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Apartment Two

Apartment Two published on 3 Comments on Apartment Two

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The Rockaway upstairs apartment is now ready for it’s (not so) close up! The original goal was to start showing by the end of May. (The original original goal was to have the house sold by the end of 2012, but we all know how that worked out.) Ok, so this new deadline was somewhat delayed due to the fact that I mistakenly decided to have a life and go away for Memorial Day weekend. But whatev. I’m back up to speed.

I wish every room could be as interesting as doing a bathroom or kitchen. Remember my original pink bathroom that I was determined to keep? Well, it has been resurrected! Still on the to do list: vanity pulls, scrape paint off door glass, lock set, stain saddle and a few other things that don’t show up in the photo.

kitchen

The decision to do a Mexican kitchen was born when I found the ceramic “terracotta” tiles at a Habitat Restore. The upper cabinets were there when I bought the house. Because of my not-so-great planning skills, the fridge, which was originally for the downstairs kitchen, was moved up here because it was too wide. It was meant to go on the opposite wall but proved too big for that also. I ended up tearing down some more cabinets to fit it in that corner. It works so much better there, but now I have to move an outlet. To do list: Move outlet, cabinet pulls, replace broken stove knob, switch plates.

livingroom

This is the living room. I stuck the chair in the photo because it looked so empty, but now it looks even more sad. To do list: Hang crystals from light fixture, re-coat window trim and inner white, switch plates.

frontroom

This is actually the small front room, but it looks bigger than the living room in this photo. It can be a second junior bedroom, an office or child’s room.

bedroom

The main bedroom is Manhattan sized also, but it has a room off of it with a closet that can act as a dressing room. Nothing at all interesting about this corner photo. I just wanted to show off yet another vintage light fixture.

Related: Apartment One

Here are some “before” shots…

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Front Room

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Living Room

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Kitchen

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Pink Bathroom

Welcome Back, A Train!

Welcome Back, A Train! published on

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Some of you may not have realized that the train tracks out to Rockaway that were destroyed during Sandy were not restored until yesterday.  As someone who just travels from Brooklyn by car every day to work on the house, it was a minor pain in the buttocks only if I wanted to get some help out there from someone who didn’t own a vehicle. I can’t imagine what the trip was like for folks who had to commute for seven months doing the bus/train thing.

A ferry was added to lower Manhattan that is quite popular and people are fighting to keep that in addition to the train. Why not? Williamsburg and Red Hook have ferries. Please sign the Keep the Ferry in Rockaway petition!

I can ramble on, but I am no Rachel Maddow. Rach, as I don’t really call her, puts it so eloquently in the video below. Best I shut up and you can just watch her.

Go to the beach! Support The Rock and any businesses that are open. They still very much need your help!

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I Meant To Do That?

I Meant To Do That? published on

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Here’s an example of that whole making lemonade out of lemons thing. A mistake that turned out to be a blessing, if you will. Unless you think the door looks like crap. Which it might. I can’t decide. Maybe I’m just trying to tell myself it looks cool.

Anyway, I had some help at the house over the holiday weekend when I was away. They painted the stripped door without sanding first. If you’ve ever stripped a pine door, you’ll know that the wood is very soft and gets “shredded”, so it looked nasty. I started sanding away the lumps and bumps and thought “Ah, this could work. It’s shabby chic!”

So now I have a distressed door. Sweet.

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Perfect Vacation Rental for Dogs

Perfect Vacation Rental for Dogs published on 3 Comments on Perfect Vacation Rental for Dogs

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It’s easy enough to find a vacation rental that accepts dogs. I’ve passed the info along in previous posts. What is not easy to find is a house that allows a neurotic, helicopter dog mom like me to sit back and relax while letting her dogs run wild. It’s always either too close to the road, too close to the neighbors or too close to the woods where they can run off chasing wildlife.

Well, I think I’ve finally found the perfect doggy vacation rental! It’s in Woodstock and it stood up to my own doggy test. Three and a half acres of fenced in land to roam free. I walked the perimeter and every inch of it is secure. There is deer fencing that I’m pretty sure the deer can hop over but when my dog tried to chase something into the woods, she couldn’t get beyond the boundary.

So, it’s safe for dogs. What else?

It has a pool. Unfortunately, we experienced winter temperatures this summer weekend, so I can’t tell you much about the pool. It looked nice. I thought I might try to book the place again in August since I’m totally bummed about missing out on the pool, but I see that it’s booked out for the dog days of summer.

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Still, the house is lovely. It’s a converted 1920 horse stable. Just up our alley. There’s a mix of old and new and it’s completely clean and airy. They have wifi and a DVD player, but no DVD’s.

