! When a major renovation is finished it can sometimes be surprising how much work is left to do to create your dream living space. We have already checked off some of our list but we have lots to do in 2020!

Pantry/Storage Wall

We intentionally left the wall opposite our kitchen as a blank canvas. We know that we need more kitchen storage and more storage in general. It’s a big blank spot to build it! It’s a large space and anything we build will be a major feature of the parlor floor, so we want to make sure we get it right. On our list are pantry storage, tall storage, and a bar area. Features that make it a challenge are an old fireplace bump out (those are always annoying to plan around) and a radiator. We’ve been through more designs than we can count, and still haven’t found the right thing yet, but we’re getting close! 

Art Niche

When we bought our place there was an unattractive door leading to the roof hatch at the top of the stairs. It was the first thing you would see when you walked in the front door. A good friend of ours inspired us to make that space more of a feature worthy of the first glance it will get from guests. We built the niche with a custom library light above it, but we have gone through several ideas of what should fill it. Shelves, a plant wall, and A piece of art have all been on and off the list. When we find the right thing we’ll know it! 

Basement Laundry Room

We opted not to put laundry in our main living area. There just wasn’t a good space to put it. We would have had to carve the space out of something else. Every square foot of space is precious! We also already have a laundry hook up in the basement and it’s relatively clean and dry down there. So our plan is to build a laundry area in our basement. The advantage there is that we will be able to have shelves, cabinets, and a counter instead of just a stackable washer/dryer we would have had upstairs. We hoping to get this in soon!

Front Doors 

Surprisingly, one of our favorite feature is the original vestibule door that was stripped of many layers of paint and restored with new glass. It’s beautiful with the old vestibule tiles and plaster features on the walls. It’s all in contrast to the modern single front door that replaced the original double doors at some point. There are panels filling the sides since the single door doesn’t quite fill the space. It wasn’t in our budget to have custom doors built to match the originals (we would have copied from one of our neighbors since our row of buildings match). Custom doors run $10-15,000. While we would have loved to be able to do that, we opted to go with a standard size double door that will echo the originals. They will be delivered soon!

Backyard

Last but certainly not least for our major projects is the backyard! Our deck is in and ready for us to enjoy but we didn’t touch the backyard. We have lots of ideas and we’ll be completing the design over the next few months to be ready to transform the space in the spring. Truth be told, it probably will be the biggest, most time-consuming, and labor intensive DIY project we’ll tackle this year. Fortunately we have friends with green thumbs to help!

We’re pumped about 2020 and can’t wait to tackle these projects and more! Subscribe below for updates and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram! 

2019 was a big one for us. We successfully (mostly) completed a major renovation in less than a year. And we’ve shared the experience through our blog every week! This is our 52nd post of 2019. So we thought we would look back at what’s happened.

After cost, timing of a renovation is the most popular question that we get. Everyone is on a timeline: Baby coming, lease expiring, temporary living arrangements, or what is sometimes the worst – living there during the renovation! Getting a sense of the timing and having the right expectations is important. We bought our place in late October 2018. We started the design and approval process in mid November 2018 and we got approvals done in early January 2019. Demo officially started January 22nd. Then after a lot of work we moved into the space in late August. So construction took about 8 months, with a couple of months of design and architecture work.

We’re spending the week with family and reflecting on the year. So we thought it would be a good time to share a year in review! 

Biggest Surprise: How beautiful the original wood was hiding under all those layers of paint. We knew we wanted to remove the thick layer of paint, but thought we would need to repaint it. To our surprise it was in great condition and we decided to leave it natural.

Best Moment: Uncovering old pocket doors that were buried in the walls! It reminded us of the history of our place and all of the lives that lived here before us. 

Worst Moment: The worst moment for us happened in the week after we closed on the place. Someone stole one of the 2 original iron newel posts from the front stoop! We were so upset to see part of the history of the place go, but it did strengthen our resolve to save everything we can…and the post will be replaced! 

Biggest Lesson Learned: There are a few little things in our place we would have done differently. Most of it stems back to rushing the design phase. We were in so much of a hurry to file with the city, get approvals, and start demo, that we should have giving more though to room sizes and lighting design. Nothing major but things we would do different in retrospect. 

A Surprise Design Moment: Our #diy Green vintage door. The color, the design, the vintage chicken wire glass.. We love it!

Barry’s Favorite Design Feature: The open kitchen and large island! We know some people prefer a closed kitchen, but for us the entertainment value of an open kitchen works well. We almost thought we were going too big with our island when we were designing, but it’s perfect! 

Jordan’s Favorite Design Feature: The lighting! We worked so hard on the right light fixtures (Stickbulb, Noguchi, Barnlight, Schoolhouse, and some vintage fixtures from Etsy) and making sure each one fit the space. We have a mix of the “old & new” theme throughout the space and we think the lighting is an instrumental part in our design theme. 

Now we are excited to turn our major renovation project into more DIY smaller projects. There’s enough work to be done in our Brownstone that we hope you will enjoy in 2020. 

We will see you in 2020!

From our stoop to wherever you are, we hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Jordan & Barry

aka The Brownstone Boys 

Now that all of the major work is done in our place we are having all of our final inspections done. It’s an interesting place to be in the process because in addition to building our place to be our home we have spent a lot of time building to match the approved plans so that we can pass inspections. It’s been a big part of pretty much every detail.

Our architect warned us months ago that just because a plan examiner approved our plans it doesn’t mean that the field inspector will approve. It’s a scary thing to think about as you go through a multi hundreds of thousands of dollars renovation. But it’s just one of those things you deal with while renovating in NYC. Expect the unexpected. Which may not be that unexpected at all if you were warned like we were from our architect.

So here we are. We just found out that even though the plan examiner approved our plumbing plans one way, the field inspector wants it filed another way. It’s not that anything is wrong with it. It was built the right way and is perfectly safe. It’s just a difference in the filing. The unfortunate thing, that anyone renovating in NYC would probably understand, is that there is a cost.

After the first half of the renovation the final inspection is most likely what will create the biggest surprises. It’s frustrating, but if you expect some curveballs, and put a bit of money aside for them, it can be just part of the process.

We’re hoping this the is last hurdle for us! Other than that we have been crossing off little projects and setting up the space. Lots of updates to come on organization, design, and decorating!

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Whenever we talk about “finishing” our renovation project someone reminds us that it will never be completely finished. We’re almost to the 95% complete mark, which I guess is where it will always be. While that may be scary for some, we’re perfectly happy about it because…well, we love a project, and we’ll have plenty to write about. We also have taken on a couple of additional Brownstone Boys renovation projects and can’t wait to share that with you too (spoiler: they are some big beautiful brownstone reno’s!) 

The most tediously frustrating parts of a reno project are the few weeks in the beginning and the few weeks at the end. In the beginning you can’t wait to start ripping things apart, but you have to sit idol waiting for permits. At the end you’re ready to start enjoying your space, and you can see the light,  but there are lots of little things to get through and you have to get through them before you can clean (so much cleaning) and make the space livable. That’s where we are now. Deep in the punch list weeds. 

All major projects are done. The place looks great! But our list of little things is so long it’s hard to see the end. We thought we would give a few recommendations on that finishing list.

Don’t Be Shy

You should have a long punch list. Your contractor expects it and it’s important to make sure you not are having to do this after your project is “complete.” Our list consists of things from filling gaps to removing and replacing tiles. It’s all possible. Don’t live with anything you won’t be happy with for the years you’ll live in the space. 

Save Some Time And Money

There are some things that don’t fall into the scope of what our contractor should be doing for us, but “the guys” are here and we’re taking advantage of it. We have some brick walls that are hard to drill into to hang mirrors, shelves, and pictures so we are having them do it. I’m sure it’s saving us a few headaches, plus we will have plenty of things to keep us busy. The more we can have them cross off our list- the better!

Check Everything 

Make sure everything is in working condition. Run the AC’s, heat, dishwasher, washer/dryer, fridge/freezer, ice maker, all bath fixtures….you get the picture. Don’t find out something doesn’t work once they are out of the building. Sure they can come back, but it will be a lot easier to get it done while they are there. 

Cleaning

There is a fine layer (and in some places quite a bit more than a fine layer) of dust on pretty much everything. We are very ready for a deep post-construction cleaning. We’ll have a crew come in and clean the place from top to bottom, but it’s useless to do that until we are done with the punch list. Some of it involves a bit of sanding and repainting that will create more dust.

Check It Twice

We’re getting through our punch list and when it’s done, we’re going through the list one more time. The second round won’t take nearly as long but we know we’ll find a few more things. Scuffs, gaps, and mistakes will show that we missed the first time once the place is cleaned. 

