Switching gears again, the next apartment we liked was a 800 s.f. 1BR, located on the 12th floor of a huge, genteel pre-war building on one of the most classic streets in Brooklyn. Great layout, plenty of space, and I was amused that the owners seemed to have chosen the exact same paint colors for their living room and bedroom that Allen and I did for our current place.
The kitchen was a different story. (Cue sad deflating balloon noise.) It's spacious--there's room for a wee breakfast table in ADDITION to the normal-sized table in the main room--and it was recently renovated. Problem is, we don't like what they did.
That, my friends, is a bona fide Kountry Kute. I don't mind the beadboard cabinets, but I'm not digging the cutesy painted tiles in the backsplash, and then--woe of woes--those tile counters. I don't want to get 20% of my daily cardio from scrubbing grout lines on my kitchen counters. And the flooring is a dirty tan, aggressively patterned porcelain tile with heavy dark grout. Now, clearly it's not nearly old enough to warrant ripping out based on disrepair, and it's not so bad that we couldn't live with it. But as my baby succinctly put it, "I feel like this is a granny kitchen."
And while I'm picking nits (what a yummy expression!), let's play a little game of Photo Hunt. Can you find the thing in the picture above that's making my left eye twitch? Hint: look below the counters.
Spot it? Try this photo:
Somebody decided to use a completely different kind of hardware on the drawers as they used on the cabinet doors. Satin nickel knobs + antique bronze bucket pulls + same kitchen = fail. And I bet that's a garbage pull-out to the left of the sink, but using the bronze bucket pull right next to the nickel knob, and in a different alignment, makes it look like the owner was performing home improvement in a Henny-fueled haze.
The living room flooring is one of the high points: original old-world herringbone. So elegant.
The apartment also has a real foyer--so unexpected and gracious in comparison to the other 95% of NYC apartments, where the front door opens directly into the living room.
Love those pre-war details... the moldings, the chair rail, the beautiful recessed-panel doors... that don't close properly because they've been repainted too many times to fit into their jambs...
Here is the hallway leading to the bath and bedroom. Again, I love the way this gives real separation to the public and private spaces. I don't fancy having guests sitting on my couch and staring right into my bedroom.
Lovely bathroom, with what look like original tub, sink, and tilework. (Don't worry, there's a separate shower behind the door.)
The bedroom was generously-sized and bright.
That flash of green you see through the window here?
The crown jewel of Brooklyn: Prospect Park. As our front lawn. Not too shabby.
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12 comments:
My favorite so far.
Lord - what is happening in that kitchen? Country counters + ffuscan (fugly faux Tuscan) floors, mod red light fixture, Scandi-esque table situation, terribly arranged art.
*shudders*
Those kitchen counters could be replaced pretty easily though.
Easy explanation: the kitchen dates from two owners ago. Current owners' taste runs to Mid-Scandi, so you're looking at the queasy marriage between their kitchen furniture and the actual kitchen. And yes, that floor is terrible!
I don't think a kitchen needs to be un-usable to be replaced. the counters / back splash / floor are, um, broken enough to justify a full replacement in my book. The cabinets can stay, just swap out the hardware... why am I telling you things you already know?
anyway... have any of the places felt "right"?
FYI, i hate using quotes like that, but it was necessary. sorry.
oh K-pants, I am abjectly in love with the place we saw yesterday. But AP did not feel the same, so I don't think it's going to happen. I don't know where we're going to end up.
That place looks way more livable even with the dubious kitchen than the new construction. No balcony, but living across the street from Prospect is like having a yard... So many opportunities for innovation and design! Good luck!
pity about the kitchen! i love the bathroom and all the windows/light.
Negotiate for a price break and redo kitchen before moving in?
This one has the bones and the location. You can redo it to your specs and make it look like a million bucks!
It's lovely. BUT it also has a 25% flip tax on our net profit when we sell, even if we sell 50 years from now, and there's a waiting list for bike & basement storage.
I thought the point of a flip tax was to discourage flippers who want to sell in less than five years, but this applies regardless of how long we live there. I'm not interested in handing over 25% of our profit to the co-op purely for the privilege of having lived in their building. I mean, this way it actually ENCOURAGES you to sell sooner rather than later: 25% of 30K is a little easier to part with than 25% of, if we spent our whole lives there, six figures.
They do NOT make it easy for you in New York.
WHAT THE FUCK?! Uh, excuse me, and feel free to delete this, but, WHAT????
I have never heard of such shit in my whole life. I would never buy a property with a lifetime flip tax. No way.
#4 is looking better and better!
Yeah, right? Crazytown. I just reviewed the info again to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding, but that's exactly what it is. You get to deduct the cost of any capital improvements done within the last six years, which again penalizes you if you've been there for a long time and you did some renovations shortly after moving in.
The worst part is, I get that the co-op uses the money to fund repairs and capital improvements, but in that case, why not impose a purchase tax? That way at least you get to see your money being put to use while you're there. It's adding insult to injury that they expect you to hand them this big chunk of change right as you're walking out the door.
I'd sort of pushed that to the back of my mind, but I think that takes it off our list.
I would cross it off, for sure. Kind of reminds me of a lot of houses in Hawaii where the land is owned by the state. So you can buy the house, but the state can take the whole shebang any time they want if they feel like building a highway or something. Not exactly the same situation, but there were so many tantalizing jewels owned by the state... still not worth it.
When I saw the kitchen my eyes were like this
0.0
Then I saw the knobs and was like this
o.O <-- if I could only make that big O even bigger, aka wonkier and boggley-er...
Man, that floor kills me though, what a dream. And THE PARK RIGHT THERE? ahhhhhh
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