Adding Historic Charm at Carroll Jardin:

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Bringing Back Historic Touches and Adding Modern Details in a Brooklyn Brownstone

One interesting thing about older homes is that they often change a lot throughout their history. They undergo renovations and wear and tear from previous owners, along with changing tastes and sensibilities. 

Reviving Historic Elegance

At Carroll Jardin, we’ve lovingly restored some of the home’s most enchanting features that had been lost over the years. 

The marble fireplace mantel is a total standout piece, serving as a grand focal point in the kitchen. We decided to contrast this historic marble with some more modern marble in the countertops, hood cover, and backsplash. 

It was also important to us to bring back some character with ceiling mouldings. They add a touch of sophistication and draw the eye upwards. Many Brooklyn brownstones would have originally had ceiling moulding, inspired by Queen Anne and Victorian styles of the time. 

It’s such a pleasure to bring these details back to the space and work with some of our neighborhood’s most talented artisans who keep this craft alive. 

Modern Touches for Today’s Living

Balancing these historical elements are modern touches that ensure Carroll Jardin is not just a museum piece but a comfortable home for today (and the next 100 years!).

These sleek upholstered stools from Lulu & Georgia and dining chairs from CB2 bring a contemporary flair to the space. Their clean lines and neutral tones provide a perfect contrast to the ornate historical features.

Lighting is where we’ve truly married the old with the new. The Gubi Multi-Lite pendants, with their retro-inspired design, add a modern twist to the room, complementing the traditional elements beautifully. The Rosalie Aluminum sconces and further enhance this blend, casting a warm, inviting glow that ties the entire space together.

You may not even notice the final, extra-modern item we added to this historic home–the Frame TV from Samsung. We love using this TV in our projects because it fits in completely seamlessly. 

At Carroll Jardin, we believe in honoring the past while embracing the future. With thoughtful design choices, we’ve created a home that celebrates its heritage and is fully equipped for modern, Parisian-esque living. 

Follow along for more design inspiration and the stories behind our favorite pieces in Carroll Jardin! For a list of all the products used in this home, check out this blog. 

Step inside a Parisian-Inspired Brownstone in Brooklyn

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We’re answering all of your questions about this beautiful, French-inspired historic brownstone in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

A Parisian home in the heart of Brooklyn

Sometimes, you meet clients and immediately bond over a shared vision. When we first chatted with Hagar and Ziv, we learned all about their love for Paris and the sprawling facades of the limestone buildings along the Seine. Despite their differences, Brooklyn and Paris share a romantic aura that we knew would translate through architecture and design.

Finding inspiration in French design

Designing a historic brownstone 3,624 miles from the “City of Light” challenged us as renovators, restorers, and interior designers. We wanted to really capture the essence of Paris. We thought about what makes the city so iconic – its grand arches, sloping curves, modern and art deco features against classic architecture, soft stone colors, and rich neutrals. That led us to some beautiful paint color choices throughout the home.

  • Farrow & Ball Schoolhouse White – Walls throughout the house | Farrow & Ball
  • Sherwin Williams Alabaster – Ceilings throughout the house | Sherwin Williams
  • Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black – Stairs | Sherwin Williams

Furniture fit for the 16th arrondissement

As we were sourcing furniture for the home, we looked for a variety of new and antique pieces. The goal was to strike an eclectic balance of modern design with historic charm. If you have ever been inside a Parisian home, you may be familiar with this approach. It’s not uncommon to find a flat screen TV next to an antique chair that someone found at a nearby flea market, which also just “happens” to be from the 1800s. We selected materials like velvet, suede, marble, chrome, and light wood to evoke that unique collector’s vibe.

  • DWR X Sarah Ellison Muse Sofa – $4,995 – $3,996 | Design Within Reach
  • Brace Bloce Cream Chair – $1,699 | CB2
  • Rolland Armchair – $2,523 $1,181 | Soho Home
  • Santoro Round Green Agate Coffee Table – $1,099 | CB2
  • Channel Tufted Ottoman – $100 | Target
  • Carlisle Bedside Table – $1,395 | Soho Home
  • Sagebrook Home 22″ 4-Legged Accent Table, Black Marble, Nickel | Amazon
  • Jaxx Red Marble Side Table – $499 | CB2
  • Monte Ivory Performance Fabric Dining Chair – $429 | CB2

Attention to detail: tiles, textures, and fixtures

One unique challenge with designing this home was that it is a bit smaller than your typical Brooklyn brownstone. For example, Carroll Jardin is only three floors, including the garden level, whereas most traditional brownstones are four. With limited square footage, we wanted every detail to count. Hagar and Zev gravitated towards rich tones and blue colors, so we sourced samples from this world with character and intricate design. Here were the final picks:

  • Red Onyx/Colorado Calacatta Checkerboard – $Varies | Castelli Marble, Inc.
  • Zellige in Forgotten Turquoise – $Varies | Clé Tile
  • Square in Moroccan Sea Salt and Tea Ceremony – $Varies | Clé Tile
  • Fornace Brioni and Cristina Celestino Tile – $Varies | Clé Tile
  • Purist Sink Fauce – $524.10 | Kohler
  • Purist Rite-Temp Shower Trim Kit – $868 | Kohler

Lighting fixtures to tie it all together

The French excel at many things including, but not limited to, incredible lighting. If you have ever been to Paris, you have probably noticed that the lighting fixtures, indoor and out, are unmatched. From bespoke French design to antique lamps, they know how to find the fixture for any room. We sourced lighting that would create the perfect warm soft glow throughout all three levels.