We’re really excited to be in the final few weeks of our larger reno and looking forward to moving on to some smaller projects and working on the design. More updates next week!

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We didn’t plan on writing an article on paint, especially since our place will be mostly painted white, but given the amount of time we have spent trying to pick white paint and to get the sheen levels right we felt like we needed to! We’re planning on letting the architecture and original features of our house speak for themselves with a nice clean white paint on the walls and ceilings. It will make the richness of the original wood pop and keep it classic looking (although we’re going to sneak in a pop of color in a few places). Choosing a white paint is easier said than done because there are a lot of options ranging from cool to warm, creamy to bright, and everything in between. 

We have a lot of wall space with high ceilings that will be painted the same color since the plaster mouldings cove the walls into them so we wanted to get it right. There is already a lot of warmth in in our place with all of the natural wood so we want to compliment it but not make things too warm or creamy. We also prefer the warmer glow of incandescent bulbs in our lighting and that will warm up the place no matter how bright the paint is.

If it wasn’t daunting enough to pick paint colors from thousands of options, you also need to decide on a sheen. Gloss, semi-gloss, satin, matte, or flat are the most popular options. They each have areas where they are better suited. We’ll give you the run down but first let’s talk about color. 

We decided to go with Sherwin-William’s paint. We like that they have local stores with professionals to discuss options with. They also have a literal book of different whites to choose from so we knew we would find one that would work well for us.

Some of the Sherwin-Williams paint colors we short listed: Greek Villa, Alabaster, Snowbound, Pure White , Extra White and High Reflective White

Walls/Ceilings

Snowbound is too warm and Alabaster too creamy. Greek Villa was a finalist for us, and probably what we would have gone with if we didn’t have the warm wood and lots of incandescent lighting. Despite its name Pure White is the perfect balance of warm and cool for us. It has a grey undertone that works well for our space. We recommend getting a few different colors in pints and trying them on your walls (or on a primed piece of sheetrock inside your place that you can move around if you don’t want to mess with the walls). Your lighting conditions and other factors might make it look completely different than the swatch you see in a store.

Woodwork/Trim

As you know, a lot of our original woodwork will not be painted. It was painstakingly stripped of many layers of paint and it is looking beautiful in its natural state, but we are being careful not to have too much wood. Our baseboards, doors, door casings, and our wainscoting coat nook will be painted out in a clean white. We are pairing the Pure White walls and ceilings with Extra White on the painted woodwork in semi-gloss. It’s a bright white, but not the brightest they offer.

Sheen

The sheen you pick for your paint is almost as important as color. It can really change the feel of the space or the create contrast. We’re fans of flat paint on most walls. It bounces almost no light and we just like the look of it. It also goes really well with a semi-gloss contrasting paint on the woodwork. Some may warn you against flat paint on walls because traditionally more reflective sheen paints were easier to clean. Scuffs would wipe off and it would usually last longer. Flat paints these days are made to clean up pretty much just as easily, but if you have kids or expect a lot of wear and tear it might be something to think about. Another reason to go up to a matte or satin sheen level is if you do want to bounce a bit more light around the room. We decided to go up a sheen level in our master bedroom. It’s in the back of the house and there are a lot of trees out the window so it doesn’t get as much direct sun. So it brightens it up a bit and makes it look a little bigger. 

Adding a Pop of Color

So far the 3rd floor is mostly painted out and it looks great. The Sherwin-Williams flat Pure White on the walls and ceilings is the perfect tone. And the gloss Extra White on the wood is a great contrast. Now it’s time to add a couple of pops of color! 

In the guest bath we got a vintage door with frosted chicken wire glass. It’s a quirky feature so we wanted to highlight it. We painted it a shade of green from Sherwin-Williams called Isle of Pines. We’re not “green” people but this green color looks great with the matte subway tiles and vintage black & white theme of the bathroom. Its a nice warm green and really gives the pop of color that is necessary.

We’re not done yet! We have a few other features that need some color. The library/artwork niche at the top of the stairs and the coat nook at the bottom will get some color. For now, it will be painted white and we’ll have some future projects to look forward to.

It’s hard to believe we are putting paint on the walls! We’re close but still so much work to do! Look out for more updates soon. Thanks for reading! Subscribe below and make sure to follow us on Instagram!

If you were anywhere around New York City in the past 2 weeks you know the enormous amounts of water that fell from the sky. Torrential downpours almost daily. We have had the place for 6 months now and this really gave us the opportunity to understand how the place is handling water. I guess we could be annoyed that both skylights (one new one) dripped water. We could have even been annoyed that all of the work in the backyard caused water to back up into the garden apartment back door.  We were, but we’re also thankful that we had the opportunity to understand these issues that need to be fixed before we close up walls and finish the rest of the floors. 

Our roof, as most old buildings in the area, has many layers over the past years. We think that water may be getting in somewhere and traveling between the layers to the skylight cutouts. We have a specialist addressing the issue and patching what needs to be patched…and ultimately may need to add yet another layer. And another cost. Redoing the roof completely is just not in the budget right now. 

As you know, we demolished a mudroom off the back of the building and have been breaking up concrete to dig the holes for the deck footings. Then it rained. A lot. We know need to regrade the entire area. But we now know that we need to remove more of some of the odd concrete features to allow for better drainage. 

While we’re talking about waterproofing, a lot of work has been done in the bathrooms to prepare for tile installation. We’re keeping the original woodwork around the windows but need to make sure the wood is ready to be in a wet room. We removed a pieces of the wood base in the window woodwork to water proof before we reinstall. We’re also either going to paint the wood or just put a sealer on it to deal with the the moisture that will be in the room.

Looking on the bright side for the weather we’ve had to deal with the past few weeks was hard, but we found a few! At least, we didn’t have to water the outdoor plants. Fortunately, it has cleared up and we have our first taste of summer. We headed to the Hamptons for the weekend and we’re looking forward to  finally having the deck footings completed now they aren’t 8 foot holes filled with water! We expect the deck to go fast over the next week! 

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It’s pretty scary being woken up in the middle of the night hearing foot steps above your head in what should be an empty apartment under renovation. That’s exactly what happened to us about a month ago.

We’re living in the finished garden lower level rental while we renovate the duplex upstairs. It’s a construction site with permits displayed in the windows. It has always concerned us that it is an attractive target since it makes the building appear empty. We’ve winced at the sound of creaks or neighbors a few times, but this time there was no mistaking the sound of someone walking right above us. In disbelief, I got up opened the garden unit door to the common area that is open to upstairs and said something (I don’t even remember what). I heard quick footsteps, and then the unmistakable creak of the old original entry door opened and closed. Somehow the police arrived about 90 seconds after we called them, they found the intruder gone and the front door left ajar.

As break-ins go, it was pretty innocuous. Nothing was broken and nothing was missing. We also still don’t know how the intruder got in. Was it someone who had access (there was only a combination code lock on the front door and many people had the code from contractors to former tenants…we know…), did we actually forget to make sure the contractor locked up on their way out that day, or did they come in through an unlocked window or even the roof hatch!? Regardless, we needed to vastly improve our security situation.

First, the next morning we had a locksmith come out to add a dead bolt to the door. We also had a lock put on interior second vestibule door. We secured the roof hatch with double latches (don’t laugh but it was previously completely accessible), and made sure all windows and skylights had working locks. But we still didn’t didn’t feel completely safe. We needed a security system.

We’ve heard good things about all of the newer WiFi based systems on the market, but after our scare we didn’t want to compromise on security. So we set out to find a system that would help us feel safe, but also be easy to use, affordable, and fit into our lifestyle. Please note this is not an add! We’re not getting any promotional items from security systems. We are just two guys that genuinely care about the security in our new home.

The first thing we did was try to understand if the WiFi based systems would work for us over a traditional security system company. We did our homework, read lots of reviews, watched YouTube testimonials, and spoke to neighbors and friends. We came to the conclusion that although there aren’t wires connecting the sensors to the base, for us it felt just as secure. In fact, a lot of the traditional company systems are wireless now too. I suppose there are ways of interrupting the system if you truly want to, but this isn’t Danny Ocean’s crew we’re dealing with, and anyone with those skills isn’t out for our $500 TV. Many of the systems have cellular and battery backup if the wifi or electricity is down. Bottom line, you open a door or window, or trip the motion detector, the alarm goes off and police are notified. Plus these systems are unbelievably easy to install and very affordable.

