Hello world!

28 Jul

Today is a day we weren’t sure would ever happen: the day we’d begin to catalog the journey that brought us to our new home in Brooklyn.  Like many who dream of an idyllic life for their family that doesn’t involve apartment living, long commutes from the suburbs or terrible schools, we set our sights on brownstone Brooklyn about a year and a half ago with stars in our eyes and reigning optimism. 100+ house tours, 3 different cities, 9 different sublets, 2 failed offers and many hours of conversation about what we really wanted in life later, we were convinced it would never happen.  We kept taking 2 and 3 month sublets in the hopes that “something would come up” before we would ultimately give up.  Sure enough, days into our avowed last short term sublet and mere weeks after nearly committing to a long-term rental, we found our home: a for sale by owner with a sign in the window. We called, we viewed, we offered, we agreed and suddenly, our ground had finally solidified under our feet.

This will be our journey to making our new house our home. Having renovated an apartment previously, we do have some insight into what lays ahead, but a house is of course a greater adventure and thus (hopefully) worthy of documentation. We hope to use this platform to keep friends and family apprised of our progress, and to perhaps help others in the midst of their own renovation projects.  We’ve taken great inspiration from blogs, Pinterest and Houzz and hope that our amassed information will be useful to others.  So, welcome! Buckle your seatbelts – I suspect we’re in for a wild ride.

  • Alex

    What fun! I can’t wait to follow your adventures with your new house! Can I subscribe to be notified of new posts?

    • brownstonegirl

      Hey doll – yes indeed! Click the RSS Feed option in the upper right hand corner if you use a Reader application. The husband is posting a little piece about the basement level, our ground floor. Basement is sort of a misnomer because it has 8 foot ceilings and is above ground, but because it isn’t at street level, it qualifies as a basement in the city’s terminology.

  • BK_preservation

    Hi Brownstone girl! I just recently came across your blog and have enjoyed reading it and following your adventure. We are soon to close on a town home of our own in Brooklyn and are also expecting to do a full reno, something similar to yours. Could you give me a ballpark price per foot that you guys ended paying including hard and softs? I am getting numbers all over the place and your level of finishes is similar to what we would be doing. Any ballparks based on your experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and nice job!

    • brownstonegirl

      Hi BK_preservation.

      Thanks for your note and good luck to you! I will answer your question privately.