A few days ago I was all aglow about our fence plans, teasing the dogs with stories of how long I’d let them run and play, free from the restraint of their leashes. We’d be one big happy exhausted family after hours of throwing and fetching. But now, it seems that the picket fence was […]

Yes, we’re doing our own roof. Yes, we’re slightly obsessed with DIY. We’re also pretty broke, and I’ve got a talented husband and father-in-law with many successful roofing jobs under their belts. We finally ripped into our roof on Saturday, and despite my many fears it’s been going well. Teague’s father, Don, gave up his […]

I’ve been hesitant to reveal our roof repair plans on the site for two reasons. The first is that we kept changing our minds, and I didn’t want to confuse everyone by flip-flopping. The second reason is that I fear our final choice isn’t going to be too popular with some of the purists out […]

One of our most visible garden beds has been, since day 1, a total weedy mess. Rumor has it there used to be nice flowers in there but the previous owners yanked them before moving on. I can verify this, since there were sinkholes all over the place where plants had once been. Last year […]

Thanks to everyone for the great landscaping advice – I’ve got a running list of things to check out now. While we wait for the hardwood varnish to dry completely (STILL….will it never end?), we’ve been entertaining ourselves by fixing exterior annoyances. Yesterday the weather was beautiful (so rare in Central New York!) so we […]

When we took our first trip to a nursery last spring, we were shocked at how much plants and trees go for these days. Our dreams of a nice, lush yard full of trees, bushes and flowers quickly vanished as we looked at pricetags. We ended up settling for a spindley little crab tree from […]

My friend Jonah is a great photographer. I was flipping through his portfolio tonight, and came across a photo of a truly beautiful lantern: You can see the large version (and his porfolio) here.

We’ve had a few roof leaks over the past year, and plan to redo one of our roofs in the spring. The original roof was flat, and now has a second roof built up over it. When we do the repairs, we’d like to take it back to a flat roof in keeping with the […]

You know the type of projects that start out as a “quick temporary fix” and quickly snowball into a weekend-long event? Ah yes, well, I stumbled into another one this weekend. I’m not what you’d call handy with a trowel, so Teague thought it better if I didn’t skim coat the chimney with him. But […]

When I got home from work tonight, Teague was out spreading mortar on the chimney. I changed into my play clothes (like all good fixer-uppers do) and grabbed a trowel. It’s kinda like building a sand castle, only messier. The verdict? I’m pretty sucky at masonry work. But, I didn’t have much time to practice […]