Skip to content

Page Header

Posts tagged reclaimed

Stone House Compound

Stone House Compound published on

stables

The Stables (our rental)

I’m baaaack! This reclaimed chick couldn’t have stayed at a more appropriate accommodation in County Mayo as an appreciater of reclaim-ed-ness. Who knew? Twas my brother in law who picked the cottage, not moi.

The 100 acre farm has been in the Keane family since the 1600’s. There are still cattle roaming about. As a vegetarian, this made me sad, but I will say that at least these guys looked as happy as they can be even though their lives will be short. 🙁

The idea of converting the barn, granary and stables into vacation rentals was the idea of this generation’s Momma Keane. These impressive “country folk” have an awesome sense of design and style. Or they just hired realllly good architects and builders.

On to my horrible iPhone pictures!

house

The Main House (not for rent)

old house

The Barn

granary

The Granary

mantel

Our Stone Fireplace with gorgeous beam

closet

Sliding door that I want to show my carpenter (pay no attention)

floor

Pitch Pine floors reclaimed from a nearby town

seat

Antique tools and parts act as sculptures throughout the property.

patio

Stone patio overlooking the cattle. They come to get treats just like dogs.

Curb Appeal:Fences

Curb Appeal:Fences published on 2 Comments on Curb Appeal:Fences

Your typical black picket fence.

Looks like a pain in the arse to build but it’s gawgeous!

This is very modern and sleek, but you can also use reclaimed  discolored slats to give it a more “used” look.

Got some old skis lying around? How about other sports gear?

Yes, it’s beautiful and a very cool idea, but how practical is a glass fence?

Refacing Furniture

Refacing Furniture published on 2 Comments on Refacing Furniture

Hey kids! Here are more ways to save those pieces of furniture from the landfills. Plus, your friends will envy you for your kick-ass creations!

Idea #1: Plaster some vintage signs on that sh*t.

Idea #2: Old rulers and yard sticks! I’ve made frames and small pieces from rulers but never thought to do an entire surface. Pretty cool.

Idea #3: Laminate. Gorgeous laminate. I wouldn’t even know where to find stuff like that.

Idea #4: Got time on your hands? Bottle cap it.

Marble Window Sill

Marble Window Sill published on 2 Comments on Marble Window Sill

This is a work in progress and it doesn’t look like much now, but I’m excited that after oh, about four years of plywood window sills, we finally cut the marble to install. The plan has always been to use the recycled marble that came from our fireplace hearth. Two slabs were sitting in the backyard. Don’t know what took so long.

The pieces are not wide enough. We’ll use smaller cuts on the sides and fill it in with grout to make up the difference. Wood molding will be added to the front, painted to match the radiator cover.

It will take about another four years to for the finished product.

Reclaiming Our Roots

Reclaiming Our Roots published on 4 Comments on Reclaiming Our Roots

Reclaimed Home is going back to its roots! After moving back to Brooklyn, where space is an issue, we stopped collecting larger salvaged items for reuse. Well, it’s time to expand again.

Starting a tiny home based business was a breeze. Starting a small business with a team is a bit more challenging. But you know what? It’s important that we do this now for a variety of reasons.

Saving building materials from the landfills. Mother Earth is screaming for help. Tons of demolition rubbish goes into dumpsters every day.

Presenting restoration options for folks of all income levels. We’re going through some rough economic times. Why shouldn’t everyone have the same access to beautiful architectural details and furnishings for their dwellings?

Preserve our history! Old homes are being torn down to make way for new construction. Historic details are discarded of during renovations. The skilled craftspeople who created these materials are long gone. Let’s give their work a second life.

Here’s what you can do to help us achieve our goals. If it can be recycled, please don’t throw it out! We’ll take reusable materials off your hands. If you’re doing a renovation or know of someone who is, contact us before you allow your contractor to destroy house parts and throw them in the dumpster. We’ll carefully remove the items for you so someone else can make use of them.

It will save you demolition fees. It will save you disposal rates. Most importantly, it will save our planet from overflowing landfills.

You can email us by hitting the “contact” link at the top of the middle column. We thank you and Momma Earth thanks you.

