PROJECT ROWHOUSE

cork art

2010-04-26T13:12:00.008-04:00

If I saw a blot post title that said “cork art” it would serve as the immediate red flag preparing me for something hideous. People do truly terrible and tasteless things using wine corks.

Despite the typically tacky fate, I understand and share the mutual desire to use these little barriers in creative ways. I like the color, the aesthetic, and the fact that it’s the only thing separating me from that scrumptious nectar within. Hopefully you'll agree that we used cork in a way that doesn't rouse your gag reflex.

We started this project because we wanted something interesting behind the dart board. Because it ended up looking pretty sweet and it would have required every cork under the Tuscan sun to cover our intended area, we decided to stop at this size and hang it in the dining room.

This took more corks that we anticipated. Thanks goes out to our fellow wine-drinking friends for the supplemental art supply. Of particular note is our roommates parental units, the often drunk Greg and Carol of Vermont who shipped in a box full! Other materials: plywood, mastic, construction adhesive, polyurethane and a few picture hanging supplies.

Initially I used some leftover mastic (from the kitchen backsplash) and just pressed each cork in like a tile. I went completely random, which provided a nice mix of colors and height.

The mastic worked okay, but construction adhesive proved vital for completing the edges and reinforcing loose corks throughout the center area. For the edges I allowed the corks to dictate the somewhat organic lines and tried to keep thought OUT of the process (a gift in which I excel).

Once everything was securely in place, about ten coats of leftover glossy polyurethane (from the floors) was applied over the course of a few weeks using a paint brush.

window boxes

2010-04-22T19:08:00.005-04:00

In celebration of spring we built window boxes and put up a flag. The shutters are also new [to the blog].

The bottom is lined with copper flashing to add some interest (to otherwise perfectly fabulous window boxes). We're looking forward to a patina surface as this ages.

We built and installed these ourselves. There is nothing too ingenious here. After measuring and sketching out a few design ideas we picked up the materials for about $250. Note: the copper flashing was $40 alone. This could be left out of the process if you're okay with mediocrity.

After making all the necessary cuts, we set up a painting station on the pool table. Even though we used pressure treated lumber we figured some extra weather protection was appropriate. Every side of every piece was painted. Two coats with exterior latex paint - prior to construction. (The color is Lincoln's Cottage by Valspar. aka "black")

The pieces were then taped together with duct tape. This is a lie. Outdoor, galvanized screws were used on all accounts.

The copper flashing was surprisingly easy to work with. It cut effortlessly with some strong scissors and readily bent into shape. This was adhered to the bottom of the box using construction adhesive that is specifically designed for flashing materials.

I found that a wallpaper seam roller worked great to press the copper into the wood.

Add the trim and say, "Ta Dah".

Prior to installation, one more post-construction coat of paint was applied. I then used a nailset to punch holes through the copper for drainage (the wood was pre-drilled to keep the copper in good shape).

Can't wait to fill these with flowers!

And a few more shots of Project Rowhouse:

Reminder - a before picture:

snowy baltimore; dining room fireplace

2010-02-09T17:36:00.011-05:00

I recently attended a party at Leigh and Corey's place (see Baltimore Rowhouse). There was a theme: Jersey Shore. As much as I enjoy Pop Culture - this one has yet to join my television repertoire. Nonetheless, I met another "blogger" while there. Summer, who has not blogged in, like, months, pointed out that "[I] sometimes blog a lot, and then not for, like, weeks." She's sweet - and honest. I'll follow her lead and just do this when the feeling strikes - or when the snow forces me indoors for 100 hours.

There is a ridiculous amount of snow here in Baltimore. These were taken during the first storm...

...and the day after. The backyard drifts are taller than a person - not to mention a huge dog.

Considering there is a step down when you exit that back door, this is an official crapload.

Now - Here is a before shot of this fireplace:

We first removed the rock and mastic, which left terribly damaged brick:

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the process. I used a fireplace safe backerboard to smooth things out. Then, I adhered a small, mosaic tile:

stairs

2009-12-23T15:20:00.006-05:00

The stairwell was extra oak'y and extra ugly. This first pre-kitchen, pre-brick picture is startling.

I believe Dustin preferred the stairs go unaltered...

...but, it had to be done.

Eventually it'd be nice to install new stairs altogether - for now, some aesthetic clean-up was in order. We primed first then used a dark brown floor paint from Valspar for the treads and balusters. Some bright white trim paint for the risers finished it up.

Since I'm sure most are curious about wear and tear with painting the floor, I'll admit that we actually did this job prior to filming the show (last summer). The paint has performed quite well. For about $50 I'd say this was a worthwhile, buck-banging effort.

Yep. Lady Gaga on the TV.

master bedroom; the big show

2009-12-23T12:46:00.010-05:00

Sorry about the hiatus.

First. A few things about the show. We'd do it all over again. Seeing the house looking fantastic on TV was quite rewarding after all the work we've done. Also, watching ourselves was surprisingly not as painful as expected. We are good looking dudes.

