Mod House Range: Materialicious
How To Build A Rain Garden: Low Impact Living
Poll: Do You Cook? BushwickBk
Finding Your First Apartment: NY Times
Dog Found Around Smith & 9th: OTBKB
Posts from April 2008
Affordable Real Estate: Queens Wins!
My completely unscientific research has led me to conclude that Queens is the most affordable borough. Here are some coops under $200k. I don’t know what some of these neighborhoods are like or if they are the slightest bit desirable, but they are cheap.
Bad Weather Karma & Lots of Paintings
Looks like crappy weather Sunday for the third week in a row. These flea market organizers have some bad weather karma they need to deal with. It hasn’t rained on us yet (Yeah, I just jinxed it), but the sun hasn’t been around either. Cleanse your auras or something, guys.
So this week I hit the mother load of tacky thrift store paintings. Check it out…the Native American chick against the dark background: velvet. It just doesn’t get any better than that! Unless it’s Elvis. Look at the clown. Classic. I run a high end racket for people with exquisite taste.
I picked up the horse from the same guy. It’s the one I had as a kid. He came back to me! This one is pretty scary, with dark eyes and fuzzy “hair”. I might not be able to part with him.
GuyIBuyStuffFrom tells me he’s cleaning out a house next week that has tons of 50’s toys in the attic. What does this have to do with “homes”? Who cares? Toys are more fun! How does “Reclaimed Toys” sound?
Weekender:Country Condos?
I never understood why someone would want to live in the country and not have land around them. I’d pass homes close to the road, townhouses and condos and say “WTF”? Well, I’m much older and wiser now and I kind of get it.
Weekend homes are a hassle. The cleaning each time you come and go, the heat and water during the winter. Plowing snow. Garbage removal. Maintenance. It’s a part time job and you don’t really get to relax and enjoy the house if you’re just going for a weekend. At least that was our scenario.
So how about those country condos? Some of them offer amenities that would be too pricey for a single homeowner. Pools, tennis, lakes. No guilt that the home is sitting empty if you don’t use it too often. And let someone else worry about the maintenance!
Are condos the way to go or are the fees too high for a part time place? Plus it’s nowhere near as romantic as a cabin the in the woods.
Hero of the Week: Sean Casey
A Walk Around Park Slope Food Coop
Louise from Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (aka OTBKB) interviews Joe Holtz of the Park Slope Food Coop regarding an upcoming vote to stop sales of bottled water.
Retro Chicks
I must say, I’m having lotsa fun finding small vintage items for the flea market. Kitsch is my specialty. The uglier the better. I stick to classic Victorian in my own home, so this is a great outlet for me to let loose. In search of “kitsch decor” I stumbled upon these fine websites that I’ve added to my blogroll.
This wasn’t a new discovery. I’ve written about her in the past, but for some reason I never included her in my blogroll. Shear laziness. Oops.
Riverdale: Part II
Author: Brett
Our whirlwind real estate tour of Riverdale concluded at the massive Briar Oaks Apartment Complex on the Henry Hudson Parkway. Unlike the small, modern Waterford building that we had seen in the morning, Briar Oaks is the old-school apartment building (circa 1950s) where Mom grew up and where you went to visit Nanny and Pop-Pop until they got sick of the New York winters and moved to Boca del Vista with the rest of The Greatest Generation.
The apartment we saw on the 11th floor was a definite “diamond-in-the-rough”. For their asking price in the mid-500s and a maintenance of around $600, you could have a view of the Hudson River, 3 giant (by today’s standards) bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a terrace, and ample living and dining room space in addition to a separate kitchen. The downside is that this particular unit needed to be uh, gutted. The paint and plaster walls peeled and cracked and the floor choices in some of the rooms left us puzzled (linoleum tiles in the bedrooms?) while others would clearly need to be updated.
While the Oaks has amenities like a playground, a playroom, a laundry room, storage lockers, and on-site parking, most of what they have to offer also needs refreshing. Parking is $100 a month and there was a wait list for an indoor spot, the storage lockers are also waiting-list-only and the playroom was downright depressing. Each building has a doorman, but the one we talked to didn’t seem to know that there was an open house in the building that day nor where we should park as visitors.
We took the tots downstairs to the playroom for a quick diaper change and I shuddered to think of all of the kid cooties on the ancient toys lining the shelves. I risked their contracting typhoid anyway since my son is in the middle of a motor vehicle obsession.
Ah, but the size of those rooms! And the view! The apartment was definitely in our price range and we would have money left over to really renovate. Andrew, however, was not impressed. While our weekend of apartment-hunting had been informative, he was suddenly thrust back into the realm of maintenance fees and laundry rooms, coop boards and noisy neighbors sharing walls—all of which he realized at that moment that he did not want to revisit. While I would not mind living out my life in a well-maintained apartment and I simpered at the thought of us turning down what could be a kick-ass dwelling, I had to admit that I could no longer make do with a laundry room since I currently do about 2 loads of clothes (and diapers) a day while taking care of the twins myself. There are single-family houses in Riverdale and the area is definitely beautiful, but if we were going to buy a house and fix it up, we might as well look closer to Andrew’s parents, in Brooklyn.
We decided to take a look around Marine Park the following weekend.
Salvage on Forum
There are some new listings on the forum today. Once again, feel free to post there yourselves! The tricky part is posting photos. If you can upload so you can link to an actual file, you’re golden. If not, you can email me the photos to upload for you.
