Posts Tagged ‘Renovation’

My husband and I gut renovated our house five years ago. I documented the construction from start to finish here on the blog.  It was the biggest project I’ve ever been apart of. Mentally and physically it was so intense for the both of us. It feels like a dream now. I can’t believe we went through it all. During the process of the rebuild, we accumulated a tremendous amount of tools, wood, paint, sinks, plaster, you name it. To put things in perspective, we had 4 sledge hammers, 10 […]

Previously published in The Wave. Happy Birthday Matt!! On my husband’s birthday, which also happens to be New Years Day, we get a text from our tenants, “So strange, our water isn’t working.” “What?!!? Turn on all the faucets – hot and cold!” I went into red alert mode, grabbed a blow dryer and extension cord and ran upstairs. I tried to find access to the pipes but there were no major lines exposed. My husband spent the next hour or so trying to figure out where their pipes were in […]

My photo diary of the house starts in 1938. Matt bought a print of the above photo from the NYC archive. You can’t view the photo before you buy it which makes for a nice surprise when it comes in the mail. Photo of the house in the 1980s found on this site 80s.nyc. It’s a great resource. Sry, a little bury but better than nothing! Note the cottage house in the background. This is the only visual record we have of it. It looks as if the siding is green. When we bought the […]

The kitchen will be done in a few weeks. Yes, repeat, my kitchen will be done in a few weeks. Long story short we had to change cabinetmakers – that’s why it’s taking so long. Ben and Patrick are finishing the job. Their work is excellent – they designed and built out the wine shop. Expect pictures of the cabinetry and shelving soon. If you need a refresher since it’s been a while, here is my first post on the kitchen. In the meantime, I finally ordered the red slab! Matt was apprehensive about a tomato red slab […]

We are taking a few weeks to finish off our apartment. Here’s where we’re at… Matt pulled off another awesome craigslist score – a large lot of reclaimed mahogany. I (yes me) spent a whole day prepping the material. I’ve seen Matt use the planer a dozen times by now but I never used it myself. To get the wood looking “clean” you have to put each piece through the planer and remove a quarter inch of wood at a time.  This process also makes the wood flat so it can be cut down on […]

After finishing both apartments this spring we took a breather… it’s been and awesome summer and a much needed break from the reno. Matt had some time to work on small fun woodworking projects – sliding barn doors for Clare, a step stool for baby Mia, my  entry closet doors, end-tables for Keith – ok, not so small right?! Clare’s barn doors Mia’s step stool. My entry closet door. Below is the living room to give you an idea of our semi-finished state. The bedroom is looking good, I bought a bedspread! Things […]

The front garden is happening! I’ve been waiting  2 1/2 years for this –  I love gardening (as you know). First things first – the retaining wall needed fixin. At one point a section of the front garden was cemented over to accommodate better parking. Also the wall was essentially falling apart everywhere (as show below). I thought of using brick to rebuild the retaining wall (it would match the steps)  but then I remembered the picture from 1938. I decided to stay with the cement because it would keep the house closer to its original form. My […]

It turned out adorable. We’re calling it the beach cabin! I already wrote the details on the bathroom, you can read it here. Now for the rest… I’ll start with the wall we uncovered during the demo phase in the kitchen. It’s sheathing, which is used to build exteriors. So, what does that mean? It tells us that this part of the house (small apartment kitchen) was an addition. We assume there was a second floor porch and it was closed up to make additional living space. We have a photo of the house from 1938 sans a second story porch. The […]

I recently posted about the first apartment, it’s done! Now I want to get into the details. I’ll write about each room, starting with the bathroom. The biggest challenge was the shower. When Jared our architect made the plans, we thought a standing shower would be best – a space saver, right? The base before it was installed. A year later when we searched for glass to fit the base (already in place), we discovered it costs around $2,000 for materials/installation, that’s a lot. We then considered taking the base out […]

The smaller of the two apartments, (the one bedroom) is done. I can’t believe I’m writing this post. Two years and three days since we bought the house,  it’s on the market! I’m going to post in detail on the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom but for now here are some eye candy shots. If you know anyone who wants to live on the raddest surfer block in Rockaway Beach, here’s the official listing.     Cookie not included.