 

 

 

Reclaimed Lumber Shipped Nationwide

Reclaimed Lumber Shipped Nationwide published on

We usually try to stick to local reclaimed wood resources but new advertiser Reclaimed Lumber (see link on the sidebar) has a warehouse in Pennsylvania. That’s local enough. Plus, they do ship nationwide.

The wide plank pine shown in the above photo is $5.95 per square foot. That’s not bad! The website says that shipping should cost less than $250.

One can get lost on the site. There’s all sorts of reclaimed flooring, including pine and oak from barns and wine barrels. But flooring is just the start. There’s paneling that’s not your grandma’s 1970’s wall paneling. Ceiling panels, reclaimed wood furniture, beams, frames and slabs. It’s the go-to source for reclaimed wood in any form.

You can buy and sell barns on the site. No sh*t! And old log cabins!

Kind of makes me wish I was restoring an old country home.

Reclaimed Building Materials, NY

Reclaimed Building Materials, NY published on

We’ve posted local reclaimed lumber resources here before, but the list keeps growing. Before checking out any of these pricey places, be sure to have a look at Craigslist first to see if anyone is giving away materials they don’t need. It happens.

Need recycled bricks? Chief’s in The Bronx sells used bricks and cobblestones.

Here are a few reclaimed wood and flooring companies to check out:

Antique and Vintage Woods. Upstate.

Restoration Timber @ NY Design Center

Cornerstone Salvage. NYC

And don’t forget this Coney Island boardwalk wood!

Grand Entrance

Grand Entrance published on

Before: hallway

I was just looking back on some old Flickr photos of my Bed Stuy renovation and realized that I never blogged about my fabulous parlor floor hallway. (Nor various other little projects)

That’s the before shot you see above. The previous owners “renovated” the house. Oh please, don’t get me started. Everything in the hallway was painted a glossy shit brown…the bannister, the newel post, the doors and the molding.

After: Hallway

We took the double doors down and stripped and repaired them. They were in pretty bad shape and needed some fill in material. The back door with that badly home made transom was switched out for an antique door that actually fit into the frame.

Ah, but my pride and joy is that newel post! The one that was there when we bought the house consisted of four pieces of plywood boxed together with a Home Depot doodad on top. We found a gorgeous salvaged newel post that would have been original to a brownstone of this era and replaced it with that. The post was stripped and stained to match everything else.

The Victorian light fixture and ornate radiator were also salvaged finds.

This stuff doesn’t really take much design skill. It’s kind of just like putting back what was taken out.

Public Real Estate Auctions

Public Real Estate Auctions published on

Hubby and I hit our first real estate auction in the County of Kings earlier this week. We know folks who’ve bought at auction before, but we were always suckers for paying market value.

So, here’s the rundown. The auctions of real property are run by the Public Administrator of Kings County. Go to the government website to see when the next auction is and which properties are listed. There’s a preview the weekend prior to bidding, or at least that was the case with the June auction.

If you want to bid you’ll need a certified or bank check for 10% of the opening bid. Bring a blank check to pay the rest of the deposit because chances are the opening bid is not the final price. If you win the bidding that means you go into contract immediately. This is NOT contingent upon inspection or mortgage. You must have all of your little ducks in a row before bidding or else you stand to lose your deposit. No joke.

Auctions are not for the faint of heart. It’s a risky business and you may be bidding against investors and developers whom have been around the corner before. Know what you’re getting yourself into….

You may inherit tenants. The property may even be an SRO. The two places we looked at in Bed Stuy had senior women living there for 30-40 years. Who wants to kick them out? Not me!

Who knows what’s up with the previous owner? Some of these are estate sales of folks who didn’t have wills. Family members sometimes expect something. I’m sure they chill once the property is sold, but I’ve heard some crazy stories about what happens leading up to the auction.

Take your time with the previews because you don’t get an inspection. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, it might be a wise choice to hire an inspector for the day of previews. Or a contractor or architect. Or a friend who knows something about houses. This will cost a good few hundred bucks (not the friend-buy them pizza) so be sure you’re serious about bidding.

