I complain about this place pretty often, but the truth is there’s plenty to love about Central New York. Like, for instance, the beautiful and historic town of Ithaca – home to a great non-profit salvage store, the Ithaca Hour currency system, and as of a few months ago my brother Cody. Whenever I get […]

Our fabulously beat-up digital camera heaved a heavy sigh and conked out last week, so I have been camera-less for about 8 days. I have been totally lost without it. I don’t take particularly good photos, but I take tons and tons of them. Without photos, I could not fully share how pathetic the baby […]

When my parents got rid of all their personal belongings and hit the road, we became the proud owners of some really awesome antiques. One of my favorite pieces is the Edison Disc phonograph, which came from my father’s family and (I think) dates to around 1915. Here it is in our front entry room: […]

As you’ve no doubt noticed, I am a huge fan of organizing things; clutter and chaos makes me itchy. I don’t know when the compulsion to organize began, because my mother can tell you stories about my years of teenage-bedroom-slobbery. I distinctly remember finding a glass of fungus on my bedside table during one of […]

After nearly three months of work (that’s 12 fun-filled weekends, plus the work we squeezed in on weekdays), the master bathroom remodel is officially done. We put the finishing touches on it this past weekend. And now, every time I walk in there, I marvel at the beauty and order we created out of total […]

After all the complaining I’ve made you listen to, I figure you guys have earned a look at the glorious freestanding chrome shower, faucet and drain we FINALLY have installed and working properly. It’s a beauty….you know how a piece of real silverware feels decadent and fancy compared to a plain old cheapo fork? That’s […]

We didn’t make any progress last night – too tired, too bored with drywall – but I thought I’d post some photos of last weekend’s wallapalooza. That is the ceiling “before” – you can see the insulation peeking through, and the rough shape of the lathe. This is why we decided to frame up a […]

I’ve been a Flickr addict lately, as you may have noticed. We finally went “Pro” so we could share all the photo-album goodness with you guys, since the photos I post here tend to be smaller and you have to dig around to find them. So here it is – the Fixer-Upper Flickr gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fixerupper/sets/

I know many of you have bungalows, so I thought I would share Teague’s latest construction project – a garage for a beautiful bungalow he repainted last year. We don’t have a garage, so when I saw the latest pics of his work I was amazed at what the man can do, and also disappointed […]

While walking through the halls of Crouse College yesterday en route to a meeting at work, I was struck by a piece of art I must have seen dozens of times. I had to bring my camera back today to snap the frame, because the top embellishment looks very similar to to the decorative elements […]