  • Rizzato 43, Satin Brass / Opal – $Varies | Nuura
  • Ariel Fluted White Marble Sconce – $Varies | CB2
  • Meshmatics, Large Steel – $Varies | Moooi
  • Neptune Travertine Wall Sconce – $299 | CB2
  • Flos String Light with Sphere Head – $1,691 | Flos
  • Gubi Multi-Lite Pendants – $1199 | Gubi
  • Sputnik Light Feature – $73 | Amazon

Bringing this project to life has been a dream come true. Stay tuned as we share more products and our favorite items throughout the home! You can watch the full house tour on YouTube and read the feature in Architectural Digest.

Our Secrets (don’t tell!) About the Costs of Renovating a Brownstone

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Living in a historic brownstone or townhouse in Brooklyn or Manhattan is a dream for many people. The original woodwork, beautiful plaster mouldings, grand staircases, and iconic stoops on tree-lined streets are too much to just to look onto from afar. You might have come to conclusion that the best path to have one of your own is to buy a fixer upper and build your dream home. Seeing the price tag of available listings is pretty straight forward, but what about the renovation? How much does it cost to restore those beautiful 100+ year old original features, build spaces for modern living, and repair the home to last another 100 years? It’s difficult to even understand if the purchase price you’re looking at is feasible for you without understanding the other side of the equation. If you’re ready to start searching for the right place, we can help! 

A good place to start is trying to get a handle on exactly how much work is needed. There are 2 basic things you’ll want to understand: What the condition of the place is and how much you’re changing the configuration. If you walk in to view a home, the kitchens and bathrooms are relatively where you want them and it appears to all have been modernized in the last couple of decades, you might be able to get away with a smaller scope cosmetic project. If you walk in and see aging mechanicals, deteriorating plaster, crooked floors, as well as a kitchen on the wrong floor and bathrooms in entirely wrong places, then the most likely scenario is that is that you’re going to be doing a fairly large scope gut renovation. That doesn’t at all mean that the historic features and charm would be removed, but it will take some work to restore it all and integrate it into the modern home with historic charm you’re dreaming of.

We have a secret to tell you. It might be the best piece of advice we have for anyone shopping for a fixer-upper brownstone. When you bounce around from open house to open house you’ll see places that you immediately know will be a huge project: plaster falling off the ceiling, carpet that reeks of cat urine, old dirty bathrooms, and ancient electrical panels. And you’ll see places that look entirely habitable: Freshly painted walls, historic charm in great shape, a kitchen that looks like it was installed within the decade (be it in the wrong place), and the electrical doesn’t look like a fire hazard. With the latter you might think you have hit the jackpot on a place that just needs some walls moved and some TLC. You might think, although the price tag is higher at least it is a smaller renovation. Our word of warning is the project size and cost may not be all that different between them. If your plan includes moving bathrooms, creating a big beautiful primary bathroom and closet, reconfiguring bedrooms, relocating the kitchen to the parlor floor where there is none, and adding a powder room – that is a major reconfiguration. After all of those walls are moved the floors and ceilings will need to be addressed, not to mention that crooked floors will look even more crooked next to all of the new features so those might need to be fixed too. You end up re-doing (or resurfacing) most of the walls, ceilings, and floors. Finally, once the plumber and electrician redo half of what’s there for the new layout, they’ll likely want (or need) to replace it all. There is code as recent as the 2,000’s that everything will need to be brought up to. Oh, and what about HVAC? The point is that although a building may initially look like less work since you feel you could move into it as-is if needed, it might very well be the same scope and cost to make it into your dream home as the place with carpet that reeks of cat urine, ancient electrical panels, and deteriorating plaster. So why pay more for the place that only appears to offer you a smaller scope project. 

Two men, known as The Brownstone Boys, stand outside on a sidewalk, each holding an old door with missing glass panels in front of a row of classic brownstone buildings.

Since a lot of things go into such a big project, we need a quick way to estimate costs and one of the quickest ways to get a general idea of budget is to use a price per square foot and apply it to the square footage of the home. A price per square foot for the entire house will give you a general idea of the total cost for a renovation and it takes into account that there is a new kitchen, a few bedrooms, several new bathrooms, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC…etc. While it’s not a bad way to generalize the cost of a complete home renovation, it’s really just to give you a quick idea so that you can have an estimation, for instance, if you’re trying to figure out if the fixer-upper you viewed fits your budget including the renovation.  Keep in mind that there may be a feature of your renovation that might push the costs up outside of the price per square foot, one big example of that would be adding an addition to the home which comes with many more costs than renovating within the home’s footprint. For something like that you might want to treat it as a separate line item. Ok! So you’ve got it and just want the numbers, we hear you, and we’re here to give them to you!

One last thing, you should know that we do renovations in New York City and the numbers in some of our examples might be more in line with renovating in New York or other big cities. We provided a range so that you can adjust if you live in a place with a lower cost of living. The low end of the range can be used for areas where the cost of living is less and the high end is for areas where the cost of living is higher. That’s true for contractor and labor expenses, but costs for finish items would likely be the same since we get those items from all over the country and world and many of the suppliers we purchase from are national. Ok ok… the numbers! 

Total home reno price per square foot budgeting:

• Budget conscious reno with low-cost finishes, little to no structural work, and limited to no configuration changes: $125-$175 psf

• Mid-range reno with mostly basic finishes, some upgrades, some structural work, and some configuration changes:  $175-$200 psf 

• Mid range reno with nice finishes, some splurges, a fair amount of structural work, and a lot of configuration changes:  $200-$275 psf

• High-end renovation with structural work, total configuration change, and high-end finishes: $300-$400 psf 

• Super high-end renovation with a name recognition architect, designer, and all high-end best-of-class finishes. $400+ psf

Hopefully you can find yourself in one of those buckets and you can generalize the cost of renovating your fixer upper or existing home! There are a lot of ranges there so if you’re having trouble landing in one, we would suggest that the once in a lifetime dream home you are envisioning is probably in the upper $200’s-lower $300s psf.

If you are adding an addition to the building since there is so much foundation, concrete, steel, and structural work we would estimate that line item at $700-750 psf. 

