Reuse. Rehabilitate. Restore. Architectural salvage and repurposed pieces for the home.
Refrigerators can take over a small room. They especially look out of place with open plan kitchens. Pricey Sub Zero units take custom panels but if you’re creative enough, who’s to say you can’t hide any ole fridge? Click on the images for more info.
What do you think of when you think of Florida? Me? I think of those senior developments as seen on Seinfeld because that’s where my mother is. Or some other horrible developments. Or McMansions. But at least one woman in Miami has devoted herself to saving an old house.
Sally purchased a 1924 Spanish Colonial Revival in Coconut Grove that had been derelict for years. Her blog, “This Old Coconut Grove” has some incredible before and after shots. Love to see inspiration coming from this neck of the woods beach!
Check out some of the “afters” and then shoot on over to her blog to find out where she obtained her salvaged pieces.
There was a time I could get clawfoot tubs and flooring on Craigslist for free. Now people are giving away stuff that even a fanatic recycler like myself considers trash. But hey, maybe it’s useful to someone. You never know. At least they’re not charging for it. If the links are dead, that means the item has been removed.
Misc. Items. Three wheels. Two with “breaks” which probably means “brakes”. But wait! There’s more. If you act now, you can get Ikea Allen wrenches. The poster is throwing in some “Food and Wine” magazines, but would prefer if someone takes the whole package.
Manure of Chicken. “It’s only free if you bring a bucket to trade. If you don’t have a bucket, please bring $1.50 to cover the cost of my bucket. I’ll return the money if you bring my bucket back.
Come get some every week! heck..every day… take all you want! They’ll make more!”
Soccer Socks. Gently used. Some pilling on the foot. Why go through the effort? Put them in the big Goodwill bag that’s been sitting there for a year. You know the one. Don’t tell me I’m the only one who has that bag.
Baby Food Jars. Sorry, I just don’t think I’d feel comfortable feeding my baby food I got on Craigslist. I’m sure it’s fine, but it would freak me out.
1901 Kroeger Piano. I’ll end on a positive note. Oooh, this is actually nice!
$16,000. That’s what’s left in my renovation budget. With that, I have to put in two kitchens and two baths. I’m not including the floors which will be $1900 to sand and poly and the deck that being rebuilt this week which may run about $2000. So, really, that’s $12,000 I have to work with.
Normal people spend $12k on a single bathroom. With my recycled materials and sweat equity, I’ma gonna try to make it all happen. I predict that I will go slightly over budget by about $5k.
This is where the blogging will get more fun. Blogging about plumbing, electric and new sheetrock = Boring! Now the house is going to start looking livable. I’ve even been making coffee and eating there again. There is one working sink in the basement and one working toilet on the second floor. Which reminds me, I need more wet wipes.
Today I will hopefully get some color on those walls. At least they are primed.
I’m seeing the low budget as a an opportunity to learn some new skills since I can’t afford to pay anyone. They say that this Jesus guy was a Jewish carpenter, so I figure what’s he got that I ain’t got?
Tony Danza raps about Brooklyn peeps. Didn’t know Carl Sagan was from the Borough of Kings. See? We have some smart people.
Home renovation and handy work are male dominated fields, so it’s always great to come across another chick to bitch and moan with. Liz from Checklist Home Services was my gal last week. That’s her blurred image in the photo above. We met up a while back, then lost touch. I contacted her again when I saw this rad (yeah, I used that word) antique medicine cabinet giveaway on her blog.
Liz’s business plan is spot on and it’s working out well for her. Checklist Home Services is there for the people of the world who aren’t DIY maniacs. You can “rent” a handy person for 3 hours or on the other end of the spectrum, hire them do an annual home tune-up which covers items like vacuuming refrigerator coils and changing smoke detector batteries.
Although Checklist is there to do repair, maintenance and installations, they are not a full renovation service. Not yet anyway. Personally, I think Liz should take it to the next headache step.
If you think Liz looks familiar, that’s because you may have seen her on Morgan Spurlock’s “The Failure Club”, a must watch for anyone with a goal in life.
So, about the cabinet. It’s rockin’ heavy metal. It’s gorgeous and best of all, it was absolutely free! I’ll sand down the rust and seal it up. Then it’s good to go.
