Time to Move

For most of our adult life, my wife and I had enjoyed living in an apartment in Montclair, NJ. No maintenance hassles. Great location near restaurants, movies, stores and music venues. No grass to mow nor snow to shovel that would eat up numerous hours that I could use to earn freelance income, work on a book or enjoy time with her and our children or relaxing to music, movies or video on demand.

We did own a house for ten years while our children were growing up, complete with playhouse and tree house, but it proved too costly when the economy soured in the mid-nineties. and so we sold it and moved back to our beloved apartment location, just blocks from Whole Foods and Belgiovine's great meatballs and five favorite restaurants: Rustica, Next Door, Uncle Moustache, Palazzo and Giotto. All was good until 2013 when the landlord after 50 years sold the two buildings in Montclair to an apartment investment group in Glen Rock that saw the opportunity to jack up rents, drive tenants out, renovate and charge new tenants $1100 more. It was time to move.

I initially wanted to live in the condo development where for many summers I have played tennis with friends and swam. The units were in our price range, but my wife wanted one that looked at out at woods and had a layout featuring a bedroom on the ground level as well as on the second floor so guests and us would have some privacy. While waiting for one of those units to become available we spent months going to open houses without a realtor knowing that if we found something we liked we would go to an old family friend who was an agent. We had a year to look before our lease ended and another rent increase would slam our wallets. Every Sunday, we would visit 3 or 4 perspective homes, but the months went by quickly with only a few being in the price, space and amenities range that matched the condo we awaited to come on the market.

One weekend in the dead of winter, I saw a split level on the market. It was not much to look at from the one photo on Zillow, but I liked the ease of traversing the short staircases that split-levels offered and it was an estate sale so I thought we could make a low offer and have a budget for renovations.

On the bright side it did offer a much shorter commute for my wife, so she reluctantly came to look at it. But the moment she realized she could gaze out the kitchen window and see the skyline of New York City where our daughter and son thrived, she wanted to live there. After successfully negotiating the price down from $365,000 to $345,000 we had a home inspection that revealed some issues that needed to be addressed. The estate dropped the price to $336,000 and we obtained a mortgage through a process that took months as a result of the bank's fears of running afoul of new Dodd-Frank guidelines.

Cellar and Basement

In a split level, you walk from the main floor down to the cellar and then down a few more steps to the basement.

The original walls and ceiling in the cellar were a dark brown textured wall board with a white fiberboard ceiling.

We tore out the ceiling and installed a drywall ceiling.

We then painted the walls and ceiling the same eggshell finish Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter latex (with 25% white added) that was used in the living room, dining room and kitchen, but it has it's own unique look because of the texture and the fact that the cellar receives far less sunlight than the upper rooms.

The cellar space was furnished with two comfortable couches where the family could relax together while binge watching Netflix or HBO and Showtime.

Utility Room

We discovered two problems after we bought the house that the home inspection did not detect. The first problem was detected when we rinsed off paint brushes in the kitchen sink, bathtub and utility basin; paint was showing up in the sump pump well!
After jackhammering the cellar floor we found a corroded waste water pipe that had holes in it. This was replaced within a day with new PVC piping. The cement utility sink was demolished and a new vanity and sink from Home Depot was installed along with a clothes washer and dryer.

Basement

The home inspection detected mold in the corner of the basement which had received moisture from a downspout that was dumping water directly against the wall. We remediated the mold, and I added extensions to the downspout to direct the water away from the foundation. The French drains and sump pump have never been overwhelmed by any storm since the downspout was redirected away. We also remediated minor termite damage (from before 1998), and three new support beams were added (these items had helped us negotiate an $8000 lower price before we closed).

Front Steps

Another undetected problem surfaced when it rained heavily. Water was running like a stream beneath the front steps, which we were able to stop by installing a new cement sidewalk adjacent to the front steps. This directed water away from the steps and house.

Exterior Painting

We also repainted the exterior after discovering that the fresh paint that had been slapped on before the house was put on the market was not oil based and had started peeling before we moved in. We changed the iron work and shutters from white to black and changed the blue exterior door to match the shutters.