Oak Mantle: $1250 OBO
Victorian Sideboard/Dresser: $975 OBO
2 Antique Mirrored Doors: $500 both
Bklyn Flea:Take II
Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby check in vendors
Last week we reported that we did ok-but-not-great on the inaugural Brooklyn Flea weekend. Well, our tweaking worked! We doubled our intake by offering smaller, less expensive items (read: flea market “junk”).
All of our tarnished silver plated tableware: gone. Most of those dusty old lamps: gone. Other big hits….We sold a vintage but new in box Seal-o-matic that my husband thought I was nuts to get. Our 50’s stroller had people debating the vintage (one woman thought it was from the 30’s) and playing with it, but didn’t actually sell until the end of the day. Horribly ugly kitsch items were big sellers. But the biggest hit of the day was the green spindle bed that sold in the morning but stayed in the booth. At least (at least!!) 25 people said they would’ve bought it. So, I need to get me some more spindle beds.
But enough about us! Here a few primo vendors I came across:
Molly Worth reinvents vintage chairs for her company “Chairloom“. Gorgeous stuff that I spotted from 3 aisles away. Her online prices are slightly higher than that of the flea’s. (Space V6)
I caught Mohawk Studios unloading their stuff and knew I had to visit their booth. They create decorative art and functional items out of salvaged metals, etc. Their prices are very affordable and the big dude with the mohawk is willing to negotiate. If you dare. Unfortunately, the website they gave me doesn’t work. (Space B6)
Mohawk creations
How sweet is this stuff from Humble Beginnings? Carolina, who refused to be photographed, (but you can see what she looks like here) told me that it takes her time to get around to doing things….like a website. I loved her booth! Did I mention how sweet it is? You can find her at the flea every weekend (Space E10) or email her: carolina44Sataoldotcom
**Space numbers are subject to change. I was moved over a space this weekend. Try this link the day before.
Monday Linkorama
Garbage Architecture: Materialicious
Green Demolitions: NY Times
Green Apartment Resources: Low Impact Living
Cement Vs. Cedar Siding: Living Well in Westchester
Mortgage & Coupons: Renovation Therapy
Worst Real Estate Photo Awards
As many of you know by now, my real day job is photography. I cringe when I see bad real estate photos. If it’s a high priced listing, I get really irate. But today I’m just going to kick back and have a good laugh at the expense of these poor saps who can’t use a camera.
$249k: Log Home
Does the scary ax murderer come with the house? This home was listed under Long Island. It is located in Delaware County. A bit of a stretch. Interior shots include deer hides hanging from a balcony. You know that guy out front enjoyed gutting them with his own two hands! Nice house though.
$210k: 2 BR Coop, Mill Basin
OK, TAKE-THE-FRIGGEN-PLASTIC-OFF-OF-THE-CABINETS!
Oh look, this house has a toilet. Actually, the photos aren’t bad at all. I just had to get this in here because it’s a 2 family brick on 8th Street for under $900k. What’s the catch? Find out….open house this Sunday.
$479k: 2 Family FSBO, Crown Heights
Again with the toilet! What, it would’ve killed them to lower the lid? You just know it’s a guy taking the picture.
Philadelphia listings
This agent listed under NYC. “Had it with NY rents? Buy Philadelphia!” I think she looks cute and the photo is sweet. But that pose! Is it her high school year book photo?
$689k: 3 Family, Bed Stuy
How lazy do you have to be to not pick up a few tools, throw them in the bucket and move the friggen bucket out of the frame? I mean, really! This is the same guy with the toilet lid photo. Just give up, Mark. Why get out of bed in the morning? Must be a huge effort.
Ladies, doesn’t this look like that one night stand you had when you were too drunk to remember anything? This shot is plastered all over his Hudson Valley Craigs listings, but I was bummed to find out it looked sharp on his website. So I can only partially mock. Informative blog too.
I’m not going to post this last photo. Click on link to Craigs if you have good bandwidth. They just need a little lesson in screen resolution is all.
Tweaking for the Brooklyn Flea
Tarnished? Yeah, so?
Last week I did ok at the Brooklyn Flea, but not phenomenal. It was nobody’s fault but my own as 20,000 people came through and some vendors actually sold out.
My mistake? I thought people would want a finished product. I made sure to bring only clean, refurbished handmade items. And I charged for them. But I think many people were looking for the bargains. I know that’s I do.
So I picked up a ton of small junky items this week. I’m going to display them, all dusty and sh*t and price them at less than $20. I don’t mind parting with pieces when I haven’t put in the time and effort. I’m having more fun hunting down these goodies than restoring antiques anyway.
Come visit! Bishop Loughlin Memorial HS in Fort Greene, on Lafayette Ave. between Clermont and Vanderbilt Ave. Booth C-5.
I’m not rewiring and it’s so freeing!
How easy to pack fabric and linens!
Virtual Faucet Creator
Create your dream faucet! California Faucets offers online design software that allows customers to choose any handle, spout and finish they desire. You can start from scratch or modify an existing faucet.
Once finished, you print it out and bring it to a dealer, where they order your custom design. It would be even better if you can just shoot it off to them via the internet.
I don’t need a faucet at the moment but I want to do it just for the heck of it.
Urban Gardens
I’m trying to get some Spring excitement going here. What’s more inspiring than planting a garden? Or if you live in an apartment….a window box or potted plant.
Since I don’t know a thing about plants (except how to kill and eat them), I’ll point you in the direction of some other fabbo blogs.
Check out the window boxes on City Dirt
Botany for Horticulturists at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens by Flatbush Gardener
Spring Cleaning from The Bark Tree. Posted in March, but it’s still chilly, so good for April too. I guess.