Reuse. Rehabilitate. Restore. Architectural salvage and repurposed pieces for the home.
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!
Check it out! Found some rather interesting kitchen designs on Desire To Inspire via The Kitchen Designer. I’m actually groovin’ to some of them. I have some 50’s/60’s cabinets sitting in my garage. I’m inspired! Can’t wait to start working on them.
Saw this on the Real Estate Journal via Bob Villa’s website.
We tried this with our first home. We didn’t have parties so much as barter with other diy renovators. It worked out better for some than others because of varying skill levels. In the end, we opted out of the “renovator’s community” because we felt we were getting the fuzzy end of the lollypop.
We did the “party” circuit thing too, but in the long run, even though it’s more fun, it probably took longer showing people what to do rather than just doing it ourselves.
A word of caution: You might want to be selective with whom you choose to work on your house. The RE Journal article sites injuries, backwards dry wall and contractors called in to fix the damage helping friends have caused.
Woodstock is a pretty happening place. There are many restaurants, galleries and shops to choose from along the main drag. When you tire of that, there’s hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking, tubing, hang gliding or skydiving nearby.
Although Woodstock didn’t really happen in Woodstock, the hippies planted themselves there long ago and they’re not going anywhere. Jerry Garcia is alive and well and living in Woodstock. Hippies are a wonderful thing if you’re a tree hugging, left leaning, vegetarian like myself. I just want to shave my armpits. And not have to listen to folk music. That’s all I ask.
But I digress. Woodstock doesn’t really have too many negatives. Housing prices are a bit steep if it’s a second home. And perhaps the area may be too trendy and overrated compared to neighboring towns such as Saugerties.
If it’s legendary Woodstock you’re looking for, Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel is up for sale for a cool $ 8 mil.
Check out the Woodstock Film Festival this weekend! Get up there soon…leaf peeping season is almost over.
Chamber of Commerce
Town of Woodstock
Byrdcliffe Guild
Woodstock Times
$ 165k: 2 BR Cottage
$199,900: 2BR w/studio
$ 359k: 3 BR 1825 Farmhouse
$424,900: 3BR Artist’s Home
THINGS TO GET NERVOUS ABOUT
Yesterday we touched upon finding a home. If you haven’t run out and bought one yet, here are some items to further consider before putting in an offer. Now, if you’re willing to do the sweat equity thing or have the bucks to pay someone else to do it for you, you can restore just about anything.
If not, here’s a list of things to look at before you blow the $ on an inspection. Most of them are not the end of the world, they are just costly repairs:Continue reading Before You Put In An Offer……
We scavenge anything old. We’ve been lucky with our bath fixtures, picking up clawfoot tubs, pedestal sinks and an ornate Victorian toilet for free. Finding the plumbing fittings to go with these antiques is the hard part. Below is a list of links so you don’t have to search the internet for hours to find the right clawfoot shower enclosure.
Signature Hardware
Clawfoot Supply
Vintage Tub
Antique Plumber
Dea Bath
A Ball
Shop 4 Classics
Rensup
Rejuvination
We’re not going to get into whether or not this is a good time to buy. It’s obvious which side of the fence we’re on. We can never go back to renting again (mostly because of our pets). As long as you don’t have plans to flip the home within the next few years, why put it off?Continue reading Buying Your First Home
1917 Color Chart
This is the third season that’s come and gone when we said we’d paint the exterior of our house but didn’t get to it. I want to go all pink and purpley, but the hubs wants something a bit more macho. He may get his way because I just found out we’re in a historic district.
I’ve been grooving to Charles Rupert’s Old House Colors website, which deals with both interior and exterior colors. He explains the “bullseye” method to finding the original colors of the house. Choose shaded and out of the way areas where sun or overenthusiastic painters haven’t reached. Sand a few areas, not just one, down to the wood. Various trim may have been different colors. After sanding, wipe clean with mineral oil to get a better idea of how it may have looked originally.
