There are some givens in the design of a 19th century Brooklyn brownstone. With very few exceptions they are narrow and long. You will almost always open the door to a vestibule, then a foyer, and then a staircase going up the side wall. You’ll have 3 windows across the upper floors and on the parlor floor you’ll have the stoop with front door, and 2 windows. All of these very common layout features create a similar situation that anyone renovating one of these old buildings

Many new homeowners walk through an old Brownstone with aspirations of creating a large open space. While we are fans of keeping original details and not removing too much of the original structure in some buildings it does sometimes make sense to open it up. We kept our structural changes very light so we didn’t require an engineer. And good thing too because we definitely didn’t have the budget for that additional expense. Many brownstones and townhouses in Brooklyn are ove

For better or worse we opted not to carve up our floor space on the parlor floor with a coat closet. We didn’t move many walls on this floor so there just wasn’t a great place to build one. Every place we considered was obviously interjected into the space. But we still have coats! And so do our guests! So one of our projects over the past few weeks as it gets colder was to build our long planned coat nook. When you walk into our front door, you’re greeted by our amazing orig

In the 1880’s when our place was built it was most likely lit at night by kerosene lamps, candles, and possibly even gas lamps. We sometimes lose sight of that picture of what took place on these streets and between these walls so long ago: Roaring fires in the wood burning fireplaces, horse & carriages clacking down the cobble stone streets outside, and the flicker of gas lamps and candle light. Fast forward 130 years and our modern light fixtures are hanging from the same m

Our brownstone is spot on with the usual measurements of 19’x 40’. In our duplex we have a living/kitchen/dining floor and then a bedroom floor. We chose to build 3 good size bedrooms rather than have one that is only big enough for a desk or a single bed. The compromise we made is that we don’t have a walk-in closet in the master. Anyone familiar with NYC/Brooklyn real-estate might be able to back us up when we say closets are a very touchy subject and sometime you just don

We faced some tough decisions early on in our renovation on what to restore, what to repair, and what to replace. Our place is 130 years old and has had several renovations over its lifetime. Each one no doubt chipped away more and more at the original charm. We wanted to restore as much as we could and were very careful to save as many features as possible even if we needed to recreate some things. The last renovation before we bought it created a 5 bedroom duplex with no ca

Now that all of the major work is done in our place we are having all of our final inspections done. It’s an interesting place to be in the process because in addition to building our place to be our home we have spent a lot of time building to match the approved plans so that we can pass inspections. It’s been a big part of pretty much every detail. Our architect warned us months ago that just because a plan examiner approved our plans it doesn’t mean that the field inspect

When we set off on our renovation journey one of the things on the top of our list was an open kitchen. We love the look of having a show-stopper kitchen being seen from the living area and we really wanted the easy flow and entertainment quality of having an open space. Most of the people we speak with who are in the middle of or about to start a renovation are looking for the same. But there are a growing number of people who are looking for a more traditional closed kitche

Whenever we talk about “finishing” our renovation project someone reminds us that it will never be completely finished. We’re almost to the 95% complete mark, which I guess is where it will always be. While that may be scary for some, we’re perfectly happy about it because...well, we love a project, and we’ll have plenty to write about. We also have taken on a couple of additional Brownstone Boys renovation projects and can’t wait to share that with you too (spoiler: they are

If you are building a new bathroom, especially if you have a nice walk-in shower, you will probably want to have a glass enclosure. Ours was just installed and we couldn't be more thrilled about it! So we thought we would talk a bit about the process, options, and pricing. A glass enclosure to a shower or tub will instantly transform the way your bathroom looks. It will create a nice open and airy feel, provide for a comfortable if not luxurious experience, and show off your

We’re having some warm autumn weather. It’s been so nice we even sneaked away to go to the beach last weekend. With the late summer we’re having, since we moved upstairs we also have needed AC. Our place didn’t have an AC system when we moved in so it’s something we added to the project early on. There’s a few options when renovating and adding a new AC system. The scope of your renovation might help you figure out which system is best for you- a central AC system or a ductle

The kitchen is the heart of the house, they say. For us (and many folks) our kitchen is a big feature of our renovation. We wanted it to be big and open. We even sacrificed a powder room to get it. We wanted something that would be seen as a major feature. We also wanted a big island with seating because no matter how large or small it ends up being it is where everyone ends up hanging out. One of the most important features of a big and open kitchen are the counters and we w

We didn’t plan on writing an article on paint, especially since our place will be mostly painted white, but given the amount of time we have spent trying to pick white paint and to get the sheen levels right we felt like we needed to! We’re planning on letting the architecture and original features of our house speak for themselves with a nice clean white paint on the walls and ceilings. It will make the richness of the original wood pop and keep it classic looking (although

There has been a couple of things that have been a long timing coming but are things that we’ve been very much anticipating. Even though they are relatively small developments they are a big step (pun intended) forward to completing the project. And we just plain feel good about them getting done. Refinishing Stairs If you’ve read some of our other posts you probably know that we have been busy restoring the the original bannister and newel post. It all looks amazing, but thi

A few months ago we wrote a post about the process stripping layers upon layers of paint off of our 130 year old woodwork. The bannister, door & window casings, and shutters are all original and were caked in paint. Poorly painted we might add. Drips and globs everywhere. We had it all stripped hoping we could at least get it to a point that it could be repainted without the many layers, drips, and globs. We thought if we were lucky we could possibly leave some of it natural.

As we have gone through our renovation, and spoken to many other people who are in the process, it’s clear to us that one of the most important decisions you can make in your entire renovation is choosing the right general contractor. It can be a very frustrating situation if you make the wrong choice. It isn’t just about finding a great general contractor but finding the right general contractor for your project. Different GC’s have different strengths. There are contractors

Over the past few weeks we have been really excited to see our deck being built. One of the things that we are looking forward to the most about our place is unwinding at the end of the day by lighting up the grill, having a glass of wine, and enjoying the outdoor space. Adding a deck is on the plan for a lot of renovators. It’s one of the things that people reach out to us the most about. Unfortunately, it can easily slip out of budget. It’s all relative. Adding a deck is up

We kicked off our renovation in January 2019. Seven months later and we are weeks away of having some rooms finished. But don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere! There is plenty more work to do and more projects coming. For the past 10 months we’ve been living in the garden apartment. Fortunately it’s a completely separate space free of construction dust and has given us the ability to keep a close eye on the construction upstairs. Not even a month in, we wrote about how to fi

One of the most stressful parts of a home renovation are the finances. Costs can add up quick, especially when you’re renovating a historic property. Many people go into it with either no idea or the wrong idea of what they are going to spend. While the costs can vary depending on the scope of the work and finishes, we thought we would share at least our experience with how much is needed, what some of the biggest ticket items are, and where some savings can be found. We’re r

The past 2 weeks have been all about the kitchen. We removed walls and had the space prepped months ago so it’s really nice to see the finishes going in. The Plan Our place had a a bathroom and bedroom across the back of the building where we wanted to put the kitchen. We removed several walls to open up the space, one of which required a 14 foot beam since it was a structural wall. The space is now open from the front of the building all the way to the back and across either