We looked at SimpliSafe, Ring, Nest, and for good measure ADT and Brinks. We planned on getting a video doorbell, WiFi enabled door lock, and smart light switches so we wanted to find something that would integrate everything together. It was important for us to be able to manage the system through an app. We also wanted to put up a couple of security cameras.

We pretty quickly eliminated the traditional companies. For various reasons they weren’t a good fit. The cost for monitoring was more than double some of the others. The apps and interface were lacking and for us. There wasn’t an upside at all. Nest didn’t seem as far along with their system as SimpliSafe and Ring. So we were down to two. Both were relatively similar; built for ease of use with user friendly apps. We found that Ring had better camera options and more integrations for other devices. Not to mention their monitoring is only $10/month. Which is a quarter of what the traditional companies wanted.

We installed the sensors on the doors and windows, the motion detectors and cameras are in place, and we even got a connected smoke/fire detector so if we aren’t home to hear an alarm the fire department can be notified. We have not once had to enter the code on the keypad because we turn it on and off through an app (I armed the system from Barbados last weekend). Yes, sometimes we even ask Alexa to do it for us. We also have spoken to one another through the exterior security camera 2-way speaker on the front of the building more than once.

We’re now sleeping better knowing the deadbolts are locked (trust me we double check every night now) and if anyone opens a door or window, or even walks around upstairs, the alarm will scare them away and police will be notified. Truthfully, it still took us about 2 weeks for it to sink in that when we heard a noise, as long as the alarm isn’t blaring, it is not someone waking around above us. It’s worth it for the peace of mind as much as the extra security.

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For every big project, planning only gets you so far. There are some things that pop up and quick decisions need to be made. We just had a meeting with our contractor and went through a long list of items we needed to make a quick call on. We’re excited about because it really marks one of the final stages of the project. We’re getting closer and closer to the end!

Problem 1

As you most likely know, our place is 130 years old. Let’s just say that pretty much nothing is straight, level, or plum. It all adds to the charm of restoring original features, but there are some areas where it just wouldn’t look right if we didn’t correct it. We felt that way about our master bathroom ceiling. We’re building a new double shower and the tile is going to the ceiling. Since the shower is new the tile will be level. If it goes up to the crooked ceiling it would be very noticeable, especially with the odd shaped tile we are using. There will be a straight line of the tile right next to the slant of the ceiling. So we are constructing a new leveled ceiling in the master bathroom. The drawback is that it takes a few inches off the height of the ceiling, but we feel like it’s an acceptable trade off for a bathroom.

Problem 2

Since we’re doing an Alt 1 project with the city, we need to comply with a lot of codes that other brownstone owners just ignore. One area is the wall we are building to separate the upper duplex from the lower apartment. We’ve written about it in the past and a lot of readers contacted us with photos and even offers to visit to see theirs. Most people just enclose the lower stair case in a wall with the door at the very bottom of the stairs. This would be our preferred way of doing it, but unfortunately for us it’s not possible. City building code says there needs to be a 36” landing at the bottom of the stairs before the door. So that means we’ll need to build a landing and take that space out of the entry foyer to the lower garden apartment. It’s going to create a bit more of a cramped space, but we’ve looked at all of the options and we have not been able to find an acceptable alternative. So we made the call to move forward with the landing.

Problem 3

Where we tore down the mudroom extension on the back of the building we now have two slightly different height cement slabs. We don’t have the resources right now to completely excavate and redo the entire slab. We are going to put a reinforced thin layer over the lower section to match the height of the smaller section. We’ll need to grade it to drain naturally into the soil at the far end. It’s not a perfect solution but it will give us one surface that will drain away from the house.

Problem 4

Our electrician followed the drawings for lights, switches, and outlets accurately. Which is great, except the drawings that were done before construction started didn’t reflect every detail to the conditions on the ground now that we are well into the project. Kitchen pendants had to be moved slightly, other lights needed adjusting, switches needed rerouting to avoid destroying plaster. They weren’t thrill about all of the changes but it only took a half day to correct the problems. The last thing we wanted to look at every day once we are doing is a slightly off centered light fixture! A half day of work is worth it!

Problem 5

This is one that we still aren’t exactly finished with yet, and may not end up with a solution we are 100% happy with. Similar to the problem we had with the crooked ceiling, 100+ year old buildings will inevitably have grades on the floors. They all sort of sink from the rigid outside masonry walls to the more giving wooden joists in the middle. We’re fortunate that our floors aren’t too bad. We’ve learned that a 1” difference isn’t that noticeable and can even be found in new construction. Most of our floors are within the 1” acceptable difference, but there are a few areas that are a bit more. We’ve discussed options with our contractor and unfortunately there aren’t any great ones for us. There is of course the very expensive and thorough option of removing all of the flooring and subfloor, sistering joists to one level and having one flat surface to install all brand new flooring. You might remember that we’re on a pretty tight budget for the scale of this project so this might be the best option but at $25,000-$30,000 it’s just not going to work for us. Frankly, the cost of the debris removal for this option isn’t in the budget for us! So since our floors aren’t that bad, we are mostly likely going to opt to spot fix a few areas with some creative subfloor tricks and enjoy the charm of having some grades in the floor in certain areas! We’ll just look at it as our way of paying homage to the 130 years of foot steps that creaked around the place.

We’re in the home stretch! Our contractor estimated 2 more months until we’re at a “good finishing point”. Lol. Honestly, we’re moving fast so it won’t be too far off, we’ll take it with a pinch or two of salt.

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Most people have a lot of stuff. While we are serial purgers and travel light, we still want to comfortably fit all of our stuff but also make our place attractive to future owners. We may have made some choices that are not too “stuff-friendly” so we are trying to take advantage of space as much as possible.

We were able to find a couple of places to add closet space. One of the bedrooms upstairs didn’t have a closet at all (was it still a bedroom?), so we added one. We also added a small linen closet in the hallway. This ensured all the bedroom had proper storage and were legal.

We opted not to put a closet on the parlor level. We can certainly see how many people might think that is a mistake. Frankly, there wasn’t an obvious place to put one. Anywhere we would have put it would have chopped up the space. So we are going to do without one. But we’re getting creative in a few areas!

On the parlor level we are creating a coat nook (almost mudroom area) behind the stairs. We’re making it a feature by putting up some wainscoting, coat hooks, with library style lamps on the wall above. There will be plenty of room for coats and some frequent shoes. We think it’s going to look great and it will be tucked away in an area where no one would need to be otherwise (unless we want to get to the basement).

Upstairs we are using space inside the walls to build storage. At the top of the stairs we’re taking advantage of the roof ladder closet to build in a bookshelf into the wall. It will have the same library lamp above it that’s above the coat nook on the same wall downstairs. This will give us a place to keep books and display some travel finds, as well as being an attractive feature that can be seen as you walk in the front door.

On to the bathrooms:

In the master bath, we built a long wall-to-wall nook in the wall for shampoos and soaps. It also creates a dramatic backdrop for the double shower.

In the guest bath, we took advantage of space in the wall to build in a quirky open medicine cabinet where we’ll get some vintage bathroom accessories to display and a candle or two.

Other than that we have a semi finished basement where we can store all the stuff we want! Our place might be a little light on storage but we’re hoping our creative ideas give us just enough and will create some interesting features.

Things are moving fast and we expect a lot to happen over the next few weeks. Walls are being closed and floors, kitchen, deck are going in! Thanks for reading! Please subscribe below for updates and make sure to follow us on Instagram.

It’s hard for us to believe at this point that coming into this project that we didn’t plan on stripping our woodwork. It was so far out from all of the other work that needed to be done that it’s just something we didn’t think much about. As the walls move into place, the plumbing is tucked away, and the shape of our home is showing through it started becoming very obvious that we couldn’t just add to the many layers of paint on the original woodwork. All of the details are clogged, definition is missing, drips and clumps are everywhere. So we set out to determine if the wood could be restored to a natural finish or at the very least stripped of the many layers of paint to be repainted with a clean, neat, and crisp single layer of paint.

After a quick conversation with our contractor we figured out that this is a specialty item that would require someone with the technical expertise and a passion for it. Just like the plaster molding restoration, it’s more an an art form than a construction project. We had more people come through to give us quotes on this than we did for general contractors. The estimates were wildly different. No doubt for different levels of how the work could be done.

