Show us your vintage home!

[RBH]

Good luck FF... hope things smooth out and we can 'see' your progress!

 

[Fading Fast]

Good luck FF... hope things smooth out and we can 'see' your progress!

Thanks, this has been a tough two weeks of unexpected problems and expenses preventing any real progress. And I hate that I can feel how some people are just trying to get more money out of me - very exhausting. But I'll work it out and get it back on track and, then, the fun pictures will return. I appreciate your kind wishes.

 

[Fading Fast]

Post I of III today

So we've had a few hiccups on the renovation of our 1928 coop apartment. Owning a Coop apartment in NYC is not like owning a house in a normal part of the country. At each step (and at our expense), somebody - the Department of Buildings, the Coop's architect, the guy who sells fruit on the corner - comes up and inspects the work and, then, seems to have unlimited powers to force you to do more work than you wanted (rant over).

As a result we have spent over three weeks assessing, hiring someone to do and, then, doing the additional plumbing work in the bathroom and kitchen (and it should be finished up next week). While much progress has gone on away from my rebuilding the infrastructure of the fountains at Versailles (okay, the rant wasn't fully over), it did cause some real delays.

But I do have some fun progress / update photos for those who have been following along (I'm going to take a couple of post to get them all up).

This is the kitchen being rebuilt (some of you probably remember the fully demoed kitchen, so you can see the work they've done)



And this is a closer shot of the ceiling which, when we took down the old drop ceiling had beams that - while causing some cabinetry re-design - are great and we have left as much of them exposed as will be allowed by our need to run some electric in the ceiling (the old drop ceiling was down 8", our will be down only 2.75"). They are a little hard to see in this picture owing to the ongoing plaster work and light, but eventually they will "pop" nicely and bring back more of the pre-war aesthetic


A now up-to-code electrical box being installed


The living room being restored after much "channelling" to bring the electric 80+ years forward



More in next post

 

[Fading Fast]

Post II - 1928 Coop Restoration

We are using "sanitary movement" tile from a company that specializes in reproducing subway / sanitary movement tile - there are no dupes in the following pictures - it is all the tile for our kitchen and bathroom. It was "drop-shipped" to the sidewalk outside the apartment and it took me and one of the guys many hours to load them onto a hand truck, go down 20 stairs to the basement, up the elevator and then hand pass them into the apartment. And at no moment did I leave them unwatched on the sidewalk - NYC is much better than it was, but many boxes would have disappeared if I had.






One more post coming

 

[Fading Fast]

Post III 1928 Coop Apartment Restoration

We are not doing a big "home theater" thing - while we love movies, that just isn't us and think a TV with Sonos wireless speakers will do the trick nicely for a fraction of the cost of all the wiring necessary for the "real deal." That said, I work from home and absolutely need a strong, secure wireless network, so we - and I only learned this unfortunately at the last minute - needed to channel some "Cat 6 Ethernet" cables into the walls. Since this was a last minute discovery - the contractor didn't have it on hand, so Fading Fast raced over to Home Depot and - with a confidence that belied his basic ignorance - bought 100 feet of Cat 6 Ethernet cable Friday morning.

And here are our two Cat 6 lines being channeled out - later that morning - from what will be the location of our modem


And finally, this is our 1920s intercom phone that we bought on eBay but is a 90% match for what was originally in the apartment (based on one we saw in another apartment in the building, our original one had been replaced)

 

[Benproof]

Great blog post! I can identify with some of the stresses you've described in renovating an apartment on the top of a building...at least you have an elevator :{p

Interesting bakelite intercom design as well. Your apartment has some great dimensions height wise. You could probably project the movie onto the ceiling and keep it hidden in a pop up projector. Otherwise I'm like that too. Can't stand having a large screen indoors. It's another excuse to waste away time being passive and vegetable like!

 

[Stearmen]

This is not a request, just my musings! One of the future projects that I am going to do, is put some lights in the parlor. It is intolerably dark if you come in from the front door, and no light near to turn on. Three solutions, one a simple desk lamp, and an outlet operated by a switch at the door, easiest to do, least favorite. Two, sconce lights, period correct for electricity. Three, either kerosene or gas lamps on pulleys suspended from the ceiling, converted to electricity of course. My favorite, especially the kerosene lamps! My next big adventure, is to go to the library and see if gas, and when electricity arrived in my part of town! Yes, I tried the internet, all it talks about is Nikola Tesla's lightning experiments on the towns outskirts. So there was electricity by 1899, well, at least when Tesla wasn't overwhelming the system! I wonder if that's where Gene Roddenberry got the expression, "Scotty, we need more power."

