Fan Light. $100 from Glow 828
Drum Light from Urban Twiggs, $225
Cordless Drill by RecycloJoe. $325
Coffee Filter fixture. $245 by Lampada
Interesting Upstate Properties
Why have just a house when you can get something spectacular for the same price? Here’s what popped up during a 5 minute search on Craigslist. Imagine what I could have found had I spent 10 minutes doing a proper broker’s search.
Have you ever hiked Minnewaska? You know when you can see those private properties from the trail and you wonder who lives there? Then you get jealous and you’re all like “Well, what makes them so special that they get to have a backyard like this?” Well, here’s your chance to own a house with a Minnewaska backyard.
No, you won’t own the Minnewaska trail but the house does sit on 5.6 private acres and the lovely farmhouse itself is not too shabby. There is also a barn situated on the property. All this for $399k. I want.
A nothing special house in a nothing special -yet convenient- area, but the indoor pool is priceless. The house itself was built in 1930 and the exterior is cute, but interior is a generic renovation. That’s ok. It’s easy enough to make it fabulous. Located in Bloomingburg, which is a sleepy town, but fairly close to Middletown big box shopping. It’s just about commutable and the bus to the city does stop in Bloomingburg. $257k.
According to the Craigslist ad, this historic church is located in central Columbia County. It’s 2100 square feet and needs work (drool). $190k. That’s all the info there is, apart from the blog which has a few photos but nothing else.
Still amazing what can be bought upstate for the price of a studio in the armpits of Brooklyn.
Wednesday Linkorama
Save the Hobbit House! Treehugger
Drug Trucks. I knew it!!! Daily News
DIY Plastic Alternatives. Green Upgrader
A Life Without Mosquitoes. Eco Etsy
My Haven DIY Conference. DIY Show Off
Catskills Comedy
If you’re into the whole retro Catskill mountains, do yourself a favor and catch a new documentary “When Comedy Went to School”. The film tells the history of comedy, particularly Jewish and particularly Catskills. Made me wish that I could get in my Grandpa’s Nova and travel up Old 17 to The Borscht Belt, stopping at Red Apple, of course.
RIP
Summer 2013 has not been a good one for long-standing popular establishments. A sad farewell to the following local shuttered businesses.
Maxwell’s. 1978-2013. We’ve all done it at one point in our lives, no? Hopped on the Path to see one of our favorite bands play at this iconic venue? They close their doors tonight.
Odessa. Can’t find the year Odessa opened but it’s been there for as long as this 47 year old can remember. Definition: The 24 hour Ukrainian diner where you go for latkes and pierogi after a night out. These kids today don’t appreciate good diners. Bah!
Max Fish. 1988-2013. Jeez, I’m so old that I remember when this was the trendy new kid on the block that I didn’t like! The East Village bar is actually moving to Williamsburg. Not sure what that says about the East Village or Brooklyn, but methinks the groovy party is over in both locations.
Dressler. 2006-2013. The celebrated Williamsburg restaurant shut it’s doors back in June due to lease dis-agreements. DuMont may also be facing financial trouble. Sadly, this was too much for one of the owners, Colin Devlin, who took his own life last week.
Thanks to The Shutter and Vanishing New York for keeping us informed of closings.
Houses and Barns for Relocation
Maybe I just found my next project. The Husband will kill me! Ever see a great old house and say “Location, location, location sucks”? Well, there are ways around it. Just move the damn house.
Ok, so it’s not that simple. Actually, it may be simple enough for you because someone else would be taking care of all the work. What I should have said is that it’s not that cheap. Movers charge by the mile amongst other things so it’s not like you’ll want to move a house cross-country or even across state lines.
That being said, check out William Gould’s Architectural Preservation site. He’s located in CT. It’s really not thaaat far. There are barns and homes for sale, previously dimantled buildings, rebuilding plans and contractor services all wrapped up in one single website.
Thanks to Old House Web for being so awesome and posting this.
