Have you heard? Spike Lee and Robert Deniro have teamed up to develop a series set in 1980′s East Village. Reuters reported that “Alphaville” will chronicle the “bad old days” of the neighborhood.
I refused to see Rent because it looked really goofy, but I do admire Lee and Deniro, so I might have to catch this one.
Will they hang out at The Holiday Cocktail Lounge? Will Mr. Purple make an appearance? Will it star Matt Dillon? Will the main characters shoot pool at Blue and Gold? Will they drink at Downtown Beirut? Play trivia at St. Marks Bar and Grill? Dance at the Pyramid? Will they stay out all night and have breakfast at Kiev? Does any of this make sense to anyone other than my 1980′s East Village friends?
Will “Forever Young” be the theme song? (Get it? Alphaville?)
2008 by Flatbush Gardener
You know when you see those hippie dippie hipster types sitting in the street on a plot of grass? Well, that’s an organized thing. In fact, Park(ing) Day is an international event and it’s taking place tomorrow on 9/18. Participants reclaim parking spots and transform them into hang out areas.
Check out the map. The “parks” will be all around the city. There’s even one in Newburgh, NY.
My ex-tenant is doing one on my corner….“1. Our park imagines a crack in façade of concrete and time, allowing a glimpse of the native vegetation that populated our island ecosystem prior to the introduction of invasive species (and Europeans). 2. (We are aware of the irony of white kids teaching invasive vegetation in Bed-Stuy, a gentrifying community).” I can’t wait to hear what the crabby old timers have to say about it.
The biggie in Brooklyn is probably the Cortelyou Road “park” hosted by Sustainable Flatbush.
It’s a daytime event. So, like….why don’t these people have to work? I’m jealous.
This enamel top table needs work. I was going to paint her up real purdy like and charge over $300, but I just don’t have it in me…
I’m unloading crap. I mean business. The furniture has gots to go, baby!
Ok, here’s how this works….
I created a Flickr set called “sale“. There’s a number on finished pieces. That was the list price. Offer what you want. I may or may not accept on these items I worked my arse off on.
There are “as is” pieces. Some have prices, some don’t. I’ll probably take anything to get it off my hands, as long as it’s not less than what I paid. I want to get rid of stuff, but I don’t want to lose money on it.
The photos that are question marked are antiques that I don’t know the value of. I’d probably rather not sell them until I do the research, but if it’s a good enough offer, I can be persuaded.
Fire away with questions about measurements or anything else. I also have lots more in my Beacon garage and basement. These need work! If you’re a refurbisher/reseller, come have a look.
Thanks!
Guess the husband got bored with our half finished living room so he decided to start a new project. He and the next door neighbor are digging up our backyard and adding some drainage. At least that’s what I think he said. Why else would he have that huge hole back there?
Our basement doesn’t exactly flood, but it gets pretty wet. By changing the pitch away from the house and putting in some drains, the problem should be resolved. The water damage was already repaired on the interior of the house, so if we don’t deal with this soon, we’ll have done that work for nothing.
My husband thinks he’s Mr. Safety, but see that sheet of plywood? I put it there. He had the hole dug right near the back door, no covering and no warning given to anyone else in the house.
Remember our $10k stoop? Yeah, still working on it. The guy is doing a nice job, but he’s taking his sweet time. Granted, we had to wait a few weeks for the cement to set. Granted, it was a crazy, rainy summer. But there were plenty of days he could’ve showed up that he didn’t. Typical contractor, focusing on getting the jobs but not pleasing his clients.
The other night when we got home, there was a wooden stick blocking the steps. We use the garden gate, so no biggie for us, but there was no warning for the tenants. Why not do every other step or half the step so they can go in and out?
Well, we’re used to living like this. I just hope the tenants had no intentions of hanging out on the stoop or barbequing in the back for the remaining days of summer.
Two and a half years ago I had my mid life career crisis. I shifted my focus from photography to a web based business. Reclaimed Home was meant to be a totally different beast, but I went with the flow.
The mission statement back in August of 2007 was pretty off track. There were to be four functional sections of this website…..
1. The Blog. Ok, still going strong! My initial goal was to keep up the 5 posts per day, 5 days per week. I’m now down to one post and that’s a struggle. It’s just waaayyyyy too time consuming! I guess I was hoping for more tips and guest bloggers. (hint)
2. The Forum. Yeah, nobody bothers with that and I haven’t done anything to promote it. I’ll probably make it disappear real soon. It’s stale.
3. The Store. The bread and butter of Reclaimed Home. Or is it? Well, not the Reclaimed Home Store. I don’t love the software, so I’ve been ignoring it and uploading everything to Etsy. Question to any Etsy folks out there….Do you only have an Etsy store? Do you think it’s important to have my own store too? I’m debating whether or not I should kill my own store or shift to a different software.
FYI, initially I had wanted to represent other creatives here and NOT MAKE ANYTHING MYSELF!! I had difficulty finding reliable artists (I know, an oxymoron) and said “Screw this. If I want something done, I have to do it myself.”
FYI again, I had absolutely no intention of becoming a flea market vendor. It just so happened that Brownstoner held a salvage fest the week before I launched and I did so well there, I jumped on board when he started his Brooklyn Flea.