Hello. My name is Phyllis and I’m a renoholic. Yes, we’ve already established that, which is why I have this blog and why flipping…or Phlypping (™ Miss Wit) is the most fitting career move for me.
But I’m not talking about the investment property I’m currently working on. I’m knee deep in renovations with that and I’m sitting here looking around my own house thinking that I want to rip into it again.
In my defense, it’s not just that I want to re-renovate. I kind of want to use some of the materials from my Bed Stuy house and put it into the Rockaway house because I was never in love with said materials anyway.
Check it out. During the renovation of my own house, I was hemorrhaging money and had to finish as quickly as possible to get tenants in here. Items were installed that I never would have wanted if it was not so rushed. New stuff, like Home Depot doors (solid, with panels, of course), new door knobs, stainless appliances instead of beautiful antique ones, typical oak flooring….you get the picture.
Now, these things are not horrible by any stretch of the imagination but if it was up to me, I’d replace them with historic materials. I have the chance now. I can remove my HD doors and use them in the other house. The appliances, the kitchen cabinets!
But who am I kidding? That’s too much work, because then it’s like I’m doing two houses at once.
Right??
W. 21st, Meatpacking District
Dirty Old 1970’s New York City is making the rounds on Facebook among friends I grew up with. It always brings a smile to my face to see images of the city of my youth that no longer exists. Their tag line? “For those who loved New York City before the 80’s took its balls away.”
Enjoy the pics.
Union Square. I remember shopping at this Mays up until the mid 80’s.
Times Square, of course.
Canal and Broadway. They knew from egg creams.
Under Brooklyn Bridge ramp, Dover Street
Consumerism today is ominpresent. Even people who don’t consider themselves consumerists, who don’t go on shopping sprees and who don’t buy new things just because they are fashionable can be stopped dead in their tracks if they forced themselves to count all the things that they own but don’t really need. And that is where consumerism is at its strongest – we got used to it, and it feels perfectly natural to own mounds and mounds of useless stuff.
So why should we own less? Is there any reason why we should have only the basics? Religion, philosophy and ethics have all provided answers to this dilemma from their respective points of view.
One of the major pros of having less is stress relief. Remember how your room/apartment/home got so messy at one point that you could barely walk through it? And remember that huge sense of relief once you cleaned it all up? How do you feel when you see your garage after your yard sale?
Thing is, we can revisit that liberating feeling if we liberate ourselves from all the necessary things. Studies have consistently shown that we tend to notice all the objects in our field of vision, and each of them tends to generate a small amount of stress, whether we’re conscious of it or not.
Prevention is a first step in decluttering your everyday surroundings. Simply put – don’t obtain more things than absolutely necessary. Every time you want to get something new, ask yourself this honest question: “Do I really need this?”
As for the stuff that you already own, that’s easy. There are retail sites, garage sales, gift giving and, if all else fails, good old trash bin. Here your mind will definitely play tricks on you, making you feel sad for the things you throw – but be steadfast, and be rest assured that in a couple of days time you won’t even remember all the things you removed from your life. However, remember that what little you own is most previous to you, and it never hurts to have some additional security on your side. For additional security options to your home, please visit www.locksmiths-search.com.
I met Sal a few years ago as a fellow Brooklyn Flea vendor. We stayed in touch via the Interwebs and I kept meaning to visit his shop in Callicoon, NY. Sal is now in the process of moving Tin Can Trading Post to a multi-dealer store up the road. What finally got me up there to see the store was his massive moving sale.
Because I was focused on house materials, I only made out with three lights (four if you count the pair of sconces as two). But oh, how I wished I was there shopping for myself! Scary dolls and clown paintings, old wicker subway seats, a dessert cart from Grossingers. Grossingers!! It would make a fabulous kitchen island.
Sal closed up his shop for a bit to give us a tour of his home that’s on the market for $189k in nearby Cochecton. What a treat for an old home lover! The restoration reveals layers of history. Original wallpaper was cleaned with wonder bread. Did you know about that technique? I did not. The plaster in some areas was left unpainted. You know how much people pay to faux this look? Here, it’s the real deal.
Worth the trip up to Sullivan County. Check out the shop. Buy the house. Turn it into a B&B so I can stay there in the future.
Last week found me dismantling a house that was not my own. I spied a tear down on Craigslist while searching for salvaged materials. The entire 1920’s beauty has to come down to make way for a brand new monstrosity. Although most of the great stuff has been taken, there’s still plenty left.