Now, that gives you the hard costs of the renovation but there are other expenses you should take into consideration as well. Depending on the size of your project you will likely need an architect, engineers, and city filings. Those costs can vary depending on the scope you have but you’ll want to budget $35,000-$60,000 (but it could be higher as well). If it’s a larger project and you won’t be living in the home during the process (we highly recommend that you don’t) you’ll want to include carrying costs like the cost of the mortgage, insurance, utility bills, and/or alternative accommodations while the work is being done. These are all soft costs. 

Finally, don’t forget to include a 10-15% contingency. There are almost always additional expenses that come up during the renovation. Once walls, floors, and ceilings are opened up it’s quite possible that some repairs may be needed that were not seen before. You also may have to or want to alter a design to account for conditions onsite. These items are called change orders. They can be stressful, so if you have a budget included for them it can make the process much smoother. 

Restoring and renovating a historic home can be a perfect path to owning a piece of history. It will have had many owners before you, some who may have arrived at its doorstep in horse and carriage, and it will likely have owners after you. These well-lived homes are often part of a thriving community that we hold dear and being a part of its significant life is something that’s just very special. Happy renovating!

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Renovation Budget Planning: Change Orders

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There will always be surprise costs during a renovation once floors and walls are open

Budget planning is one of the most important parts of a renovation, at least for most of us! Costs can easily get out of control. Even if you get your contractor quote set and finishes all spec-ed, many renovators go into it trying to guess what might come up during the process. Will there be surprises hiding behind the walls or under the floors? Or will you have a change of heart in the design? Or what about adding things to the scope of the project? How much should you plan for and where are the common expenses?

We always recommend planning for all of these categories. Unexpected expenses are coming and chances are that no matter how strong your resolve to not make design changes or add additional scope of work, most people do. You’ll become very familiar with the term: Change Order.

A common additional cost in older homes is replacing or sistering joists cut by plumbers

Common Surprise Expenses

Once the walls are open, the joists are exposed, the wiring is in view, and the plumbing can be seen. You can expect something will need to be unexpectedly repaired.

Most renovations don’t include replacing floor joists in their bathroom renovation, but here in Brooklyn we don’t remember a bathroom floor that didn’t need joist repair or replacement. In a 100+ year old building no doubt it has gone through many renovations over the years. Plumbers are notorious for chopping straight through joists to run pipes, weakening the much needed structural features and causing sagging in the floor. If your building has multiple bathrooms it will compound the expenses.

Some renovators buy a property and on visual inspection the electrical might appear updated, only to open the walls and see it connected to ancient wires. In fact, depending on how big your renovation is most electricians will want to replace everything to pass inspection.

Termite damage, moisture issues, plaster repair…etc there is a lot of opportunity for unexpected expenses. You’ll want to go in with a budget ready to go. It will make finding them a little less stressful.

Most renovators change design choices during the course of renovation

Design Changes

No matter how much you think you won’t want to make changes in your design choices, you can bet that you will. There are things you can do to avoid it. Make sure you look at all of your finishes and design choices together. Gather samples and take them over to your space to view them in the exact location. If you can’t get a physical sample (or even if you can), put together a lookbook with photos of the finishes all on one page. It will give you a great idea how everything will go together. You’ll reduce the chance that something might not be right once it’s onsite and installed.

Once things are built and finishes are in place it’s inevitable that a few things might not be what you expected. Your reasoning might be that this is your chance to get it right and you’d rather spend the extra money now to not have to redo it later.

Adding Scope of Work

Once your renovation starts you’re going to be very aware of all things designed around you. At a restaurant you might love the tile or lighting, or you might see a reclaimed wood floor in a magazine that catches your eye. You might stay at a hotel that has an indoor/outdoor patio with a large glass slider that you now must have. Most renovations increase scope of work during the project. So it’s best to give yourself a bit of room to work in some of these changes.

Example of a spreadsheet we use with estimated costs, quoted costs, and added change order costs

How Much to Plan for?

Change orders are going to happen. If you go into your renovation with no room for them in your budget, you can bet you’ll be going over. We recommend planning a contingency for change orders of 15% of your renovation budget. You’ll want that available for those unexpected expenses, and if you don’t need it you’ll be able include some of your design and scope of work changes! When your contractor issues a change order expense you’ll know what to expect.

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Budget Kitchen Cabinets With A High-End Look

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Kitchens are often the most expensive spaces to renovate. There are a lot of moving parts and pieces that add up quickly. Of those, often the biggest and most expensive is the cabinetry. There is a wide range of options and the sky’s the limit. Fortunately there are also ways to achieve a high-end look on a budget. Since that is where most of us are in our renovation stories that’s what we’ll talk about, although if you’re curious about custom cabinetry prices keep reading.

IKEA Cabinets and Custom Fronts

A very popular and perfectly great option to remodel your kitchen on a budget is to use IKEA cabinets. They are just fine and do a great job. There are also many ways to customize them to upgrade the look. IKEA has several door and drawer fronts that can achieve anything from a clean white Shaker look to a modern Scandinavian slab (more on that in a bit). What has become fairly popular, if not fashionable in its own right, and an even better way to achieve a higher end look, is to use IKEA cabinet boxes (the interior and frame) with more custom door and drawer fronts. If you haven’t heard, IKEA sells the boxes without the fronts so you’re not wasting money by not using them.

If you go with IKEA boxes and fronts you can get cabinets for an average kitchen for $2,000-$4,000. Even less if you don’t get the fronts. That number is deceptively low so keep in mind that there are many more components to your kitchen remodel, but for now we’re just talking cabinets.

