The Wall Street Journal editor Julia Angwin's Harlem brownstone renovation journal is really a testament to all the decision making that new homeowners have to go through while rehabing a 100 year old building. The demolition is finished on the charming townhouse at West 123rd Street (just around the corner from Manhattan Avenue) but adding a second dishwasher halfway through the infrastructure renovations just caused a six week delay. The city inspector placed a stopped work order at that point to review the new plans and it took over one month to do so. There's also a set of plans for the brownstone in this current article which basically has the building set up as a garden rental and an owner's triplex (with lots of closet space). So lesson learned is that homeowners should make those planning decision in advance or pay for it later. On a side note, it's also good to see that the pier mirror in the hallway was saved since one that size is usually worth a couple of thousand. Read more in the Wall Street Journal: LINK. Photo courtesy Jennifer Taylor. See our past posts on the WSJ Brownstone: LINK
Thursday, August 19, 2010
☞ READ: Plumbing Delays at the WSJ Brownstone
The Wall Street Journal editor Julia Angwin's Harlem brownstone renovation journal is really a testament to all the decision making that new homeowners have to go through while rehabing a 100 year old building. The demolition is finished on the charming townhouse at West 123rd Street (just around the corner from Manhattan Avenue) but adding a second dishwasher halfway through the infrastructure renovations just caused a six week delay. The city inspector placed a stopped work order at that point to review the new plans and it took over one month to do so. There's also a set of plans for the brownstone in this current article which basically has the building set up as a garden rental and an owner's triplex (with lots of closet space). So lesson learned is that homeowners should make those planning decision in advance or pay for it later. On a side note, it's also good to see that the pier mirror in the hallway was saved since one that size is usually worth a couple of thousand. Read more in the Wall Street Journal: LINK. Photo courtesy Jennifer Taylor. See our past posts on the WSJ Brownstone: LINK
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Am I the only one that finds the trials and tribulations of the couple featured in the WSJ article a bit tedious and slightly irritating?
ReplyDeleteNope.
ReplyDeleteWeird ass couple. On one hand a single dishwasher is insufficient (isn't that the case for everyone?). The task of dishwasher management with a single unit is on par stopping the BP oil leak, a herculian mission impossible endeavor. So they absorb the cost of inefficiency, time (which equals money), to get the second dishwasher, okay fine. Yet these same people who swallow this financial drain, the second dishwasher and its real cost......go "All Simple Sears" Appliances? WTF? Makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteSanou's Mum, I was with you until I got to the bit about having two dishwashers. Oh, the stress! They are "'avin a laugh'" as we would say.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to dishes -- to each his (and her) own, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteUTG: I think these construction updates seem slightly irritating on account of the medium used. They are no doubt interesting to a significant number of folks (among them many of us), but they would really be better suited to a blog than to the pages of an ostensibly serious national newspaper.
I'm very surprised that she's using the WSJ as her "private journal"???
ReplyDeleteDoes she have some ownership in the WSJ?
It seems to me that she's keeping her private
journal in the WSJ for re-sale purposes!!!
OR the couple is simply a bit tedious and slightly irritating.
ReplyDeleteSanou's Mum...just realized my response to you didn't make any sense. It's early and I already need a Paris Blues beer.
ReplyDeleteI think the Paris Blues is made for morning drinking.
ReplyDeleteI've kept an open mind here, I really did. Especially after feeling a bit guilty that my last comment on the subject (linked below) was too harsh and definitely not a cool way to welcome new neighbors. I mean, these are people who are helping to make our blocks look beautiful again. A few columns later though, I have to say I still find them pretty irritating.
ReplyDeletehttp://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/2010/04/read-wsj-harlem-house-update.html
(Sorry for the link Ulysses but "Read: The WSJ Harlem House Reno Update" wasn't included in your past posts link)
So getting a new appliance is easier than like working out a schedule.
ReplyDeleteHow do you try to a second dishwasher in a place and NOT account for plumbing?
Where did they think the water was gonna come from?
I just started reading and they already annoy me.
I know. . .I feel like smacking them for no good reason.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are harsh. They're a nice family, just in over their heads. I could see this series being helpful if you were an amateur considering renovating a brownstone.
ReplyDeleteIf my wife and I constantly argued about something I could easily see spending $300 or more to never have to argue about it again. Or even $1000 depending on how intense the arguments were.
That being said, I was without a dishwasher for 10 years, so even though we've had one for 8 months, I still enjoy using the dishwasher and emptying it.