Way back in 2012 we moved into our newly renovated townhouse here in Hoboken. It was built to the Passive House standards and I had planned to do a post about this type of construction… well, better late than never! Here are three Passive house projects we have currently in the works…yes, THREE! We’d like to ... Read More
Next up on our brownstone renovation… Electrical! Outlets, switching, light fixtures, fire detection, data… it’s a lot to think about. It takes a methodical approach to get everything in just the right spot. It starts with solid initial planning during the construction documents to get it all on paper. Not only will the building ... Read More
We had the stairs fixed pretty early on in the project. At first I thought we would wait to do them so they didn’t get beaten up during the construction, but the fact is… the workers need to be able to get upstairs! And we didn’t want them to further deteriorate with all the traffic. The existing railing was ... Read More
On the last post, I talked about digging out the basement. Test holes showed that we could gain an additional 6″ in ceiling height if we aligned the top of the new slab with the top of the existing footing. If we went deeper, we would have to underpin the foundation or create a new ... Read More
Residential Architect is a magazine publication distributed within the architecture trade and each year they do the ‘Architect’s Choice‘ which highlights a few architects and the products they like to use in their projects. I was fortunate to be asked to participate and offer up some of my own valuable product references for high and low budgets. I was happy that ... Read More
Now that summer is in full swing (and whoa, is it swinging!), I’ve cut back on all the extra stuff I do (like blogging!) and I’m sticking with what has to be done. However, I have continued to follow one blog… Remodelista. When I first started Cattywompus, I thought I should check out what’s out there in the blogging ... Read More
I’ve been working with a client on a kitchen with two islands. It’s a big trend but there’s always the question whether you want to differentiate between them or tie them together stylistically. Right now we’re trying to figure out the counters. We are set on the surrounding counter as soap stone and we’re thinking about a big slab ... Read More
We’ve started selecting replacement appliances for our kitchen renovation and the scope creep is happening! This all started with just wanting a new counter and backsplash. My original thought was to only replace what wasn’t functioning or aesthetically appealing. I thought the cooktop could stay since it works fine and the cream color isn’t objectionable. I ... Read More
Wow, what a weekend…yes, spring is here! And with that comes the desire to fix up my house. We are back to thinking about our kitchen again. It’s for real this time… my husband started sanding the cabinets! We’ve been debating what to do with the kitchen since it may get ripped out if we renovate the whole house. ... Read More