Monday Linkorama
Pig in the City. NY Times
Rape and Murder of Historic Home. Apartment Therapy
DIY Countertops. Bob Vila
Bronx Abandoned Mansion. Scouting NY
Reclaimed Summery Style. Vintage Interior Blogs
Farmer’s Markets for Everyone!
There really is no comparison between grocery produce and freshly picked, organic harvest. The problem with organic is that it’s pricey and not always so convenient to buy. Well, there is hope for ALL of NYC yet, including low income earners.
I heard it on NPR (actually read it) that Grow NYC has created an initiative called Health Bucks for underprivileged New Yorkers to purchase farm fresh foods with vouchers from markets around the city. It’s actually a medical program for overweight patients to obtain prescriptions to buy healthy food.
For the rest of us with middle income and black thumbs, we still have to buy with cold, hard cash. Personally, I’ll have to drop the convenience excuse because I just found this handy schedule on the Grow NYC website. No more guessing where and when these farmer’s markets will take place. It’s probably been there all along for people who actually took the time to look.
BTW, peruse the site. It’s like the bible of green living in NYC.
Upstate Craigs: Under $100k
It’s been awhile since we looked into real estate here. That’s simply because the temptation to actually buy is too strong. But since there are no funds anyway, what does it hurt to look, eh? So, you should buy something instead. Deal?
The Monticello house above is pretty cute. It sits on 3/4 acre near town. If you’re not familiar with Monticello, it’s actually pretty run down. The area is naturally beautiful though, so if you just ignore the derelicts, it could be a nice place. For only 65 grand, what do you expect?
This 3 bedroom ranch in Pine Plains is going for $69.9k. Don’t know much about Pine Plains except that it’s east of The Taconic about as north as Red Hook. It’s also horse country. Looks like this house is in a cul-de-sac-ey area.
I’m going to sound like a realtor here and say “Bring your vision!”. Yes, this is a garage. With electric and a well. It’s 1000 square feet and sits on an acre of land in Esopus. That’s some nice weekender country right there. For $79k, that would make a nice home conversion. Turn that garage into a “carriage house”!
Ooh, this sweet little cottage on a dead end road comes in at $99k. It’s located in Claryville, a beautiful hamlet in the town Neversink, Sullivan County. Here’s the thing…It’s a dry town. We rented a cottage in Claryville once and it was a 30 minute drive to the closest liquor shop. Not saying this house is as far out as the house we rented, but just letting you know…it’s dry.
Upcycled Outdoors
DIY for the gardener who’s too lazy to throw away that that dresser or that car.
Summer Entertaining
Ever go into a store and look at all the fun outdoor entertaining merch and want to buy everything? Yeah, me too. But I know that they will sit in my cabinet and I’ll never invite people over to actually use them. It’s a nice thought, though.
Here are some purdy things I found on the internet. Perhaps you will be inspired to have a party and invite me.
Chillin’ in NYC
The weather this week is in the 90’s. That’s not just hot, that’s downright dangerous. Take care of yourselves and especially think about the little furry ones. NEVER leave a dog in a hot car for too long. Even with the windows cracked, that’s brutal. Check up on senior relatives. They may be so old school that they don’t have air conditioning.
But where to cool off if you’re out and about? Or if you don’t have a/c yourself?
1. Go see a movie.
2. Check out a museum.
3. Library? Bet you haven’t been to one in awhile.
4. Shop til you drop. Especially malls or huge department store.
5. Get sloshed. Or you can sit and have coffee (iced) all day, but an indoor bar/cafe that allows you to hang out for hours is key here.
6. Beach. NYC beaches gross you out? Hop on the LIRR. It’s also air conditioned.
7. Which brings me to…Take a ride upstate on Metro North or Trailways bus line. Back in my day, the parents used to bring us to “the mountains” to cool off for the summer.
