I met Ken at the Stormville Antiques Fair earlier in the year and thought it was probably worth the trip out to Suffolk County to visit his shop. My friends, I was not mistaken.Continue reading Salvage: Long Island
Posts authored by RH
Mini Dream Home: Plywood Chateau
In the past, we’ve written up some fun dream homes, including castles and islands. Perhaps you can’t actually live in one of James Westwater’s Plywood Chateaux, but let’s file this one under dream “retreat”. You can buy one of these babies for around $15k and keep it in your rent stabilized 300 sq foot Manhattan studio and PRETEND you live in a mansion.
THE best place for a tea party. As you can see, two can comfortably fit in there. These are functional pieces of art. Best of all, the plywood is FSC certified birch. James is a fellow crunchy tree hugger.
Treehugger
Shedworking
Natva Schulz Gallery
Ikea Homes
Via OTBKB, via Seeing Green:
Ikea is in the real estate business. They will be selling eco-friendly timber frame homes with their own plots of land. No assembly required, but I hear an allen wrench will be included should the home need repairs.
“BoKlok” flats and houses will be located in Gateshead, England. Developers are looking into sites in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. They will be targeted at first time home buyers with prices starting at £100,000.
One Step Beyond
Ok, we have to take this to the next level now. I’m busting my arse working on these posts and you (yeah, YOU!) need to participate.
FYI, did you know that there’s a forum on this site? And did you know that someone just posted a lovely Victorian Parlor Mirror from a Harlem brownstone? Craigslist is awesome, but I’d love to see the forum become the place to exchange salvage and building materials. Recycle your junk! And ideas!
Open House NY
This weekend marks the 5th Annual Open House New York , America’s largest architect and design event.
All five boroughs are represented through special talks, tours, performances and family-friendly workshops – all free, free, free!
Garage Sale Planner
I am loving this website I found! GSALR is a map interface and planner for garage, estate, yard and stoop sales. It’s basically a bunch of Craigslist ads, only it’s soooo easy to plan it all out so you can hit every yard sale in your area…and maybe even get to a few in other areas.
Affordable NYC:Crown Heights
The Crown Heightser describes Crown Heights as “Brooklyn’s hippest, most diverse and most architecturally beautiful nabe”. Well, it’s close. Maybe only second to my Stizzy.
Actually, the architecture here is phenomenal. Crown Heights North was recently granted landmark status. There are extraordinary mansions mixed in among the lovely brownstones and limestones.
Crown Heights is home to The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Botanic Gardens, Brooklyn Public Library, The Brooklyn Museum and within walking distance to Prospect Park. The area is serviced by the 2, 3, 4 and 5 trains as well as the Franklin Avenue Shuttle.
You may have heard about a little incident in 1991 known as “The Crown Heights Riots”. The neighborhood does have a scarred history. Today, it’s diversity is a positive thing. In terms of food (What else is there to life?) you can pick up a falafel and then cross Eastern Parkway for your jerk tofu.
Crown Heights is on the cusp on gentrification. There aren’t tons of luxury amenities yet and the prices and cool folks living there reflect that.
Wiki Crown Heights
Crown Heights North Association
Crown Heights Info
Crown Heightser
Crown Heights House Tour
When: Tomorrow! October 6, 2007. 10am-5pm. Tour begins at noon.
Where: St. Gregory’s RC Church, 991 St Johns Place bet. Brooklyn & New York Aves.
Cost: $25
This is the inaugural tour of the Crown Heights North Association. 10 houses, 2 churches and 1 community garden. This tour features period detail and restoration, as well as more modern touches combined with ecologically green products and technology.
Crown Heights Listings
Weekender: Red Hook,NY
Bard College
You can say that Red Hook is the poor sister of Rhinebeck, which is exactly what I like about it. It’s laid back, down to earth,vibrant and interesting. And less expensive! There are some great antique shops and restaurants, most of which don’t have websites that I can link to.
Red Hook is located just on the northern tip of Dutchess County, almost in Columbia County. The country side is beautiful and it’s within 15-30 minutes of Rhinebeck, Tivoli, Germantown, and Hyde Park for further exploration.
Amtrak services nearby Rhinecliff. Many people actually commute to the city, although it seems nuts to me. Homes range from under $200k to over $2mil.
I’ll cover Tivoli another day, but I just have to say, it’s worth the drive for lunch or dinner. Like High Falls, it’s a teeny, tiny town bursting with awesome restaurants, including my favorite vegetarian, Luna 61, formerly located in the village of Red Hook.
Red Hook
Red Hook Chamber of Commerce
JFive Homes
Rhinebeck Farmers Market
Red Hook Concerns
Dutchess Salvage and Antiques
Hoffmans
Hoffman’s Antique Barn, located behind a movie theater at 19 Old Farm Road in Red Hook, is my upstate Eddie. They have windows for $9, wooden mantles for $195 and tables of small items listed from $2-5. There are plenty of doors, sinks and tubs as well. 845-758-5668
The Stormville Antiques Market is this weekend! Another favorite of mine for bargain hunting. The show opens at dawn and that’s when you should try to get there. Although some vendors are still setting up, others sell out of their best stuff by 8am. And traffic is killer by 9am! Good to go up Friday night and get an early start.
A shout out to Junk To Jems, from Long Island. He’ll be at Stormville this weekend in booth #265. I was going to do a write up about him this week, but it’s going to be next week instead. People line up at his booth before he even arrives.
Historic Mansions of Dutchess County
If you’re an old home fanatic like myself, you can spend the entire weekend touring the historic mansions in Dutchess County. Wilderstein is my favorite, a dark Queen Anne style home still undergoing restoration. And if you’re in the area, Wing’s Castle is not so far and it is a must see!
Hudson River Valley National Heritage
Staatsburgh
Olana
Vanderbilt
Wilderstein
Montgomery
Red Hook Listings
Shipping Containers Recycled as Homes
Recycled Home: Shipping Container
With shipping containers piling up because we import more than we export, some architects have come up wonderful uses for them.
Adam Kalkin, who admits he has a “fascination with junk” is one artist/architect who specializes in shipping container chic. His homes start at $99,000 and are not only beautiful, but can provide extraordinary shelter for disaster relief.