Last Sunday I also went on the Fort Greene House Tour with my fabulous, former co-worker. We toured all of the houses on the map, and there were quite a few that I would have given my eye teeth to live in. There was also one ode to Victorian pastiche, which was such a hoot that I would have paid $25 just to see it, let alone the other dozen or so Brooklyn abodes.
The house I most envied was a recently-renovated brownstone on South Oxford Street. Money was obviously of no consideration in their renovation, as they'd actually had plaster molds cast from a building on South Portland so they could re-create the original ceilings! All the finishings throughout were in perfect taste.
We weren't supposed to take pictures on the tour, so you won't see their fabulous kitchen or the aforementioned plasterwork, but I did sneak two pictures up in the bathroom because I was so impressed with how elegant these two simple elements are when combined. Isn't this smart? A simple, ceramic sconce and a silver bowl incandescent bulb. It's a very modern and very affordable idea that you could replicate easily.
May I recommend hosting a group picnic in your nearest park? It was a really wonderful way to celebrate my birthday this year. Friends gathered in nearby Fort Greene Park early on a Sunday evening. We all brought something to eat and I made a cooler of what we were calling "picnic punch" (white wine + sliced lemons and limes + seltzer). People could come and go as they pleased, and we stayed until it was dark. A picnic beats meeting up in a bar any day.
