Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
So more house fun I haven’t told you about yet: I was in trouble with my homeowner’s insurance company because my policy is apparently for occupied houses. This means they could have denied a claim if anything happened that I actually needed my insurance. They kindly gave me a little more time, and as of…
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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.
The last two weeks started with the usual two steps forward, one step back, but since then it’s been more like one forward, one back, and a few sideways. Yes, the windows and bathroom floor went in, but the contractor who installed the tile botched the job. He told me he wanted to redo it…
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The title references a city ordinance cracking down on blight by requiring owners of vacant properties on occupied blocks to install doors and windows and make them look occupied. More info here if you’re interested. I’m a big fan. I love it that the city is doing something effective to prevent vacant properties from being…
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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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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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Endless planning without serious progress could be a bad habit, but mistakes in design or construction methods would be much, much worse. So here’s the second post talking about the bathroom. And to be fair, I did get a little bit done in spite of the weather.