July 2019

“She’s a social worker. He’s a stay-at-home dad…”

Leave a Comment / real estate, tv shows / By /

“Together they will tackle the renovation of this $6 million, 25,000 square foot Spanish finca and olive grove on the magical island of Ibiza!” Seriously? “The Week” just did a takedown of home reality shows, specifically the very popular House Hunters International. I like this show a lot but mainly for the same reason that I enjoy spending hours watching drivers view videos of trains in the Austrian Alps, Lisbon trams and Itchy Boots. I love offbeat POV videos with international scenery. I’m not new to the house renovation grind. I’m also a fairly well-traveled person. But no way would […]

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When Tool Lending Goes Bad

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If you tackle a house renovation you’re going to acquire tools.  Lots and lots of tools. Some of them will get worked to death and replaced.  Others might only be used for one project then put away never to be touched again, such as was the case with the Makita framing nailer I bought on eBay to build my fences. In the former category is my table saw.  I dispatched my original Ryobi contractor saw to an early grave. I burned out the motor while slicing up some pressure-treated 4x4s barely two years after I got it. I had it

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ISY994-i product

Yet Another New Home Automation Controller

Leave a Comment / computers, home automation, insteon, x10 / By /

For those who’ve followed my home renovation blog over the past 14 years, you know I’m a computer nerd with some nerdy obsessions. Like home automation. Early in this blog in fact, I talked about how cool my new X10 home automation setup was. Subsequent articles were less flattering, like The Night of the Flashing Lights, when I came home one evening to see all the lights in my house — outside and in — flashing at two second intervals. And my neighbors not knowing whether to call the police, the fire department or an exorcist. And when a power

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Brooklyn Row House migrated

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Not the house, the site.  Brooklynrowhouse.com has been running on the Drupal content management system since 2006. But that version(v6)  was really old and was essentially pre-mobile. Google Analytics was giving me grief about the mobile issues.  What really closed the deal for WordPress is that the upgrade path for Drupal has always been painfully steep. In the interim I’ve picked up WordPress consulting jobs so it made sense to ditch Drupal and just push everything to WordPress. I actually have a lot of relevant house/DIY-centric content to write about.  For instance, there’s my new ISY994i home automation controller and

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Welcome to Brooklyn Row House

This blog is about the challenges of renovating an old (1903) Brooklyn, New York row house.

My last major renovation project was the master bedroom, most of which is about finish carpentry. You’ll find other completed home improvement projects in the Projects submenu at the top of this page.

I’m not a professional builder and don’t pretend to be. I’m just an experienced amateur raised in a family of committed DIYers. I try to closely follow local and national building codes but don’t mistake anything on this site to be professional or even accurate advice! Your mileage may and definitely will vary.

This is the third iteration of BrooklynRowHouse.com, from scratch-built to Drupal and now Wordpress. I hope you enjoy your time here.