Since I’ve been spending more time shooting houses than creating furniture or blog posts, I’ll just display some photos for ye. Perhaps I’ll single-handedly get more people to move up here and open some fabulous (vegetarian) restaurants and art movie houses, etc. Perhaps then I’ll think Beacon is as cool as everyone up here thinks it is and I won’t need to take refuge back in Brooklyn every weekend. Or perhaps pigs will fly out of my butt.

If you want the low down on moving up here or real estate or such, give me a shout. I’ll hook you up.

I shot this massive brick building during the week. It goes on forever! There are 4 decent sized apartments and a gallery space in the basement. Next door is a store front gallery/apartment duplex and a separate studio apartment upstairs. The $699,900 price lists it with 4 units, so they may have added the second building after.

All apartments are currently rented to people with great taste. Especially that “Pretty in Pink” apartment, which belongs to a friend of mine.

Isn’t she….? Funny thing is, I saw the DVD in her movie collection! Not that I was snooping. It was right out there. FYI, Richard “Furs” Butler lives in Cold Spring and I always see him wandering around Beacon. Like even more than I see Pete Seeger around.

This guy’s apartment was being eaten by books, but I love the doll fetish!

The basement gallery space was tres cool! There’s a separate entrance on the side that leads out to a deck overlooking the creek. You can have some kick ass parties down here, huh?

This extremely sweet 2BR Victorian is priced at $239k. I love the location. It’s verrrry walkable to Main Street and the train. The house is in good condition, currently owned by (what else?) an artist. Is anyone in Beacon NOT an artist? Oh yeah, me. And the hubby.

More here.

More on Flickr.

Wow! I’m in love. Brokelyn is a new blog I found out about from OTBKB. It’s edited by Faye Penn of InStyle Magazine backed by a team of bargain hunters, writers and photographers. There’s a special thanks to a deceased cabbie named Susan the “angel investor”. That brought tears to my eyes for some reason.

Sometimes bargain sites can be a bit overwhelming, but Brokelyn is an easy, pleasant read. It’s broken up into several categories. There’s an article on cheap airfares. The author has scored deals four times to Ft. Lauderdale for under $40 roundtrip! Four times!

I love the comparison of the PS Food Coop to Fairway. Ya know, I’m kind of anti-coop. I tried joining twice and both times I was turned off by the nuttiness. I’d rather pay more for my food. Sorry.

Check out the posts on five $10 gifts for kids and where to find cheap yoga.

Dock alert! Free 30 foot boat on Craigslist.

I told you it’s a great site!

FYI, there’s a DIY building/woodworking school right here in Gowanus.

Makeville offers a range of classes, from “Intro to Handtools” for $160 to “DIY Architectural Woodwork” for $225 to a six session furniture making class for $525.

Better still, they try to use reclaimed materials when possible.

Better still, if you’re qualified, you can rent studio time.

Better still, thinking of a gift? You can purchase gift certificates online.

Better still, there’s a free lathe demo class on June 1st.

Ok, I promise this is the last time I’m gonna talk about this God forsaken floor. I have to show the (near) finished product though. Please disregard the patchy areas. I took the picture while the polyurethane was still wet.

Anyhoo, I really wanted to make life easy and use a design roller. I had never seen one before, but it was something I made up in my head. Well, after some internet research I found out it actually exists. Un- Wallpaper has a two roller system that evenly distributes paint while creating a pattern. Sounds like a great idea. The only problem I had was that I planned this out 5 minutes in advance, so ordering online wasn’t an option.

I ended up with stencils and foam stamps which I was able to buy at the local crafts store. It was time consuming to measure and layout the pattern and clean the stencils after each application, but it’s done and I love it. I noticed that Plaid, the same company behind Mod Podge, makes the stamps I used. Yay Plaid!

A few stenciling tips:

Clean the stencil or stamp each time you move it along.

Measure first! Tape or pencil in exactly where you’re placing the stencil.

