Fixer Upper Friday: Linden Court 2BR

Zillow

A Zillow alert caught my eye this morning, because it's exactly the kind of home that I look for when I'm on the hunt for my next fixer upper. It's listed for $335,000, when most two-bedrooms of similar size in this neighborhood list for $450,000-$550,000, depending on the quality of the renovations. Given the price differential, this means the buyer of the fixer upper will have roughly $215,000 to work with to bring it up to market. That's more than ample to do what's needed: skim coat and paint the walls, refinish the floors, update the wiring, and gut renovate both the kitchen and bath. Built in 1919, the home retains some beautiful detail. Let's take a look.

IKEA Viktigt Patio Inspiration Board

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Have you seen IKEA's Viktigt line? I haven't been this excited about an IKEA product launch since last year's 365+ glass and cork pitchers and carafes, which I bought in multiples for myself and even gave as gifts.

5 Things to Look Out for When Buying a Recycled Kitchen

I got an email asking how I can tell a recycled kitchen will work for me. Good question! The cost savings will be completely negated if it ends up not working in your space. Here are 5 things to keep in mind if you're shopping for a recycled kitchen, plus, a real-life example of a kitchen I've been considering — and how I discovered it won't work.

Sketchup of My Open Concept Kitchen

Inspired by that recycled kitchen I've been stalking on Green Demolitions, I started to reimagine what our home will look like if I open the wall between the kitchen and living room. I mean really look like. Will the living room feel cramped? Can the dining table be relocated to what's now the entry foyer? Will it all flow? This is a job for Sketchup!

This Recycled Kitchen Is Calling My Name!

Since the day I set eyes on our home – when renovations were just a gleam in my iPad – I've been casually stalking recycled kitchens. Today I came across one that could make me pull the trigger on this renovation.

Affordable Midcentury Chairs for the Bedroom

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Iconic furniture designer Mies van der Rohe once said: “A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” His Barcelona chair has certainly withstood the test of time, ubiquitous as it is in interior design today. Beautifully spare, it's also surprisingly comfortable.

I'm on the hunt for a pair of chairs for our bedroom that complement the mood and color scheme of the recent makeover, but are also inviting and comfortable to sit in. I'm struck by how very expensive the good ones are, which I suppose is testament to the design challenge a choice chair represents.

Here are some that catch my eye; tell me what you think?

Dyeing Mystery Bleach Spots Out of Towels

Has this ever happened to you? You spring for the luxury towels, only to have them pop out of the dryer one day with orange bleach spots — when you don't even use bleach. What was causing this? And could I salvage the towels? Rit dye worked on the chair. Here's what happened when I tried it on the towels.

CB2 Slice Hack: Floating Nightstands

After months of searching fruitlessly for mid-century floating nightstands that we like, I decided to wall-mount two Slice cabinets from CB2 at nightstand height. The install was more challenging than it should have been, due to our plaster-masonry walls, but it all worked out. Here's a step by step of how we did it — including the embarrassing number of holes that I put in our walls trying to find a stud that isn't there.

 

Bedroom Reveal

The bedroom remodel is finished! Well... almost. I installed the floating nightstands today. And what a difference it made. Here's a reminder of how the bedroom looked before we started.

Hanging Heavy Things on Masonry-Plaster Walls

I used toggle bolts to hang these floating shelves

Before we became homeowners, we lived in many rentals in New York City. Lucky for me, none of our landlords ever stipulated in the lease that we couldn't hang things on the walls or paint the walls bright colors, the way you hear many landlords do. Still, I was always cautious about hanging things. Because rental apartments in NYC had started out as single-family dwellings and over time became subdivided into apartments you could encounter a real mix of wall substrates, from plaster over masonry to wall board, in the same room. The first step is to determine exactly what your walls are made of, because the methods that work for drywall are the absolute wrong approach for plaster walls and could damage the plaster. Worse, whole shelves could come tumbling down. 

