Brooklyn Heights Blog

NYSD photo

The Brooklyn Heights brownstone of designer Kathryn Scott and artist Wenda Gu is featured in New York Social Diary:

NYSD: They are both organized and thorough to a point that fascinated us. Kathryn physically learned how to do various skills such as carpentry when the house was being renovated (one floor also serves as an office space) and, a linguist, she made sure she knew enough Chinese to get Chinese craftsmen to perfect her designs for various projects in China, where they also own property.

More photos at New York Social Diary.

Contractor/developer Ben Weiner tells the Brooklyn Eagle that his reno of 52 Sidney Place will be a work of “art” for the owners and he’s doing it without an architect:

Brooklyn Eagle:  “With all due respect to architects, you don’t always need one,” he said. “Everyone told me, ‘you can’t do it without an architect.’ But you can. The truth is, all you need is an engineer’s stamp.”

Borough President Marty Markowitz will host the eighth annual assembly of Federation of Brooklyn Block Associations, with the topic to “Build a better Brooklyn, block by block.”

Per Marty’s press release:

On Thursday, April 23, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will host the eighth annual assembly of the Federation of Brooklyn Block Associations, an opportunity for all residents to meet City agency representatives and discuss issues and concerns facing their blocks and communities.

Presentations will be offered on street activity permits procedures and assistance for community building projects, as well as a Brooklyn Botanic Garden workshop on composting and a panel discussion about energy efficiency hosted by Con Ed, Neighborhood Housing Services of NYC, the Pratt Center for Community Development and the Department of Sanitation.

“Build a better Brooklyn, block by block”: Thursday, April 23 from 5:30-8:30 pm; Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St. (between Court and Adams streets). Questions? Call Mark Zustovich, 718-802-3830.

At least now we know who to call to resurrect our window boxes:

The Street.com: Find Your Green Thumb…: New Yorker Erin Combs managed to get the latter without the former — and if you're an urbanite who wants to add some natural beauty to your concrete existence, you'd do well to follow her example.

Combs, 32, is the founder of Jardiniere, a three-year-old urban gardening company run from her Brooklyn Heights brownstone apartment.

Growing up in Farmington, Maine, or as she calls it, "the middle of nowhere," everything was potential garden space, and her parents started her digging in the dirt at an early age. "Mom and Dad were escaped Long Islanders," she says, "and I think they just ran out of gas in Farmington."

Brownstoner has a story today about a Brooklyn Heights couple who in the course of renovating have discovered a stained glass floor:

Brownstoner: Stained Glass in the Floor: I wanted to share an architectural find my husband and I uncovered during the demolition phase of a coop apartment we recently purchased. The apartment is in a stunning limestone building in Brooklyn Heights with the original mahogany trim, plasterwork and mosaic tiled hallway still intact. It's one of the main reasons we were drawn to the apartment—this house was really something in its day. The apartment is on the second floor and there was what appeared to be an unused shaft between a closet and the kitchen that we could use as additional space. There was no evidence of the shaft in the apartment above or below. We figured it was the remnants of a very large dumbwaiter. After making the proverbial inspection hole, however, we discovered the interior was finished plaster and wainscot trim. Clearly not something one would have seen inside a dumbwaiter. It was also very large (3' by 6') and a ton of construction debris that had been piled inside the shaft from the renovation of the apartment above many years before.

This drapery arrangement and chair design might have been found in a Brooklyn brownstone of the late nineteenth century, according to Debra Salomon of the New York City College of Technology ("City Tech"), a unit of CUNY.  On Saturday, May 12, from 1 to 5 p.m., Ms. Salomon, along with a distinguished group of architects, interior designers, antique experts and a home inspector, will present "Anatomy of a Brownstone: Brownstoner's Marketplace", at the City Tech Auditorium, 300 Jay Street (corner of Tillary).

The seminar will focus on four different approaches to renovating a brownstone.  The first of these is to replace original details (such as railings, gates, terra cotta and furniture) with identical material, the second to adapt the interior for a new use (such as an artist's studio), the third to make it "modern and green", and the fourth (continuing the "green" theme, but also considering economy) to make it energy-efficient. Read more »

Your old home feeling a bit boring and cluttered? Just bought a new apartment and have no idea what to do with it? Want some free wine? Tonight, and the first Thursday of every month, from 6pm to 8pm the Design Within Reach store on Montague Street teams up with interior decorators Pret-a-Habiter for "Design Thursdays" — free interior design advice (and wine) for the clueless:

Join us at the DWR Brooklyn Heights Studio every first Thursday of the month as we team up with Pret-a-Habiter to make interior design more accessible. Bring your questions and ideas to the design professionals and let them provide you with modern solutions using DWR products. The experts at Pret-a-Habiter, a New York based interior design firm, aim to make the interior design experience fun, easy and affordable through their “ready-to-go” approach. If you have an interior space in need of a modern make-over, then come enjoy an evening at DWR and get free design advice that will help give your home a new look. Wine will be served.

Bring photos of your current space if you've got any. You may RSVP at brooklynheights@dwr.com. Let us know how it goes.

NYC Inside covers the interior of a Brooklyn Heights rental today: 

NYC Inside: Brooklyn Heights: The renter writes…We moved into this small yet completely gut-renovated apartment in November 2006. We pay $2,400 for the 1BD apartment which is approximately 550-600 sq.ft. Exposed brick (which is neither boring nor cliché as some might think), brand new everything floor to ceiling is what attracted us to the apartment…oh, and two other amenities…a washer and dryer in the apartment, and we’re a half block to the Promenade! We love the Heights…we kid our Manhattanite friends by telling them it is the best neighborhood in Manhattan! Take care everyone and enjoy the photos.

Lots of work done over the weekend. Lowered the floor of the "standing area" for the loft portion, put in the rafters for the bed platform and the ceiling for the room aka The Study aka The Batcave. Read more »

Work began with cutting out the space for the "standing area" (the space to the right of the door), and installing the frame for it. I wasn't happy with the doorway being so close to the future stairway, it looked awkward. The entrance to "the study" (or "the TV room") should be centered between the edge of the wall and the edge of the stairway.

Also, the "standing area" is a bit too high. When I stood on the frame I bumped my head. Can't have that. The light fixture will be turned into an outlet for a possible bed light, and the light fixtures that were on that wall will be moved to the side wall in "the study". The rest of the frame and the rafters should come up rather rapidly, as soon as the "standing area" height is reduced.

Day 0 — Qfwfq's "inspiration"