My interest was the door and window trim. That can become pricey if buying new because you’re talking about an entire house priced per board ft. The antique salvaged molding usually needs quite a bit of stripping and repair. Plus, where are you gonna find an entire matching house? So, with a bit of extra work and a trip to Westchester, I’m getting my molding for a few bucks.
The over $2m house was renovated recently so there isn’t a ton of original details. What’s there is in perfect condition and it’s all high end, whether it’s new or old. The kitchen was being dismantled while I was there and I’d say it was definitely upwards of $75k. Who knows what the resale price was but I’m sure the buyer got a bargain.
I’m going back tomorrow for more molding and some doors.
So, what else is left? Doors with glass knobs are $75. There are some French doors and exterior left as well. Windows, crown molding, wainscoting (newer), maybe one built in is left, shingles, bannister, bathtub. Once the building starts coming down, there will be plenty of lumber. The wood floors throughout are in perfect shape. It’s a shame that they will be destroyed if pried up, but I wonder if sections were cut out, could they be placed together like tile? Just trying to think of a way to save them.
If you’re in need of any of this stuff, come have a look! It’s a tragedy that the house will be knocked down, but at least we can do our part to keep it alive elsewhere.
This is what happens when you don’t prime first.
This is my fifth major renovation and I’ve seen it EVERY. TIME. Why do people just cover up what needs to be repaired? Money issues? I don’t get that. Those band-aids aren’t cheap. Instead of fixing some holes in the plaster, is it really less expensive to drop the entire ceiling?
I found a piece of cardboard used to patch a hole in the wall the other day. Like, cut out from a box. That was nothing. I can fix that. What bothers me about this house is that there is a new roof and vinyl siding. Although that’s not bothersome in itself (well, the vinyl is), it worries me that there were no repairs made to the wood rotting beneath the new protection.
I was a bit torn. As an environmentally aware salvage freak, I wanted to keep materials out of the landfills. As someone on a tight a budget, I couldn’t afford to gut the entire house down to the studs. So, I fixed what I saw but I know that there are things I missed behind those walls I didn’t remove. And I kept and re-covered the holey ceiling plaster myself after removing the drop ceiling.
I’m not completely concerned because, as I stated in a previous post, most of the rot seemed to be under each window and I did take those areas down to the studs.
But what about crazy plumbing fixes….or just letting pipes leak? So much damage from leaky pipes! And gas leaks? And electrical issues? Is it better to save a few bucks and risk your life and the life of the house?
Here’s the deal. You don’t have enough money for repairs? Fine. Nobody can fault you for that. But how’s about you learn some DIY skills and fix this stuff yourself? Seriously, if you would cover the gaping floor hole from your leaky toilet with sheetrock rather than just fix the damn toilet, you shouldn’t own a house. Apartment buildings with supers are wonderful things. I know. That’s the way I grew up. Call this a rebellion against my parents.
It’s not going to repair itself on it’s own, whether you cover it up or not.
Just do the right thing. For you. For the house. For the next owner.
Of course I don’t really believe that recycling old building materials can ever go out of style. It’s just that….I’m having difficulty finding my own materials this time around!
I’ve been hitting up the usual suspects religiously and have come up with bupkas. Build it Green’s inventory in both Brooklyn and Queens is low. Shite, in fact. Vaccaro’s has some decent stuff, but none of it worked for me in regards to this reno. I only found some louver doors at Eddie’s to make a wall out of. He told me that a lot of new restaurants and bars come by to shop.
Which brings me to the point that every new restaurant opening in Brooklyn is decorated with salvaged materials.
Enough already! Leave some for me.
Oh, even Upstate was a bust. Hoffman’s Barn was packed when I was there on Saturday. No lie. Totally Hipsterville. WTF?
I used to do well on Craigslist too. Now? Nah.
The good news is that I’ll be exploring new places to shop this week or next. I’ll head over to CT, NJ and PA.
So take that, people stealing my reclaimed thunder!
Still a ways to go with the house but at least there are new walls and….yeah, that’s about it…new walls. It’s barely liveable but probably no worse than any other renovation that I’ve occupied full time. At least there is a toilet and a sink. They are located two flights from each other but they do exist.
We’ve come a long way in a week and some.