I can't say I agree with the results (dead last). Although, trailing behind Leigh and Corey is fine with me - they're place is beautiful. While much of the show pointed out valid points, I would have liked more credit for actually building a kitchen in a space that did not have one. Conversely, we spent less than half the budget to which we were compared... that aspect wasn't discussed on the show and ultimately feels pretty damn good.

I can say we had a wonderful viewing party. The house was jam-packed with amazing people and much fun was had.

If you missed it, the folks at HGTV can't seem to get enough of us and it's been in rotation. Additional airings:
December 30, 2009 - 11:30 AM e/p
January 15, 2010 - 9:00 AM e/p
February 16, 2010 - 5:30 PM e/p

Now, about this master bedroom.

Before:

How about those beams? We tried to work with them. Ultimately, they darkened the room substantially and the lack of ceiling material allowed entirely too much noise transfer between the master bedroom and the one above on the third floor. You do not want to hear the noises coming from the master bedroom.

What's new? Covered the ceiling; added crown moulding; installed recessed lights and a new fan; refinished the floors; wallpapered a wall; FINALLY used those doors we spent so much time on a year ago; and have started putting it back together.

We love the king sized bed - which is resting on top of a frame from West Elm.

The side tables are an Ikea hack we saw on Apartment Therapy - $39 each (plus materials).

We think the wallpaper is stunning and give credit to Kay Ayres for helping find this. Kay is a close friend's designer Mom with a great eye. It's from Lee Jofa and installation was a breeze.

Merry Christmas from Baltimore!! Look at all this snow:

Of course - a dog picture. Here's Kanga looking sexy:

as seen on tv

2009-09-11T10:44:00.006-04:00

Today is the day! Tune in to HGTV tonight at 9:30PM EDT to see what we've done!

hgtv - air date

2009-08-20T15:50:00.003-04:00

Per Meg, we have an air date. September 11!

**********
Hey Craig,
As of right now we are planning on airing your show on 9/11. I will be sending out an email in the beginning of that week to remind everyone and the following week you will receive your DVD. I will update you if there are any changes.
Thank you

-Meg
***********

We also have a bunch of updates on the house - stairs, more drywall, floors... pictures are forthcoming.

filming - HGTV

2009-07-23T18:13:00.003-04:00

It’s official. Filming is complete. I imagine somewhere out there, somebody is busy editing and cutting out the numerous “um’s” and frequent direct eye contact with the camera.

First - we don’t have an air date yet. As soon as we get some more information, we’ll let you know! (I wonder how many of you will still ask in the comments, despite my clear, informative writing.)

The process was fun and everyone involved was great! It’s tough to walk around and talk about your house with cameras in your face, but the producer assured us we were doing great.

The designer was Taniya Nayak, who we’ve recognized from other HGTV programming. She was nice and had great things to say about the house.

Here are a few of the crew working in the house:

Makeup – of course:

As far as who had their best Bang for their Buck – we don’t know yet. I guess we’ll find out when they air!

congratulations are in order...

2009-06-28T12:43:00.002-04:00

...for Craig! On Saturday he submitted his final assignment for his final class to earn his Masters of Business Administration!

Can you believe he's been working on an advanced degree during the renovation?!

I'm so proud of him!

dining room; clear chairs; corn vase

2009-06-27T12:37:00.004-04:00

We often hear kind words about the fact that we're a productive pair. Although, as of late work has slowed dramatically. There are a number of small, unfinished projects preventing the joyous occasion of a to-do list strikethrough.

It's funny how a professional designer and real-estate agent, with camera crew in tow, can motivate you. Things are getting done - in fact, we removed the to-do list altogether.

The picture is old - many of the jobs are now complete. Can you believe we had a question mark behind 'Backsplash'?

So about this dining room... before:

Mmm. Wallpaper.

And I must point out the fireplace massacre. Some brilliant person covered the entire front with an inch of mastic to secure rocks.

Today - In progress:

I'm digging the clear chairs.

The corn vase - SO FAR - is only liked by two people. Me and Jessica. It came from Red Tree.

hgtv

2009-06-23T21:33:00.005-04:00

Bad blogger? Maybe.

Bad renovators? No – says HGTV.

That’s right, we’ve been selected to be on a show called Bang For Your Buck! We’re thrilled about the development and can’t wait to show Project Rowhouse in a different forum. Applying for the show was not too difficult. The production company posted an ad; Baltimore Grows blogged about it; We responded, with a link to the blog (of course). After a few weeks of some back-and-forth we were notified that we made it!

To make things more interesting our pals over at Baltimore Rowhouse will be on the same episode.

Filming is the second week in July and as we learn more information regarding air time, we'll be sure to let everyone know! Check back soon, we're finishing up a few projects and some blogging will follow.

petrie

2009-04-10T14:47:00.004-04:00

…has finally arrived. Could legs be any sexier?

Now I want a new coffee table. We like the one we made, and we’ll use it elsewhere. It’s just not a good fit for this couch. I guess Noguchi is too big..?

Oh, the blue room is the dining room – more on that later.

basement: unveiled

2009-04-10T09:46:00.002-04:00

Let me remind you of how things were:

Can you believe we bought that crap?

