Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
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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I learned from being in the Crooked House that favors are a form of currency that can be held, exchanged, and transferred at will. I don’t know if this is because he’s Irish, he’s crazy, or he works in the building trades. Maybe it takes all of those things. But I learned from it and brought a…
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It’s nothing lame like dinner and a movie.* It’s gonna work like this. At the end of the month, Mario comes in. He’ll have another guy or two with him. I hand him a bank envelope. They’ll be in and out in about 2 hours. Wham. Bam. All the walls in my entire house will be…
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Whoo hoo! The hall done! (ish) And still crooked. If you were hoping to see boughs of holly on this blog, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Next year I’ll put up real Christmas decorations. This year, you can see a wreath though.
You remember I said I had to cut notches for 5 beams at the other wall in my kitchen? Well, the Irishman did it. He did the same thing I would have done, but probably 3 times as fast. I’m not a master carpenter Here’s how it worked. First the piece at the top of…
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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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I imagine that after this project is finished I’ll be out on a date, and I’ll say “I know we barely know each other, but can you order for me?” Maybe dinner isn’t such a big deal, but a lot of the decisions I’ve made this year have been really exhausting!
Well, first of all, I have a better picture of those windows that I’m still so very excited about. Had to take it after dark to have them show up decently.
But things are still coming out, too. If you’ll recall from this spring, the back bedroom in my house had only one long, narrow window. And since you don’t recall it, here it is, back when the room still had walls. The ceiling is on the floor, in case you were wondering.
Actually I’m making decisions now because I have to. And by that I mean reclaimed lumber is on sale at Philadelphia Salvage for this week so if I decide things now I’ll save a lot of money. Here’s the a sketch looking into the kitchen from the living room. I don’t know if you could…
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