Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
It’s pretty weird to write about this at all – since it has nothing to do with me at all. But it was kind of a fun project. The deal is, my parents have always liked bulbs but haven’t gotten around to planting them. Which is a shame because they have a zoysia lawn that’s…
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And I didn’t even notice! Which is funny because I’ve been fixated on the end for a solid 3 years now. And it was 3 years of scope bloat. At first it was the things I needed to make the place safe, like this chimney. (This is behind my bookcases in April 2014) To the “while…
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This reminded my mom of that terrible old show where women would tell their tale of woe and the one with the saddest story would win stuff. Can you guess why? It’s not because my life is impressively sad. No, it has something to do with my washer and dryer. And the big priority was…
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First of all, that last post was totally fake. Maybe my April Fools jokes are too subtle, but if you may notice that I did many, many things that were not cost effective to try to preserve or recreate my house’s character, and the facade is the very last thing I would want to modernize.…
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Yep, that last post was fake, and a lot of people fell for it. Even people I know in real life! I got a nice lady who was pushing a stroller up Pelham road to take the photo, and I stopped traffic when I was putting up the sold sign… with Scotch tape. So to…
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The Crooked house is approaching an inconceivable place: a state of good repair. An as it needs me less and less, I’m finding myself falling out of love with it. I’ve been lusting for places with serious woodwork, light from all 4 sides, and some space to plant things. So, I’ve negotiated early access to…
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I think I’m gonna cry. But we will rebuild! Update: I don’t think I fooled anyone for very long. Image courtesy of Newsworks. But the house is coming along. I finished the day with some Sheetrocking.
I still feel like I’m at the cusp of really making visible improvements to my house, but I’ve been a little bit in limbo. I am still waiting for one more estimate for the bathroom floor – have officially decided to get that done professionally. Maybe the bathtub surround, too, maybe not. Meanwhile I’ve been…
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I had a summary prepared for the last third of the project, but really, it’s all too recent to be fun to read (or write!) about again already. A few things I’ve learned sum it up well enough. everything is started, nothing is finished. Paying other people to do work for you doesn’t always make…
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