Chronicling my adventures restoring and updating a quirky old Philadelphia rowhouse
Remember how I said I’d put dowels in the wall for the picture rail? Well that’s the first thing I did since last week’s post. It really wasn’t hard! But it made a HUGE mess. I closed the door and walked away from this. So is that peak dirt? Not quite yet. I had 3…
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This is kind of a first for me, making my own built-in cabinets, even though what I’m doing isn’t that complicated. The first step was making a sketch. Although my drawing isn’t very good, it shows how every board fits together and how the whole thing fits into the drywall niche. I started with the…
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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…
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Don’t be fooled by my previous post. I don’t know everything. I’m just some guy who teaches himself how to do things on the Internet. And I had a non-standard situation to work with here. With Window Number 1, we had (and spoiler: resoved) a catastrophe. But only briefly. First off, I spray foamed the…
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On Monday Tito and I were leaving for a day trip down the shore and the front door wouldn’t lock. Usually before the door jambs would swell in and the door wouldn’t close (until you shoulder checked it with all your might) and I’ve had to grind it back with a belt sander 3 times.…
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I’ve been in the habit of doing one task at a time to the whole house. This made sense when I was trying to be ready for ALL the plumbing, wiring, insulation contracting, drywall finishing, and floor finishing at once to get better prices from tradesmen. It made less sense when I decided to go…
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Viewer discretion advised: this post contains graphic images of architectural violence. I was too impatient to wait until the weekend to start peeling off the low-maintenance downgrades my house got. The capping was a job I could take on myself. I actually bent a little bit of it back years ago and left it that…
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Current 30 Projects in 30 Days count is 9. First I finally finished nailing the lath up to the house (Project 6). Between the casings, the tar paper, and the lath, the stucco prep took over 2 months. (Recycled photo but you get the idea.) And here it is with the stucco up (Project 7)!…
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All right, the dust has settled in my brain and been (mostly) cleaned out of my living room. Where does this leave us? Well, the kitchen looks more or less finished! Big sigh! So let’s talk about what I’ve got and why. Painted slab doors. I was emphatic that the kitchen be plain. I wanted…
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