7 Renovation Tips You Need to Follow, According to the Brownstone Boys

Jordan Slocum and Barry Bordelon know a thing or two about renovating a home. The couple’s claim to fame was their massive renovation of a historic Brownstone in Brooklyn after dating for just seven months. This earned them the “Brownstone Boys” name, and the rest is history.

Since then, they designed and renovated over 25 properties for clients and friends. And now, (luckily for us) they put all that knowledge into their new book, For the Love of Renovating, which is out June 4.

Bordelon and Slocum describe the book as a coffee table book that actually tells you how to renovate a home, from beginning to end.

“We really wanted it to be a resource for anyone interested in home design or who wants to tackle a renovation or restoration project like we do,” Bordelon tells The Spruce. “We wanted to empower them with knowledge and information to help them feel more comfortable.”

We chatted with Slocum and Bordelon about the book, their best tips for renovating on a budget, and the DIYs everyone should leave to a professional.

Inspiration Can Come From Anywhere

The first thing you need to do in any home renovation is to figure out what you want your space to look like—but actually finding inspiration can be difficult, Slocum and Bordelon say.

“When you sit down and you’re like, ‘I’m going to look for house inspiration right now’, you may not come across what you want,” Bordelon says. “But when you’re not looking, you constantly come across things.”

The pair finds their inspiration walking around New York City and appreciating the architecture, on their travels in beautiful hotels, and even in the music they listen to.

Slocum and Bordelon also suggest collecting inspiration long before starting a renovation—that’s what they did for their home. Taking photos of design elements you like, or saving things you see on Pinterest, will help when it comes time to distill your design wants into an actionable renovation plan.

Have a Contingency Plan

One of the biggest factors of any home renovation—whether it’s a single room or your entire house—is the budget. And while you can plan for most expenses in advance, Slocum and Bordelon say that one of the most important parts of planning for a big reno project is having a contingency plan.

“If you don’t have that contingency and hope your budget is exactly what you are going into the project thinking it is, then it’s going to be really stressful when those extras come up, since you didn’t plan ahead for it,” Bordelon says.

They suggest having a contingency of about 10 to 15 percent of your budget so that if any surprises come up, you still have room to address them within your budget.

Don’t Sacrifice Functionality for Design

When we think of home renovations, we often think of the fun parts: choosing the color scheme, getting the style just right, and the aesthetic factors that make a room or home feel like us.

But Slocum and Bordelon emphasize the importance of functionality in your home design as well. Bordelon says one of the biggest mistakes people make when renovating is not considering storage as part of the overall design, too.

“You can make the house as beautiful as you want,” Bordelon says. “But if you don’t have anywhere to put stuff, it’s never going to be beautiful.”

Sometimes, it’s the seemingly boring features in a house become the most important, Slocum says, like where the light switches are, how you access the rooms, and the direction the doors swing.

“It’s not necessarily the pretty stuff, but it means a lot when you’re living in the house,” he says.

When it comes to getting a return on your investment, focusing on the more functional areas of your home, like the kitchen, bathroom, and even laundry room, are some of the best ways to make your money back, the two say.

Small Upgrades Make a Big Difference

Bordelon and Slocum say it’s not just homeowners that will be able to enjoy the new book—it has plenty of ideas for small upgrades and DIY projects that renters can benefit from, too.

Bordelon says two of the small upgrades they always recommend to anyone, no matter what their living situation is, are the lighting and door fixtures.

If you don’t happen to live in a beautiful Brooklyn brownstone and instead are in a new build or other modern home that doesn’t necessarily reflect your love of character, there are easy ways to change that as well.

Bordelon and Slocum were recently tasked with renovating a few model units in a new condo building in New York, and the developed requested some New York-inspired character.

Adding elements to the “white box” units, like picture frame moldings on the walls and ceiling medallions made of inexpensive materials like foam, instantly made the spaces feel more tied to the city’s classic architecture and style.

“It really transformed the space on a very small budget,” Bordelon says. “Another one we did was limewashing. Giving a wall some texture, bringing some texture into a space, can really transform it too.”

Trust Your Partner

Because Slocum and Bordelon entered into their home renovating journey so early on in their relationship, they say it proved to be a great way to learn a lot about each other, and very quickly.

And while they learned that they had very different strengths, and didn’t always agree on every aspect of the home, they learned to trust each other.

“I knew immediately that Barry was probably better with some of the tools than I was, so I just let him take the lead on that, as opposed to trying to hold on and fight him,” Slocum says. “Divide and conquer. I’ll paint, you drill, and we’re good to go.”

DIY the Cosmetic Upgrades—But Not the Electrical

If you want to do some of the home renovation work yourself, Bordelon and Slocum recommend knowing your limitations. Take on a small cosmetic DIY or two—even single-room renovations can be a simple way to DIY without having to spend money on pros.

When it comes to factors like the electrical and the plumbing, it’s often better to leave that to the experienced professionals, according to the duo.

“We knew that the electrical and plumbing was something that we did not we qualify for, and we were the first to admit it,” Bordelon says of their own home renovation. “The wood stripping, some of the historical finishes—that was something that we were comfortable taking on ourselves.”

Improve What You Have

If you can’t afford a big home remodel, but there are features of your house you don’t like, Slocum and Bordelon have a few suggestions.

For example, if you have a wall niche, consider turning it into more of a feature in your home with wallpaper, paint, or marble, Bordelon says. They both agree that wallpaper and wall paint can go a long way to transforming a space, and sometimes you just have to be creative with how you’re using a space.

“There’s probably some way to improve it,” Bordelon says. “There are a lot of ways to transform, repurpose, and reuse things that can make the space a lot more functional. It doesn’t always have to be a huge renovation.”