Here we are now:

And some extra storage next to the stairs

paint colors

2009-04-03T14:15:00.002-04:00

I've received a few requests for the paint colors we've been using:

Kitchen: Hot Cross Buns (American Tradition)

Living Room: Short Grass Prairie (Valspar)

blog love

2009-03-26T23:28:00.004-04:00

It's always great receiving comments here on the blog. Recently, some nice things have come from additional sources, so we figured we'd give a shout'back - mostly because we appreciate them, but a little because narcissism is a completely natural way to feel. For me.

Yesterday the people at Modwalls' design blog featured Project Rowhouse and said some really nice things. You can check it out here.

Also, a few weeks ago Urban Discoveries Living interviewed us about the renovation for a House Tour feature on their site. UDL is a sweet little blog about Baltimore city livin';

Charles & Hudson liked our trim work;

and our friends at Rehab or Die always have nice things to say - and they do some good work!

Thanks!

backsplash - kitchen and wet bar

2009-03-17T16:41:00.006-04:00

The backsplash is finally installed. It looks fantastic. If these walls could talk, I'm sure they'd say, "Mama just got some new bling and she's ready to tear up this town - outta my way."

This was an easy job, I didn't need need too many special tools and was finished over the course of a few days.

We want to give some big credit to Modwalls. In addition to being a completely friendly and helpful vendor, they have a beautiful selection of high quality tiles in a variety of colors. If you like the mosaic look and they don't have a color mix that works, you can mix up your own batch for a custom blend. As I mentioned before, we chose the Marrakesh blend for the kitchen - AND - we went ahead and got the Windy City mix for the wet bar in the basement.

There are some official installation guides here, but our process is described below.

1 - Adhering the tile to the walls - we did not use a concrete backerboard, but adhered the tile directly to the drywall. I used a V-Notched trowel with 3/8" grooves along with premixed, unsanded Mastic. When you are spreading the mastic on the wall, be sure that you're applying a thorough, yet thin and even coat. If it's too thick, when you press the tile flat against the wall it will seep up through the individual tiles. This went unnoticed in a few areas during my installation. It can be cleaned up after the mastic is dry, although this means more work. This picture from the wet bar shows some seeping mastic.

We were fortunate in that we did not have to cut any of the individual tiles to make them fit around outlets, etc. Because each tile is small, we merely cut sections out of the pattern and left the rest of the sheet intact - this worked well.

When you buy this tile, it comes in sheets that are about 12"x12". You may have sheets that have a netting on the back that sits right in the mastic - or they may have paper holding them together from the front of the tile. We had both types - see below:

If you have paper fronted tile, you need to remove the paper after you fix it to the wall, but before everything is set firmly in place. I waited about 20-30 minutes and then started wetting the paper (sorry no picture). I found that a spray bottle worked best. When it's soaked through, the paper will easily peel away. At this point the tile fronts are exposed along with errors and crookedness. Because nothing is completely firm, you can straighten the lines. Now the mastic needs to firm up for at least 24 hours.

We had a few different edge types. I used blue painters tape which made for nice even grout lines.

2 - Grouting - after everything is dry I suggest a good cleaning. The sooner you clean up, the easier the clean-up. Remember the seeping mastic? This needs to be completely fixed prior to grouting so the lines are all even and smooth.

With glass tile you'll want to get a non-sanded grout. There are many colors to choose from. I'm not a big fan of grout lines that pull attention from the tile itself, so we went with similar colors to the tile.

When the grout is mixed and ready to apply, I suggest having a few putty knives around and a good float. Slather the grout on the tile and start spreading it forcefully and evenly with the float in a diagonal direction to the tile.

After everything was grouted, I waited about a half hour before wiping down with a damp [often-rinsed] sponge. As the remaining residue dries a haze will develop over the surface.

I had to come back a few times with the sponge a day later to polish everything up - but it came out beautifully!

And the basement (ignore the unfinished electrical outlet):

trim and moulding

2009-02-17T12:58:00.003-05:00

You can expose brick, mud drywall, refinish floors, scrape wallpaper and paint walls - none of this matters until you add moulding and trim. We love crisp, clean, bright white trim in just about every room. Slowly, we've been adding the base trim as we get certain phases of the work complete. Now that we're moving on to doors and windows, y'all can have a peak.

I don't consider my moulding capabilities a talent - but we're really good at the finishing part of the job where you can hide errors. After you've installed whatever you're working on, you should fill in all the gaps and nail marks with a paintable caulk (or something comparable) before painting the final product. We still have to do this step, but it's coming along.

The square rosettes with fluted casings are seen in a few other places of the house where the trim appears to be original. We like the traditional, yet geometric look.