Old House Web is a great resource for traditional paint colors, including products from California Paint.
If choosing a color scheme is overwhelming, there are services that do it for you. Historic House Colors, based in Michigan, does consultations through the mail. Prices start at $550.
It’s still pretty warm out, but it’s always good to start early. Here’s our list of ways to keep your home well insulated and energy efficient for the cold weather.
1. Take your window A/C units out. If you must keep them in, put a cover on them.
2. Caulk or insulate any drafty holes around windows and doors.
3. Make sure all heating/cooling ducts are sealed.
4. Don’t forget to close your fireplace flue.
5. If you have an attic, that should be insulated. You should even put insulation on the hatch.
6. Check for drafts around vents and faucets. Put insulation behind all exterior wall switch plates (they sell “special” stuff for this).
7. If you have antique windows, you can get historic storm windows. There’s nothing historic about them, but they are nearly invisible. We went with Allied Storm Windows.
8. Insulate exposed pipes and water heater.
9. Don’t forget to turn off your outside hose/faucet. It can freeze and pipes will burst!
10. Turn on your heat before it gets too cold so you know it’s working properly. You don’t want any surprises the first time the temperature really drops.
We recently wrote about Squak Mountain Stone and Kliptech countertops. Over the weekend, Treehugger reported that the two companies have merged to form Trinity Glass. Amee Quiriconi and Joel Klippert were constantly meeting up at events and exchanging ideas, so it seemed natural to merge.
Trinity Glass is a composite of 75% glass from recycled beer bottles, plate windows, wine bottles, etc from Seattle and 25% low carbon cement.
With Halloween just around the corner, this seemed appropriate. I found a cool article on Victorian homes over at Our Strange World, a blog dealing with the paranormal.
The article starts out: “With their bay-windowed towers, widow’s walks and creaky floors, Victorian homes are the go-to image for being creepy and haunted — the place where some bogeyman-type will give chase to neighborhood children.” It sites films such as “The Amityville Horror and “Pacific Heights”.
Growing up on horror films and seances, it makes perfect sense to me why I’m in love with Victorians. I do want to decorate my home with gargoyles and dragons. And I must admit that there’s something about a decrepit old haunted looking house that makes me salivate.
My Beacon home looks spooky. But the energy is so positive that it’s the first home in 15 years that I didn’t smudge (smudge=ritual to clear house of negative energy). Just goes to show you, looks are deceiving.
Ok, let’s cut to the chase. If you don’t want to have a 3 unit nuclear power plant in your backyard, stop reading now. Oh, it doesn’t bother you? That’s ok, if anything happens with Indian Point, we’ll all be dead anyway.
Peekskill is one of those Westchester neighborhoods that crazy real estate prices forgot. I’m pretty certain it’s because of Indian Point. It’s a luke warm place on the verge of happening, but whether or not it will actually take off is anyone’s guess. It’s current state is good enough for me. A couple of hip coffee houses, some art galleries, a bit of life.
PROS
CONS
City Of Peekskill
Hudson River Towns
Peekskill Schools
Peekskill Bid
$179,900: 1 BR Condo
$357,000: Single Family Farmhouse
$399k: Single Family Colonial
$415k: 2 Family Victorian
Could it be true? Sanding joint compound without the dust flying around? Found this on LEEDPro. I know, I know: “If you do the mud correctly, you shouldn’t have to sand at all”. Well, I’m incompetent when it comes to taping. I hate it! If this makes my life a little easier, I’m in, baby! Anyone tried this?
1986 photo
AM NY did a feature on Friday called “Has NYC Lost It’s Soul”? This is something I think about alot. Well, I don’t have to think about it….I know my answer.
“It used to be a badge of honor to live in New York City, and we used to laugh at the people in the suburbs,” Jerilou Hammett, co-editor of the book “The Suburbanization of New York.”, “Urban areas were all about diversity and the struggle of the creative individuals…”Continue reading NYC: The New Suburbs?