Remodeling Around an Ugly Granite Countertop

Would you choose this granite for your countertop?

Our home's previous owner (PO) did. I think it's a Juparana Florence or Juparana Bordeaux or Juparana Crema. It's hard to tell for certain. The color looks different, depending on the light.

The Right Height for Hanging Artwork in Your Home

This weekend I broke down and did something around the house that I'd been meaning to do for some time: I re-hung every single piece of artwork the proper height. So, what is the right height?

Restoring Luster to Mid-Century Wood Furniture

One of my favorite antiquing finds since we've moved into our home are the little mid-century console table and mirror in the foyer that I found on separate trips to Beall and Bell in Greenport, my go-to for their great eye and nicely edited selection of mid-century furniture.

After a year, the table was starting to lose some of it's luster.  I had heard about Feed-n-Wax from bloggers like HouseTweaking, so I decided to give it a try.

Our White Kitchen Makeover for Under $3,000

After we closed on our 1946 home in New York City, we immediately embarked on a gut renovation of the bathroom — taking walls down to the studs, floors down to the beams. A bathroom renovation of that magnitude back then ran about $20k-$30k, so I knew there'd not be a whole lot of budget left to upgrade the kitchen. I had to get creative and focus on things that could be most easily and most economically changed. Here's a look at it "before":

Could Roller Blinds Be the Perfect Midcentury Window Treatment?

Amy Lau Designs 

The window treatments really make this room, don't you think? I learned from reading the interior designer Amy Lau's comments on Houzz that the curtain fabric shown in this picture was designed by textile artist Judy Ross. I keep that bit of info tucked away for future renovations. Because my current living room isn't having it. And that's not really surprising when you consider that this apartment was built in 1946.

Fixer Upper Friday: Cost of Renovations $0

Our $0 renovation

This isn't going to be a post about scouring the internet for the best deal on fixtures. Or how to find upcycled goods at salvage yards. Or even how to cut your contractor costs by doing some DIY yourself. (Though, I can readily get behind any one or all of those things.)

This is about something very real that you don't hear too much about in the home blogs. How to buy a home that's equity will pay for your renovation.

If I were to add up the cost of the renovations to our new home - contractor fees, materials, and fixtures - it totals more than $40k. But it didn't cost us a cent.

Wa-wa-what what? That's right. Here's how we did it.

Roof Reveal: Cedar Shakes = Cottage Love

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There are a lot of new plastic or rubber shingles that have a cedar look, but we chose to go with old fashioned wood shakes. And Arthur and his crew installed them the old fashioned way, nailing them in one by one (with the modern application of course of the nail gun!)

We chose white cedar because it weathers gray - and gray will be a sweet look for a modest cottage like ours with white trim.

How to Remove a Broken Lightbulb From a Fixture

Sutton Double Sconce - Restoration Hardware

We've been very happy with the fixtures we chose for our bathroom renovation. The chrome medicine cabinets and sconces complement the console sink and give the room exactly the retro modern look we were going for.

So I have to say I was surprised and a tiny bit annoyed when a bulb blew out in one of the sconces after only 7 months wear, and when I went to replace it, the bulb snapped apart with the metal base remaining stuck in the fixture.

Thanksgiving: DIY Table Extension to Seat Six

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm not cooking today, as we'll be guests, so that gave me some time to work on a project that I've been meaning to get to: Extending our four-top table to seat six.

Saturday we will be hosting "Second Thanksgiving" for family members we won't get to see today. It will be our first dinner party in our new home and I've been planning it for weeks, with every weekend spent knocking out some little DIY task not big enough to merit a post - like caulking the kitchen backsplash ( finally), painting the molding alongside the cabinets (finally), removing a broken lightbulb from a fixture (I did post about that, actually), and finally, this project: Extending our 42" round table of four into a rectangular 42" x 68" table for six.

So, let's get right to it.

DIY: Making White Slipcovers Without a Pattern

The holidays are approaching, and I have a to-do list as long as my arm. Nothing like the prospect of entertaining guests in your home to get you to finish off all those tedious five-minute projects that would otherwise never get done. Projects such as caulking the kitchen backsplash, painting trim, hanging shelves - post-move projects that I had put off for the summer months. Well, now here we are in November and its crunch time. It took this weekend and last, but I crossed a big one off the list: slipcovering the little mod settee in our entryway.

Goodbye Tulip Chairs, Hello Catifa 53

When form and function meet in perfect alchemy, there's no feeling like it in the world. I knew that I would have these chairs in my home some day. And that day has come. The tulips are out and the Catifas are in! Why?