In nice weather, the home would have been a decent walk into Woodstock. Not something I’d want to walk at night on the dark, country road, but the drive is short enough that you can have a drink with dinner out and not worry about falling asleep on the way home.

So, that’s my doggy retreat story for this year. It’s pricey because of the pool, but sleeps up to six, so it can be split, which is what we did. Just a shame it’s all booked up for July and August.

Mayor Weiner?

Mayor Weiner? published on 3 Comments on Mayor Weiner?

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My favorite Brooklyn loudmouth Jew (besides myself) has reemerged with a campaign ad. Anthony Weiner is back!

Hate the bullshit ad. It’s a snoozefest. This is NYC. He should just be himself and say “Yeah, I fucked up. Fuhgetaboutit.”

But whattcha think? I’d vote for him! Absoeffinlutely! I’m pumped! Not as pumped as he was in those pictures. Badabing!

Reclaiming The Rock

Reclaiming The Rock published on

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The city is working 24/7 to get the Rockaway beaches ready for the summer. Trains should be running by the end of this month. But if they build it, will they come?

Rockaway Taco reopened earlier this month. The few times I was there for lunch, business seemed good. This being before summer, on weekdays, without trains. Veggie Island opened their doors as well but I was there the very first day when all they had ready was some coffee and muffins. Full menu or not, folks came in to support the business.

Still. Crime is up. Residents are nervous about not having beach protection. The mood of some Rockaway natives is fairly negative. They worry that they remain unsafe while the concentration is put on tourism.

But Rockaway needs the tourism. Businesses were crushed. Some folks are still not back to their homes. Some will never return. This winter has been downright depressing in an area that’s already depressed.

Business advocates are working to lure commercial investors, but in my opinion, there aren’t enough residents to support these shops at the moment. Personally, I think Rockaway needs to offer incentives for newcomers such as artist live/work spaces. Non-residents need a reason to visit Rockaway year round: A huge surf school, a museum (perhaps a surfing museum?), a concert venue. Something along the lines of the DIA Museum that transformed the city of Beacon, NY.

One step at a time. Let’s see how this summer goes.

Mexican Tiles

Mexican Tiles published on 2 Comments on Mexican Tiles

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The Mexican kitchen in apartment #2 is coming together! Backsplash by eBay. $60 including shipping.

I decided to go Mexican when I found fake terracotta (ceramic) floor tiles at a Habitat for Humanity. FYI, 25 bucks. But then I ran out of them. Oops. Anyway, that set the theme for the entire kitchen.

The eBay tiles are mismatched, as you can see. Included in the box of 100, there were about 3-4 design repeats. Some are meant to be patterns that make up a single design but that design can’t be completed. Because they are handmade, none of them are the same size, which makes for uneven grout lines.

If consistency and perfection is your thang, these tiles ain’t for you. If you likey, just punch in a “Mexican tile” search on eBay and you’ll have a nice selection to choose from.

There are also these Mexican tile resources from an earlier post.

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Festivals Other Than Googa Mooga

Festivals Other Than Googa Mooga published on

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Who needs to deal with the insanity at Googa Mooga when there are other great festivals going on this weekend?

The Ninth Avenue International Food Festival has been going on for 40 years. By now, they have their act together, unlike some other overly hyped bullcrap artisinal festival that shall not be named here (except above). May 18th and 19th from 47th-57th Streets down ….you guessed it….9th Avenue.

The Big Bay Fest claims to be Brooklyn’s largest waterfront celebration. The Sheepshead Bay fair not only offers food and performances but will have Sandy recovery info on hand. Sheepshead was hit hard during the hurricane so you should go and support them! Sunday, May 19th: noon-6pm.

Party like a Gypsy at the Bohemian Festival in Ridgewood, Queens. May 17th-19th and you can even camp out! Apart from the performances, there will be body painting, a belly dancing competition and workshops.

Dance Fest and Parade is Saturday, May 18th. The parade starts at 1pm at 21st and Broadway and ends up in Tompkins Square Park where the festival begins at 3pm. Three stages with performances plus dance lessons.

Works in Progress

Works in Progress published on 3 Comments on Works in Progress

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Just some pics of the renovation process. Although the downstairs apartment is ready to show, I’ve decided to wait until upstairs is finished before inviting the public over to have a look. Now I’m pushing the date back to AFTER Memorial Day weekend. And no, I will not be working that 3 day weekend.

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The door to the bathroom (above) was under $40 (maybe even $20?) and came with multiple layers of paint. I should have realized because of the weight of the thing that it was a decent wood, but I was delighted to find whatever-species-this-is when I stripped it down.