4. The Listings. Hmm, the FSBO listing service is not exactly working out as planned, but the real estate photography is doing just fine. I love shooting houses. It’s easy. It’s fun. It pays. What more can a gal ask for?
So, what does 2010 hold in store for Reclaimed Home?
The universe has been telling me that I shouldn’t have been so quick to abandon the photography. Luckily, I didn’t and I’ve been incorporating those skills into this business.
The universe, or rather, my pocketbook has been telling me that I’m nuts to pay $200 per month for a storage space. I’ve made a decision to cut out furniture and just deal in small handmade items. It will probably be an entire season before I rid myself of everything, but look for a sale this coming week.
And that’s about it in a nut shell. My biggest disappointment is that I’m not earning enough to hire help. I thought I would be by now, but I’m still working it out, doing everything myself so I can take a profit.
Goals: Organize, for f*ck’s sake! And try to take on some more tag sales.
**Reposted from 9/11/2008**
For the entire week of September 11, 2001 I kept a photo and written diary. Some of the images were exhibited in group fund raising shows at the time and I believe a couple got published in books. I never showed the diary to anyone. I stuck the photos and journal in a drawer and haven’t looked at them since.
I’m posting these now because the reason I made the initial effort was to document history. I’m putting this out there today and then they’ll go back in my drawer.
The day the planes struck, I was in shock. I kept thinking everyone was evacuated and I remember wondering why there were no helicopters to pick up people from the roofs of the towers. At times of great sorrow or fear, the one thing that puts a shield between me and the outside world is my camera. You may think it was insensitive of me to grab my camera, but it was my protection.
If anyone recognizes themselves in these photos and doesn’t want to be out there, please contact me and I’ll take them down immediately.
September 11, 2001
September 12, 2001
September 13, 2001
September 14, 2001
Flickr
Adorable gossip bench with storage under seat. $110
After a long summer hiatus, I’ll be back out there selling my wares once again. The schedule for this weekend is Brooklyn Flea in Ft Greene on Saturday and Park Slope 321 on Sunday.
The new game plan is to shed the bulky furniture and deal with smaller inventory. I still have at least a season’s worth of large items, but I hope to lose the $200 per month Brooklyn storage space and gain some garage space in Beacon. Plus, it will be soooo much easier to work! And load the van! And schlep!
Furniture? What was I thinking?
Anyway, come and say hello!
Testing out some photo transfers on various surfaces. Not sure how I feel about them yet. $20
Antique level with 5 coat/hat/leash hooks. $50
There’s a whole load of stuff going on in Dutchess County on Saturday. I won’t be around, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be hating myself for having to work.
Mario is holding an estate sale in Fishkill on Saturday. It’s an elderly woman’s house clean out, which means….lot’s of old stuff! Looks like this woman had some decent mid century thang going on. Wacky website. Click on the calendar/image to the left for more photos.
The Beacon Citizen’s Network is calling this month the “most action packed Second Saturday ever”. A couple of cool events: Etsy’s Handmade Cavalcade will be up here and Common Grounds Farm will host “Brunch in the Field”.
I thought it would be funny to do an ugly house post, but when I started searching I discovered these totally rad homes that people labeled “ugly”. Is it me? Do I have yucky taste? You can tell me.
Come on, who doesn’t want to live in a house that looks like the Partridge Family bus? I think it’s swell for a raised ranch. The flag clashes though.
The photographer (Chad Miller) created a Flickr “ugly house” group because of this photo. Dude, this house is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!
I like the way this flows. Why do homes always have to be boxy?
The Hundertwasser House in Vienna is one of Austria’s most visited buildings. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Not in love.
Gorgeous bones
What’s that saying? Money can’t buy taste? We’ll, I’m not all that inspired by Bernie Madoff’s penthouse apartment, which will be listed for about $10 million. I don’t mean the apartment itself. It’s the extremely expensive decor that leaves me unimpressed. Ok, so perhaps I’m the one lacking in taste. I would just do something awful like paint the walls purple. But this place is just a snooze fest! What gives?
You know what this looks like to me? It looks soooo put together. So balanced. Like nobody actually lives here. Boringly perfect. Like it makes me want to vomit. Maybe because I know an asshole lived here.
Ah, and here we have more beige. Come on, if you want a boring color on the wall, at least do a shade of white. Brighten it up a bit! Beige is just depressing. And ok, I know that all of the expensive tshcotkes and artwork have been hidden, but stage the friggen joint! That table is screaming for some wax fruit. (That’s a joke. I’m not THAT tacky.)
OMG, dated!! My BFF had this decor in her bedroom during junior high. It looks like Holly Hobby puked. What’s wrong, Bernie? Too busy ripping people off to update your house?
Visualize: Scarface snorting coke off that counter top. Need I say more?
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“Rent” sucked. So, you didn’t miss anything!
Comment by Sonya — September 18, 2009 @ 8:15 am
Will they cop heroin at Laundromat? See hardcore shows at A7? Pay $250 a month rent for a place on Avenue C? I just hope they don’t shoot it in m’fking Toronto!
Comment by Judy — September 18, 2009 @ 8:55 am
Hmm, I thought so much. You know what the thing is? Roughing it in the age of AIDS? A musical? I lived it, I don’t have to see a performance.
Comment by RH — September 18, 2009 @ 8:56 am