We needed a starting place. We had the opportunity to visit some new friends and neighbors who recently moved into their renovated brownstone in Bedstuy that they bought from a developer. The woodwork in their place was stripped and left with natural finish. It looked really beautiful, so we got a recommendation for the wood restorer that did it. He came by and really loved our place and thought our wood would restore beautifully. He had a vision for the finished product and quite the process to get it done. As much as we would have loved to fully restore the wood to the scope of what he wanted to do, it was outside of the scope of our project and budget. He basically wanted to remove the majority of the wood, restore it off-site, and then reinstall it. As he was talking dollar signs were flashing through my head. This is an add-on for us and not part of our initial project. It may have been the best way to do it, but at $90,000 (a full third of our entire budget) it just wasn’t a possibility for us. It was encouraging to find out that under all of those many layers of paint there is beautiful original wood that one day could see the light of day but disappointing that we might not able to afford to see it.

We didn’t give up that there might be another solution for us so we went the other direction and had painters that did wood stripping as well take a look. They might not be experts in wood restoration, but we hoped they would at least have the knowledge to strip paint. A couple of them did not bid the job at all, probably because it’s a hard and dirty job. Then we got a bid for about $6,000 and one for $2,000. Happy that we were getting bids within budget, but skeptical they wouldn’t work out, we decided to give the $2,000 bid a chance. As can be expected, it was obvious after a couple of days that there was just no way that this guy was going to get it done. He didn’t have the technical expertise or the capacity for it. We called it off and went our separate ways. The $6,000 quote was now busy with other projects (or perhaps reluctant to take ours on) so we were back to the drawing board.

We decided to leverage the new network and community we’ve built since starting this project and blog. We’re not the first to have this problem to solve. Others have come before us and would have results that can help us. So we put it out there. We got back a bunch of great recommendations, and had another round of bidders come through. The first came highly recommended and we found out that he does a lot of work in the area. He took a full inventory of every window, shutter, baseboard, spindle, and moulding. He also thought our woodWork would restore beautifully. We were on pins and needles for a few days waiting for his quote with fingers crossed it would work out. At this point, it has become even more of a priority for us to get this done. There is just no way we could live with it as it is but it would be very hard for us to increase our budget for it. The quote came in at $23,000. Although I’m sure fully worth the cost, still just not in the cards for us. We were disappointed again but hopeful since we were still waiting for a couple of quotes to come back. Both seemed very knowledgeable and able to do the work. They showed passion for the project and seemed to be very interested in it. They two quotes came in at $8,000 and $9,000. We were immediately relieved to have two viable options. The $8,000 quote came back first and they were ready to start that week. So we moved forward!

We’re a week in and the results are amazing. We were floored when we saw the beauty of the wood that was installed over 130 years ago and enjoyed by the first owners of the house showing through after decades of being hidden away.

This might be some of the hardest work being done on our place. It’s painstaking, slow, and must be done by someone who respects the wood. It’s fascinating to watch. The first step is to remove the majority of the paint with a heat gun and to carefully scrape the wood. Then a chemical stripper is applied and steel wool is used to scrub off the remaining paint. A wire brush is used to get into the tiny crevasses and intricate designs in the wood. Then a solution of denatured alcohol and water is sprayed on and more scrubbing and wire brushing is done.

They are moving slowly and deliberately through the process and it’s one of the things we have been the most excited to see at the end of each day. Time will tell if the wood underneath will be in good enough condition to leave natural. So far the results have exceeded our expectations and we’ll keep you updated throughout the process. If you have any tips or tricks we would love to hear them! Just comment below.

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We went into our renovation with a strong idea of what we wanted to do…and on a pretty tight budget. So we decided to act as our own designers. We do have some designer friends who are helping out with advice along the way, (and the power of Instagram!) but ultimately for better or worse it’s all us! We hope that we end up with something we can really be proud of because it will be a product of our own design. So while we juggle demo and construction decisions we are also steering things toward our desired end result and picking out finishes. As many novice designers do we’re using inspiration pictures and platforms like Pinterest. You might be able to relate!

Most of the overall design was done before demo started, although there are so many details to think about that we are only now getting to a point where the majority of the decisions are behind us. Much of our place doesn’t need us to get in the way of what is already there. We just need to bring back to life the 130 year old decorative design. We’re restoring the plaster moldings and stripping the many layers of paint from the woodwork. Although this isn’t requiring us to purchase anything new, it is expensive work to have done. Our overall reno budget, including many of the finishes is right around $250,000. Most of that is going to construction, so it really means we have a very tight budget for finishes.

For the kitchen and bathrooms we are basing our design on some inspiration photos we feel are very similar to our own vision. We found these through social platforms, finding designers that we like and following their projects, visiting other finished projects in the area, and popping into showrooms throughout the city. We are using these as a guide and finding more budget friendly products to achieve the look.

Through our blog and social accounts we‘ve also had some other opportunities to take things to the next level. We’ve met some great people and we’re able to go to some inspiring events. We were invited to the Architectural Design Show that was held at Pier 40 in Manhattan. There were over 400 brands snd vendors displaying everything from custom furniture to appliances, ceramics, art, and lighting. It was really amazing to see so much inspirational design in one place! We also met some new friends and ran into some old ones!

One of the designers that made a big impression on us was Stickbulb. They make beautiful light fixtures using salvaged wood, like some that was used in the water tower of the oldest skyscraper in Brooklyn. They mill the wood to it’s beautiful original luster with LED lighting to form what they call a Stickbulb. They can the be connected in various shapes and sizes creating a very unique and beautiful fixture. We really love how each one of their lights tells a story and is connected to a long history of the wood they were made with. Last week we had to privilege to get a private tour of their studio in Long Island City, beer in hand from the brewery next door.

We toured AJ Madison’s beautiful showroom in Brooklyn for appliance inspiration, we had a design consultation with our friends` from Brooklyn Tile and Design, and we have had the opportunity to tour dozens of other Brownstone’s in the area. The fact that the end result will be our own vision realized makes the process more fun and we’ll produce something that we will proud of. We can’t wait to see it!

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One of the steps in many renovations is testing and removing the dreadful asbestos. Asbestos is a natural mineral that has been mined and used for centuries because of its durability in buildings. Because of its carcinogenic nature it is now banned from use. While contractors and builders no longer use materials containing asbestos it is tracked in several older buildings that have not been renovated. It can range from a small inconvenience to a major expense to have it removed. We just recently went through the process of removing some from our place and we got a lot of questions so we thought we would fill you in on our process.

Asbestos was used in a lot of construction materials between the 1930’s through the 1970’s. Even though our place was built well before that time period, there is no doubt some work was done during these decades so it was bound to be found somewhere. One place you can bet on finding is in the roofing material. The roof had to be redone at some point when asbestos was used. Typically the new roofing is just layered on top of the existing. So even if the roof was redone after asbestos was used the asbestos layer is under there. If you’re not going to touch it, its fine to stay right where it is , but if any of the work requires it to be disturbed it’s quite the process and will be expensive.

Before the initial paperwork is filed with the DOB a licensed asbestos inspector needs to take samples and test anywhere demo work is being done. Since any renovation is going to include some plaster demo, that is a place you really don’t want to find it. Fortunately for us it was only found in the roofing layers.

There are 3 places where we’re doing demo and needed a asbestos remediator to remove the roofing material. The mudroom extension on the back of the building, a few square feet of the roof where we need to enlarge a skylight, and a small hole for the plumbing ventilation pipe. It took hours of setup and about 30 minutes to actually remove the affected area. It costs us $5,000 for work that really would have been a small and quick part of the larger project.

We we’re fortunate that we only found it in the roof since we aren’t doing a lot of work that requires demo there. There is definitely potential to derail a renovation project if it’s found in more substantial places.

We safely and legally removed the asbestos containing materials that we are demolishing for our project. We‘re fortunate it wasn’t found in other places, but we also know there is a chance we’ll need to go through the costly process again if we want to completely redo our roof one day. So the caution tape may go back up one day!

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A traditional Brooklyn brownstone is about 19’ X 40’ (as is ours) give or take a few feet. There are nice big windows in the front and back, but there are rarely windows on the longer sides if you’re in the middle of a block of townhouses like we are. That means you only get natural light at the front and back of a long narrow space. It’s not a problem at all if it’s opened up with no walls. There is lots of light throughout the space. Most brownstones originally had big double pocket doors separating the parlor rooms so light could get through. Upstairs, though, where the bedrooms are, it’s a little trickier. Many townhouses will have two bedrooms across the narrow front or back of the building. That usually leaves you with one pretty small room. As you might know if you‘re following along we decided to put a guest bathroom in the smaller front bedroom. There is a guest bedroom in the front next to the guest bath, and our master bedroom is in the back next to the master bathroom in the same configuration. So that means we are going to have a bedroom in the middle of the building with no windows! Many people have asked us if this is possible and how we are handing it.