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Please refer to the paint stripping post for DIY tips!

marble

Antique marble was originally used for the baseboard in the upstairs bathroom. It didn’t really match the new tiles that were installed so I cut this piece down to use as a saddle for the downstairs bathroom.

frosted

Same downstairs bathroom. After months of keeping roisin paper on the window, I finally discovered frosted window film. What a concept!

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Picked this up at a vintage shop in Newburgh for 25 bucks. Forgot the name of the place, but it’s owned by Barbara of Caffe Macchiato on Liberty Street.

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The piece is currently undergoing transformation to make it into a sink vanity for the pink bathroom upstairs. This is 2 coats of paint. Will need one more at least.

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This chunky old wood will be the countertop for the “Mexican” kitchen upstairs. That’s a before and after sanding shot, in case you haven’t guessed. Love the grain!

And that’s it. Can’t wait to show the finished pictures! All in good time, my friends. All in good time.

Stenciled Door

Stenciled Door published on 2 Comments on Stenciled Door

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With a tight budget and desire to recycle building materials, I actually wanted to keep the hollow Home Depot doors that came with the house. Only a handful of them are still in good enough shape, but I thought it would be nice to think of them as blank canvases and make each one into a work of art (or some kind of crafty process).

The closet door above was the first one to get all gussied up. The chipping paint revealed some beautiful turquoise that must have been there since the 40’s or 50’s. That was a keeper. What to do with that? I thought of those signs I found in the bathroom floor during demolition and decided to recreate that.

scrape

The paint was chipping off in big chunks, so scraping was a breeze.

tape

DIY is pretty simple. Just get some tape and stencils. Oh, and paint.

As someone without patience, I didn’t use a straight edge or pencil lines. It’s recommended though. I also hand-held the stencil letters and went along to the next one without waiting for them to dry. Yeah, it smears. Don’t take DIY tips from me.

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Didn’t have arrow stencil so the arrows were brought to you by the letter “I” and some tape for the point.

Funny story. This particular door faces East/West and the bay and beach are North/South, but I didn’t want to do up and down arrows.

Save the Mermaids!

Save the Mermaids! published on

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The annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade has morphed into a huge event since the first stroll down Surf Avenue in 1983. Now personally, having lived on Surf Avenue back in ’83, I thought the small freak and geek fest was awesome. These days, it seems like everyone in Brooklyn shows up and it’s too crowded for my grumpy middle aged ass.

But anyhoo, that doesn’t mean the show shouldn’t go on. The mermaids are in danger this year, my friends. Yeah, Sandy. After spending over $100k to restore their headquarters, they need to raise some clams to pay for cops and toilets for Coney’s unofficial start of summer.

Here, let the Kickstarter video speak for itself.

Apartment One

Apartment One published on 5 Comments on Apartment One

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Open living/dining/kitchen area.

One half of the two family Rockaway house will be liveable by June 1st! As in liveable for normal people, not someone like me who no longer notices lack of switchplates and doorknobs. The self imposed deadline was set for this weekend to take some pictures and start spreading the word. Although it’s ready for it’s close-up, it’s a few days from being ready to show. Show by next weekend? Yeah, probably!!

The entire house will be for sale or rent by the end of this month. I call it a two story bungalow. It’s a cozy (that means small in realtor speak) 2 BR over 1BR, just under 1000 square feet for the whole house. Gotta do some comps and math to come up with prices. The website will get started (but not finished) today.

I’m on a roll baby and it feels good!

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kitchen2

Yeah, that toe kick needs to be painted and stove needs backsplash.

sinkdoor

The old singer sewing machine base trick. A favorite of mine.

bedroom

Long, narrow bedroom in the back of the house. I want to work a little magic on those plain, white doors if I get the time.

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Kitchen area before.

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Living room during demo.

Six Months.

Six Months. published on

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Six months ago parts of New York and New Jersey literally came crashing down around us. Hurricane Sandy hit us pretty hard, but we’re still here, aren’t we? Many are still homeless and undergoing major renovations, some businesses never reopened, but progress is being made.

Can’t speak of what’s going on in every hard-hit neighborhood because I’ve been trapped working on the Rockaway house everyday. I do know that people are working 24/7 to get the area ready for summer.

The A train still isn’t running out to Rockaway. Last I heard, it should be back in service by June.

Parts of the boardwalk are being rebuilt. There will be boardwalk “islands”.

Concession stands are under renovation and will return.

Sand is being replenished.

Rockaway Taco reopens by the end of this week.

Bungalow Bar has reopened after having $10k worth of materials looted during the renovation.

Thai Rock opens their deck in early May.

The first wine bar ever in Rockaway plans to open by Memorial Day.

Rockabus will be starting up on Memorial Day weekend.

And come hell or high water (no pun intended), my friggin house will be ready to show by mid-May.

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