Faux painted slate mantel. Faded and peeling. Needs to be repainted. $350 OBO

Mark your calendars! April 10th. That’s the day of our first tag sale. We’ll have another one after the house is in contract to let go of the good stuff we need to keep for staging (and living) purposes. But April 10th is the day to unload the less expensive items.

Don’t want to post address yet and haven’t taken photos of everything, but just want to get the word out. Add yourselves to the mailing list if you want to be reminded as we get closer. It’s in Beacon, NY and I chose the the second Saturday of the month because that’s when Beacon has all the openings on Main Street. So, come, shop, go to DIA, drink wine, see art, hike up the mountain.

I’m a flea market vendor AND a pack rat. Lots of garage and basement stuff is probably moldy and dumpster ready. So, prices range from free to in the thousands for antiques we had planned on keeping (that will be the second date). Most of the items I want to get rid of are inexpensive vintage tschotskes that will be priced at $5 and under. Then there are the better vintage things I can get more $ for, but will discount so I don’t have to pack and schlepp to Brooklyn. But I’m not selling for less than what I paid for it! Jeez, I’m not that desperate!

There’s furniture and architectural salvage and building materials and books and clothes (only 1 bag of clothes so far). Haven’t photographed yet: Vintage enamel kitchen table ($90), Mission desk ($175), Pier 1 indoor “picnic” table with bench $?), 1920′s red velvet couch ($250) and on and on…

Check out the Flickr set for more photos. There’s tons more here. If you’re looking for something specific, lemme know!

Yes, delivery to the boros is a possibility. Hope to see you then!

Handmade vintage oak sink vanity with new sink and faucet included. $400

Cute vintage pram. It’s on my store for $75. Yours for $40.

  posted @ 7:45 am Comments (4)

1. 24/7 for 3 months now. I’m burnt out, baby!

2. Can’t rip up the kitchen floor with the cats in there.

3. Dimas the Contractor is slow as shit.

4. Mother Nature keeps raining on my porch parade.

5. My husband dropped the radiator on our new wood floor and now we can’t pick it up.

6. Gotta get some crap out of the way before restoring office woodwork. That means packing. That means sorting, organizing, filing….

7. Speaking of my office, did I mention that I found receipts from 1993? Also found my upcoming Specials concert tickets in the recycling bin.

8. Pesky “real job” sometimes gets in the way.

9. Tuesday. Day of rest.

10. Facebook is more fun than plastering.

  posted @ 6:27 am Comments (3)

As I start to pack and plan my move, I’m getting a bit sentimental. The house I’m leaving is my dream home and by far the best house I’ve ever lived in (finished or not). Makes my dream brownstone pale in comparison. Unfortunately, small town Beacon isn’t a perfect fit for me and I can’t take the house with me.

I’ve lived in a gazillion places in my lifetime. My parents moved more than a few times, then I followed in their footsteps. We lived in East Flatbush during my childhood, then Wurtsboro, NY for a few years while keeping the Brooklyn apartment. When my parents moved back to Brooklyn (I told you I’m following in their footsteps!) we lived in Midwood. Then Coney Island.

As soon as I was old enough to move out, I went to the city, then chose to live in brownstone Brooklyn. A bunch of different neighborhoods over the years. I’ve also lived in London, Bavaria, Kingston, NY and The Castro in San Fransisco. None of the long distance places for longer than a year. I always come back to NYC.

So, what makes me smile most when I look back?

Nicest apartment ever: The first apartment my husband and I shared alone, minus roommates, in Ft. Greene. Circa 1988. It was a gorgeous brownstone parlor floor with a young, first time landlord. In other words, he cared about the place.

Best neighborhood I’ve ever lived: Coney Island. Maybe it was because I was at that carefree age, but I loved living in Coney Island! The amusements, the beach, the aquarium, the handball, the flea markets, the boardwalk. It was a trek on the subway, but if the city hadn’t been calling my name at all hours, there would have been plenty to do right in the neighborhood.

So, that’s my story. What about you???

  posted @ 6:24 am Comments (3)

Spring is here! Can you feel it? Yard sale fever is in the air.

Two sales you should know about.

If you’re upstate, there’s a Mario sale! That’s Saturday the 27th starting at 8.30am. 69 Verplanck Avenue in Beacon. Indoors and out. Check out the Flickr photos.

Mario is the guy I buy my stuff from, so cut out the middle woman (me) and go directly to him. If you are in Beacon, pass by and honk your horn. You’ll know my house from the 2×6′s and scaffold out front.

The chicks from Nightwood are holding an open studio sale this Sunday, the 28th. They reincarnate furniture, textile and house stuff. What’s available? Couches, love seats, credenzas, coffee tables, chairs, pillows, rugs, paintings and some new items.

The sale runs from 11 to 5 @ 20 Grand Ave, #604, between Park and Flushing in Brooklyn.
G train to Clinton-Washington

  posted @ 6:31 am Comments (0)

My husband and I are Mr. and Mrs. DIY. This is now our fourth huge renovation project and we’re both kind of hoping it’s our last. We usually have skilled subcontractors helping out, but normally it’s my hubby, in the construction management field, acting as project manager.

Well, this time it’s me. With Hubby working down in Brooklyn all week, I’m the one dealing with the Beacon house. I have two guys here doing most of the work while I concentrate on the finishing touches and seeing that things run smoothly.

So, what’s it all about, this being your own general contractor thing? Do YOU have what it takes?