The department of buildings requirements say that a natural light source (among other things) needs to have an”aggregate transmitting area”of at least 10% of the square footage of the room. Which basically means your windows need to be 10% of the square footage of the room. The requirements say that it can be a window or a skylight among a few other light sources. Ventilation requirements are a bit different but basically if you have the proper natural light sources and they are openable (ie. window’s or skylights) it should meet the requirements.

There are 2 existing skylights in our middle bedroom, but unfortunately they fall just shy of meeting the requirements. So we’ll be cutting into the roof! We’ll be creating more skylight to bring it to where it needs to be. This creates more problems that need to be solved. There is a fire code that says we need to have 6 feet of uninterrupted space (no skylight, roof hatches…etc) on the roof for a firefighter to get from the front of the building to the back. Whatever configuration of skylights we go with, we will need to make sure we create that 6 feet of space. Finally, our roof, as most Brooklyn brownstone roofs that have been re-done many times over the past century have an asbestos layer in it. We can remediate up to 10 square feet of it without making the scope of the work and filing requirements even more complicated.

I feel like it’s a pinball machine of problems to solve, but our architect has it covered! We have a plan approved by the department of buildings for one skylight that is large enough to meet the air & ventilation requirements, while leaving the 6 feet of uninterrupted roof space, and also requiring only 8 sq ft of roofing material to be disturbed. We’re also looking forward to having a guest room that will be bright and sunny with a brand new openable skylight to flood the room with light. We’re happy with this layout because it gives us an additional bathroom, but we still have 3 good sized bedrooms, all with plenty of natural light. We’re excited to see it taking shape!

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Our place currently looks like an episode of Stranger Things. Wires are hanging from the ceiling and weaving through the walls. They bundle together where holes are cut and then disbursed to fixtures or switches from there. With all said, it’s moving pretty quickly and even just getting to the electrical phase feels like a major milestone. It’s one big step closer to closing up the walls!

There is a lot of electrical work to be done. We’re rewiring the entire Brownstone and fixing some interesting prior work. There are a handful of light fixtures and outlets that are staying in the same place, but 90% are new or being moved. The current place of the switches honestly feels like someone intentionally wanted us to walk the entire room to find a switch. There are single switches everywhere rather than being grouped together and sometimes were even installed behind doors! Imagine this : open the door, feel for the switch on the wrong wall in the dark room, bump into furniture, close door, curse the person who decided installing the switch behind the door was the right thing to do. No thanks!

Interestingly, there is only 20 amps running to the main panel in the duplex. We need to upgrade that to at least 60 amps. Even more interesting, for some unknown reason the previous owner ran some things in the garden rental unit from the duplex panel 2 levels above rather than from the panel in the actual garden unit. It’s a bit of a mess, but we are happy to get it straightened out.

Upgrading the lighting is one place where we feel we have a big opportunity to create the design and aesthetic we want. Even where the mouldings and woodwork will be original a modern light fixture will bring the place up to 2020. We’re going to have a nice big chandelier above the dining table, three pendants over the kitchen island, and sconces with Edison bulbs (we’re still fans ) in the hallways.

Another area we have the opportunity to modernize is by installing smart switches on all of our lights. We’re big fans of dimmers (Barry hates bright light) and while it can be more costly we feel it is more than worth the extra expense. We’re going to keep it relatively simple and opt for WiFi enable dimmer switches that can be controlled through a smart phone app and set to schedules and timers. We’re going to skip the more upgraded option of installing a central hub and control panel. I’m sure there are advantages we aren’t aware of, but being able to control almost every light in the house from anywhere in the world (or just the couch) is plenty for us. Honestly it will take some getting used to as we have never had such modern technology in a house but dimming all lights on the parlor level with one click from the couch might not take too long to become our norm.

Finally, a big part of our plan is to run electrical for a mini split AC system. We’ll post more about this later, as there were some considerations in deciding when/if to do it, and we expect it might be an ongoing saga as we go through inspections. Should be interesting, but we’ll have electrical run for a unit in each bedroom, the living/kitchen area, and the outdoor condenser.

That’s where we are for this week! Things are moving fast so we’re looking forward to updating you again next week!

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We’re about half way through what we hope will be a six month renovation. This week we thought we would catch you up on where we are and the timeline on how we’re hopefully going to stay on track.

It feels great to be able to see how everything will come together. Two months ago there were so many walls and different types of flooring that it wasn’t hard to visualize. Demo is done, the place is cleaned up, and we are well into building. Almost all of the new studs are in place so now the space is pretty much in the shape of the finished product. The plumbing is about 90% in and just about ready for inspection.

On the parlor level the floor plan is opened up and everything is in place. There is still a big scar where the previous owners built a kitchen, but it is ready for sheetrock and a plaster job by our friend Jason at Urban Plaster. Just beyond that our kitchen is coming together. All of the plumbing is in for the island sink and dishwasher, and the gas is in place to the stove. You can also see the plumbing for the master bathroom upstairs but more on that later. We’re waiting for a steel bracket to come in to put up the beam in the ceiling so that the temporary support wall can be removed, but that should happen this week. Regardless of that, now that about 4 walls are down in this area we can really see how open it will be and how much light we’re going to have with the 3 big windows. Over the next couple of months one of these windows will become a glass door leading to a new deck. We plan on starting that process in April and would like to have the deck in by the end of May.

At the top of the stairs on the second level you can immediately see the new plan. We moved the roof hatch door from the top landing so we can create a feature bookshelf there since it’s of the first things that can be seen when you walk in the front door. The hall door to the bathroom that will be the master bath is framed and ready to close up, and there’s is a new door opening to the middle bedroom.

In the master bedroom the walls are framed, closets are in, and the door to the master bathroom is opened up. There is a bump out from the old fireplace chimney that we are extending to be symmetrical in the room and to create a backdrop for the bed. The master bathroom next door has all of its plumbing in place! One if the features we’re most excited about is taking shape! Our beautiful huge double shower is going in with the valves and waterproofing in place! We’re looking forward to having a nice big window to being in lots of light with a leafy view to the backyard.

In the middle bedroom, what was an awkwardly huge closet is now split into two with half going to the room next door. The ceiling is completely gone waiting for the skylight work we need to do to meet air and light requirements since this room doesn’t have a window (although it will be one of the brightest rooms in the house with the amount of skylight area it will have!)

In the front bedroom, the new closet is framed, but otherwise there’s not much work to be done here. Next door one of our proudest accomplishments is taking shape! We are building in a new bathroom where there was just a small bedroom. All of the plumbing is in and it’s ready for fixtures!

Over the next two weeks we expect things to move very quickly. The beam in the kitchen will go up, plumbing will be inspected, and we will start on the electrical. Soon after that we will start closing up walls and putting in flooring! In early April the steel fabricator will come out to measure for the deck. We have high hopes to get the majority of the work done by the end of June.

What you can‘t see now but represents many hours of work is also mostly compete. It’s one of the things that often delays this type of project. All of our finishes have been chosen and most have been ordered. Kitchen cabinets, appliances, bathroom fixtures, faucets, tile, flooring, light fixtures, doors, light switches, and even furniture are chosen and queued up to be installed! We’re excited for you to see it all!

We’re looking forward to keeping you posted! Thanks for reading! Subscribe below for updates and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

We’re adding a new bathroom where there was not only previously not one, but there is also no plumbing in that area of the building. There are a few interesting challenges to solve to make this possible. Doing it in an over 100 year old building only adds to to the challenge.

We have the traditional small bedroom that is over the entry vestibule and foyer of pretty much all Brooklyn brownstones. The dimensions of the room are 10’x 6’. So it‘s only big enough to be an office or nursery. It can’t really function as a legitimate bedroom. The inside wall is a structural wall so it’s difficult to expand it to the room next door without a lot of work. For us the obvious choice is to make it into a bathroom!

The first and biggest challenge is just getting the plumbing to the area. The only way to do it is to run a water and sewage stack up 3 floors from the basement. Fortunately our main sewer line runs along this side of the building so we just needed to go straight up. The only unfortunate part is that we’ll need to build a small box in the corner of the foyer and it needs to go straight through our beloved original plaster mouldings! BUT…we do have Jason with Urban Plaster our amazing plaster restorer that will wrap the box with the same mouldings to make it look like it belongs there. At least as much as possible.

The next challenge was building in the plumbing in the floor of the room. It needs to cross over several joists. In the kitchen we are building a soffit that will accommodate the plumbing for our master bath. We’re giving our cabinets a built in look so we were already building a soffit. We definitely don’t want a soffit in our foyer right over the entry further destroying the moldings so we need another solution. Our architect suggested notching the tops of the joists just enough to run the plumbing. He gave us strict instructions on how much they could be notched so that we don’t compromise their integrity. We think its a great solution to streamline the plumbing design and not add any unattractive features to the place.