If you end up buying at auction, don’t expect the place to be broom swept. The city and the tenants will probably leave a bunch of crap behind. I’d also imagine it’s a safe bet to go the legal renovation route by filing with the DOB as the city will know you just purchased a fixer upper. Am I being paranoid? I dunno.

So, why do it? Here’s a partial list of properties and what they sold for.

582 Bainbridge St. Sort of east Bed Stuy/Ocean Hill/Bushwick. Opening bid: $290k. Sold: $300k

163A Halsey St. Bed Stuy, right around the corner from moi! House needed updating and restoration but had some fabulous detail! Partial SRO status was a bit off putting. Opening bid: $325k. Sold: $400k.

2633 Hubbard St. Sheepshead Bay single family. Opening bid: $300k. Sold: $390k.

1130 Brighton Beach Ave. 1 BR coop apartment. I really wanted to preview this one because the opening bid was $65k, but we just couldn’t make it out to Brighton over the weekend. It ended up selling for $130k. A studio coop apartment on Brighton 1st went for $155k. That was a more modern building (1960’s/70’s?). A 1BR in Bay Ridge didn’t sell at $180k. With coops, you have to deal with the board and then there may be flip taxes and transfer fees.

174 Lincoln Place. Opening bid: $1.75. Sold: $ 2.675. The highest priced “sold” property of the day. An Albee Square property that was going for $3.6 did not sell. Oooh, there were lots of bidders on this prime Slope mixed use building! Four ground floor commercial units and up to 6 residential units upstairs with only a single tenant remaining. Property taxes on this baby? $28k. Ouch! Rent roll? A gazillion dollars.

69 Sterling St. I believe this is Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Opening bid: $499k. Sold: $499k. Looks like someone got a sweet deal, although I didn’t see the interior.

4628 Beach 46th St. This place was getting bid up and we were like “Where the F is that?” I thought it was Dyker Heights or somewhere near there. Looking at the map, it seems to be Sea Gate, a gated community at the tip of Coney Island. Interesting. Opening bid: $$320k. Sold: $425k.

331A Stuyvesant Ave. This was the other house we actually previewed. A 2 family with older tenants that kept the house in decent shape. Some details remain, but the house needs updating and restoration. Really, not major work. A friend of a friend wanted this but got outbid. 🙁 Opening bid: $315k. Sold: $350k.

151 Prospect Ave. Interesting, I thought there would be some crazy bidding on this house because people are going gaga for the South Slope these days. (Yeah, I know…it’s really Gowanus over here.) Starting bid: $250k. Sold: $350k. I’m thinking the buyer could probably do NOTHING and turn around and flip it for $500k.

155 Berry St. First photo above. I saved this one for last because had us floored until we figured out just how much Williamsburg property is worth to developers. Opening bid: $695k. There were maaannnnyyy bidders going nuts. This little shack actually went for $1million and change. Surely, it’s a tear down.

Fascinating, no? Oh, and the nicest thing? Everybody applauds each time someone wins a bid.

Renovating on a Tight Budget

Renovating on a Tight Budget published on 1 Comment on Renovating on a Tight Budget

If your renovation is costing more than you paid for your house, something is wrong. You shouldn’t have to sell your first born to update a home. Sure, there are certain large ticket items you wouldn’t want to skimp on….roof, windows, facade, boiler, structural. But semi-skilled work? Come on.

As you know, I’m a big advocate for DIY. If you put in the sweat equity, you can be save yourself in the vicinity of $40k. I came up with that estimate by comparing DIY input to that of an unskilled day laborer at $125 per day over the course of a year. My own skills are superior to a guy you pick up at Home Depot, so my own estimate is probably double that. Obviously you wouldn’t quit your $200k per year job to do it, but as a freelancer earning bupkas, I was able to put in the time. My husband who put in a lot less time because he actually has a full time job and does earn something, probably saved us even more while only working on the house on weekends. That’s because he has mad skills.

Before I go into materials, just a few thoughts on other ways to save on labor. Painting and demolition parties, barters, hiring apprentices to high end contractors and of course picking up day laborers.

Materials range from free to high end. Since this has the words “tight budget” in the post title, guess where I’m going with this?

