Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
This weekend I was in the Wissahickon Valley Park (highly recommended) for a short hike. On the way back there was no choice but have a look at the place that surprisingly many people actually believed that I bought 2 1/2 years ago. This house is in Pelham, a section of Mount Airy that was…
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I write about problems like my terror of having the back exterior stuccoed in a texture that doesn’t look old. Sure, there are real problems that I care about, but there’s always someone who knows more about them than I do. And aside from what I know well enough to write about it, avoiding controversy…
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I’m gonna be on a house tour! Or actually better than that, a beer tour. This one will be especially interesting because the whole group moves from house to house on a schedule. That means I can expect about 70 people. And remember, this room is basically the whole house. So this should be interesting.…
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You’ve seen a lot that needs to stay in this house. What needs to change? The kitchen. Now, in the 20 or so years since I’ve first seen this I’ve come around to steel cabinets and chrome dinette sets. Retro Renovation often features people who send them out to auto body shops or powder coaters. But…
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Now that I’ve scrutinized every detail of the exterior let’s have a closer look inside. You’ve seen the magnificent hallway. Critically, I can’t see any water damage in here since I imagine that helical curved plaster would be especially hard to replace. The only big job to do with this plaster is make sure the…
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Back in imagination land, there are a lot of details on this house that (to me) absolutely cannot change – or have to be changed back – and some of that will be hard. But I like hard. So let’s start at the top. The roof is terra cotta tile glazed green. There are fancy…
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I’m terrible at picking favorites. Ask me my favorite color or food and I’ll tell you I can’t pick just one. You’d think I’d have just as much trouble with houses. But you’d be wrong. This has been my favorite house for a solid 20 years. It’s in Atlantic City. More specifically, it’s in the…
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With the Democratic National Convention 2 weeks away, South Philly is likely to get a lot of tourists. So for the underpaid political people among you, I’ve done the no money, no kitchen thing. And by now I’m good at it. And congrats on being sent to South Philly of all places! Here are all…
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With a new floor plan sketched out and handed to my plumber, I turned a few minor repairs into gutting half the second floor. In other words, I had my work cut out for me. But what was the next thing I worried about? Doors. The interior doors upstairs in my house were a bit…
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Yes, the Crooked House and I have been together for a full year now. I’ve seen some bloggers commemorate their anniversaries by listing the most popular posts, but my top two were popular because for the key words “Open Concept Bathrooms” “The next big thing in interior design” and “Minimalist bedroom” that I used sarcastically.…
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