Just running water and sewage to the room isn’t enough! Every drain needs to be vented as well. The other vent to the roof is too far away to get to and would require more big ugly soffits to run across the stairwell ceiling. So we are cutting a hole in the roof and venting straight up. A further challenge is that our roof, as in many old houses, still has an asbestos layer under the new layers that have been put over it. So now we need to have an asbestos remediator come to cut the hole, although we also need them to cut a another hole for a skylight, and remove the roof from the mudroom we are going to demo. So we’ll use the same company and they will just include it in the larger paperwork later.

Finally, we have the challenge of designing a brand new bathroom to fit into a 130 year old house. We don‘t want it to look modern and out of place. The design will have a vintage feel. We’re going to have traditional hex florets on the floor, a cast iron claw foot tub, a vintage cast iron utility sink, and the classic subway tile. We are even toying around with getting a vintage door with opaque chicken wire glass…but still trying to decide if that is too much. What do you think?!

We‘re excited to see our new bathroom starting to come together! Thanks for reading! Please subscribe below for new post updates! And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

The renovation is moving along nicely! We get excited with every stud and pipe that gets installed! This week we’re taking a break from the construction fun to talk about the community and history of our neighborhood. It’s been amazing to learn the rich history of our building and also experience a warm welcome to the neighborhood (and our street). It’s one of the best things about living in Brooklyn and why we decided to create our home here. We’ve got to give credit to a couple of friends and readers who have commented on our blog or social media who know far more about the architectural history of Brooklyn than we do!

It started with one of our first Instagram posts. We assumed our place is over 120 years old, because the public records from NYC Department of Buildings track back to 1899 and it was here at that time. Someone commented that our place looks like an Amzi Hill building. That made sense because he designed a lot of the brownstones in Stuyvesant Heights. Recently though a local reader and new friend of ours, Morgan Munsey, contacted us with even more detailed information of the history of our place including pictures of the builder and a census showing the original owner! Turns out it was built by Gilbert De Revere. He was one of the many carpenter/builders active in Brooklyn in the 19th century. In the Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights areas, he was responsible for a large row of houses on Decatur, Madison, MacDonough, Macon and Halsey Streets. He seems to have used drawings by architect Amzi Hill but often did not give him credit. Apparently, it was common practice to buy drawings for one project and keep using them over and over for other projects. He gave Amzi Hill credit on the first few houses on our row and then Amzi Hill’s name fell off. It seems like a shoe manufacturer, Angelo Casey, his wife, and 2 daughters were one of the first people to live in the house. It also appears that Mr. De Revere may have met his demise right around when our building was completed. A local newspaper reported in April of 1890 that he died of an “aneurysm of the heart” right here in the neighborhood when he took his horse and buggy out for a spin. 

Learning this really brings to light how we don’t just own the wood, stone, and land that make up our place but there is a rich history and sense of community that comes with it. The people on our block have pride in it. There are monthly block meetings where a variety of topics are discussed including upcoming spring planting! Apparently our block even made honorable mention for Brooklyn Botanical Garden’s “Brooklyn’s Greenest Block” and we’re making a run for it again this year! We are so looking forward to being a part of this community and being actively involved in our block association.

As we pick out tile and light fixtures it’s easy to forget that we are working to restore what has been home to many people over 130 years and is part of a larger history of Brooklyn and Bedstuy. That’s why we’re here in the first place, and it makes it even more exciting to leave our stamp on what will hopefully be herer for another 130 years. 

If you’re not as much of a Brooklyn history buff as we are…back to to the renovation fun next week! Make sure to follow us on instagram for the latest updates and check out our YouTube channel for weekly updates on the reno project. Happy Weekend!

Our place is over 120 years old, probably more like 130. The DOB started keeping records in 1899 so many brownstones in Brooklyn show that date on record even if they were built before. We were fully expecting to find some surprises once we started opening walls up, although we were holding out hope that there wouldn’t be anything major. With this old of a building there were several that could have sent our dream crashing down to reality. Well the walls are open and we can see most of the surprises we think we’ll find!

There definitely is good news and bad news. The good news is that the place is in overall decently good shape. Most of the people we have had in and out doing work have commented that the bones are good.

We have already repaired the termite damage in the basement we found during the inspection. Fortunately it was limited to about 6 feet of the main structural beam. Sounded pretty scary to us! We had a termite inspection once the basement ceiling was open (its semi-finished) and everything else looked great. The new beam is in so we’re relieved to be past what had potential to be a larger issue. We’ll schedule a termite treatment in the spring just to be safe.

As we expected there were some other surprises. The first surprise is on the parlor floor where originally there was a wall with pocket doors separating the front parlor area from the back parlor area (where we’re building the kitchen). Because of this wall, the original crown moulding, picture frame moulding, and ceiling cove define both spaces. The pocket doors and most of that interior wall are gone, but there is still a header and a small four foot section of wall on one side. Fortunately the original plaster moldings are still there. We’re removing the four foot section of wall but not the header. It’s definitely something that a developer or anyone doing a bigger renovation would completely remove. The problem is that if we remove it we would lose a lot of the moldings and the cove on the ceiling that we are determined to keep in tact. We could put up new moldings but we like the ones we have!

So we have 2 problems. The first is structural. Someone did some plumbing directly above the header and cut right through one of the floor joists. So it needs to be repaired before we remove the section of wall. Unfortunately the master bedroom wall is directly over where the joist needs to be repaired so we needed to temporarily remove it. It’s a relatively easy and inexpensive solution. But we don’t want one of our floor joists cut in half so it’s something that has to be done.

The other issue in this area is cosmetic but ironically much more expensive. If you‘ve seen some of our before pics. You might remember that there was a small kitchen built in the middle of the parlor floor. A soffit was built that covered some of the moldings next to the four foot section of wall. Unfortunately when we took down the soffit the moldings and ceiling weren’t in great shape so we need to have them repaired. The repair requires some skill to replicate moldings to match as best as we can the existing ones and then to finish. Fortunately our friend Jason at Urban Plaster is a plaster master and will be skillfully handling the repairs!

There were a couple of other things that need to be addressed as well. Most likely the same culprit removed the support for a joist that doesn’t tie into the brick sidewall. So now it’s floating there unsupported! We’re working on the best option to repair but as our contractor explains in the video below we have a couple of options. Most likely we’ll just support it on the wall that will be built below it against the brick where all of our kitchen plumbing will go.

Finally, the last issue we’re working on (best described by George below) requires us to get creative to support the LVL header replacing the wall that we removed to open up the back area for our kitchen. Basically, we need to bolt into the brick to create the support.

Believe it or not that’s all the surprises we’ve had so far. There’s still some potential for a couple more to pop up so we think at this point we’re through the woods, or at least the thickest part of them.

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We are a few days into demo and it’s moving fast! Walls are down and we’re seeing the place really open up. We have had a few surprises so wanted to share. After working for months on plans and approvals it’s really satisfying to see progress!

On the parlor level the wall that created the bedroom that was added is completely gone. The kitchen is demoed and the bathroom is mostly gone. Since our place was renovated a few times over the past few decades it was great to see some of the original walls underneath. One of the biggest surprises was finding the treasure of pocket doors closed up in the walls! Unfortunately we are removing the wall they were in to create our new kitchen, but we will use them somewhere else in the house. 

On the top level, our master bedroom is taking shape. The walls that created a small hallway that was carved out of what will be the master bedroom are out of the way. We can see how large the room will be. We’re creating 3 bedrooms and they are taking shape. At this pace we should be done with demo in just a couple more days. 

The last thing that we are designing is the guest bathroom. Based on some very helpful comments from readers we decided that it is important to work a shower into the space. Just having a claw foot tub/shower combo isn’t very convenient for guests. We are trying to figure out the best way to achieve the look we want without busting the budget. Our initial idea to create a large wet area with a shower and freestanding tub was too expensive so we need to scale it down. We think the best option is to use a tile-ready shower base in the shower area with curbs and glass on both sides. If anyone has any advice let us know!

We did a walk through and made a list of all of the finishes we need to buy. Light fixtures, doors, hardware, appliances, flooring, an entire steel deck . Our tight budget is getting a workout! If you know of any places to get great deals we would love to hear!

Check out our Instagram feed for lots of demo photos and videos! Thanks for reading! We’ll update on where we are in a week!