IKEA’s cabinetry system is called SEKTION and depending on what fronts you chose they all have their own names. The SEKTION system is modular so you can even mix and match fronts for a 2-tone or multi-textural look. You can even swap out all of your door and drawer fronts with something completely different if you tire of your white shaker after a year or 2. Since the system is so modular and easily customizable, other companies now make upgraded solid wood custom fronts for IKEA cabinets in a vast amount of options. It is an upgrade so they will cost more, but it’s the part of the cabinet you see and it’s what will give you that custom look for close to IKEA prices. Check out ,,Semi-handmade and ,,Reform. You’ll find that using the custom fronts will cost about 20% more than the IKEA fronts but the payoff is well worth it to us.

Unassembled or Preassembled Wood Cabinets

For a similar price as ,,IKEA cabinets there are companies that make nice wood cabinets at a fairly low cost. You can even get them preassembled which can make it easier for you to install yourself in a DIY project. We have used the ,,RTA Store in the past and found that their cabinets were inexpensive (they often run 40-50% off sales), nice quality, and they provided free design and consultation services to piece it all together. You might pay $6,000-$8,000 for this option, including the doors, which is close to where you might end up with IKEA cabinets and upgraded custom fronts. There are many other cabinet companies with similar options. When we used them for our renovation, we upgraded the less expensive cabinets with more expensive hardware. It’s not necessary as there are a lot of low cost hardware options, but for us it added some bling to our kitchen that makes us happy and helped us justify going with the cheaper cabinets.

Custom Cabinetry

Now if you are curious how all of this compares to custom cabinetry here are some numbers. Custom cabinets are a luxury few can afford, but as the less expensive options can come close they won’t compare to the look of beautifully built millwork. Quotes we have seen for custom millwork are in the $25,000- $35,000 range. Or another way to price it out is $1500-$2500 per piece. There are also semi-custom options to explore if you want something in between. With all of the other expenses a kitchen renovation brings it can push your budget into eye-popping numbers.

Putting It All Together

We talked about the cabinet boxes but there are a few more options and components to consider for your kitchen cabinetry.

Inset vs Overlay

Inset Cabinet Doors are set into the cabinet frame and fit flush to the cabinet surface. Many of the beautiful Pinterest photos you might have seen could be inset. It’s a custom look and usually costs more than other options. Everything needs to fit very precisely, so this style usually isn’t an option in the less expensive category.

Full Overlay doors can achieve a similar look to inset since they completely cover the front of the cabinet providing that flat surface look. This is what you can get through IKEA or IKEA with custom fronts.

Partial Overlay doors are similar to full overlay except more of the cabinet can be seen between the doors and drawers. It is a more traditional and less custom look but it is also more forgiving for everything to fit together.

Door & Drawer Front Style

Shaker – Shaker furniture dates back to the 18th century. Shaker-style cabinetry has surged in popularity and is considered to have a modern look that is now becoming so common it’s moving toward traditional. It’s a clean, simple, and timeless look with one recessed panel in the center. A clean white shaker kitchen is a great option and is likely to not offend anyone. You can pop it up by moving away from white and painting the fronts with a custom color.

Slab – The simplest style cabinet fronts are flat slab panels. They are an even more modern look and current trend in kitchen design. The clean Scandinavian look is sure to be a head turner where a shaker kitchen will choose to sit in the background.

Raised Panel – You’ll find raised panel cabinets in very transitional or ornately elegant designs. Rather than the simple recessed panel of a Shaker cabinet, a panel comes back to surface level and can have various ornamentation. Since IKEA and the custom front companies will trend modern you won’t find many raised panel cabinet options there.

Other Components

An example of pre & post cabinets with toekicks and fillers installed.

Photo credit: Chris Loves Julia

To complete your cabinetry’s low cost high-end look you’ll need toe kicks, filler panels, and possibly molding. Custom cabinets will use much less of this since they will be built specifically for your space. These pieces are the key to making your off-the-shelf cabinets look built-in. It’s another area that the custom front option will greatly upgrade the IKEA version. The more substantial solid wood will have an elevated feel. Keep in mind that you will still need to get the toe kicks (custom versions fit on top of the IKEA parts) and hinges if you’re using custom fronts.

We installed low cost pre assembled cabinets in our kitchen and we love the way it turned out. At the time, we didn’t know as much about IKEA and custom fronts, and we would dare to say that if we could do it all over again we might have gone with that option. We would probably have saved some money and we could have customized the look even more. We’re certainly enjoying our kitchen (if you can’t tell!) and are happy to know that there are options for us budget conscientious folks who want that custom kitchen look.

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Why is Skim Coating Plaster Walls So Expensive?

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There are two four-letter words that stoke fear into budget-conscious renovators‘ minds. They come up all too often in New York City renovations with its abundance of prewar architecture. The often necessary but expensive “Skim coat”.

It’s part of the territory if you’re a fan of old buildings with plaster walls. They are durable enough to last for decades but at some point they will require repair. It’s a time consuming, messy, and expensive process but when it’s done correctly it can restore necessary integrity, not to mention making them crisp and smooth again.

Seeing the eye popping cost of the process made us look further into it. There are several ways it can be done. It’s important to understand the basics of the process when getting quotes. It’s one of the items we have noticed widely varying costs from different contractors and professionals. How could one person quote $7,000 when someone else quotes $40,000 for the same line item that simply reads: Skim coat walls.

Let’s start with why it might be necessary. If you have plaster walls and ceilings you might have dings and holes after years of bumping things into them. That’s easy enough to to repair. Or you might also see cracks forming or even plaster pieces cracking and flaking off. Obviously a bigger problem. An experienced plaster worker can get a feel for the integrity of the wall with a simple tap, looking for the right bounce back of his finger and listing for a hollow sound. If the walls haven’t been repaired since they went up over 100 years ago chances are they are due.