Before:

After:

Dealing with a 1.5" floor height change is a pain. We built this trim piece out of two threshold step-up pieces stacked and secured.

coffee table

2009-02-15T11:01:00.004-05:00

This is an Ikea Lack Shelving Unit we modified into a coffee table. Pieces of 1x6 MDF were added to each end using Liquid Nails and wood screws. Adding the boards gave the casters a more solid base than the actual furniture. Thanks, Lynsey for the idea.

basement; wet bar

2009-02-13T09:50:00.001-05:00

The basement is coming together. We have the cabinets painted - Craig did an amazing job on this - and the wet bar is in place with functioning plumbing. We're pretty excited and proud to say that the basement budget has stayed quite small due to some recylcing, some freebies and of course our own labor.

porcelain tile floor

2009-02-12T14:38:00.001-05:00

Back to the kitchen - the floor is tiled, finally! It was a mess of plywood for way too long. We went with a neutral porcelain 12"x12" in a running bond pattern. I'll admit, I was a bit disappointed when I first realized that the floor I wanted was going to cost way more than necessary; I suppose the tile we ended up with is "safer" as far as general appeal. Now that it's in, I'm really happy with the decision. The lighter color helped the room feel even bigger and the fact that the pattern pulls your eye from side to side of the house, rather than front to back makes the kitchen feel fat and happy. An added bonus is that the end result seems to lend itself well to a house in Little Italy with a Tuscan'y feel.

A few items of note:
-When you're working with grout [and not wearing gloves] strange things will happen to the skin on your hands. It dried me out in a fantastic way. I was nothing short of reptilian for at least a week.
-People will tell you to invest in knee pads, but you won't because they're pricey and you think you can handle it. You can't.
-We rented a wet saw from the HD. I'm not sure of the other options out there, but this thing worked great.
-Cutting tile becomes annoying. Because we installed the cabinets first, we had to make more cuts than necessary. Most of the information I've read suggests installing the flooring material in a kitchen first. It's probably a good idea, but there are pluses to installing it last as well (e.g. less tile material). Our schedule dictated this decision.

A few in progress pictures before the final - to prove to Dan that Project Rowhouse is not some covert operation involving loads of contractors and designers.

No, I don't ask Jaxxon to be in every picture. This boy loves the camera - can you blame him?

tool storage

2009-02-04T09:58:00.004-05:00

It’s great that we have the finished basement and third floor, but this leaves little room for storage of things like tools. As you might imagine, the collection is big, unruly and always growing. Can I get a “That’s what she said”? Fortunately, there is a large built-in closet/tv unit in the basement with some extra room – this is after the first coat of primer.

We stole one of the closets and added pegboard. If you don’t LOVE pegboard, you’re not invited. It makes for great organization and I’m digging the fact that right now, I know exactly where my plumb-bob is (don’t you love that name?)

No, that is not everything. We also had to convert this Harry Potter under-the-stairs-room into additional storage with some utility shelves, more pegboard and an overhead flourescent light.

Notice the brass knuckles to the left. I have no explanation.

couch

2009-02-03T21:27:00.004-05:00

Dear Old Couch,

I'm sorry to say you're being replaced. While you've been loyal and always by our [back]sides, the time has come for someone else to enjoy you - and hopefully give you a thorough, professional cleaning.

Regards,

Jon and Craig

From Couch

This couch has seen everything. If it could speak, it would surely say something like, "humans are utterly disgusting".

We really do like the couch. If the stairwell to the basement was bigger, it would be fixed up and kept. I feel like it's an important piece of furniture as it was one of our first bigger purchases as a couple. Anyhow, it has a few broken bones from all the moving - Cincinnati, Houston, Cleveland, Huntsville AL, and now Baltimore. Also, as of late, if the pillows are situated just right, you might be lucky enough to get a waft of an unknown odor prompting thoughts like, "Is that..? nah, they don't even have a cat".

It'd be great with some TLC and hopefully someone will find it at the Salvation Army to give it just that. Unless of course one of you want it for free?

Meet Petrie:

This is the couch we just ordered from Crate and Barrel. The Petrie is typical 60's design; big; super comfortable; clean lines; totally marvelous; and I quote, "lets you slouch in comfort". A slouch couch - PERFECT. We selected the Charcoal color and are regularly wetting our pants with excitement. It won't be delivered until April (grrr) but it’s nice knowing the couch is being specifically built for Project Rowhouse. Here are a few other pictures I rounded up from the interweb.

basement

2009-02-02T13:12:00.004-05:00

Sorry y’all, we concocted the most daunting to-do list ever and we failed to put ‘blog’ as an entry. We’ve been wonderfully busy with the house though and blogging is back on the list, so hopefully you’ll be hearing from us more frequently.

Now that the basement is freed up (i.e. we moved upstairs), we can start turning it into the recreation room. It has some great potential and it’s nice to be starting with a somewhat finished space.

About the basement: as far as rowhouse basements go, I think we hit the jackpot here. It’s ugly, but a good sized space and most of it has reasonable height (none of it is the standard 7’). As you can see in the pictures, there is an elevated wood floor on one half that pushes the headroom to a danger zone – about 6’2”. Not ideal. This side will be a lounge / TV / fish tank area, so it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Dancing and grooving will be allowed despite the risk of head injury.

