Reuse. Rehabilitate. Restore. Architectural salvage and repurposed pieces for the home.
I Hate Everything Green: Alternative Consumer
Lost Neighborhood Landmarks: Curbed
Sales Hummin’ at East NY Conversion: Brownstoner
Holiday Tree Recycling: Flatbush Gardener
2008 Workshops at Howard Hall
Identity Theft in Clinton/Stuy: Bed Stuy Blog
Author: Brett
There it was, painted a creamy yellow color, which supposedly has the best “curb appeal”, but it did not need selling. A 1920s Colonial. From the enclosed porch to the backyard, this house was by far the nicest we had seen in the over 2 years that we have been looking. The house was draped in chestnut wood, from the ceiling beams and matching radiator covers to the banisters and railings and the second floor window seat. There were three ample bedrooms on the second floor and two additional rooms on the third, yes, the attic was finished. The kitchen was not enormous, but there was room for a small table and besides, there was the dining room, which overlooked the front porch. The cozy family room faced the back. The basement was finished. It was exquisite. We were in love.Continue reading Home Search: The One That Got Away
Green Home Improvement How To Guides: Low Impact Living
DIY Backyard Firepit: Charles and Hudson
Post Holiday Recycling Event: Sustainable Flatbush
How Does LEED’s ranking system work? My Green Home Blog
Streit’s Leaving LES: Curbed
Author: Brett
Where do Brooklynites go when they are priced out of the boro? To New Jersey, of course! We started looking in The Garden State two years ago. While I spent an entire year living in East Rutherford, NJ the year after college, Andrew has never had the experience of residing on the less glamorous side of the river.
Despite the hideously high property taxes, one can still find more for one’s money and live happily ever after—that is, if you can get over living in “Joisey”. I remember that I was in denial the entire time. It was an election year and I went around the corner from my apartment to vote. When they couldn’t find my name on the roster, I insisted that I was a registered voter. “Not in this state,” The clerk told me tartly. It suddenly dawned on me—I was a resident of New Jersey—yikes!Continue reading Feeling Jersey
Caroling. Ribbon cutting. Blessings.
Nine new affordable condos in Bed Stuy are complete now, thanks to Habitat for Humanity.
Each owner contributed 300 hours of labor with help from 4,000 skilled volunteers. Habitat hired a professional contractor for the exterior, core and shell of the buildings. The owners learned skills while basically building their own homes.
The condos are constructed of highly energy efficient “insulated concrete forms” meant to save homeowners up to 50% in energy bills. Eco friendly materials such as recycled glass countertops and cabinets consisting of sunflower seeds were used in the building process.
New homeowners received symbolic keys to the homes, located on Halsey Street, but cannot move in until early 2008.
Via Green Brooklyn
Via NY1
Author: Brett
Recently, Metro New York, that free newspaper distributed on the street, reported that more Park Slopers are moving to Montclair to avoid the alternate side parking. This fact made sense to me since we ruled out Montclair as a potential new home two years ago for their blatant lack of consideration for mass transit.
Many people may not know that the township of Montclair has forbidden NJ Transit from running trains on weekends and holidays. Which means that not a single town along the train line can use the train! I even went so far as to call NJ Transit and ask them why they had such limited service. “Ask the town of Montclair,” the rep told me. Outrageous? We thought so. Sure, there’s the Decamp Bus, but who wants to sit for an eternity trying to enter the Lincoln Tunnel when there’s a perfectly good train line going to waste? That’s why we decided long ago that we would only look in towns along a (working) train route.Continue reading Ye Ole Transit Village: Montclair & South Orange
$345k (site not updated): 4 BR
$375k: 4 BR
$429k: 5 BR
Interesting series of Q&A on The NY Time’s City Room last week. Joseph Berger, a an education and regional columnist for The New York Times took questions on NYC’s ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods.
