Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
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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