I’ll do a post about the fish tank when we put it up… I talk so much about those dogs that I failed to tell you all that keeping a big fish tank is by far my favorite hobby.

The wood floor is in terrible shape – TERRIBLE – we’re not refinishing it, but because of what’s under it, we can’t remove it [easily]. Some exploring exposed unevenness and surely other yet-to-be-discovered problems. The other half of the area is linoleum on concrete and this is about 6’6”. We’ve decided to just carpet the entire space to unify and warmify.

The side with the taller ceiling is where the kitchen was. You can see some kitchen leftovers in the pictures. Our plan is to reuse a few of the cabinets and put a wet bar in the same corner with a beverage center. We’re leaving the range gas hookup in case we (or a future owner) ever choose to turn the basement in to a full apartment. The pool table will also go in this space (Thanks, Rosa!).

There is some storage and utility stuff in a separated area. Our latest thought is that the washer and dryer should be moved up to the second floor and this will open up room to put a full bath to really have an actual suite. You hear that, Mothers-In-Law?

Excuse the mess:

Does this green remind anyone of Nickelodeon? It’s ridiculously bright. It looks much brighter in the pictures than in real life – that is a COMPLETE lie. This is just the beginning and I’m not at all worried that it will be terrible when we finish, but it is a bit crazy looking right now.

The built-in closet unit on the left side was “finished” wood, but it was way too dark and in poor shape.

Priming begins:

television; ikea anga; backsplash

2009-01-05T20:39:00.002-05:00

I’ll start off with a non-kitchen picture. Finally.

What’s new here?

-We decided to paint the fireplace white. We stripped the layers of old paint and varnish, picked, scraped, sanded, primed and painted. The inside of the fireplace was also painted black.

-We mounted the television. The wire situation is yet to be addressed. There are a few issues. One, we need longer cables so that everything can comfortably run from the TV to the shelf with the components. Also, cord management is yet to be resolved. It’s looking like running everything through flat, paintable tracks is going to be our option. We considered cutting a channel through the drywall and plaster deep enough to completely submerge the tracks, then re-refinishing the wall. This just seems like a big job for a minor detail. (Side Note: Wii Tennis is even more fun. yeah - I'm pro.)

-The shelf is Ikea’s Anga series. It fit the space, offered lots of storage and the glass shelves keep the brick in view.

-The base moulding is going in.

Now something about the kitchen. We decided on the Marrakesh tile blend from Modwalls – these pictures are from their site.

countertops; painting

2008-12-19T23:49:00.003-05:00

Not much time to write, but here’s a quick update of some big changes.

The countertops were installed (Dupont Zodiaq in Abyss Black) and we got the first coat of paint on the walls. There is still much to do, but we’re getting there.

What do you think of the paint colors? I'm loving this green we chose for the living room.

cabinets

2008-12-15T21:50:00.002-05:00

Jon: Isn’t there a Christmas movie that ends with a young boy proclaiming from his window “Merry Christmas, and peace to all” – or something like that? It’s a snowy street, people are walking, bells are ringing, doves are flying – you know what I’m talking about? He’s happy. Like, Red Rider B-B-Gun happy, but not The Christmas Story.

Craig: I don’t know – why?

Jon: I just need to know.

Craig: Is this for the blog?

Okay. Maybe so, but I couldn’t come up with a more apropos analogy to depict my love for the way things are turning out. “Base cabinets are in, and peace to all” – hear it?

We got the base cabinets installed and the countertop contractor came out to take measurements. It went well; he said we did a great job on getting everything level, etc. The tentative installation date is next Friday! We’re pretty excited – like, Red Rider B-B-Gun excited.

The refrigerator was also delivered. I can’t wait to fill it with leftovers… from all the cooking, of course.

wood floor refinishing; cabinet installation

2008-12-10T00:37:00.004-05:00

We got some exciting work done this weekend!

Wood floors: Firstly, I can’t believe I ever considered replacing the original floors, and here’s a thanks to those of you who openly considered my sanity. They turned out great! The floors had been refinished in the past and we liked the aged color and look. They had potential. Our goal was a super shiny, smooth floor that will stay that way - despite the canine parade. We came up with a process that worked and we love the way they turned out.

The first step is to clean and prepare the floors. We used the shop vac, brooms, swiffers, etc. You’ll also need to remove the baseboards - be careful if you want to keep and reuse them as they break easily. If you have nail heads popping up or loose boards, this is the time to fix that too.

Before:

After thoroughly removing the debris, we sanded the entire floor with an orbital sander (rented from Home Depot) using a 150 grit sanding screen. The edges and corners were done manually with a hand sander. We were careful not to sand too deep in order to keep enough of the current finish and color (the orbital sander is simple to use and more forgiving than a belt sander). After sanding, you should see a powdery white dust over the floor.

Next, we dusted thoroughly with swiffer pads and followed up with mineral spirits using a lambswool applicator. This step was imperative in our case due to the waxy buildup over the years. If the wax is not completely removed it can affect the finish at the end. The mineral spirits also cleans up any dusty layer that might be left and leaves the floors free of residue. We went over the entire floor twice to ensure that it was clean and ready for the first coat of polyurethane.

