May 7th, 2010
I’m pleased to join the Bungalow Blog Tour that StuccoHouse organized this year — be sure to check out all the bungalows on the tour by following the links at the bottom of each post.
Welcome to our near-north suburban Chicago home! Here in the Windy City we do many things Chicago-style, from politics to [...]
January 7th, 2010
Continuing with our “clean theme” for the new year, we were able to start using the master bathroom back in mid-October even though it wasn’t quite finished.
As you can see here: no fixtures for hanging towels, toilet paper; no mirror or light above the sink; sink temporarily installed on a plywood countertop; no shower [...]
January 4th, 2010
Now that we’re well into the new year, I thought I’d start my first post of the year with the ever-popular review of 2009.
What started out as a modest “plan to continue planning” the unfinished attic renovation quickly turned into construction reality. Although Pete and I are both self-employed in different businesses and industries, [...]
January 2nd, 2009
I had ambitious plans for 2008, but I knew at the time part of it was more Wish List than plan. But let’s review and see how we did anyway. Here was the list:
Build Master Suite in unfinished attic space
Renovate Kitchen and add a Mudroom
Patch and repair plaster walls on first floor
Paint paint paint!
Organize [...]
May 27th, 2008
While we still spent a good portion of the weekend working in the yard, we also spent a lot of time relaxing on our patio. The finishing touches are complete — check it out!
Here’s the view walking from the front of the house along the sidewalk to our side yard (the house is directly on [...]
May 20th, 2008
I can hardly believe it, but for all intents and purposes, we are finished with our patio with plenty of time to spare before our Memorial Day deadline!
Over the weekend we still had plenty left to do. The first day was spent leveling every single stone. First we tried to mark the pitch with string [...]
February 2nd, 2008
In all the research I was doing earlier about patching plaster walls, I don’t know why I didn’t come across this excellent Preservation Brief from the National Park Service.
It first gives the historical background of plaster and then talks about common plaster problems and the various ways to repair the plaster depending on the type [...]
January 28th, 2008
It’s day six of getting dressed in the kitchen. I am so ready for this to be over! Despite most of the furniture being covered in plastic, there is a fine layer of dust over absolutely everything — kind of like when you come home from the beach and you’re thinking, “Whoa, how did sand [...]