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Started redoing the old shed in the back yard last week.
So far, have the roof done.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Also repainted the old flower beds in the front yard. Another WAYYYY overdue project lol

 

[1mach1]

Looking good, Tom!

 

[Fading Fast]

Tom, shed's roof looks good - can't wait to see it fully done. And the flower beds look awesome - they really pop now. In full bloom they are going to be spectacular. I think I mentioned this before, but I love driveways that are like yours - just center grass with a dirt path from the tire tracks. It looks more natural than a (IMHO) ugly blob of asphalt. My great uncle had a driveway just like that and I loved it (he had a home from the 1910s that had so many great features).

 

[Stearmen]

Looking good Tom! I hate painting though, need to do some on the outside before the snow flies.

 

[Stearmen]

I think I mentioned this before, but I love driveways that are like yours - just center grass with a dirt path from the tire tracks. It looks more natural than a (IMHO) ugly blob of asphalt. My great uncle had a driveway just like that and I loved it (he had a home from the 1910s that had so many great features).

I like that also! But, I also like the driveways, with just the concrete for the wheels, and grass in the middle.

 

[Fading Fast]

I like that also! But, I also like the driveways, with just the concrete for the wheels, and grass in the middle.

Agreed - that is a beautiful variation on the theme. And they look even better when the concrete is old, cracked and some greenery and weeds are growing through.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Thanks! I can't wait, either. I know the guy who did the cleanup when this place went into foreclosure. He said they didn't even know the shed was back there, the back yard had been neglected and allowed trees to grow around it.

I HATE my driveway lol The rain washes it onto the sidewalk and makes the ruts so deep the Caddy scrapes lol I wanna pave it, but will never have the money to.

Tom, shed's roof looks good - can't wait to see it fully done. And the flower beds look awesome - they really pop now. In full bloom they are going to be spectacular. I think I mentioned this before, but I love driveways that are like yours - just center grass with a dirt path from the tire tracks. It looks more natural than a (IMHO) ugly blob of asphalt. My great uncle had a driveway just like that and I loved it (he had a home from the 1910s that had so many great features).

I hate painting with a passion, but the sprayer made it a lot more bearable!

Lots of both varieties, here. This neighborhood is old, its prime being from the 1880s to the 1930s. My house is one of the newer ones, built in 1933. There are some 70's ranches and split levels way down at the end, about 4 or so.

Looking good Tom! I hate painting though, need to do some on the outside before the snow flies.

I like that also! But, I also like the driveways, with just the concrete for the wheels, and grass in the middle.

Thank you!

Looking good, Tom!

 

[swanson_eyes]

Love that sunny yellow, Tom. It will be covered in snow soon enough. Ah, well--life in WI.

 

[dh66]

Looks good, Tom!

FF, thanks for the update. I'm enjoying watching your progress!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Thank you! I have a thing about yellow. I love it lol

Don't remind me about the snow! Haha! I'm snowblower shopping this weekend, time permitting. UGH!

Love that sunny yellow, Tom. It will be covered in snow soon enough. Ah, well--life in WI.

Thanks!

Looks good, Tom!

 

[Fading Fast]

Looks good, Tom!

FF, thanks for the update. I'm enjoying watching your progress!

Thank you, but for the last 2+ weeks with all the plumbing issues it has felt more like wheel spinning than progress, but the updated DOB plumbing inspection is Monday and (fingers crossed) if all goes well, we can move forward after that.

 

[dh66]

Thank you, but for the last 2+ weeks with all the plumbing issues it has felt more like wheel spinning than progress, but the updated DOB plumbing inspection is Monday and (fingers crossed) if all goes well, we can move forward after that.

Trust me, it's waaaaay better to get the plumbing right at this point in the game. I can't begin to count the number of "patch and paint" renovations I've come behind to repair plumbing issues that could have easily (and much more economically) been handled at the time of the remodel that ended up doing some real damage later on.