A common way to skim coat walls is to cover them in a thin layer of drywall mud or plaster and smooth out with a trowel. This can be done in multiple layers, preferably with as little sanding as possible, until the dings and holes are smoothed out and the wall is renewed. It works great if your walls just need to be refreshed and the small dings covered. If you’re walls are cracking and pieces of plaster are coming off, putting another layer over them will very quickly suffer the same fate. You’ll see cracks in no time. We found that the cheaper quotes used this technique. It’s not wrong and still requires skill, it just wasn’t what was required for the walls we were repairing.

For cracking plaster that needs integrity restored its a much more involved process. Loose plaster needs to be removed and cracks are opened. A fiberglass mesh is applied and often something to fill the deeper areas and glue it all together like Plaster Weld. Once the wall is prepared in this way so that the integrity of the plaster is strengthened then the skim coat can go on in layers. The best plaster experts will do the layers with minimal sanding, to cut down on dust. It is definitely a skill that is acquired from years of practice. The result will be a wall that is smooth and new looking but with the underlying structural integrity so that the pesky cracks don’t just return in a matter of months.

It’s time consuming, messy, and requires a lot of skill. Because of that it is indeed an expensive job. It can be tens of thousands of dollars for a 3 or 4 story brownstone and in some cases might be as expensive as drywalling the place, but no doubt one of the things you fell in love with when you bought your house were those beautiful plaster walls that you probably thought just needed a little TLC. Well, they do, and that TLC might just be one of the most expensive line items on your renovation quote. It’s also an area to be very careful of when you see quotes much lower than others. Not to say that some service providers might just be charging less for the weeks of labor it might take to compete the job, but it’s probably a good idea to ask them exactly what the steps are in the process they will follow to repair your walls.

Plaster has been used as a durable and beautiful wall covering for hundreds of years. The charm of Brooklyn’s brownstones and row houses are these original historical features that still exist inside and out. We love to see original plaster walls and moldings and definitely spent more budget and time restoring ours. Let us know your experience restoring yours!

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Let’s Talk Money- Budget for a Renovation Project

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One of the most stressful parts of a home renovation are the finances. Costs can add up quick, especially when you’re renovating a historic property. Many people go into it with either no idea or the wrong idea of what they are going to spend. While the costs can vary depending on the scope of the work and finishes, we thought we would share at least our experience with how much is needed, what some of the biggest ticket items are, and where some savings can be found. 

We’re renovating two floors of a three story 1880’s Brownstone. We demolished several walls, moved the kitchen, added a bathroom, added a deck, and redid most of the electrical and plumbing. Most of the walls (and plaster on them) are staying so it certainly isn’t a full gut, but it’s a lot of work and probably a common scope for many other historic home buyers.

The rule of thumb we’ve heard from several people when considering a property is $100,000 per floor. It might be possible to get the job done with that budget but we think a better rule of thumb would be $125,000-150,000 per floor for a typical Brownstone that is about 20×40 (or $175-$200 per square foot). 

One of the first things you’ll do (read about how to get a project started here) is find an architect to draw up the plans and handle the filings. The city has made it increasingly difficult and as of July 2019 just added new regulation that requires the plumbing drawings to be filed separately from the architectural drawings. So now additional drawings need to be done. While this is probably a great thing to regulate large builders and big construction projects, this increases the costs and time it takes to get through the process for 1 or 2 family home owners. (There may be exception that will be in place at some point but right now there is a lot of ambiguity around it). Expect your architectural fees to be between $10,000-$20,000 and timing of 45-90 days depending on if you are filing an alt-1 or an alt-2. 

Hopefully by the time you have your plans approved you also have a General Contractor lined up and ready to start. This will obviously be your biggest expense. It will include demo, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, plaster, and paint…among many other things. Generally you can expect to get done what you need within the $175-$200 per square foot range. We aren’t talking about finishes yet because that won’t be included in your GC quote. Building materials and labor will be included and this is where a lot of your money will go: 

Demo: $10,000

Demo is expensive in New York. Everything has to be hauled out of your beautiful tree-lined Brownstone street without a disturbance to your neighbors. You can plan on at least $10k of demo. Possibly more if you are removing all of the flooring. 

Electrical: $20,000-$35,000

It’s very likely that some or all of your electrical will need to be replaced. This could even include upgrading the amperage or even the main connection to the house. Adding electrical plugs, fixtures, switches…etc.  

Plumbing: $20,000-$30,000. 

Hopefully you’ll have the ability to keep your kitchens and bathrooms on existing wet walls. If so, that will help keep the expenses down a lot. 

General Carpentry: $100,000-$125,000.

Building walls, adding structural beams, fixing/rebuilding stairs, framing, door & moulding installation, drywall, flooring refinishing/installation, plaster and paint.

Kitchens: $20,000-$25,000.

If you’re buying a house in Brooklyn like we did, chances are it’s at least a 2-family. So you’ll need at least two kitchens! Installing cabinets, tiling, and installing counters. (This is just the construction costs and not finishes.)

Bathrooms: $30,000-$40,000.

As with kitchens, you’re likely to have at least 3 if not 4. You’ll need to build showers, add tubs, toilets, vanities, and lots of tiling. (construction costs)

Other stuff: Stripping paint off original woodwork? Adding in plaster moldings? Restoring original woodwork? There are a lot of specialists you’ll have come in for work you probably don’t want your contractor doing. This is where we added the most expense above our initial budget. These are tough jobs that require a lot of skill and patience, so they aren’t cheap. Wood stripping $10-12,000, plaster moldings $10-15,000, wood restoration $5-8,000. 

Adding a deck seems to be on most people’s list of priorities and we don’t blame them. If the duplex is upper you’ll want access to the backyard. Also, adding a deck and outdoor space adds a ton of value! There are a lot of Department of Buildings regulations (read about all things NYC deck’s here) and you might know that a legal deck in NYC needs to be non-combustible, which makes it considerably more expensive than building a deck in the suburbs. Although there are many ways to increase the costs, you should be able to add a deck for around $25,000. 

