Show us your vintage home!

[Johanna]

Thanks!

 

[dhermann1]

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, or Moving is Hell

After that charming vignette presented by Johanna, I'm somewhat abashed to contribute this, but I expect most folks will appreciate it. I had my meeting with the co-op board folks up in the Bronx this morning. I must say, it seemed to go swimmingly. The board president, who interviewed me, is very dedicated to preserving the wonderful Art Deco architecture of the building. My problem now is that I have to move out of here on the 31st, but won't ba able to close till at least the 11th. So I'll be camping out with my girlfriend for two weeks. Wish us luck! It will be very strange to have no home for 2 weeks!
Anyhow, here is what's happening in my little pad in Brooklyn at the moment.
Utter chaos and exhaustion. The little wing chair in the foreground goes directly to the upholsterer. Oy vey is mir on the wall!

Here's my destination:

 

[Miss 1929]

Yikes. Good luck with the move!
Do you make a list of what is in which box? I did that, and numbered the boxes, and it made life so much easier. It took us two months to pack and move (5 blocks last time).
You look super-organized, though!

 

[dhermann1]

Quite the opposite! The place looks like a bleep bomb hit it. Too late to number the boxes, but they are labeled on all sides and on top. Having moved here just 2 years ago, I did remember a few things to keep myself out of trouble. I'm dreading unpacking almost as much as packing. I have WAY too much stuff. (Is there a smiley for tears streaming down face?)
I just ate at my favorite French restaurant down the street, (Moutarde if you're ever in the nabe). Brooklyn has SO MUCH GREAT STUFF! I'm gonna miss it terribly.

 

[goldwyn girl]

dhermann1, I feel you pain, our place looks just like that at the moment!!!

 

[AllaboutEve]

Wow what amazing interiors you all have! I have serious house envy here

What's most outstanding is how much more space you guys in the U.S seem to have, how much bigger your rooms are than here in London! I don't know anyone with that much space here. Even outside of the city I don't know anyone with a big, big house!!!! Guess you just have much more space as you have a much bigger country!

My London pad is teeny in comparison!!!

 

[TessTrueheart]

Wow what amazing interiors you all have! I have serious house envy here

What's most outstanding is how much more space you guys in the U.S seem to have, how much bigger your rooms are than here in London! I don't know anyone with that much space here. Even outside of the city I don't know anyone with a big, big house!!!! Guess you just have much more space as you have a much bigger country!

My London pad is teeny in comparison!!!

I always think the exact same thing! It's quite striking! No one in Sweden has that much space.

 

[The Shirt]

I'd like to be the first to admit that we can be space gluttons. I grew up in an enormous house by comparison of what I live in now. I currently own a small 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom house by myself. I sometimes feel like 2 people in that much space is too much but I think that is simply because I was so used to having so much room to myself. I have lived in London for a short time and noticed that the sense of space is vastly different between Europeans and Americans.

As a matter of being sensitive to the environment and my impact - my BF and I have decided that our place together will be a modest ranch. We don't "need" more than that. It will be a challenge against wanting to accumulate stuff - but I think it's worth it.

 

[TessTrueheart]

As a matter of being sensitive to the environment and my impact - my BF and I have decided that our place together will be a modest ranch. We don't "need" more than that. It will be a challenge against wanting to accumulate stuff - but I think it's worth it.

I think it's absolutely worth it! I am in the middle of trying to scale down my life. I've been going through all my stuff and have really thought about what actually has any value to me. What am I keeping and what do I really need? I've been selling and giving away a lot of things lately, and it's given me a sense of control and relief. I also vowed not to buy any clothes, make-up, magazines or books this year, and so far this has been a fascinating project! I am also in the process of finding a new home, so I've thouht a lot about what kind of space I need.

 

[John K Stetson]

Hardwood floor, inlay

My first attempt at including a picture here on the FL.
For years, my mother told me about the floors in our living room/parlor - hardwood with a contrasting strip that formed a box in the corners of the room. I had an image in mind, a rather simple one - but the floor was always covered by wall to wall carpet. As a young lad, I didn't think too much about the floor - hey it was just a floor, so what? But after college and work, then travel and seeing some other houses, I really did wonder - what's under the carpet?

Last fall, getting ready to sell the house, I just had to peel a corner or two away to see what was there.

I didn't expect to see this amount of detail - OK, top nailing perhaps not the most elegant way to do this but two strips of inlay bordered by contrasting stained wood strips with that over/under pattern! All this in a rather modest row home in Philadelphia.

Clearly some work needed - removal of the carpet tack strip would probably necessitate some repair work.

Hmm. Seems that I wasn't able to embed the pictures.

 

[A.R. McVintage]

Some photos of mine and my boyfriend's place.

It's cheating to have so much quality Danish modern when you live in that general Northern European area.

 

[The Shirt]

John K -
WOWEE - those are some beautiful floors. I would love to have detail like that as a hidden surprise.

 

[cookie]

John K -
WOWEE - those are some beautiful floors. I would love to have detail like that as a hidden surprise.

I have not seen that Art Deco style design in the modern cattledogs...

 

[sedaterman]

Wow what amazing interiors you all have! I have serious house envy here

What's most outstanding is how much more space you guys in the U.S seem to have, how much bigger your rooms are than here in London! I don't know anyone with that much space here. Even outside of the city I don't know anyone with a big, big house!!!! Guess you just have much more space as you have a much bigger country!

My London pad is teeny in comparison!!!

There is far more space now than when I was growing up. My parents raised 9 children in that house.

 

[Fifties*Freak]

Such lovely homes! Here is mi casa. Everything is the same except the bathroom, I just redecorated so I will have to post updated pics. Also in the middle of redoing the bedroom.

Living Room

Dining Room

Bedroom

Bathroom

Ebay Room/my office

 

[dhermann1]

I just closed!

I closed today on my pad in El Bronx. LONG arduous day, involving 5 hours in the car, schlepping out to Long Island for the closing, but I got the keys at the end! Next the painters, then move in on Wednesday, and several weeks of unpacking. Then sometime within the next decade, everybody is invited to my housewarming.
I found out more about the architect, H. I. Feldman. He's considered by everybody a "journeyman" architect, but I'll post pix of several of his wonderful Art Deco confections here in New York, and you can all tell me what you think. I'm exhausted but elated.

 

[Sefton]

Great looking homes in this thread. I hope that sometime in the next few months I can have something to post. My wife and I are looking to buy our first home and I'm using all of my powers of persausion to steer us away from condos towards vintage homes. I've looked at many wonderful places so far,but no luck. Either someone gets an offer in before we do or the cost is too much or the location is bad....
Well,this weekend we'll be looking at three or four places that seem promising:A 1925 3 bedroom home, a 1929 2 bedroom cottage, a 1924 2 bedroom, and a 1938 2 bedroom. Only one,the 1924 one has the original kitchen. All the others have been "updated" which always translates to: ruined...

I'll post again if there's any good news.

 

[CherryRed]

Congrats on the closing dhermann1!!!

 

[John K Stetson]

Congrats dhermann1 !

 

[goldwyn girl]

We moved into our new house last week so there are boxes everywhere but I had to share my stove and the lounger the previous owners left behind.