Well, we’re not completely finished, but the downstairs bathroom “quick fix” is looking really good so I wanted to post pictures anyway…. The Problem: Downstairs bathroom was hideously nasty. Wallpaper was badly stained (nicotine) and has cat claw marks all over it. Linoleum floor was 70’s orange and curling up at the edges. Ceiling had […]

Normal 20-something couples spend their Friday nights going to nice dinners, watching movies, hitting the bars… but oh, not us. No, we spent our Friday night swinging sledgehammers in the living room. It all started when I brought home a funky green velvet couch from the Rescue Mission. The conversation that followed went something like […]

Thanks to all of you who have offered suggestions on obtaining/keeping insurance. You’ve given us some really great ideas. I’m working on the situation, and will keep you guys posted on how it works out. For your viewing pleasure, here’s the neglected back room that the insurance companies despise……. as you can see, it’s not […]

GRRRR. Just when we start to get optimistic, in comes some mail to take the wind out of our sails. We’ve been dumped from our homeowners insurance policy for the second time. The local AllState agents don’t want us either. Almighty house gods, can’t you cut us a break?

I’ve decided to add a category for how-to’s, so we can share some of the tricks and techniques we’re learning (and other fixer-uppers can tack theirs on as well). For the first how-to, I’m starting with something easy ;) One of the things we’ve been working on this week is removing old wallpaper from the […]

On Saturday morning we stayed in bed all morning and lazily pondered what to do with the wide-open day in front of us. I distinctly remember saying “Lets do something fun – we deserve some fun.” and “I’m feeling really unmotivated.” So how did we go from a quiet slumber to demolition in less than […]

Our dining room was the first room we really plunged into. It was a room that we knew would look ok with just a quick facelift, so it has been our “showcase” room, the one that illustrates our house’s potential and keeps people from thinking we are crazy folk. I’ve been holing off on posting […]

The day that we moved into our house, we took out nearly all of the rugs covering the downstairs floors. Not because they were ugly (which they most certainly were) but because they REEKED of cat urine. Not something you want to come home to after a long day at work. Luckily, the floors underneath […]

We worked our BUTTS OFF this weekend, but we accomplished so much it’s hard to be bitter about it. On Saturday, we got up at 8am to get cracking on the wiring. Ahhh, the wiring. What fond memories I’ll have when that project is actually over and I don’t ever have to wrangle with another […]

For those of you that are wondering what knob and tube wiring looks like, I snapped a few photos. Knob and tube wiring was common in the early part of the 20th century. I think the old metal boxes and glass and porcelain they used are pretty cool looking… the fraying fabric covering the wires, […]