Brownstoner, I'm upset to see the parlor floor partitioned!! I thought you were doing a garden rental, no?

How much more rent do you think that one room will add -- $500 more a month? we did the kitchen in the back parlor set-up with the deck plan which I know is popular-
we have only the garden rental but we've allowed use of a washer and dryer in the cellar as well as some storage for the tenant also, plus because we have the deck they are able to use the patio under the deck for an outdoor space- this added to the value of the rental which allowed us to keep the rest of the floors intact. believe me i understand the value of rent in these houses but there must have been another way... on the parlor floor we were able to squeeze in a small water closet which has turned out to fit perfectly into the layout. no judgement here because we made so many mistakes through the process but it is a shame to lose the grandeur of the open parlor as it is the only floor with those high ceilings- we bought it in 2/03 and this is our second and final layout- we sat on the property renting the upper 2 floors and living in the lower 2 unrenovated and were able to save money that way and live in the house to get a feel for it before we made our final decision... just offering this as one example of how people do this crazy thing.

how will you access your garden!?

We share everyone's disappointment, but it would be way too risky for us to open up the parlor floor and put our kitchen in the rear. This, of course, is the plan, but not in the near future. We had originally planned to rent out the bottom 2 floors, but couldn't stand not to have the front parlor in the end. So even though renting out the rear parlor will only generate an extra $600-700 a month, we also retain some security and flexibility by having a real bathroom on that floor. If times get tough, we could rent out the entire floor; or we could have an au pair or friend live on the front parlor. Given our current financial situation, it would have been too aggressive to take the whole thing over now. We access the garden through the main stairwell (the hallway on the basement goes straigt back, so the exit to the garden is no longer from within the garden apartment), so we will look to find a tenant who wants to rent the garden floor as an apartment and the rear of the parlor as a studio/home office (since the only stairs between them is the main stairwell). We'll try to put up some floor plans...

actually our neighbor whose house is identical to ours and very similiar to yours did your layout for the same reasons- the only thing that seems unchangable is the bathroom cutting right through the front and back parlors- but yes, i've always been curious of the layout decisions people make, there are so many out there.

Remember, we've got that extra floor on top, so we have three owner floors above the parlor floor, which makes it really hard to rationalize not generating some income from the parlor floor. Hopefully we'll be in better financial shape in a few years and we can take out the bathroom, open up the floor and build a kitchen with a deck at the rear. Until then, we'll have to "rough it" with 3.5 floors.

I wonder how much you'll use that half parlor - you could of course get some great rental income from a a floor-through apartment on the parlor level, which is something I'm sure you've considered in light of your retained half-parlor ending up being kind of stranded. That said, who wants a tenant enjoying your whole parlor!!

The plan is to use the front parlor for our home office...

What a great site......don't forget the "Fairy Garden" when you do your yard...
Love your Brownstones, but just cannot imagine living in NY w/out my car...lol
The brownstones in Philly are nice too. I remember as a child visiting.
Your home is going to be beautiful...good luck finding all you need to keep it "original", that's the whole point????
Gee, I am too old to start redoing...but sure love it.
So much fun to do what you can yourself.
Dj