We used an oil based, gloss by Minwax – I’ve used water-based poly before and while I know it can be argued that it’s a better choice, I feel like the oil-based was easier to use. One big difference is that there were no wet edge problems. This is partly due to it’s slow drying time (18-24 hours before the second coat can be started). Even though it took longer, we're much happier with the results here than in our previous house.

We allowed the floors to dry and lightly sanded them again with the orbital sander (150 grit). You’ll get the white powdery residue again (swiffer, then more mineral spirits with the applicator) – let the mineral spirits completely dry and hit it again with the same poly I mentioned above.

We love them – so much – I think they might be pregnant.

You can also see that we started the cabinet installation! I think that needs one more exclamation point. !

They’re Ikea Akurum in Adel. The finish is called Medium Brown. Medium Brown is a rare species of tree only found in the forests of Sweden. Couldn’t Ikea come up with a name involving more than just adjectives?

Ta-Dah!

drywall finishing; priming

2008-12-02T23:20:00.004-05:00

We’re making big progress over here at Project Rowhouse.

The drywall finishing is finally complete (on the first floor). For the most part, we’re really happy with the results. I was quite nervous when we started the process, and we still have much to learn, but most of the errors that we made were fixable with some determination, patience and rigorous use of various sanding implements, i.e. screens, sandpaper and blocks. Here are some in progress shots – these were taken just after the first coat of filler:

And these were taken tonight. Primer is on the walls and the smell of KILZ is in the air – it’s intoxicating. Literally.

For Drywall tips, I found THIS site helpful (and many others resulting from your basic search). I also called my Dad quite a few times, email me for his phone number – I kid.

One new way of getting help that we’ve been taking advantage of is searching YouTube for demonstrations of various jobs. Sometimes seeing someone do something helps with the explanation.

drywall continued

2008-11-20T20:59:00.005-05:00

I can't believe Craig still acts surprised and says things like "I dusted the TV yesterday - Look at this now! Dust is for the birds!"

Inspections have been passed and the walls are just about covered. Next, we'll be in the mudding phase, but here's the current:

We're hoping to start on the cabinets in the next week!

a few steps closer to a kitchen

2008-11-17T08:15:00.007-05:00

Work is in full swing. We are officially on someone else's schedule now that we've ordered the countertops and I have a feeling they're going to want to place them on top of actual, built and installed cabinets as opposed to the ones we currently have:

This is what cabinets from Ikea look like when you bring them home. It's probably not surprising that we have to put them together ourselves, considering the fact that even if you buy a swedish meatball at Ikea it'll come with assembly instructions. Unless you have a large vehicle, you'll want someone to help (thanks, Matt).

As far as work that's going on:

Framing - we're finally (completely) finished and covering all that hard work with drywall is proving to be rewarding.

Electrical - there are now 10 lights, 5 switches and 8 outlets in the room. About the lights - remember the previous post about recessed lighting? We ended up adding more, small recessed lights that follow the path of the countertops. They have a brushed stainless steel finish to match the appliances and their installation was about the same as the previous ones.

We wanted to have some pendants hanging over the 'pass through' area, but the way the soffit had to be built prevented this. There are a few small pendants hanging the opposite corner which you can see here (along with some of our beautiful sheetrock):

Sheetrock - we're still in the initial parts of this phase. Along with what you can see in the above pictures, here is a bit more showing the process:

We had to cover some of the opening to the stairwell. The exposed brick is still visible from the kitchen and living room. We wanted to keep it open, but there was no where else to put a refrigerator (not to mention the 92" cabinet that will be in the space also). The outlet up by the ceiling will be in a small open area above the cabinetry - we figured it would be a good idea just in case we wanted to add lights up there... it may also be used to supply power to yet another strand of Christmas lights in Craig's dreams of creating a wonderland in our home.

There is still much to do before the countertop folks come out for measurements, including plumbing, gas lines, a few electrical changes, finishing the sheetrock, fixing some weak spots in the floor, oh sweet Jesus - we should probably get to work.

vote

2008-11-04T09:10:00.004-05:00

Have you voted yet? We stood in line this morning - only took about 30 minutes. I actually sort of loved the wait. It's a perfect opportunity to look around and see the faces in your community. Everyone standing with incredibly purposeful, proud, focused expressions. Despite the walkable, friendly neighborhood that we love - the crowd surprised me, in a really good way.

I also want to point out the fact that I am 28 years old and this will be the first election I've voted in where my choice for President will likely win. Realizing this unfortunate tidbit, I began to wonder just how many people are in these shoes. Is my math right? Not a single (devoted) donkey out there who is less than 29 has voted a President into office?

At the risk of nurturing the notion of division in our country - I'm really glad it looks like there will be change.

ceiling fan... in the living area?