Bedroom Makeover Update

So, remember when I said weekend project, wall-mounted nightstands? That was a few weeks ago. We hit a roadbump with the merchant CB2. They have a service, where you can order online, then pick up next day from a local store. So, eager to get started, I chose that option. A few hours later I got a call from the store saying they were on backorder in all NYC stores. When I asked why the website shows they have three available, the guy said, "We do, but only one is in good condition." I guess that meant the others were in crushed boxes or something. So, we have to wait for the backorders afterall. In the meantime, I've been making some progress on the bedding.

Upcoming Projects — Including One for This Weekend

CB2

Hey, Ya'll. We have a busy weekend coming up! Hot on the heels of finishing up the installation of the curtains in the bay window yesterday, I'll be installing the floating nightstands.

Troubleshooting IKEA Kvartal Curtain Rods Install

There are FOUR things you must know before installing the IKEA Kvartal on any window, including a bay window — miss any one of these and you'll be running out to a hardware store or back to IKEA for spare parts.

Installing Ikea Kvartal Rail System on a Bay Window

I'm ready to kick off our master bedroom makeover — starting with curtains for the bay window. Have you priced curtain rods for bay windows? Yowza! That's one reason we'll be going with Ikea. I've used their rail system in the past and I recall it being a tricky install. But, what the hay. I'm game!

Reveal: New Design Using Blogger's "Picture Window"

So, you're accustomed to seeing me present big reveals of rooms and projects, but today's reveal is a new design for Renov8or.

When I moved Renov8or to Blogger, I used an off-the-shelf template called "Picture Window". It had the advantage of being very easy for a novice to jump in with. All I wanted to do was write and share photos, so it was fine for me. Over time, however, I've been feeling its limitations. Slowly but surely, I've been learning how to hack the Picture Window template.

Cheater's Guide to Touching Up Wall Paint

We're coming up on two years since we bought our home, so that means two years since we painted. With holiday guests expected, it's time for a touch up. So a few weeks back I went through the house looking over all the walls and placed a small piece of blue painter's tape next to every scuff, smudge, and scratch. Then I rooted through my paint closet and found the unused paint that I had thought to store, clearly labeled Farrow & Ball Blackened — thank you, Past Self! All I had to do now was mix some of that with 50% water, test a small area to see if the color blended (finger's crossed), and get this job done.

Chair Makeover — Oh Yes You Can Paint Upholstery!

Restored to its original color

I've had this chair for more than a dozen years, and I still love it. Manufactured by Youngs Furniture in Portland, Maine, who source from local, artisanal furniture makers - it was holding up well. The foam was firm and still retained its shape. Only the color had faded, and this was accentuating stains and fabric pilling.  Was it time to say goodbye to this little red chair?

Bedroom Inspiration: Yellow and Gray

1. Duvet fabric, Bubbles - Sterling, Tonic Living
2. Yellow bureau - street find
3. Chair fabric, Casablanca Geo - Citrine, Tonic Living
4. Gray campaign dresser, inherited
5. Piston lamp, Lite Source Inc.
6. Floating nightstands, Slice Wall-Mounted Storage Shelf, CB2
7. Min Bed, Design Within Reach 

What do you think of the gray and yellow theme for a bedroom?

Installing a Custom Kick Plate on the Front Door

Remember when I cleaned off years of sloppy paint jobs and restored our midcentury door hardware? The icing on the cake turned out to be that custom-order solid brass kick plate, which tied everything together. I promised instructions on how to order and install a kick plate, so here goes.

Rental Renovation: Retro Kitchen Makeover for $350

Is it worthwhile spending money to upgrade a rental?

For two years before we bought our current home, we lived in a cute cottage in Sunnyside Gardens. It was a rental - Ross had been living there 14 years before we met. Our landlady, a lovely woman who lived in the cottage across the path, was born and raised there. Like almost all of the buildings in the neighborhood, it was a 3-family residence - two up and one down, as they say. Generally, owners lived in the two-bedroom units on the ground floor while the one-bedrooms above them provided rental income. The neighborhood was booming, with the cottages increasingly being converted to one-family homes.