Roof – A new roof could cost you $13,000-$15,000 or you could get away with adding another layer on top of the existing for $5-$7,000. You wouldn’t want to skip this while adding new drywall, plaster, and beautiful finishes that will be damaged by a leaky roof. 

Windows – Are you replacing windows? If so plan on spending $13,000-16,000. 

Floor leveling – If your very lucky you’ll find one of the few historical buildings that still have perfectly level floors after 100 years of settling. Since that is unlikely, your next decision will be deciding if you are ok with it or if you want to level them. It’s a big job. All joists will be exposed and they will sister in at a slightly higher level to even out the floors. It’s possible to level certain spots but this can get complicated. It also creates work in other areas that you might not have been planning on like baseboards and more plasterwork. We would expect it to cost $10-12,000 per floor. It could be worth it. It just depends on how uneven they are and what you’re willing to live with. 

Finishes – The fun part! The stuff you’ll see. Kitchen cabinets, flooring, tile, vanities, plumbing fixtures, doors, and light fixtures. Prices can vary greatly. But if you break it down into 3 levels: cheap, mid, lux we would say to plan for $50k, $100k, $150k respectively. 

You’ll want a contingency of about 10%. Hopefully you won’t need it, or better yet maybe you’ll get to use it on something fun rather than burying it in the walls to fix cut structural joists like we did. In any case, if you are buying an over 100 year old building save yourself the stress and expect to find a few additional items not on the initial list. 

Where to save: Has anyone skipped down to this section? We have been fortunate to pay the low end of each of the ranges we provided. First and foremost, find the right contractor. Shop around and know how much things should cost (see above!). Also consider a project manager. It might seem like an additional expense but it doesn’t have to be. Many times they can find efficiencies, make sure you’re not overpaying for things, and save money by preventing delays and trouble shooting as you go. We are managing our own project and spend quite a bit of time on it. 

Here’s some other best practices we’ve found: 

  • Make sure your materials and finishes are ordered on time when your contractor is ready. 
  • Don’t overspend for things like cabinets and tile. You can achieve a high end look with low cost materials. 
  • Set priorities. We could have doubled our budget. For instance, instead of opening up a huge glass slider to the deck, we’re just putting in a door where a window was. 
  • Keep some of the character! Old wood work and things with some flaws give the place some cred. We chose not to level all of our floors and just took care of the worst parts. 
  • Keep kitchens and bathrooms relatively in the same place. We kept them as close to the wet walls as possible (but we were even able to add a bathroom where one didn’t exist). 
  • Don’t do everything now. We’re living with the 5-7 year old windows, but might change them in a couple years. Shop around! We shopped around like crazy. We sometimes got quotes twice as high as we ended up paying for things. 

So many people reach out to us weekly and we’re happy to help! If you have any questions about your project or just don’t know how to get started shoot us an email and we’ll point you in the right direction. If you have any cost saving tips we missed key us know!

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Thanks for reading!

Kitchen Week!

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The past 2 weeks have been all about the kitchen. We removed walls and had the space prepped months ago so it’s really nice to see the finishes going in. 

The Plan

Our place had a a bathroom and bedroom across the back of the building where we wanted to put the kitchen. We removed several walls to open up the space, one of which required a 14 foot beam since it was a structural wall. The space is now open from the front of the building all the way to the back and across either side. The kitchen is 14 feet wide with a 7.5 foot island. 

Cabinets

We’ve had white cabinets in all of our previous apartments. They’re great and can make your kitchen bright and airy, but we wanted to do something a little different this time. It was an easy decision for us to chose a grey shaker style cabinet and we are so happy we did! They are all installed and look so nice! We got them from the RTA Store in upstate New York. They offer a wide range of options for not much more than IKEA kitchen prices especially you catch one of their sales. We went with a solid wood preassembled cabinet.  They were delivered with a few scratches but so far have been great to work with to get that resolved. 

We saved a bit by designing and measuring everything out ourselves rather than having a cabinet company come out to do it. Assembling cabinets is always a challenging job but we got them in pretty easy. The fridge panel was sent out too deep and too short (we got the tallest one and it was still too short). We got a little creative, cut a couple and it looks great. 

Appliances 

We could not be more excited about our Fisher & Paykel appliances arriving this week! We love their clean lines , flat panels and handles, and streamlined look. Having appliances delivered definitely means we are in the final stages of the project! We already know they are going to be beautiful.

Pantry & Storage

We have a lot of beautiful cabinets but we are still lacking storage. We always planned on building in additional storage on the wall opposite the kitchen, but the plan has changed several times. Right now it’s a blank canvas, but it’s challenging because there is an old fireplace bump out right in the middle, and a radiator on one side. Our first plan was to build a wall of cabinets and open shelves, but one of the things we needed the most is tall storage.  We’ve reconfigured it a few times, but the plan now is to move in and decide how to build this out as a future project. In the meantime, we’re looking for inspiration! Let us know if you have any!

Lighting 

Our kitchen lighting is already taking shape we installed some ultra thin recessed lighting over the kitchen from Nadair. We love it because it sits very flush with the ceiling. It blends in and very low profile and dimmable! We’re also putting in 3 pendants over the island that we’re assembling ourselves with with parts from Antique Lamp Supply. 

Counters and Backsplash

The stone slabs are ordered and template is being taken this week! We’re going with a light marbled quartz from HanStone Quartz called Montauk. The backsplash will be a white 2×6 handmade tile from Fireclay in a herringbone pattern.

We’ll finish it all off with a farm apron sink from Nantucket Sinks and hardware from Rejuvenation. We’ll update you once we make more progress on that. We can’t wait!  Subscribe below for updates and follow us on Instagram (@brownstoneboys)! 

Getting A Renovation Project Started.

