RH, Author at reclaimedhome.com

Recycled Countertops: The Ones We Missed

October 17, 2007 RH 3 Comments

We’ve been breaking down our countertop reviews by material. The Kitchen Designer has the complete guide posted this week. Apart from the old standbys, Paperstone and Icestone, there are some companies on there that we’ve overlooked (or didn’t get to yet).

The most impressive one to us was the Craft Art wood, because the reclaimed counters had an antique look to them and we like anything that looks weathered and beaten. Kitchen Designer sites that there are 8 new reclaimed species available. Craft Art sources new exotic and domestic woods upon request if the species is not endangered.

Bed Stuy Foot Soldiers

October 17, 2007 RH

Project Re-Generation is a non profit which strives to eliminate teenage after school idleness in Bed-Stuy and similar communities through educational programs.

Founded in 2001 by Barnabas Shakur after a friend’s life sentence to a maximum security prison, PRG sets out to give teens value and self worth.

So what does this have to do with a home blog? I’m getting to that! For the homeowner, PRG offers member services for as low as $3.99 per week. Foot Soldiers will sweep, shovel snow and do front yard maintenance, depending on which package is chosen.

Seems like a win/win situation to me. Please check out their website for more info on this fabulous organization.

Bed Stuy Blog

Salvage Web

October 17, 2007 RH 1 Comment

I love the idea of this site, but unfortunately, not enough people utilize it. I wish there was one big salvage classifieds, like a Craigslist, but just salvage. I want my own forum to be like that, but nobody listens to me.

Anyway, if you’re getting rid of architectural salvage or looking for some, Salvage Web does have a classified section and forum for all things salvage. It is a great resource and there are some local listings, such as all the good stuff being taken out of a Manhattan tenement.

Green Dream Home: Remainder House

October 16, 2007 RH

Saw this on Off Beat Homes, my new favorite website. She has a house called “The Poop House” on there! Oh, you can bet I’ll be covering that one.

But back to the lovely Remainder House… From Open Space Architect’s website: “The Remainder House is a celebration of old growth timbers salvaged from a New Westminster warehouse. The house was carefully sited on a tight triangular shaped lot to frame a woodland garden, maintaining the existing trees, minimizing the visual impact to neighbors and maximizing Southern views over the water. All was achieved without removing a single existing tree. “

The house is in British Columbia, but hey, just as easy to build it here in New York (Hear that, architects and builders?). I would love, love, love to have a weekend retreat in a place like this. Anything longer than that, I have to admit, would make me claustrophobic.

Treehugger

Hudson Valley Ruins

October 16, 2007 RH 2 Comments

“Hudson Valley Ruins, Forgotten Landmarks of An American Landscape” is both heartbreaking and beautiful. The subjects, like Norma Desmond, are faded and forgotten, yet haunting all the same. Thomas E. Rinaldi and Robert J. Yasinac share their passion of these once grand structures. The book, originally released in September 2006, is now in second edition.

The Demolition Alert on their website points out all of the buildings already gone or in danger of being lost. Among them is the Red Apple Rest Stop on Route 17, where my family would stop on the way to the Catskills bungalow colony for the weekend (Yes, I am sooo stereotypical NY Jew.) and the Dennings Point Brick Works Factory in Beacon.

I’m ready for my close up.

Plastic Fantastic

October 16, 2007 RH

This designer keeps catching my eye, so I figured I may as well get it out of my system and do a post. I found the Modern Front store via Etsy. The Plastic Fantastic line is reconditioned antique furniture coated in soft rubber that’s suitable for interior or exterior use. It’s produced by Jasper Van Grotel in Holland and made to order in the $1200-7000 price range for furniture (less for light fixtures!). Design Front, the US distributor, is based out of Red Bank, NJ.

Women’s Power Tools

October 16, 2007 RH

I try to keep my posts positive and I don’t want to sound like a catty bitch, but…I don’t get it! Sure the tools look pretty, but if you want to use a tool, why can’t you use real, macho tools? I mean, I have pretty small hands and I don’t need girlie tools. It just seems gimmicky to me.

Tom Boy Tools has tool parties, much like your mom’s Tupperware parties. They are dedicated to empowering women. Yeah, you look real empowered with that pink hammer in your hand! Ok, I’m not that evil. The pink is actually a positive thing. $3 from each “pink edition” sale will go to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Barbara K‘s “true desire is to inspire women to become more self reliant and confident in their own abilities.” Really? I thought it was to become the Martha Stewart of home improvement. Barbara was a general contractor in NYC who thought tools for men were intimidating for women to use. Yeah, watch you don’t smear your mascara, honey.

MEOW!

Consumer Reports

DIY: Sink Vanity

October 16, 2007 RH

Cutting hole with jigsaw

This isn’t a very difficult project and hey kids, it can be fun and creative too!

I disagree with HGTV when they say pick out the sink first. I think it’s more difficult to find an antique piece of furniture. Soo, I suggest you find the perfect piece first. Height should be around 32 inches, but you can make it higher or lower (if it has legs). Large dressers and sideboards work well for double vanities.Continue reading DIY: Sink Vanity

It’s Blog Action Day!

