Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
I’ve felt a little bit guilty about how much more say I had with the house Tito lives in than he has. He sold off most of his furniture. I decided down to the inch where every door was going. He said, “And you’re so good at it.” So that made me feel better. He’s…
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This was the thing that officially blew up my schedule and budget. When I bought the house the bathroom was cheaply built and a little small and awkward, but really not bad for a house this size. The plan, of course, was to keep it. At least for a little while. But this bathroom was…
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My dad came down and helped me bang out some painting yesterday and today. We did the bathroom, all 4 closets, and the ceilings in the upstairs hall and back bedroom. Both colors I got in the back bedroom were MUCH darker than I was expecting. I don’t know if that photo shows the colors.…
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I was a little bit of a load the weekend before last, so I’m not as far along as I’d want to be. But that’s ok because now Sherwin Williams is having a March Makeover Madness sale. Someone needs to talk to them about these names. I think I’ve chosen my paint, but have to…
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I’ve decided to move the end of summer back to sometime in the past week. It’s been warm and that lines up the change in seasons with big shifts in my house. This shift feels like a bit of a cleanse, as the piles of junk and mess are starting to shrink. Everything about how…
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OK, I’m exaggerating. Some of the comforts of home. I now have cleaning supplies under my (temporary) bathroom sink.Yep, I’m moving up in the world! My mom bought me all this stuff for a different bathroom. Remember it? It’s part of the back bedroom now. It was small and awkward and poorly built and had…
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I wanted to be different than my parents. I said I wouldn’t give my life over to keeping a perfect house like theirs. I said buying a small rowhouse with no land would accomplish this. I said I was going to decorate differently than my mom. Maybe I will. But the most deep rooted, primal…
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Here’s what I’m talking about. A boy in the family named it that, and it was his favorite thing about my house. Its proper name is a cleanout, but obviously I’ve found a more pressing use for it than cleaning my soil pipe. I found the blocks of wood lying around and put them there…
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