For the past 3 months we have been in the design and planning phase. We spent a lot of time in (and out) of the house figuring out how we wanted to configure things. Our architect was also hard at work translating that into drawings and a plan that the New York City Department of Buildings would approve. We had the curveball of a 1936 document changing the scope of our project. Many changes and alternations came along with that.

We are happy to say that with the help from our amazing architect we have gotten approval on the project to start swinging hammers! Along the way there were a few questions we posed to you for ideas. We thought we would update you on the decisions we made (with your help!), the compromises we needed to make, the alternations required to appease the DOB, and the finalized plan for the project.

Opening Up The Floor Plan Or Saving Original Walls

One of the first questions we posed to readers was whether or not we should tear down the wall separating the living area to the main stairwell. It’s a configuration of pretty much every brownstone or townhouse in Brooklyn. The trend with developers is to take it out and put in structural support to create a really open space. Unfortunately a lot of original details, as well as the intentions of the great 19th century Brooklyn architects, are lost. Even before our post we came to the conclusion that we should keep the wall and your response was unanimously in agreement!

Large Kitchen or Tiny Powder Room

Ideally we would have liked to have a powder room on the parlor level. In our initial design we included it, but the only practical place to put it was in a place that required a smaller kitchen. Any other way to configure a kitchen or powder room would have required too much plumbing or gas work for our budget. The choice was between having the powder room or a larger kitchen. All of the great suggestions and comments were about a 50/50 split. In the end we decided that the larger scale kitchen with no power room would work best for us and create the scale of kitchen we wanted for the space.

Separating The Owners Duplex From The Garden Rental

Even though our building is already configured as a 2-family, the garden rental has complete access to the parlor and upper floor duplex via the main stairwell. There is no wall or door. We got lots of great suggestions and even photos sent on how we can solve this. Unfortunately there is not a solution that is perfect. Adding a wall anywhere is just not ideal, especially when it’s as tight of an area as the stairwell. We initially thought we would build this wall under the parlor level stairs with a door to lead to the garden level and basement (we will have laundry there). This problem is certainly not unique to our house. After a couple of readers reached out with photos of their space, we decided that the better option would be to build the wall and door on the garden level. This will make our space less cramped, and we won’t have to lose details that we love on the original stairs and bannister.

Tearing Down A Useless Mudroom

One of the results of the DOB finding that 1936 document is that we will need to bring some things up to code that have already been built. At some point in our building‘s 120+ year history a small mudroom was built on the back of the garden rental at the exit to the back yard. This ate up one of the windows and now the garden unit‘s large living/kitchen area does not meet the light and ventilation requirements. There are some tedious changes we could have made to the unit to bring it up to code (building a drop wall around the kitchen, enlarging the opening between the kitchen and the living room…etc) but for the money we would have spent on that we decided that it would be better spent tearing down the mudroom and putting in a glass door. This brings the garden rental up to code for light and ventilation. It also had the added advantage of giving us the ability to build a larger deck upstairs while increasing overall light the deck will take away from the garden rental. Win-win!

Oh the DOB

Our architect did a great job anticipating what the DOB would take issue with and how to resolve. One area that created us a particular issue was in the middle bedroom upstairs. Since it’s in the middle of the building it does not have windows, however it gets a lot of light and even air through 2 nice openable skylights. Unfortunately they were just a few square feet too small to meet the requirements. Complicating things, our roof turned up positive for asbestos. It’s in decent shape and we are not ready to change yet. We can disturb up to 10 sq ft of it (through professional remediation of course) without having to redo the entire thing. The initial plan was to just put in a third skylight however there is even a further issue as the fire department requires at least 6 feet wide clearance with no obstructions (skylights, roof hatches…etc) from the front of the building to the rear. The solution is that we will now have 3 skylights (or one large one) in a row.

Only the beginning

The fun has only begun! The DOB has approved our plan, but now we need to build it out per the drawings and make sure everything will be approved by the city inspectors that will come into the building. Our certified letters are sent to our neighbors letting them know demolition is starting soon (another requirement!). The plan we have is really a starting point as there are things that can’t be seen on the drawings. There are also things an inspector may take issue with that the plan examiner did not. Sounds fun? We think so!

https://www.facebook.com/brownstoneboys/videos/2279798255639015/?modal=admin_todo_tour

We technically have started with demolition (here’s a video clip of us removing half of the existing kitchen) but our next spot will be all the hammer content you ever dreamed of! We’re ready!

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We’re proud to have been featured by our friends at Bed-Stuy Local (www.bedstuylocal.com)! Check out their interview with us below and head over to their site for more!

DECEMBER 17, 2018 BY BEDSTUYLOCAL

,The Bed-Stuy Small Business Hustle – “The Brownstone Boys”

Today, we are posting our first small business profile! We plan on doing as many profiles as we can of small businesses in Bed-Stuy. If you know someone who we should profile, or if you would like to be profiled, please do not hesitate to reach out at mike@bedstuylocal.com!

Who are the Brownstone Boys? Tell us about yourselves.

We’re Barry and Jordan aka The Brownstone Boys. Jordan is in marketing for Ample Hills Creamery and a food tour guide. Barry works for a startup software company. We met about 2 years ago. Barry has owned a few apartments over the past few years with the dream of buying and restoring a classic Brownstone. Jordan shared that dream so we decided to take this adventure together.

In one paragraph, describe what it is that you are doing.

We bought a 2 family brownstone in Bedstuy. It has many original details but it’s in need of restoration. We’re excited to make it our home. We are going to restore everything that we can and modernize where we need to. We’ll have a brand new open kitchen, a large master bedroom, completely renovated master bath, a new guest bath, and new parlor level backyard access with a deck.

How did you choose Bed-Stuy?

Barry has lived in Bedstuy for the past few years. It has become his favorite neighborhood that he has lived in. Jordan also fell in love with the architecture of the neighborhood (and Saraghina!)  and ended up spending much of his time in Bedstuy when not at work. We chose Bedstuy because we love the neighborhood, the architecture is beautiful, the community feels welcoming, and it’s still a place you can buy a building in brownstone Brooklyn at a relatively affordable price compared to other neighborhoods.

What do you love about Bed-Stuy?

Aside from the beautiful architecture, we love the sense of the community. It’s rare to have a neighborhood where everyone still says “good morning” to one another as they walk by. We came back to the place this past week and some kind stranger put a holiday bow on every single gate on the street!

Did you have experience in renovations before you started this project?

Barry renovated a 2-bedroom apartment a couple of years ago, but that wasn’t nearly as extensive as this project. Jordan has been involved in several renovation projects at work but never his personal home! So we are definitely not professionals.

How is everything going? How long have you been working on the project?

We’ve only just begun! We closed on the place about a month and a half ago. We have been working with our architect on the design and DOB approval process.

What unexpected hiccups have you encountered along the way? How did you work through the issues?

The DOB has already thrown us a couple of curveballs. When we originally filed they found a document from 1936 that showed the building with a different configuration than it is now. So we had to file for a different type of approval that caused more design work and will require more inspections (and of course, more costs). We also found some termite damage in the basement that needs to be repaired. Once we start some of the demo in the place we are expecting to find some other surprises as well!

Do you work with local businesses in Bed-Stuy? If so, who do you recommend and why?

We are falling in love very fast with every single restaurant we have been trying- Grandchamps being a new favorite! We are going to try to use as many hyperlocal businesses as possible for the renovation. We pretty much need everything! Any and all recommendations are extremely helpful!

Are there still deals to be had in Bed-Stuy? If so, where?

We think so. Prices are definitely rising very quickly in Bedstuy, but it’s still possible to get a beautiful building for $1.5M or less. Just a couple of miles away in neighboring neighborhoods a similar building would be twice that. The eastern part of Bedstuy between Malcolm X and Broadway is the best bet for still finding a deal in the neighborhood.

If someone is looking to embark on the same journey, what advice would you give them?

Act fast. We think that Bedstuy prices are going to continue to rise. If things continue it will be harder to find something. Then find a good contractor and architect. It makes such a big difference to avoid hiccups and resolve them when they pop up. Also, enjoy the process!  It can feel stressful but it’s not something that you get to do many times in your life. Building your home while restoring a piece of Brooklyn history.

For people who don’t have skills in renovations which of the following would you recommend and why? 1) Buy a pricey, but fully renovated brownstone from a developer. Or 2) Buy a place that needs a gut renovation, hire an architect and general contractor, and get it done on your terms.

Our preference is obviously the latter. We don’t have a lot of experience in renovations, but we’re really looking forward to making the place our own. We looked at a bunch of developer buildings in the process of finding our home, they usually opt for taking out so much of the original detail and there are so many things that are done without a lot of thought.