Some highlights:
Favorite Italian neighborhood: Bensonhurst, because real Italians live there. He says the Little Italys of Manhattan and the Bronx have Italian shops and restaurants, but few actual Italians. The population of Bensonhurst is shifting too, as working class families are sending their children to better schools and when the children return, concrete yards just ain’t good enough for them. The Chinese, who have an appreciation of rowhouses, are replacing the Italians. Bensonhurst is a quick subway ride to Sunset Park’s Chinatown.Continue reading New York’s Ethnic Neighborhoods
Ooh, people in Prospect Lefferts Gardens love their neighborhood! Jeez, I think I found more PLG blogs than I have in any other area.
I can see why PLG gets them feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside. There’s the architecture for starters. The bricks, brownstones and limestones in this area are unique to other brownstone neighborhoods. To my eye, they just seem to have more detail. And I’m not even talking about the homes in the Lefferts Manor historic landmark district. These mainly single family homes are truly magnificent.
There are many PLG haters out there, but I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s probably coming from a racist place, as the neighborhood has a large Caribbean population. In truth, the area is very diverse and neighbors actually talk to one other.
Much like nearly every affordable NYC neighborhood covered here, newcomers are moving in and PLG is riding the gentrification wave. Amenities have increased in the past few years, including a new grocery, cafe and a
Prospect Lefferts, which I’m pretty sure is part of Flatbush (I think the verdict is still out on that one), is about 30 minutes to Manhattan via the Q, B, 2 or 5 trains. The neighborhood sits right near Prospect Park and the Botanic Gardens. Kinda makes you wonder why people are paying 4x the price for homes on the other side of the park.
Across The Park
Planet PLG
Hawthorne Street
My Life In Brooklyn
Sustainable developer/architect Mark Helder is aiming for a LEED Platinum rating for his current project in Williamsburg. Platinum is the highest green rating and if he achieves this, it will be the first Platinum LEED building in NYC.
Construction on the 5 story building at 439 Metropolitan Avenue started in August 2007. The ground floor and cellar will act as Mark’s office space. There will be 2 duplex condos on the top floors. The building features radiant heat, filtered ventilation air with heat recovery, a green roof and passive and active solar design (PV and hot water). Low or zero VOC materials were used and all appliance are energy star rated.
Mark studied architecture at Hogeschool van Amsterdam. He is also director of The Urban Ore Initiative, an Amsterdam based non profit dedicated to showcasing quality sustainable design created by emerging artists and designers. He is coordinating almost all aspects of this project by himself, including financial, marketing, design, tax abatements, project managment and LEED documentation preparation.
Phoenicia is in the part of the Catskills where the landscape starts to become exceptionally breathtaking, but it’s still only 120 miles north of the city. That’s not to say I’m dismissing the southern Catskills. I just feel like it gets more beautiful the farther north you head.
Main Street Phoenicia is a quaint and colorful hamlet sandwiched between the mountains. It’s welcoming to weekenders. In fact, I might even suggest that it caters to weekenders.
And why not? Apart from just relaxing and taking in the sheer beauty, the area has much to offer. For active folks, 3 major ski areas are all located about 1/2 hour away. Hunter, Belleayre and Windham offer skiing, snowboarding and snowtubing for the graceful impaired (that would be me). In the summer, there are mountain hikes and tubing on the Esopus.
But back to the town. No visit to Phoenicia would be complete without breakfast at the world famous Sweet Sue’s. Ok, Ulster County famous. They serve 25 types of pancakes and offer vegetarian “meat” options. There are art galleries, cool shops and a retreat center as well as a nearby Buddhist monastery.
Adirondack Trailways travels to Phoenicia; however, getting around the area without a car could be problematic. The town is small enough to cover in a few hours.
$ 165k: 1876 Farmhouse
$175K: Rustic contemporary
$199K: Sweet cottage
Tonight (Don’t blame me for the short notice. It was just posted yesterday!) 6-9pm at Henrybuilt, 79 Grand Street, NYC.
Hosted by: Treehugger, MocoLoco, Brownstoner, Curbed, Apartment Therapy and Cool Hunting.
January 9-11 at the Marriott Marquis, Times Square
Register in advance.
Presented by Inman News. Lectures and workshops on all things real estate. Speakers include big wig brokers and magazine editors, but the most important speaker….my idol, Craig Newmark.