FREE

It would be a fun experiment to try to do an entire renovation free of cost. But nothing is ever free. It would take tons of time and probably cost more in fuel than trying to buy locally. But here goes…..

1. Craigs List. Go directly to the “free” section. You may find anything from sheetrock scraps to clawfoot tubs. People measure wrong, decide to use something else or may want to recycle what they are ripping out.

2. Freecyle.org Sign up for the group to gain access to a nationwide network of recycled goodies. IMO, it sounds a whole lot better than it is. When I signed up, I couldn’t believe the audacity of some people. One of the requests I saw was for a minivan for someone with 8 kids. Hello, maybe you should stop having kids if you can’t afford a van! But I digress. You can post your own needs, search for what’s out there and offer up what you no longer want.

3. Dumpster Diving. Oh yeah! I’m talking dumpsters parked outside of a renovation, obviously. Better still, find the fixer uppers that have just closed, contact contractors and demolition guys to see if they’ll give you the head’s up. No, they won’t be happy, but one or two of them might not think it’s great to stick everything in the landfill. You know, those sensitive contractors.

Almost Free

1. Craigslist. This time search “materials”.

2. ReStores. Located throughout the US and Canada. Run by Habitat for Humanity, these shops take donations from the public and sell the items at a fraction of the cost. They have everything including the kitchen sink. Paints, cabinets, light fixtures, furniture….

3. Build it Green. I saw a coffin in here once. If you live in NYC, this place is just as good as any Restore since the closest ReStore is in Mt. Vernon. BIG is a huuuuge warehouse in Queens. They have new and used studs, wiring, cabinets, doors, windows, appliances and more. Do keep in mind that items like plywood, sheetrock and studs go quickly as these are basic to any renovation.

4. Salvage! There are antique architectural salvage yards all over the planet. Although you might sometimes find a bargain at Olde Good Things or Demolition Depot, they are not for the shallow pocketed. My two local faves: Eddie Hibbert in Clinton Hill and Vaccaro’s in Gowanus. I’m talking antique french doors for 20 bucks and marble mantels for less than $400. *They may need work.

5. Overstock and Closeouts. Every now and then, manufacturers need to get rid of some clutter. There are samples, irregulars and dead stock taking up space. They don’t always post it online, but I’ll give you a for instance. I once found the mother load of concrete tiles, countertops and sinks on Craigslist. Get Real Surfaces in Poughkeepsie was having a sale to get rid of dead inventory. I made out with enormous boxes of tile for $10 per box. They were probably worth about $20 per square foot.

6. Ebay. Did you know that you can buy faucets, toilets and tools on Ebay? Yep, it’s all there!

7. Overstock.com. Sometimes good for faucets, shower and light fixtures, tiles…it kind of depends on what they have that week. Hit or miss.

Upscale. Low Budget

Green Demolitions. Buy what the millionaires got tired of looking at. Top shelf appliances (think Viking, Sub Zero) and cabinets for a ton less than what you would pay new. These aren’t completely inexpensive, but it’s a good deal for what it is!

PS: Side effects may include saving the planet while saving your pocketbook.

Salvage Feast in Short Hills

Salvage Feast in Short Hills published on

I was contacted by a gentleman in Short Hills, NJ who wants to recycle all building material from a 12,000 sq ft house that’s being torn down. The major players are coming to have a look: Olde Good Things, Green Demolitions and Build it Green. There may be items they won’t take or you may be able to get there first. In any case, here are some photos of what’s on offer. Email lgsfecuaAThotmailDOTcom if interested.

Government Properties for Sale

Government Properties for Sale published on 3 Comments on Government Properties for Sale

Back when NYC was run down during my youth, I heard stories about abandoned buildings that could be bought for one dollar. I remember thinking that I wanted to do it, but I was like twelve. Well, FYI, there are still abandoned government properties and they are ready to deal!

It’s doubtful these properties are the greatest bargain ever, but there may be a good buy in there somewhere. Plus, purchasing one of these places helps pay off the national debt. The map lists industrial structures, monuments, office buildings and land across the United States. Most of the local properties are in the Gateway National Recreation Area. Seems like a good idea for factories or artist cooperatives.

No prices. You must inquire for more details.

Via NPR

Primary Sidebar