There’s a spray adhesive you can use to keep it in place. I just taped it down.

You can roll, brush or spray the paint. If you’re using a brush, be sure to dab, not stroke.

Don’t breath, don’t move. As if you’re life depends on it!

The plan to replace floors and repair walls in a single week has gone awry. Oh, we’re almost there. But almost isn’t good enough.

Our house guests will be arriving tomorrow. The third coat of floor paint was still wet as of last night, so I didn’t start to paint my stencil until this morning. Then it needs two coats of poly. We’re gonna have to go with water based at this point, but we really did want to use toxic oil for maximum pee protection. My guess is that we’ll be moving furniture back into the room five minutes before they arrive.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

There was the time we moved out of Park Slope and we were cleaning up from a last minute renovation as the new tenants were moving in. Actually, I don’t think we’ve EVER been ready when new tenants move in. There’s always a week or two of us invading their space to perfect our handy work.

Then there was the time these same house guests came to visit us in Kingston. We were out getting groceries when they arrived and they let themselves in to discover piles of sawdust all over the living room and the house wasn’t very clean. They never let us live that down and stayed in hotels for years. I don’t know what made them change their minds about the hotels. They’re completely hygienic (germophobes) so why stay in Cat Pee Central? Anyway, it’s good they come visit us once a year. It’s the only time we thoroughly clean.

But why take on these huge projects that any sane person knows they can’t accomplish in a week? Oh, if it was a simple floor, it could’ve  been done. But my husband says “You can’t do anything simple! You always have these crazy ideas!” He’s talking about the stencil design on the floor. It’s true. I always have to use a million different colors or some special technique or wallpaper. I get bored with simple. Simple is for sissies.

My husband likes to play the blame game, but he’s no better. Like it’s my idea we bought two houses that need total rehabilitation. Nobody twisted his arm! And I’m the one who has to beg him to hire help. He says he’ll take care of things, but with what time?

Here’s what I’ve discovered. I don’t know about the husband, but I’m a type B personality who thinks she’s type A. I take on all this crap at once…2 DIY restorations, 2 businesses, 8 pets, I’m planning my high school reunion and hosting the Blogade within a week of each other….and I think I can do it all. But nothing gets done right.

Is it me or is the whole world like this?

I emailed invitations and posted it to the Brooklyn Blogade Google group, but I never posted it here. Wow, I’m losing it.

Reclaimed Home is hosting the rolling Brooklyn Blogade on June 28 @ 11am. It will be at Kush in Clinton Hill, hopefully in the lovely back yard.

There are usually themes and/or guest speakers for such meetings, but guess who hasn’t gotten her act together yet? Morgan of Save Bedford Stuyvesant may co-host with me IF he can wake up early enough that Sunday. I’ve also asked my web designer, Veronica of Nose Round Productions, to speak.  She always has her pulse on the next big thang since she’s only a 20 something.

At any rate, it will be good company and good food. Wanna come? RSVP here. If you already did, I got it.

It finally feels like Spring today and I’m looking forward to some outdoor fun. What beats seeing your favorite band live minus the smell of sweat, stale beer and smoke? Nuthin’, I tell ya!

Jones Beach is such a great venue for a show. We caught Depeche Mode there a few years ago and I’m still raving about it. The seating and acoustics are above average and the ocean breeze is unbeatable. This year they have Kid Rock and New Kids on the Block, Aerosmith with ZZ Top, some heavy metal and a splash of pop. Although Blink 182 is the only concert I’d travel to Long Island for, the line up isn’t bad…No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction. Eh.

Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park bandshell is F-R-E-E, with a suggested admission of just $ 3. Some of the shows are benefits and require a $30 ticket purchase. We paid thirty bucks one year to see Cake and Flaming Lips in the rain and were peeved that people parked themselves just outside the fence and saw the same concert for free. Anyway, they were worth the ticket price. Here’s what you do. Bring a picnic. Hang out. Cheap, awesome evening. Some 2009 performers: David Byrne, TV on the Radio, Burning Spear, Buckwheat Zydeco and Big Daddy Kane.