Where can people find you and what can that do to help your project?

You can follow us on our blog at www.thebrownstoneboys.com. We are being published weekly in The Brownstoner and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook @brownstoneboys. We’re really looking forward to making Bedstuy our new home and hope you enjoy our renovation journey!

One of the things we are looking forward to the most is enjoying our backyard. Right now only the garden apartment has access. So we plan on building a deck on the parlor level and popping in a door where one of the windows is currently. We’ll have stairs to give us access to the rear portion of the yard. There is a small mudroom tacked onto the back of the building where the garden apartment has access to the backyard. It’s been causing us a few problems and we finally figured out what to do with it!

The deck will be at the same level of the parlor floor so we’ll have a bit of brick to remove under the window. We have the option to build the deck a bit higher so that there would be a step or 2 up. This would avoid touching the brick at all, the window is tall enough, but we really like the idea of walking out directly onto the deck with no steps. We would love to open it up to have a larger slider, but it’s one of the areas we needed to compromise because of budget. That would create a lot more construction to create an opening and structural support for the bricks above. It may be a future project.

The mudroom at the garden level has a slanted roof with a basement vent. There is no way to build the deck with clearance to sit above it, so our plan was to build it next to it. The DOB allows a deck built of non-combustable material to extend 8 feet from the back of the building. So building it adjacent to the mudroom would give us a 8’X11′ deck with stairs to the yard. We were a little disappointed to not have the deck extend all the way across, but again one the things that we were going to compromise on to keep the budget down. But it looks like we’re making a change to the plan. 

Our friends at the DOB had issue with the light and air requirements in the garden rental since one of the 3 rear windows is now a door into the mudroom. The 2 remaining windows do not meet the light and ventilation requirements for the square footage of the room so we were going to have to make a couple of alterations to the garden apartment to compensate. We weren’t planning on spending any money in the rental because it is in great shape so it wasn’t something we were happy about. We think we have a better idea! If we demo the mudroom and put in a glass windowed exterior door if would solve our light and ventilation issues and give us the ability to build a bigger deck upstairs. The additional cost is negligible because we were going to have to spend a few thousand dollars on the alterations to meet the light and air requirements if we keep the mudroom. 

We’re excited about the change as it seems to be a win-win. The garden apartment gets a new glass door to let in more light and we get a bigger deck! The only drawback is the loss of the mudroom space to the garden apartment, but I’m sure our tenants will appreciate the extra light and outdoor space that can be private to their unit. It also clears up having to prove to the DOB that the mudroom preexisted 1961 because it was not filed. So win-win-win!

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We’re working on one of the more fun parts of our project, designing the kitchen! We probably don’t have to tell you how important it is. Heart of the house, right? We know what we want. We have so many photos pinned on Pinterest. So why don’t these renderings from the cabinet company look like we want them to?

If you’ve seen our floor plan you know that we are moving the kitchen to the back of the building and removing a couple of walls to open it up. The stove and fridge will be on one wall with the majority of the cabinetry. We’ll have an island with the sink and pendants above it. On the opposite wall we’ll have some 12” deep cabinets and some open shelving. This wall has an old fireplace that has since been bricked up and covered. It’s bumps out into the room so we had to get creative. We also plan to have a small powder room next to the kitchen.

As we looked at the renderings there’s some obvious things we worked out right away that will help improve it. We want to make sure the cabinets are high enough for the height of the ceiling.  Those narrow (12″) cabinets are too long and skinny. We’ll use moldings and a small soffit to give it all a finished and more built in look. We will do our best to choose the right style of cabinetry and hardware. But there is something else that has been in the back of my head about our design ever since we laid out the floor plan. Now that we are actively designing the kitchen it has come to the front. The scale of the whole thing seems off. The width of our kitchen, the main wall of cabinets and appliances, is only 11 feet. That seems narrow for the scale of a 3-bedroom duplex with a level exclusively devoted to an open living space. 11 feet might be just fine to fit in all of the necessities, and I’m sure it could be very nice, but the fact is it just isn’t the look that we are going for. We wanted something larger in scale. We wanted the kitchen to be a showcase of the renovation and the home in general. So we have a conundrum. How do we increase the size of the kitchen and where do we get that space?

Before we settle on this layout we’ve considered other layouts for the kitchen. Turning it 90 degrees so that the island faces out toward the living room (not a great idea because the main kitchen wall is on the back wall where there will be two windows and a door to the deck), turning it 180 degrees so that the main wall of cabinets and appliances is on the opposite wall (tough because the wet wall is on the other wall since there is now a bathroom. Moving all the plumbing is expensive). We’re left with one potential option, scraping the parlor level powder room in favor of expanding the kitchen.

I should tell you that I’m biased. I wasn’t a fan of having a powder room from the beginning. Although everyone else thought we should have one. Our architect said we’re not going to want to go upstairs everytime we need the bathroom. Our real estate agent said for resale it would be really good to have a powder room on the first level. But it’s a tiny little room. 2’11” x 5’. You could sit on the toilet and wash your hands. It’s also right next to the kitchen and dining room. For obvious reasons that’s not great when you’re having a dinner party. Go upstairs. Have some privacy. We get the other arguments too. We just need to make a decision. Do we want to have a tiny powder room and a kitchen that is smaller in scale than we wanted (and think should be) or do we want to have a big well designed kitchen and climb the stairs to visit the master or guest bathroom (which we’re really looking forward to designing with a vintage tub, vintage pedestal sink, and tiles to match! Check back for more on that one!)?

In the 11’ kitchen, the microwave is over the stove, there is no room for a hood because we need the cabinet space, we don’t really get the open shelves we wanted because we would sacrifice vital storage space. The island would be less than 6’ and I don’t think we would even have a full 36” on either side for access to the kitchen. On the other hand, If we scraped the powder room we could extend the kitchen to 14’ and the island would be about 8’. All of the above things we wanted would be possible and the scale of the kitchen would be fitting to the open space.

We’re obviously leaning toward the larger kitchen and sacrificing the powder room to the renovation gods. Are we making a mistake? Is having a bathroom on this level that important? Or do you think the show stopper kitchen is worth the sacrifice? Let us know what you think!

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While we were hunting for our brownstone to renovate, we also looked at some recently renovated buildings, mostly by developers. The trend is to tear down walls and open up the entire parlor level floor with a huge slider leading to a deck. Sounds nice. Walking in you are greeted with a bright, open, and airy space. We didn’t want to buy a developer renovated building, but we took that design idea with us when we thought about our renovation. All of the unrenovated buildings still had their original entries with stairwell and structural wall separating it from the living room. Our initial plan was to tear down that wall and create the type of open, airy space we saw in the renovated buildings. After we closed and spent some time in the building our view started to change. There are so many original features that would be ripped out with the wall. Large double doors, woodwork and moldings, plaster features and a curve on the living room ceiling. We really started to question our plan. 

We like to walk down some of the brownstone streets in Brooklyn at dusk. Just as the interior spaces start to light up and it’s a little easier to stalk around gawking in. The original features can be seen in all of their glory. House after house retained its parlor level structural wall with the history in tact. Woodwork gleaming and painted out. Tall stately double doors inviting guests into the space. Intricate plaster work on the ceiling. I would bet that if we asked any of those homeowners they wouldn’t dream of losing that just to gain a bit more of open floor plan. It’s sinking in more and more that we should get in touch with the history of our place instead of tearing it out in favor of what developers have decided is the modern look. 

So we visited our empty brownstone and wanted to really get a feel for all of the original features that are still there. (See the tour in the slideshow below). Unfortunately our place isn’t overflowing with original details. The fireplaces have been closed up long ago. The flooring was replaced a few years ago, fortunately with solid white oak flooring, but in an unfortunate finish (we’re going to refinish). So it’s even more important for us to keep what we have. In the vestibule there is beautiful original mosaic tile and plaster work in the form of flowering rose bushes. All of the original door casings and baseboards are there. The medallions, moldings, and plaster on the ceilings are in tact. The original banister and stairs welcome you into the building. As we feel more and more connected with the building we starting to dread parting with any of it.

Then there is the matter of the budget. You’ll find as you read our posts, we are happily renovating with a limited budget. There will be many cost saving decisions made throughout our renovation. I look at it as a win-win. Not only do we get to keep the history in tact if we keep that wall. We’re going to save probably over $25,000 between taking down the wall, supporting it structurally, and all of the finishing work that would need to be done in its place. 

The verdict: I’m happy to say we’re keeping the wall, and any other original features we can!

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