October 15, 2007 RH

Today is kind of the Blogger’s Earth Day. Bloggers around the web have united to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Those of us whom have chosen to participate are doing so in one of 3 different ways:

1. Posting an issue relating to the environment.
2. Donating our day’s earnings.
3. Promoting Blog Action Day.

Since I earn bupkas, guess which 2 I’m doing?

The event has been organized by Collis Ta’eed of Eden Creative Community , Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and Cyan Ta’eed of Freelance Switch.

There are about 12, 000 participating blogs, among them:

Treehugger
Green Style
ProBlogger
Groovy Vegetarian
Etsy Bling

Officially supported charities include:

Greenpeace
Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
Sierra Club

Bargains In Brooklyn

October 15, 2007 RH 3 Comments

No Sleep Till….

This Sunday’s NY Times reported that there are bargains in Brooklyn! This just after Crains reported that home prices in the borough were up. Ah, to be fair, although prices have risen, the article states that fewer homes have sold.

So what does this mean for you if you’re looking to buy? It means you may be able to grab that $1.1 million brownstone in Bed Stuy for $950k like Josh and Mary Dennis did. Or nab a new condo in Greenwood Heights for 5% below ask, which would be a million for a 1915 square foot duplex.

The areas you’ll find the most bargains are those that are hurting due to foreclosure, such as Bed Stuy, Bushwick and East New York. There are also condo bargains to be had in neighborhoods that have been overbuilt, such as Williamsburg and Greenwood Heights, which is on the fringe of the fringe of Park Slope South.

20 Tips for Living in Small Spaces

October 15, 2007 RH 3 Comments

This article was posted on My So-Called Japanese Life back in February, but of course I didn’t find out about it until Treehugger did, via Apartment Therapy, LA.

Shari, a Westerner living in Japan for the last 17 years, writes “When we first arrived, with little furniture and relatively few items, space seemed relatively plentiful. As time went by and our possessions and amount of furniture grew, things grew increasingly cramped and chaotic.”

I bet we can all learn a little something from this article, such as:

#3: Toss out anything you haven’t used in over a year.
#10: Buy tall furniture rather than long or wide.
#20: Get rid of your bed and buy that Karl Farbman chest of drawers. Nah, that me, not Shari.

Move Over, Ikea

October 15, 2007 RH 2 Comments

Ecosystems Brand is a fairly new company based out of Brooklyn that “…strives to provide eco-effective products that generate positive effects on the ecology, economy and social equity of the system they inhabit.”

How so, you ask? Well, first of all, they use sustainable materials. They manufacture the products locally, use flat pack shipping, tool free assembly and best of all….they will pick up and recycle their products once the useful life is over.

Contact the company directly for purchasing info.

Dexigner

Treehugger

MocoLoco

Affordable NYC: Bay Ridge

October 12, 2007 RH

STAYIN’ ALIVE

I like Bay Ridge. I really do. But growing up in Brooklyn in the disco 70’s, I don’t think I’ll ever get over the Tony Manero image. That’s my own little issue though. Bay Ridge is great. It’s kind of a schlepp to Manhattan, but you know what? Bay Ridge offers everything you need….shopping, restaurants, lovely parks, water and bridge views. In fact, when I lived in Park Slope, I went to the gym in Bay Ridge.

The neighborhood is less trendy than other up and coming Brooklyn nabes. That’s because it’s not up and coming at all….it’s already an established neighborhood. Just less expensive. It’s a family oriented middle class neighborhood, with a strong, you guessed it, Italian community. In recent years, many Arab families have been discovering Bay Ridge, giving it a bit of a Middle Eastern flair.

Drawbacks: That R train is crazy slow. I can’t stand it.

+/-:

I don’t want to say this is a plus or minus, but the neighborhood is still fairly Conservative/Republican. I didn’t say that’s bad! I’m just putting it out there.

Lots of 2nd and 3rd generation Brooklynites still reside there. Personally, it’s a plus for me, because I miss my old Brooklyn (even though I thought it sucked at the time). But it may be neither here nor there for others.

Bay Ridge Rover
Bay Ridge Forum
Right In Bay Ridge
Brooklyn Row House

Bay Ridge Listings

October 12, 2007 RH

$255k: 1 BR Apt. OH Sat

$475k: 1 Family

$729k: 2 Family. OH Sun

DIY: Photo Collage Wall Covering

October 12, 2007 RH 1 Comment

Our buddy Emilia sent us these photo of a project she’s working on in the East Village. It’s a restaurant that will open up shortly called “Smiths” on 3rd Ave between 10th and 11th.

They are working with old Life magazine photos and found that the only glue that didn’t destroy the pictures was spray adhesive. Wallpaper glue works for resin or fiber based images though. Just glue them up, wait for it to dry, than coat them with oil based poly for an older, yellowing look or water based for clear. If you’re doing lower surfaces such as counter tops or coffee tables, you should coat with resin.

Emilia is one of the “artists for sale” on our forum. You can contact her directly if you have a fun project which you’d rather not do yourself.

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