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February 24, 2005

Parlor Floor Demo

Here are some shots of the parlor floor after the first week of demolition. We were particularly interested to see that the molding from the front room continued beyond the partition wall to the middle section where closets and a bathroom had been added. This makes perfect sense because the marble fireplace is centered on that larger dimension.

Posted by brownstoner at 9:45 AM | Comments (2)

February 22, 2005

Second Floor Open Plan Exceeds Expectations

This is the most exciting part of the renovation so far. On Saturday we got in to see the demo that happened last week on the parlor and second floors. The second floor (the floor above the parlor floor) will be the living/kitchen/dining floor of our owner's triplex. The idea was to open it up and create a loft-like space for entertaining and family hanging. We've drawn up a crude floorplan in powerpoint below. We have to say that the effect of opening up the floor exceeded our expectations. The amount of light and sense of space blew us away.

The biggest design decision here was to not put the kitchen in the middle of the floor--which is the way we have seen it done most often. Instead, the kitchen is going where the current bathroom is at the back of the floor. The middle space will become the "music room" with the piano against one wall and our sizable record collection along the other. With all the closets removed from this center space, one could also really appreciate the arch that we had opened up the previous week.

The first photo below was taken from the rear of the house looking towards the front. Notice the arch we demo'd last week. The second photo is taken looking towards the rear where the dining room and will be. The third photo shows where the kitchen will replace the existing bathroom.

Posted by brownstoner at 9:50 AM | Comments (6)

February 16, 2005

Second Floor Arch Close-ups

We knew there was ornamentation underneath the plaster wall--we just didn't know how it would survive the demo. Overall, it appears to be fairly intact. It looks like we will need to rehabilitate some of the plaster work, though. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

Posted by brownstoner at 9:10 AM | Comments (1)

February 15, 2005

Opening Up the Arch

The most interesting discovery that happened last week was the uncovering of the original arch in the front of the second floor. Though we will be using this as our living room, this was traditionally the location of the master bedroom. The standard configuration historically was to situate the bed in the alcove under the arch. The photos below show the arch before and after. We'll have some close-ups of how the arch details survived the demo tomorrow.

Posted by brownstoner at 10:55 AM | Comments (3)

February 14, 2005

All Systems Go, Proceed with Demo

We got our Buildings Permit last week--the final piece of the puzzle after receiving the Certificate of No Effect from Landmarks and the Certificate of No Harassment from HPD in the preceding two weeks. So the GC got in a couple of days of demo at the end of last week and we went by Saturday morning to check it out. Unfortunately, the pregnant Mrs. Brownstoner isn't allowed in the house during this time because of all the lead dust that is kicking around, so she's having to follow along with all of you. This first photo is taken standing in the front room of the Parlor floor looking back. This was exciting because it's the first time we could see from one end of the house to the other.

This second photo is taken in the center space of the parlor floor, where the closets and hallway toilet formerly were. These beams studs used to frame the closet walls.

Posted by brownstoner at 9:20 AM | Comments (11)

February 9, 2005

May We Take Your Coat, Sir?

Here are a few shots of the Front Hall. There are at least a couple of layers of wallpaper, including one with a raised fleur-de-lis pattern. We were tempted to try to keep it, but Mrs. Brownstoner is using one of her vetoes and will pick a new wallpaper. The medallion is in decent shape--though we'll probably opt for a new chandelier.

Posted by brownstoner at 10:29 AM | Comments (4)

February 4, 2005

Certificate on Non Harassment, Finally!

We had a huge breakthrough this week: After almost seven friggin' months we finally got our Certificate of Non Harassment from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). What a joke the whole process is--riddled with human incompetence and bureaucratic strangles. We understand why the process exists--to protect the rights of poor tenants--but we think the system needs a major overhaul. We have heard of people buying empty shells that were formerly SRO's who end up spending countless months wading through the paperwork. In our case, most of the former tenants were drug dealers (one of whom held up our neighbor at gun point a couple of years ago). Given that there are well over a hundred case files in the pipeline at any time, the Department is woefully understaffed: There is one inspector for all five boroughs and one person responsible for managing the paper work flow. If they are going to keep this system in place--and we've heard rumors that a revamping is in the works--they should increase the application fee from $150 and hire some more people. Someone who's bought a $1 million home and is burning up $5,000 a month in carrying costs would be willing to pay a significant amount of money to expedite the process. Alright, enough ranting. Here are some photos that preserve the legacy of the house's former life as a single room occupancy residence--an old sticker with occupancy regulations and some graffiti in a parlor floor closet.

Posted by brownstoner at 9:57 AM | Comments (5)

February 1, 2005

Lucky Break: Hallway Floors Look Salvageable

This weekend we pulled up some of the fake wood flooring that had been put down in the hallways/landings when the building was an SRO. Not having any idea what to expect, we were very pleased to find these old wide-plank floors still intact underneath. What's interesting is that the only other place in the house where there's similar wood is in the main rooms of the parlor floor. This suggests that this wood should be fairly high quality. The top three floors, by comparison, are laid with the much narrower (but still beautiful) strips used in parquet floors. (More on that to follow.) Anyway, these floors look salvageable to us, but we'd love to hear input from those who have encountered--and restored--floors in a similar state.

Posted by brownstoner at 10:39 AM | Comments (8)