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We’ve spoken with a lot of new home owners who close on their place and then look at one another and think, “now what?!” How do we find a contractor? Do we need an architect? Where do we start? All questions we get weekly. Understanding even a little bit of the process can help relieve some of the stress of starting a new renovation. 

It may seem obvious but the first thing we would suggest is to make a list of what you want to do. How many bedrooms do you need? Do you want to increase the square footage and build an extension? Are you moving the kitchen or the bathrooms? Are you opening up any walls? You’ll need to at least have a basic list of the scope of the work as you move forward and have other conversations. 

Another thing we usually suggest thinking about first is if you will need a project manager. We’re managing our own project and I would say we’re spending 7-10 hours a week on it, if not more some weeks. There is so much to do even if you have a GC doing the heavy lifting. Some people just do not have the capacity (or possibly the knowledge) to manage their own project. That is where a project manager can come in. It’s good to make this decision first because they can also bring in a team (architect, GC, designers, other skilled tradesman) which can help as you will spend a lot of time trying to find the right people. 

Whether or not you use a PM the next step would normally be to start interviewing architects and general contractors. Ask around for recommendations! Choosing the right GC might be the most important decision you make. If you can find someone who you know has done good work it can relieve a lot of stress and potentially avoid some frustrating problems. If you are using a PM they may have one or several GC’s to work with. 

Your meetings with general contractors will give you a lot of info about what you’re doing. For instance, if you’re removing walls what structural changes you need to make?  Do you need new electrical and what is the status of the plumbing? If you are adding bathrooms, moving kitchens, building an addition or new level what will be the structural implications? 

Before you choose a GC, you’ll also want to consult with an architect. If you’re moving any walls or changing the configuration you will most likely need to file with the department of buildings. In any case, an architect can offer some great advice on what needs to be done and what the costs will be. The architect will draw up the plans, facilitate the city filing, and can work directly with your GC. The architect and GC (and project manager if you are using one) are usually the first members of the team. 

Are you confident in your design skills? If so, it is certainly possible to make all of your own design decisions. If not, you might want to consult with an Interior Designer. Remember there are so many little details to bring together that you might not think about yourself. An interior designer can help you realize your vision and will have ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of. 

Keep in mind that you might need to pull in other skilled tradesman along the way. In our renovation, we had to find someone who specializes in plaster moldings, wood stripping, and custom woodwork. It was just outside of the scope of what our GC would be able to do. Before we’re finished I’m sure we’ll need to find some other specialists. 

Once you have the GC chosen and the architect working on the drawings, it is very important to get a good understanding of the timing of your project. You’ll need to consider where you’re going to live while it’s in progress. Anyone who has moved into a place before the renovation was complete would probably recommend against it. You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you are stressing about rushing the finish. You will have delays. Plan for them, expect them, and they won’t cause as much stress.

We’re sure you started discussing budget from the very beginning, but based on the quotes you received from your GC and architect you can start fine tuning it. Keep in mind that the quote from your contractor will most likely not include the finishes. Cabinets, counters, tile, light fixtures, doors, bath fixtures, and many many more things will need to be purchased. A project manager or an interior designer may be able to help with this part.  We ordered everything ourselves and it took a considerable amount of time. 

Give a lot of thought to your floor plan before you have the architect draw up the plans. Every change will cost money. Once the plan is approved with a DOB an expensive amendment would need to be filed. 

Speaking of the DOB, this is one of the biggest headaches for renovators. Plan on the filing process taking a least 2 months (if handled properly). We recommend working with an architect who will personally go to the meeting with the plan examiner. In our situation, we think that saved a lot of back an forth and also may have avoided some objections. 

In the few months that it will take to work with your architect and file with the city, start choosing your finishes. This will take a lot of time. Go to showrooms, start a few Pinterest boards, go to open houses, do whatever you can to try to understand what you like. This is where many people see delays in their project. Not from the city, or the contractor, but in making their own decisions. Remember that there will be a lead time for many items. Once you chose that tile you want it could take a month or even 2 to get it. If you don’t order it on time, or if you don’t order enough, that is where the delays can start adding up. 

Having the opportunity to create your own space can be rewarding. We are constantly reminding ourselves that we will only have this opportunity once (or maybe twice…3 times ;)) in a lifetime. It can be stressful and it is a lot of work, but remember as often as you can to enjoy the process and have fun with it! We’re about a month out from finishing the ground work (fingers crossed!) and using this time to reflect on our first home together. We’re very excited!

How To Finish Your Renovation Project On Time…or close to it!

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Now that we are 2 weeks in and pretty much done with demo, we are figuring out the art of renovation timing. Everything has a lead time and and it’s a lot of work having to make major decisions on finishes, configuration, fixtures, and everything else that comes along with it. One of the things that can hold up a renovation the most is having difficultly making design decisions or not doing it early enough to account for lead time. If the contractor is ready for tile and we don’t have it on site yet, it can cause a significant delay. Do that with several things and you can easily find yourself doubling the length of your renovation. Fortunately, we have been saving things we like and making decisions even before we closed! There is always more though and we are scrambling right now to make the final selections to make sure we’re on track.

Our renovation, which we would describe as a partial gut, is quoted at 4-6 months. Although that could easily be doubled. There are plenty of projects that take 9 months, a year, or more. In fact, most probably do. I met with our contractor once after he came from another client who was crying in his truck about it! That is always running through my mind so in addition to generally managing the process, we’re trying to do our part by making sure that all materials are onsite when the contractor is ready for them. Even though we just finished demo, and their is plenty of building to do before any of the finishes go in, we are scrambling to make all bath fixture purchases so that the plumbing can be built. We might be a week behind and if we’re this far behind on all of our other areas that will definitely start adding up.

We’re learning lessons and trying to stay on track as we go. Here’s some tips we’ve found so far. Let us know if there is anything that held up your project we might need to consider.

