Carpenter Chick Design & Remodeling

Dec 2014

This bathroom, in a historical 1880's home, was once the butler's pantry -- which explained it's 3 1/2 foot x 7 foot footprint. With a limited budget and a tight time line (this was the only toilet in the apartment) I transformed the room into a little jewel box. I addressed the functional and aesthetic issues it was plagued with -- crumbling plaster, a water damaged floor, extremely outdated fixtures -- and created a charming room that fit so much more appropriately in the home. It has a nice mix of historic details, yet also a modern edge -- like how I used silver grout with the subway tiles. I custom built the little shelf above the sink to allow for some easy storage.

$9k

Brookline, MA

Nov 2014

The owner had this low console table that he wanted to incorporate into a larger wall unit to house his book and music collection. I based the design of the rest of the wall unit with that aesthetic in mind. I kept the same clean lines, matching the legs of the larger cabinet and staining everything to match. I also added a 1 1/2" thick top to the console table so it wasn't quite so low. The cabinet in the corner acts as his 'linen cabinet' because the apartment lacked a closet to store such items.

$2k

Boston, MA

Jul 2014

The owner's of this apartment had moved from a big New Jersey house to a New York City apartment and realized they had more things than would fit in the modest closets in their new home. The living room was generously sized and we utilized the space along a long wall to build them a long credenza. It's over 14 feet long, with five sets of cabinets that have shelves and pull out drawers. We wanted to avoid the 'kitchen cabinet' look, so we altered the proportions of normal cabinetry - they are slightly narrower (about 20"), slightly lower (30") and the kickplate is at 3" instead of the normal 4". These slight differences really the made the piece feel more furniture like. Now they have storage!

$7k

New York, NY

Jul 2014

I built this table for my sister for her birthday. She and her husband live in Burlington, Vermont and I wanted to make her a piece of Vermont-y furniture. I found the tiles (yes, tiles! Got them at Lowe's) that make the top, and was inspired from there.

$750

Burlington, VT

Jun 2014

This bedroom had been the owner's child's room, and when he moved out, they wanted to convert it to a relaxing, beach inspired guest room. After patching and priming, I painted the walls with two coats of Benjamin Moore "Seaside Blue". Appropriate! The moldings, closet door and window I painted with two coats of Ben Moore Linen White, which is one of my favorite colors for trim work. Just a little off white and classic with any style. A clean, well executed paint job is the basis for any good decorating job, and the owner's were easily able to transform the room quickly after I was finished. Voila! Guest bedroom.

$1k

Long Beach, NY

May 2014

Custom designed built-in bookcase to suit the owner's book collection and provide a space for their television. They wanted a modern, clean lined design that would blend well with the old building they occupied. Simple frame and panel doors and molding details allow the books to become the focal point, while hiding storage items below. There was an existing plumbing pipe in a corner chase that we had to build around -- but no space was wasted as we added tiny shelves in the corner for small objects. The bookcase is constructed of birch plywood, then primed and painted with Benjamin Moore Linen White paint.

$7k

New York City, NY

Jan 2014

Built Custom Loft bed. Home had 13 foot ceilings. Built a 6 foot tall loft bed in corner of apartment with open shelves in front that act as staircase. Put in a 20 inch wide staircase that goes up to a storage area Aesthetically it has clean lines and is reminiscent of a Japanese style piece. Price is for material, labor and installation.

$4k

New York, NY

Dec 2013

This shower had been leaking for a while around the window and was really starting to become a problem. I removed the existing tile shower surround and the window as well. I installed a new vinyl window (much better suited for the wet environment) and installed a new tile surround. This was a rental unit, so there wasn't a huge budget to work with -- I made simple tiles at Lowe's look good with a little accent tile and silver grout (one of my techniques at making white tiles look a little more 'sophisticated').

$3k

Long Beach, NY

Oct 2013

This customer wanted to spruce up her very bland kitchen and loved the look of Mexican tiles - so I installed this back splash and it completely altered the look and feel of the space. Not only did we install the tiles, we removed the existing 4" Formica back splash and replaced it with a much nicer, lower profile transition piece of 1 1/2" wood. That move alone made it look better! The tiles were installed on the diamond because the pattern just seemed to work well with the tile design. The price is for materials (these tiles are not cheap!) and labor.

$3k

New York City, NY