Central Park SummerStage has an eclectic selection of performances ranging from spoken word to comedy dance to music. A Ziggy Marley benefit concert is sold out, as is TV on the Radio. Josh Ritter with NY Pops is playing, so is Matisyahu and Q Tip.

You’ll have to download the PDF to see the River to River Festival event calendar. There’s some folk, ballet and movies going on. The one that caught my eye is The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 on July 13th. The original! That is one of the best NYC movies of all time!

The Seaside Concerts in Coney Island isn’t updated with the 2009 schedule, but keep an eye on those. There’s always something wonderful at the Seaside.

McCarren Park still has the 2008 schedule up, which I just got excited about until I realized this is 2009.

Yay, let’s go to the dump!

Yesterday was the first day of my week off to renovate a room (and clean the house). I ended up tweeting/twittering/twitting my every move, which was a good idea, because it kept me honest. No long lunch breaks. No chatting on the phone. I worked my ass off. Ok, maybe I spent too much time buying caulk…running into a couple of people and chatting up a storm. Hey, errands are my social life these days! It beats talking to myself and dancing alone to my ipod.

Ok, so where did I get to? Doesn’t look like much, but it’s all in the prep work. I had to sand the pre-sanded floor, mask moulding, chase cracks, vaccuum, plaster said cracks, caulk seams and screws and load the van to go to the dump.

The wall will need a second coat of plaster today, so no painting. The floors will need to be hit with caulk again as it shrinks when it dries. That can be primed in the afternoon. I forgot I also have to paint the radiator that’s sitting on a dolly in the dining room.

And here I was thinking this was a weekend project.

Thought I’d get away without priming the walls. Ha!

I think I’m gonna try to use this Twitter thing to my advantage this week. I’ll tweet the room renovation so I can be publicly shamed into working. Follow here.

If only the internet had smellorama

We have six cats, three of whom have chronic urinary infections. They are on special diets for the rest of their lives and they’re happy enough. The problem is, they just. won’t. use. the. litterbox. Hence, we have the Cat Pee House.

As we’ve done with renovations past, (we’ve always had a multiple cat household) we will embark on getting rid of the pee smell this week. That means nothing less than ripping up the floor.

Don’t be sad for us. If the floor was in salvageable condition, we wouldn’t have let it get this far. She was a great old floor, she was. Old long strips, probably installed around the 40’s or earlier. But there wasn’t any life left in her. She was sanded so many times that the tongue and grooves were starting to show. She didn’t have another sanding left in her.

And so we took up the floor. Then discovered the subfloor was destroyed. Ok, now you can start feeling bad for us. That looked to be in decent shape in some areas, but we’re not sure all the damage was caused by our cats. We left the original lower subfloor in, even though it got hit with the pee too.

So, here’s the plan….

This is a temporary solution until we rebuild the garage, adding a causeway to the house. That will be the new cat friendly area. At the rate things are going, all of our cats will be dead by then and we just may be also.

Anyway, plywood. That’s it. We put down tar paper underneath to protect the already peed on subfloor. This week I’ll be caulking, painting and sealing it. And of course, why not repair plaster and paint the entire room while I’m at it?

As with past deadlines, there’s a reason we’re rushing to do this now. Ah, the old house guests! The only time we ever finish projects. So this week, this blog will look like a real “renovation blog” as I chart my progress. Because I won’t have time to come up with any other kind of post.

* Follow this on Twitter.

This isn’t all cat pee. We soaked it in Nature’s Miracle before deciding to tear it out anyway.

Revealing the sub sub floor

The dogs were mostly responsible for the damaged door.

It took us an entire weekend (hubby alone on Saturday) to rip up 2 layers of flooring and install plywood. 

Everything is in the dining room now. Including the dust.

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