Talk to your contractor about a timeline of when things will be needed.

You might think you have more time than you do to make decisions. Sit down with your contractor and go through a general timeline so that you know the order of when your finishes will be needed. Keep in mind something take longer than others, and you’ll want to give everything the proper amount of thought before living with it for years to come.

Start getting an understanding of what you want very early.

You will find that you need to make A LOT of decisions. It can be overwhelming. You’ll need fixtures, finishes, and flooring. Configuration for multiple bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, outdoor space…and more. Each room takes considerable research and prepare to be torn between several options. Also be prepared to change your mind on some things a few times.

Don’t try to make all decisions at once.

You will get overwhelmed very fast if you try to take on everything on at once. We make decisions pretty quick and tend to be on the same page and it’s still a lot! Tackle one room at a time, but keep an eye out for things you like for other areas. Whether or not you’re a pinterest person, start an account and start savings things there. When you get to the kitchen is will be very helpful to have a nice kitchen folder of pictures saved already!

Understand your lead times.

Some things have a lead time of days and other things have a lead time of months. Will there be any custom pieces (we couldn’t find the bathroom vanity we envisioned so we are having it built)? Kitchen cabinets can have a month or 2 lead time. Some flooring can as well. The last thing you want is to sit around for 2 months waiting for something to arrive when it could have been prevented with a little research. This also comes into the picture when you figure out the quantity you’ll need. If your tile has a month and half lead time and you don’t get enough that can delay other parts of your project.

Schedule a weekly meeting with your contractor

Meet weekly with your contractor to talk about what was done the week prior and what will be done the following week. You can learn about anything unexpected that came up, what you might need to make a decision on, and of course hold him accountable in case he falls behind. If things start slipping it’s much easier to catch up on small scale than when you’re weeks behind.

To make things even more complex you’ll want to be aware of the reverse as well! If you don’t have somewhere to store cabinets and appliances you might not want them to arrive before you’re flooring is in or it will be in the way. I think we would recommend being on the side of having things early, but speak with your contractor about what would be a big mistake to arrive before they are ready.

Time is money! The longer our renovation goes the longer we’re paying a mortgage without living in our place or renting out our garden unit. We’re going to be moving as fast as possible, but we have to expect some unforeseen things to hold us up.

Decks! Costs and Considerations.

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While walls are still coming down during our demolition process, we wanted to write about something we are the most excited for in the renovation- our new deck!

When going through a renovation there’s a lot of things that take priority and there are things that are nice-to-haves. The kitchen is usually a big priority. Maybe having enough bathrooms or a nice master bedroom/bath. To have a powder room or not to have a powder room. For us a deck off the living space is just as high priority as all of those other things. Outdoor living in Brooklyn during spring and summer is a must!

Our plan is to build a deck across the back of the building off the kitchen area. While 20 years ago it was very relaxed, the city has gotten very strict recently. Since we’re filing with the DOB we have to be prepared for inspections. In any case, an illegal deck can be an issue when it comes time to refinance or selling the property. It’s important to get an architect and file for a permit. We’ve heard and read various different things about this, and it also seems like their is some subjectivity to what you can get approved. The NYC DOB deck requirements are governed by NYC Building Code §3300.

NYC Deck Requirements

– The deck can extend 8’ from the back of the building.

– It can extend to the property line on either side if it is made of non combustible material, otherwise it needs to be 3’ from the property line.

– Railings need to be 42” high

– Support at least 40 lbs. per square foot.

– Anchorage with no nails and bracing at the beams

– No storage underneath.

– A permit is required

Our approved plan is for a fully legal steel deck 8’x19’ with stairs to the back yard.

Deck Height

A lot of decks in Brooklyn end up being built with a couple of stairs up from floor level. It’s better than having no outside access at all but we want to make sure we can walk straight out with no stairs. We are going to remove an existing window and put in a glass door. Although the window is tall enough to pop in an 8’ door, we decided to demo the masonry below the window to floor level so we won’t have a step up. It’s a little more expensive and is considered exterior demolition so we needed to notify all our neighbors, but we think it’s worth it! We are also demolishing a small mudroom on the garden level for several reasons, one being so that we can extend our deck in place of it.

Deck Material

The requirements for a deck that falls within 3 feet of the property line are that it must be made from non-combustible materials. That means that most legal decks that span the parlor level of a townhouse are made from steel frames with wood components built on top. Ipe is a popular wood for decks that supposedly lasts the longest. There are also wood composite products such as Trex. Considerations should be if it meets requirements for the placement of your deck, how long it will last, and the type of upkeep required to maintain it.

Loss of light downstairs

Garden apartments struggle for light and most people who we show around the place comment that the deck will not help. That’s true and is a consideration, but it’s too important to us for that to hold us back! Since we’re demolishing the mudroom we’re going to put in a nice glass door that should counter some of the loss of light. We’ll also give the garden tenants access to the backyard so hopefully that will be a selling point.

Deck Access

One thing that we’re compromising on is opening up a larger opening in the back of the building for a glass slider. We’ve seen a few places with it and it’s very nice, but we have a limited budget so something had to give. The amount of masonry that needs to be done was cost prohibitive for us. So while a deck is a must-have, the larger opening is something we can easily compromise on.

Cost and value.

For many people looking for property having nice outdoor space is a must. I remember a few years ago when I was hunting for an apartment with outdoor space the inventory was low. I saw the same people at every open house because they were after the same thing I was. There were bidding wars on all of them and they all went to well over asking (sometimes $100k+). While we are spending $20,000 on a deck, we think the return will be many times that if we sell in a few year. The costs are for the steel fabrication and installation including excavating for the posts.

We expect our project to be done at the beginning of summer and we are looking forward to being able to immediately get out on our deck! Does anyone have anymore more deck advice, do’s or don’t’s, legality issues, or anything else to share?

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