1. Know your stuff. 8 out of 10 times, we end up tweaking our sub-contractors’ work. Are we overly fussy perfectionists? Well, ye-ah! It’s one thing to do it yourself and screw up, it’s another thing for someone to call himself a professional and take big money for a shoddy job. Know what you’re looking at. People complain about contractors finding more work to do when they rip down a wall. We love those contractors! The last thing you want is someone covering up a problem that should be brought to your attention. You don’t want to get ripped off, so do your homework.

2. Planning. Before you start, go through the house and make a list of things that need to be done. If you’re the GC, it’s your job to make sure that the work takes place in the proper time line. For instance, you want to run electric and plumbing while the walls are down, not after. Duh!

3. Budget. I’m not one to talk about budget since I can’t follow one, but I do know my bargains! So let me talk about finding those. Before running out to Home Depot or your local lumber yard for material, try finding overstock and second hand from the internet, salvage yards and ReStores.

4. DIY. A lot of your time will be spent making phone calls, picking up materials and keeping the worker bees happy, but if this is your full time gig for the moment, there will be plenty of time to do your own work. Choose your skill wisely. Are you strong? Demo. Got a steady hand? Paint. Green thumb? There’s always the garden. Come on, you can’t be that much of a loser. There must be something you’re good at! Unskilled day laborers earn about $125-150 per day in New York. If you’re capable of working full days, that’s what you’ll save. Skilled contractors start at around $200-250. Of course, prices vary from low to high end.

5. Keep the work going. This is part of planning, but I’m talking about the day to day stuff. If you have a crew, you have to make sure there’s enough work to keep them busy. Have all of your materials ready in advance. If they are working on an outside project (like my porch), see to it that there’s inside work to do when it rains (I screwed myself a little with that this week. No biggie because there’s plenty to do, but it didn’t feel 100% productive.)

6. Answering to The Man. Does your job require building permits? What is the code? If you don’t know this stuff, you better learn fast or hire an architect. The Man doesn’t mess around. The good news is, if you’re just making your interior look real purdy, you don’t need permits.

7. Trucks and Tools. It’s not necessary if you have sub-contractors bringing their own stuff, but in my case, I find that I’m using the van and our tools nearly every day. Why, just yesterday I picked up our porch floor (yay!) with the van. Ok, so places deliver, but I’m cheap. If you are doing DIY work, you should have tools. At least a friggin tape measure and drill!

Ok, the list could go on forever, but I have to get to work. The final thing I should mention is this: Keep in mind that you will not have a life while the renovation is going on.

Good luck!

  posted @ 6:25 am Comments (3)

In honor of the Spring 2010 opening of Coney Island this Sunday, here is your Wednesday Linkorama.

Spring Has Sprung. Amusing the Zillion

Coney Island Sideshow Slide Show. TONY

Saving The Shore. NY1

Coney Island USA Fundraiser. NYC

  posted @ 5:53 am Comments (0)

While searching for porch flooring I came across a reclaimed lumber company that gets it’s wood from places such as exotic Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

Well, it IS exotic woods like Ipe and Kumaru. New York City is the largest consumer of tropical woods for boardwalks, benches and other outdoor uses. The city has curbed the use of these woods due to protests from environmental groups, but not completely. The reclaimed Ipe is a way to use these woods sustainably.

So, enter Sawkill Lumber. Partners Alan Solomon and Klaas Armster of Solomon Wood and Armster Lumber have inventory from the Coney Island and Rockaway boardwalks as well as from those water tanks you that enhance the NYC skyline.

I haven’t received a price quote yet, but I’m not too bothered for my current project. I suspect this stuff isn’t cheap. I mean, who doesn’t want to say their floor is made from the Coney Island boardwalk?!

So, I wait until I build a deck on the Brooklyn house. If I can’t afford a whole deck, there will be SOMETHING!, a piece of the Coney Island boardwalk in my house.

No matter what the cost.

There’s a sucker born every minute. And I was minute 947823230492734 of 1965.

  posted @ 6:56 am Comments (5)

They’re out there. Watching you. Call them Green Big Brother or the Green Tea Party, but if you mess with the environment, you’re put on notice.

People for Green Justice is a newly launched web based system that allows you to send a citizen’s citation to an eco-offender. Alternatively, you can issue a green thumbs up award to someone helping the environment. There aren’t any real fines or consequences other than embarrassment or recognition of a person’s actions.

The accompanying Green Justice blog focuses on handy green tips and such. Cool stuff!

  posted @ 7:05 am Comments (0)

Subway Drama. Luna Park Gazette

Death Star Watermelon. Makezine

Aluminum Foil 101. Real Simple

Tim Burtonesque Rooms. Apartment Therapy

DIY Built Ins. Thrifty Decor Chick

  posted @ 5:45 am Comments (0)

The dining room renovation was finished about two weeks ago, but I just grabbed some snappies of it yesterday. Last you checked in, the restoration looked something like this. And before that, even worse.

It’s kind of a non-event since we didn’t change anything drastically. It just needed a lot of repairs. The plaster. The wood. Even the light fixture needed to be rewired. We lived with all that for five years and only finished it for someone else.

The adjoining living room has been finished for quite some time, but the wood still needs sprucing up.

There is still something to do in every single room, but we’re getting there! We finally have more help. This weekend there will be 7 different people working on our house. Woo-hoo!

  posted @ 6:04 am Comments (7)

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