This is the third house for Feldman, who redevelops urban properties with a sustainable bent for his company, Right-Sized Homes L.L.C. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling follows a livable shell in the Graduate Hospital area he started renovating when he was 28 and the home nearby where he lived when he was married.
He paid less than $200,000 for the 1,800-square-foot Tudor in fall of 2000.
But before moving in, he followed a piece of advice he gives his clients: He refinished the hardwood floors and updated the wiring. The latter job included one of his biggest pet peeves, separating the lights and the ceiling fans from the same switch. Then, instead of installing 60-watt lightbulbs, he put in 75-watt bulbs on a dimmer, at about 80 percent.
"The bulb last four times longer. I rarely replace lightbulbs," he says.
Over the last 11 years, Feldman - who admits to being particular about some decorating details and laid-back about others - has completed several more updates to the house, such as a new heating system, energy-efficient windows, and a top-to-bottom third-floor renovation. More important, perhaps, he left other things alone, such as the hexagonal-tile floor and original 1928 pedestal sink in the second-floor bathroom.
But first came the color. Literally. "It took me eight years to get rid of the white walls," he said.
He started with the living room, painting the walls two shades of gold and red. In the circa-1950s-but-updated-in-the-'70s kitchen, he used pink, purple, and yellow paint left over from his daughter's room to create a slight Alice-in-Wonderland effect.