2008-11-03T18:24:00.013-05:00

Do you all have thoughts on this? I understand the utility. Completely. Although, Craig and I differ in opinion and I figured a pulse of the web might help. Firstly, Craig gets pretty hot... literally (let alone, metaphorically - heyyy); secondly, a fan can move lethal dog-fart quickly out of the room; and lastly, I have a deep hatred for fans that are loud enough to warrant a volume increase to the current entertainment device (i.e. every fan not attached to the ceiling). I need some affirmation that it's not a terrible idea. The 'future' living room is the middle of the three rooms on the first floor (rowhouses are not only a row of houses side-by-side; typically the interior rooms are also row-like). A fan will most certainly be a fantastic way to keep air moving in the window'less middle, but I wonder what interior design-lovin', like-minded folks might think?

Does a ceiling fan really kill a room?

Is placing a ceiling fan anywhere other than the porch of a Georgian plantation sinful?

I feel like the first thing "designers" do upon a home makeover of extreme proportion is rip out the ceiling fans. Our plans are not really contingent upon the opinion of [insert ear plugs now] Ty Pennington, but I do wonder what your thoughts might be?

framing continues

2008-10-31T11:15:00.004-04:00

Happy Halloween!

The framing is coming along great, and we're loving the fact that the room is starting to look like a room. Working around the HVAC ductwork is a complete pain, but mostly because we're trying to take advantage of literally every inch possible. Here is what it's looking like:

It's beautiful, isn't it? I can't wait to cover it with sheetrock. This is the only project getting attention lately, and with good reason. We've set some ambitious goals and would love to spend Christmas on the first floor.

tribute to the pups

2008-10-26T12:20:00.003-04:00

We're dog people. I have a suspicion that if a friend were to describe us to one of their friends they'd say something like "Craig and Jon are my friends. They have a bunch of dogs." There would be a follow up about our niceties, maybe even a comment about our home renovation aspirations and delusions, but overall we're dog-people. We're okay with that. We really like dogs - we like our dogs, we like other people's dogs, we really like commercials where dogs drag their butts across the carpet.

With Jaxxon’s first Birthday being today, I figured a shoutout was in order. Since Kanga is his Mother, and this also marks the one year anniversary of that awful Gizmo-got-wet reenactment, I’ll introduce her first. They’re all great dogs so I won’t go on and on about how they're loyal and beautiful and wonderful and well behaved and genius and rare… even though they are.

Kanga’s a first generation chocolate labradoodle, also called an F1 which means one parent is a poodle and one is a lab.

Jaxxon is a second generation brindle labradoodle, also called an F1B - which means one parent is an F1 and the other is a poodle. Happy Birthday, Jaxx.

And Leo, as I mentioned before is a mix of dachshund, poodle and maybe something else too…

Of course we have to mention the late Rue. Rest in peace, buddy – we miss you terribly.

I'll tell you what we don't miss - cleaning up after seven puppies. Jaxxon's in the back in this picture:

Okay, back to work - we're having a very productive weekend, so hopefully another post later today.

finally - roughing in...

2008-10-21T20:15:00.008-04:00

...that is, we finally started. I don't have much advice on roughing in walls (i.e. framing) - ambition overcomes ignorance, right? Describing ambition is something I'll work on later, for now I'll just show a few pictures.

There are nuances to each and every room, especially in these odd and old - I mean unique and character'filled - houses. You should be thinking ahead like Bobby Fisher. Assess the entire room every five minutes and consider what you're working around.

Horizontal:

Vertical:

A little work, a lot of thinking - hopefully the rest of the week is productive as well.

Right now we're enjoying the crap out of this candle - autumn leaves by yankee candle. It's a bundle of crisp fall leaves, cinnamon and Christmas tucked warmly into a granny-knitted blanket.

furniture; internet stuff

2008-10-20T15:54:00.006-04:00

I've been meaning to post about some furniture we recently got for a steal. A friend was moving to Los Angeles and unloaded just about everything she had. We were among the mob of benefit-reapers. Thanks, Nancy. Project Rowhouse has quite a bit more square footage than the previous house, so we're always on the lookout for random pieces of furniture. One item we were desperately in need of was more couch space for the current living area. The one we've had for the past few years can't get through the stairwell to the basement, but this one did - and we can eventually move it to one of the extra bedrooms where it doubles as a full bed:

Kanga brought out the devil eyes - watch out.

This desk is pretty sweet and fits in this open office area on the third floor.

We planned on having a hammer and nail filled weekend, but in the spirit of learn-as-you-go we realized some of the wall areas we wanted to keep had to be removed and redone. So, we ended up doing a lot more demo and cleanup. Hopefully productivity is in our future and I'll give a better update.

I did get around to organizing the internet router/hub/hard drive to it's hopefully permanent location. It had been resting in a beautiful nest of it's own wires, dust and chunks of drywall in the corner of the future kitchen. To prevent the possibility of something hatching from within we decided to clean it up and mount it:

shopping; recessed lighting

2008-10-13T20:23:00.005-04:00

As planned - we did some major shopping this past weekend. I love the big box stores. A lot. I assume everyone loves these stores. It's fun to shop there. It's even fun when you leave and realize you've spent twice as much as you hoped. Fortunately, we over estimated this trip and left the place under budget. The biggest problem - some of these big shopping trips involve as much manual labor as digging a canal. We considered having them deliver the drywall and lumber for $90.00 - because, one) we couldn't fit any of the items in our CR-V and, two) having someone else carry the stuff into the house would have been a welcome luxury. Instead, we rented a truck from the store for about $30, saved about $60 and our biceps are wondering how a day without the gym ended like this.