8. Water rides! As close as Coney Island.
9. Fire hydrants. Don’t open it yourself.
10. Parks have sprinklers.
11. City pools.
12. Water balloon fight.
13. Got a backyard? Get yourself a kiddy pool. Or just hose yourself down.
14. Got AC? Never leave the house all summer long.
Occupied
It’s been nearly a year since I started renovations on the Rockaway house. I can finally say that both apartments are fully occupied now and I get to have my life back!
The project was meant to be a flip that would take a few months. Ok, so it took a bit longer with some minor and major disasters. Lemme fill you in on my setbacks. May I?
1. Disaster One. Crappy contractors. I can’t even begin to imagine how badly contractors rip off folks who don’t know a thing about the renovation process. When pipes separate and fall inside the wall and paint starts to peel after a few days, you MUST know that shortcuts were taken, right? This is why I DIY. Unless you want to spend the big bucks on a high end licensed contractor who comes with a thousand percent positive referrals, be verrrry careful.
Slow contractors who didn’t know what they were doing, contractors whose work had to be done over cost me an extra month or two in the beginning (and throughout). A month that I might have been able to unload the house on some poor, unsuspecting sucker prior to….
2. Disaster Two. Sandy. Yes, Superstorm Sandy is listed second to bad contractors. Not that I would ever want for anyone to go through that again, but believe it or not, the combination of incompetent team members set me back worse than the worst storm of the century. All in all, I was lucky. Just basement damage and some siding. Some pocket change from insurance that helped pay for the new boiler. It wasn’t so much the money that got to me as it was the time and momentum that was lost. With an NYC gas shortage and no heat or power at the house, this would set me back close to 2 months.
3. Disaster Three. Oops. Wrecked my car. Well, that’s what we get for trying to spend New Year’s Day working on the house. Some dumb bitch ran the red light and next thing we know, the car was totaled. Another bad luck/good luck story: We walked away! Set back of about 2 weeks until I dealt with the situation and got another car to get over to the house. Remember that the trains were not running after the storm.
Ok, those were the major setbacks. What do setbacks mean? It means you can’t fold. You have to readjust the original plan. With the real estate market down in Rockaway after the hurricane, I knew I’d be stuck with the house for awhile and I’d have to rent instead of sell. On the plus side, I’ll be earning back some money I lost.
This could all be blessings in disguise. The universe works in mysterious ways. It fucks with you but for good reason. Putting me through tests? Hell yeah. Making me hang on to the house until Rockaway rebuilds stronger and better than ever, so my house will be worth a small fortune?
Let’s hope so.
Tips On Reconditioning Toys
Who says reconditioning should exclusively be aimed at furniture pieces, old beds, and other items around the house? You can also salvage your children’s old toys while saving some money, preserving emotional value as kids get easily attached to their toys ad seeing them break is never fun, and teaching your small ones the importance of preservation. Here are a few tips on reconditioning plastic toys that toy collectors make use of.
How To Clean Plastic Toys
Toys that are made of plastic usually get unaesthetic crayon marks on them. Try paint thinner as a first solution to this problem; keep in mind you might risk getting the finish off the plastic, so gently rub the marks off with the help of paint thinner and either a toothbrush. Pay special attention when cleaning up lithos and make sure you do not rub the marks off too hard. If you are only considering using a cleaning product that is based on water only, know the latter is prone to cause wrinkles. Other solutions you could use are the ones based on denatured alcohol or xylene. Of course you can always visit a top lottery website and try your luck at the big jackpot in hopes for getting to buy brand new toys for your kids.
Getting back to our reconditioning dnitions tips Watch out for xylene-based products though! You will need to be really fast and wipe up all the excess on the spot, or risk ruining the plastic. The simple, classic water and rag combo can also be used for less serious stains and dirt on lithos.
You can also place a layer of toilet paper above an old toy sticker, pour mineral spirits on it and let it sit like that for a few minutes. The glue will easily dissolve and you will get to easily peel off the sticker starting with the edges.
Mosaic Bathtub
Saw this over at Vaccaro’s. Mosaic clawfoot. What a fab idea! Why didn’t I think of it?