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« March 2005 | Main | May 2005 » April 29, 2005Keeping Mrs. B Happy
To ensure strong water flow in the showers, we're installing thermostatic valves. A small price to pay for a happy wife. This shot is of the master bathroom. Posted by brownstoner at 4:09 PM | Comments (1) April 26, 2005Forget Ikea, Dig The Vintage Marble
We scored 42 square feet of inch-thick vintage marble from Build It Green NYC this weekend for $10 a foot. Rescued from an old theater in the West 40's, this should be plenty to do the counter tops in the owner and rental kitchens. We don't know their former use in the theater--maybe something in the bathroom? There are a couple of slabs left of slighter darker tones if anyone's interested. Posted by brownstoner at 11:03 AM | Comments (2) April 24, 2005Stripping the Living Room Mantel
We started stripping the mantel and grill (see close up) in the 2nd floor living room. Posted by brownstoner at 10:00 AM | Comments (7) April 22, 2005Inside Wall
When we opened up the wall of what used to be the second floor bathroom, we found this funny little decorative piece of metal. Any ideas what it is? Posted by brownstoner at 9:33 AM | Comments (2) Lavatory Framing
Framing out a wall to divide the guest lavatory from the new laundry room. Posted by brownstoner at 9:32 AM April 21, 2005Working on the Walls
No, we're not painting our bedroom pink. This is a layer of Posted by brownstoner at 3:31 PM | Comments (4) April 19, 2005Master Bathroom View
They opened up the arch for the interior bathroom window we mentioned recently. Seeing it first hand last weekend confirmed that it was a very good call. It really open things up. And for the bashful, we can always put a curtain up on the bathroom side. Posted by brownstoner at 4:29 PM | Comments (2) April 13, 2005Pipes
All the plumbing roughing is done. Next up: Gas lines. Posted by brownstoner at 9:24 AM | Comments (2) April 11, 2005Top Floor Bedroom Moving Along
This shot is of the rear bedroom on the top floor. We've eliminated one of the closets (where the sheetrock is) to make more room for the bathroom we're building in the middle of the floor. In the center, you can see another example of the archway (over a built-in marble sink) that caused such a stir when we disclosed last week that we were putting in a window in to let light into the master bedroom. To the right, a remaining closet and view through to the bathroom. Posted by brownstoner at 10:20 AM | Comments (10) April 8, 2005More Natural Light for the Bathrooms
For the garden floor rental, we picked up this old leaded window from Olde Good Things on West 24th Street. According to the store, it came out of a monastery. It is historically incorrect, but it's kind of fun and frankly we were having a bitch of a time finding a simple old window frame that was the right size. We were able to pick this up for $65 and call it a day. We'll see how it turns out. Even if it's not perfect, it'll certainly be better than anything we could have found at Home Depot. Posted by brownstoner at 11:41 AM | Comments (11) April 6, 2005Hope the Neighbors Don't Own Binoculars
We've gotten obsessed with the idea of bringing natural light into the center of the house. In particular, this applies to the bathrooms which we have by and large moved to the core of the house from the windowed rooms they used to occupy. (It also applies to getting light into the stairwell--but more on that later.) On the top floor, there's a skylight in the new bathroom. On other floors, though, we're having to be more creative. For the master suite, we found this old arched window at Demolition Depot recently that fits the existing arched nook in the bedroom that abuts the new bathroom. (The nook houses an obsolete bedroom marble sink that we'll keep in unworking condition.) By putting this window in the arch, we will bring a ton of light into the new bathroom, albeit at the expense of some privacy. Luckily, neither of us is exactly shy. Posted by brownstoner at 11:13 AM | Comments (10) April 5, 2005The Pros and Cons of Overhead Lighting?
The plaster ceiling in the front room on the second floor--our future living room - has been removed, leaving only the medallion and an unbecoming light fixture. Our father (and also our architect) generally is against overhead lighting in this type of a house. What do people think - should we keep a light fixture in the medallion (obviously replacing this one) or remove the overhead light altogether? Posted by brownstoner at 10:27 AM | Comments (19) April 3, 2005Loving Our GC: Radiators from Heaven
Our GC has more than made up for recently abondoning us for 10 days to go to South America to propose to his girlfriend by giving us five of these incredible radiators. As we will detail at greater length at a later date, he is renovating his own brownstone in Stuyvesant Heights that is mindblowing in its detail. For some reason, though, he is not keeping these radiators in the portion of the house that he is converting to rental units. This is fortuitous for us as our existing radiators are standard square units with nothing in particular to recommend them. As we are learning, the renovation gods give and they take away. Posted by brownstoner at 9:16 PM | Comments (11) April 1, 2005Electricians in the Dog House
Let's just say that the electrical subs haven't been as careful as we would like. A bull in a china shop is the metaphor that comes to mind. Posted by brownstoner at 7:05 AM |
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