Show us your vintage home!

[Stray Cat]

When was this dreck written?! The 1970s?! Warm tones are ugly!

...and brown is not a color.

I would not call that "screaming", I'd call it "accentuating special features" .
You have a lovely home. :yo:

BROWN! :faint:

As I've started above.. let me finish: Brown is something that comes "on the other end" when you're done digesting. ound:

 

[Fading Fast]

My girlfriend and I recently purchased a coop apartment in a 1927 apartment house.

The good news is that the original floor plan, quarter sawn red oak floors, doors, door hardware, much of the molding, fireplace mantle (the apartment has a still-working wood-burning fireplace as many apartments from that era had) and a few other details are still all original. Also, and this is awesome, one of the two bathrooms is 95% original (and is the last functioning original bathroom in the 60 unit apartment house).

The less good news is that the kitchen, windows and few other details have been completely replaced with modern items. And some odd details have been added in (like columns next to the fireplace mantel or additional not-original moldings).

Hence, our project is going to be to keep everything that is original, original (but carefully clean / restore it as some of it needs work to survive) and to renovate the areas, like the kitchen, back to something appropriate to the period and to take out some things - like the extra molding - that were put in in recent years.

We are currently working with an architect / designer to help us do this (as per both NYC building code and coop rules we need these people to obtain approval to do practically anything), but know that this project will not happen quickly.

All that said, I snapped a few pictures to show, but want to take some more before pictures prior to starting any work and will post those in the future.

Hence, below are a few pictures of that incredible original bathroom, the red-oak floor and the fireplace mantle (the columns on either side of it were added later and will be removed) - also, any furniture, etc. was the prior owners.

 

[Papperskatt]

Congratulations! I'm very jealous of your original bathroom.

 

[jamespowers]

...and brown is not a color.


I would not call that "screaming", I'd call it "accentuating special features" .
You have a lovely home. :yo:


As I've started above.. let me finish: Brown is something that comes "on the other end" when you're done digesting. ound:

Yes, brown is for dirt not interior decorating.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Brown isn't a color. It's a state of mind.

 

[jamespowers]

Brown isn't a color. It's a state of mind.

:rofl:

 

[Fading Fast]

Congratulations! I'm very jealous of your original bathroom.

I know it is just and expression, but please don't be jealous - that said, I greatly appreciate the sentiment. We feel incredibly grateful to have found it.

 

[dh66]

Fading Fast that place looks awesome! Congratulations! And yes, that bathroom has it going on. I love the tile work.

 

[Stearmen]

Is it a new line of wire or are you replacing an old one? If it is an old one, I find it easier to attach it to the end of the old one with a lot of electrical tape than use a fish, IF it is not stapled and is free in the wall. (Which it should be, if your house was wired after the walls were lathed.) Sometimes I even feed it backwards, into the wall rather than pulling it out, and make sure to coat the new wire with liberal lubricant.

If it's a new line, sorry. This is why none of the new outlets are in the exact location I wanted in our 1942 house, they were too difficult most of the time. At least you don't have foam insulation in the walls- imagine rewiring a house with THAT.

It is new! If I would have just used my low tech coat hanger I would have had it done in a few minutes. With he coat hanger, if you get hung up, you just pull real hard and the hook unbends. Still, would rather have these problems, as apposed to foundation or structural!

 

[Panadora]

:eusa_clap

 

[Panadora]

OK so non of this works

 

[Fading Fast]

Fading Fast that place looks awesome! Congratulations! And yes, that bathroom has it going on. I love the tile work.

Thank you very much. How great / crazy is this - there are about 30 or 40 tiles that have been replaced in the bathroom over the last 80+ years that don't match that well - so, I was talking with the super the other day - telling him that we were looking to find reproduction tiles that matched the original ones - and he told us he has boxes of old tiles that he keeps as, over the years, people rip out the "old" bathrooms to put in modern ones. Hence, we will have more than enough original tiles to replace the ones that don't match.

The super is a vintage guy who is incredibly excited that we want to keep the existing original bathroom and other original features in the apartment and restore the rest of it back to the period. He says everybody else who buys an apartment is always ripping out what they call "the old stuff" and it breaks his heart. He and I are quickly becoming friends.

 

[Panadora]

I have this dirty old moth bitten Mallory Aristocrat on it's way

Maybe I should consider a Whippet style interior design :yo:

 

[Panadora]

Well at least one of my wonderful Frits Henningsen chairs would fit perfectly!




Keep up the good work Fading Fast.
What about the kitchen? (that's usually the big problem)

 

[dh66]

Firstly...Thank you sir, for the compliment on my living room.
Thank all of you.

Secondly.....this...

this was exactly the color of my living room when we bought the house last spring.
It took two coats of primer and two coats of paint to cover that ****.

The master bedroom is a shade of green that is almost that dark. I haven't mustered the energy (or spare $$) to tackle it yet.

 

[dh66]

Well at least one of my wonderful Frits Henningsen chairs would fit perfectly!

View attachment 22538

Very nice!

And the floor is excellent as well.

 

[Papperskatt]

I know it is just and expression, but please don't be jealous - that said, I greatly appreciate the sentiment. We feel incredibly grateful to have found it.

Point taken. :nod:

I wish you good luck with the apartment. Will you be trying to restore the kitchen? And congratulations again, on the vintage-loving super.

 

[LadyBaltimore]

Fading Fast, I love your bathroom! I live in a huge 1800s rowhouse that has been covered to apartments and I have a bathroom that was done much more recently and very cheaply, very blah, but recently my neighbor downstairs redid his bathroom and considering the claw foot tub and pedestal sink that was being thrown out, I'd say he had one of the original bathrooms in the house and frankly it really upsets me that he destroyed it and put something modern in. I'm also just really jealous because my bathroom has none of that historic charm.

 

[LadyBaltimore]

This is my desk:

And a 1920s receipt holder I filled with vintage paper ephemera recently and hung in my dining room:

I'm waiting on a 1950s metal stool to be delivered today, that I'll use as a bedside table. It's a very narrow space and I realized standard side tables are all too wide, so I've been hunting for something else to use for about a year, and finally found this stool that was just the size and color I wanted and at a price I could afford. I hope it looks good or it's back to the drawing board.

 

[dh66]

And a 1920s receipt holder I filled with vintage paper ephemera recently and hung in my dining room:

This looks great!! Very creative re-purposing. I really like it.

The desk is very nice too.

I can't believe your neighbor pitched a claw foot tub. Even if they are rusted , they can be restored, and they fetch big $$$.