Cottage Renovation: Cedar Shake Roof vs Asphalt Roof

Our little cottage, with photo-shopped cedar roof -- hah! wish it were so easy!

It's been a while since I posted about our little cottage on the Northfork of Long Island, NY. But that doesn't mean nothing's been going on there. We do try to make at least one improvement each year, depending on the Renov8or budget. 

We knew last year that the roof was starting to go. When we engaged a carpenter to build us a shed out back, he pointed out the wear and tear to our roof and said that ought to be our next project. The asphalt shingles were peeling in places and it was starting to sag in spots over the porch. At that point we had to make a decision - shed or roof - we couldn't afford to do both. We already had the shed plans drawn up and in our imaginations the thing was already built, so we went with the shed. 

Ikea Hack: Home Office for Two

I've been dreaming of a white office with a floating desk for some time. A real home office that would bring all of our office gear into one place and with enough storage options that I wasn't looking at piles of papers, computer equipment, scanner/printer cords and files every place I turned around.

Ikea Hack: Cutting SKOGSKLÖVER and ENJE Roller Blinds to Fit Your Windows

This article was originally published after I hacked the ENJE roller blinds, now discontinued. They were replaced by a newer model, introduced in the 2017 IKEA catalog drop. The new SKOGSKLÖVER roller blinds are made of the same solar mesh and can be hacked in almost exactly the same way. Here's how you do it.

Slipcovers Make an Old Sofa New Again

Before you consign that old sofa to a Re-Store, could that sofa be saved? I had ours slipcovered and they look as good as new. Even better, they fit right in with the midcentury style of our home.

Choosing Lighting Fixtures for Our Midcentury Home

Sputnik has landed!

I ordered the Sputnik light fixture for our foyer back in February, when, hot on the heels of the home purchase closing and with renovation plans still just a gleam in my ipad, it was, unbelievably, time to start deciding on fixtures and getting them in.

This is the reality of every renovation project that never fails to take me by surprise. Back out two months from your demo date, and you've got to start purchasing or you'll blow your renovation timeline.

Update Your Furniture with New Mid-Century Legs

As I mentioned before, our sofa is about 20 years old. One of the first major purchases of my life post-college, it came with a matching chair and ottoman and all were covered in "shabby chic" slipcovers - that were the big thing at the time. 

Fast forward 20 years, the furniture was starting to look run down and dated. 

Not the kind of thing that I wanted to put in our new mid-century home. But I wasn't ready to donate them to a thrift store just yet. Could this furniture be saved?

Mid-Century NYC Apartment: House Tour

The Building

Built in 1946, our building is a classic example of the art deco buildings of the era in New York City. It was designed by architect Philip Birnbaum, who went on in his later years to design hundreds of New York high rises, including Lincoln Center Plaza. Birnbaum was an architect best known for his interiors. Developers applauded his economical use of space. But, inspired by a British urban planning ethos called the Garden City movement, he packed a whole lot of light and air into his designs. 

Having grown up poor in New York City, Birnbaum brought an appreciation for small-space living and public vs. private spaces to his work, resulting in very congenial floor plans.

I love the interior architecture of our home, but I have to say that I quite like the exterior of our building, too, with its compact scale, minimalist marquee entry, and open balconies (despite some of the clumsy enclosures.)

For Mr. Renov8or a major attraction was the underground parking garage, and I've grown to appreciate that too, especially on summer weekends driving back from the North Fork. To swoop right into the "bat cave," unload bags, pets, and gear, and cart it all up the elevator in one fell swoop rather than spend hours circling the neighborhood looking for parking late on a Sunday night, as we used to in Brooklyn, is very hospitable. 

Now, let's have a look inside.

Security Gates on Fire Escape Windows Can Be Pretty!

This is likely not a problem for people who live in the suburbs, but for urban area dwellers, securing fire escape windows is serious business. Unfortunately, when you go to source protective gates for your windows, this is standard:

It's unfathomable to me why anyone would cover a window with all this metal, much less "show" a home for sale with iron bars on the windows, but many do. When we first viewed our home, it had both security gates and child gates. Literally every window was obscured by iron bars of some kind. How inviting! (Not.)

Removing Old Paint from Door Knobs and Hardware

The door knobs in our mid-century home are original, circa 1946, which means they're made of solid brass.

Unfortunately, former residents painted over them. Boo! What's a Renov8or to do?