Living Room

We learned that the previous owner rented the house after inheriting it from her parents. The light color floors were badly damaged by what looked to be beer or pet stains. We removed the green rug and had the floors sanded and stained dark walnut. Bobby Grillias added crown molding to every room.

We painted the walls with an eggshell-finish Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter latex with 25% white added to lighten the color. The ceiling and walls are the same color but reflect light differently so there appears to be some dramatic contrast when juxtaposed to the Benjamin Moore Dove White crown molding paint.

Rather than replace the large bay windows, Bobby replaced the individual single panes with more efficient dual pane windows. American Tree Experts of Montclair removed a large Norway Maple, outside the dining room window, that had aggressive roots trying to invade the foundation and killing off vegetation.

Our two cats enjoy the view of the street from the living room window, especially when birds gather in the evening on the front lawns.

The open design allows anyone working in the kitchen to participate in conversation in the living room and dining room and our cats to easily find us.

Sunlight flows through the room from the front and side bay windows creating a light, airy atmosphere.

Family Bathroom

Giving the Tile and Bathtub a New Look

The blue and yellow Florida-style bathroom was not to our liking though some of our friends would have loved it in their own retro furnished homes. After removing the sink vanity and toilet, we had the tiles and tub sprayed white by Premier Refinishing of Cedar Grove and Bobby Grillias put in a new gray and white octagon tile floor. 

The blue and yellow tiles and blue bathtub were spray painted white by Premier Refinishing of Verona, NJ.













A marble topped gray vanity from Home Decorators was installed after the yellow wood vanity was removed and the plumbing updated and a brushed stainless Kohler fixture was installed. Victorian style tile gray and white tile was installed by Bobby. The mirror was purchased from Home Goods. 

Master Bath

Our 1953 split-level home had a master bedroom with an attached bath that consisted only of a toilet, sink and pink tile. We decided to add a shower by cutting into the closet space, and got plumbing permit for the bathroom along with the one for the kitchen. We also upgraded the electric throughout the house and got that permit as well.

After gutting the old bathroom and knocking down the closet wall, Bobby and Ignacio, the plumber, installed the shower base.

Bobby Grillias then installed walls with tiles from Wayne Tile. The center pattern was deigned by the three of us and hand cut by him so the glass squares my wife wanted could be embed as a focal point.
(C) 2014 Tile Wall Design Joanne and David Cannon and Bobby Grillias.

Joanne saw a glass bowl sink she wanted which Bobby found at Home Decorators in Union, NJ. And then she selected a mirror from Home Goods.

Kitchen Makeover

The Kitchen Really Needed Updating

The split-level house had not changed much since it was built in 1953. Worn-out red linoleum countertop. Worn-out linoleum floor. Cabinets that were about 1 foot in height. We hired "Bobby the Greek" Grillias of Verona, NJ to be our general contractor.

Lou at MBA Cabinetry in Belleville, NJ designed a new layout for the kitchen. 

After removing the exterior door and framing the space, Bobby installed Decora cabinets and an island. The corner cabinets where a door once existed house Lazy Susans. A dark walnut stained hardwood floor replaced the linoleum and was interwoven into the existing dining room floor after 6 feet of wall between the kitchen and the dining room was removed for an open space design. 

Thunder White Granite countertops from Dente in Cedar Grove were fabricated by Millennium Marble Granite in Paterson. New stainless steel appliances from Lanni in East Rutherford, NJ include a GE gas stove and hood, a two-door GE refrigerator with freezer on the bottom, and a Bosch quiet dishwasher.

The backsplash is Shore Stone from Mediterranean Tile in Fairfield, NJ. 

Above the prairie door to the family room, we hung photographs printed on tile to match the blue glass collection inside the glass cabinets.

To illuminate the room we added TechLighting blown glass pendant lights and a number of standard high hats on dimmers. 

The brick used to seal up the exterior was recycled from a wall where Bobby removed brick to enlarge the window in the master bedroom.

Visible from all windows on the east side of the house is the skyline of New York City, from Battery Park to Central Park depending on which window location. Even the fireworks in the East River were visible from the porch.