Tag: painting

Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse

A Not-So-Dramatic Makeover

So it’s been a bit, and what I’m about to write about is old. After we finished the bedroom, it might have been a good time to stop working for the holidays. But I was thinking about the unfinished state of the linen closet. I wanted to do it twice before, but life (as in…
Read more

One Room Challenge Week 5: Almost There

Well, it’s been a grueling week and a half, but we’ve gotten some work done. You can probably see some unfinished details there. We still don’t have trim up on the left bookcase because I took the wrong piece of wood to my parents’ house and we ripped down a piece that’s too short. I…
Read more

Looking Back on the Year of the Facade

6 years ago today I bought the Crooked House. 3 years ago (not quite to the day) I finished my 6-month renovation and moved in. In Year 6, I finally faced my fear of the facade and took it on. At the start, I was afraid to take the awnings down. The windows were horribly…
Read more

A Painting Blitz

This is my “Oh shit it’s fall” post, part 2. The wood: I had kinda put it on hold because the Abatron Liquid Wood epoxy consolidant I used looked so thick and shiny on the surface. And because the brick needed months of attention. Anyways, I did a few rounds of the epoxy consolidant and…
Read more

5 years!

This year has kind of felt like a slog. But when we look back to where the house was a year ago, I think we have cause for optimism. Can you spot the changes? I’m excited about having the table set. That means Year 6 is starting out right. But back to last year… I…
Read more

Back To Work, On Storage

Did you miss me? I took a solid 2 months off working on the house and that’s been really great. In fact, I haven’t been this social in 6 years, before I bought the place. Relatedly, I decided to reorganize the kitchen cabinets. Partially because some of them are a disorganized mess and partly to…
Read more

Cabinets are Done! Dirt Remains.

With help from my dad, I’ve gotten a LOT done. Between how slowly I work and how many flaws I find in these cabinet doors, I never thought I’d see the day. Now, I did have to stop painting a bunch of times because I kept spotting more flaws to grind out with the sander.…
Read more

And I’m Still Painting the Damn Kitchen

I’ve been complaining about this job since April, but sooner or later I need to put it to bed. And this year I’m a Beer Tour host again. This year it’s November 4. Time to start tidying up? Nah, let’s start a project. (Look how cute the door prize baskets are though! If you want…
Read more

Planning… Stucco?

So I’ve had a pattern. Do project, burn out, take time off, start 2 new projects. I was around that point in the cycle 2 weeks ago and, well, it was pretty obvious that sooner or later I need to finish painting the kitchen cabinets, get the knobs on, and get glass in the doors.…
Read more

Pushing Through with the Banister

A quick note: It’s been an exhausting couple of weeks. I should have published this about 2 weeks ago on April 8. I present it to you now as if I had. It’s been a tedious month. We left off with the banister and the paneling below looking more or less like this. The sequence was…
Read more