So it doesn't look like that much, but that's thirty sheets of heavy drywall.
Okay, on to the recessed lighting. We found out during the research and shopping that there are two basic differences in recessed lighting fixtures. One is for a remodel and one is for new construction (i.e. no drywall).

We had a need for both - the one the left is for new construction: see the long braces? Those allow you to brace the light fixture in between two ceiling joists. This is ideal and keeps the housing firmly in place. The fixture on the right is set up for a remodel - which is what I did today. The lack of braces lets you shove the fixture up through the ceiling and into place. Here you can see the fixture half way into the ceiling:

And now, into place:

This next step was upon suggestion from the home improvement store lighting guy. Apparently, if you follow the typical remodel instructions the light can eventually lean or become loose from the ceiling, but some Liquid Nails will keep everything in place:

Finish installing the trim, return the power and voila! ...one step closer

kitchen planning

2008-10-08T17:45:00.003-04:00

The initial excitement we had that the contractor's were finished has passed and it's time to get back to work. We took a little break and I've been under the weather. We have been tinkering around with a few small projects and repairs, but mostly we've been getting more serious about the kitchen plan.

There are obviously many ways to think about how you want your kitchen to function and look. We like the fact that we were truly starting with a blank slate. I can imagine that if plumbing and electrical was already in kitchen-shape that we would constrain our plan to fit. We found that the easiest way to think about it was to draw a scale floor plan and cut out scale models of the cabinetry options. It was a bit tedious at first, but definitely an exercise worth doing.

We then taped out the layout on the floor to see how it feels walking through the room - it's looking good.

For cabinetry we decided on Ikea Akurum cabinets. There are many opinions on Ikea and their durability. If you do some research you'll find that an overwhelming majority feel that you can't beat them for the price. Of course, custom cabinetry - or other high-quality cabinetry - would be great, but saving money is important right now. We also had Ikea cabinets in our previous house and they were pretty great. Never had problems, cleaned up nicely and adjustable enough to fit everything we have. This color is Adel Medium Brown:

Ikea also has a nice kitchen planner tool that you can use to help decide layout decisions. While it's a nice tool, I found it easier to do the paper cutouts and then translating that into the program. It does create some nicer looking pictures of what we want:

The column will be there at the end of the "L". View from above:

There is actually more counter space than Ikea's planner allows, but this give you an idea.
Speaking of countertops... we've decided on Silestone. This is made from quartz and apparently harder and more stain resistant than Granite and other choices. It's also really beautiful. We are going with a dark, almost black color. This is called Stellar Night:

As for the flooring, we want to do something natural looking - and we're leaning toward slate options. We like something like this:

The backsplash has only been vaguely talked about, I like the idea of having a solid, slightly earthy green:

or;

In other news, we started getting a more serious supply list for the framing and drywall work we are about to start. Hopefully we can go this coming weekend and pick it all up - that'll keep us busy for a while. I did find out today that the exposed joists in the living room are remarkably level! We expected to have quite a bit of leveling and shim'work to even things out - but apparently the folks who built this house 200 year ago weren't messing around - thanks, dead guys.

I hope you were as meticulous in the master bedroom...

the contractors have finished

2008-09-26T14:53:00.003-04:00

We are thrilled with the new open space! It's still a mess and we now have tons of work to do, but getting rid of this wall really helps us move forward. Here's what we're looking at:

We can't believe how much of a difference it made! The kitchen will mostly be the area where there is currently carpet (it may spill out a bit into the living room). The walk-through will be to the right of the column and to the left will be cabinetry/appliances. We've only made preliminary layout decisions, but now that we can really see the space we're going to get serious about the plan.
In the following picture you can sort of see how the ductwork is all tucked as high as possible and grouped together:

The next steps are to:
come up with the basic design;
decide where plumbing and electrical will be going;
and start the framing and drywalling process.
We'll also be drywalling the living room ceiling and the master bedroom ceiling (both are just exposed joists right now).
There are lots of other random jobs that will continue - speaking of, we installed doorknobs on a few closet doors. I basically followed the directions and they all work perfectly. These were doors that had no previous knobs, so there was chiseling and hole-sawing involved. Be careful, because this picture is about as exciting as hunting moose:

Also, upon request - here is a picture of the doors-as-headboard. There are going to be quite a few changes... actually everything will change, except for the headboard. Remember the wallpaper we were indecisive on? It's going on the wall behind the bed. The linens will certainly be changed; new side tables; the ceiling will be a solid surface - yeah, yeah, you think we should keep the beams - they look interesting in the picture, but they're a mess in person and they have to be covered. Also, the sound travels 100% through to the upstairs bedroom and that is less than ideal.

Gratuitous dog picture - ole blue eyes:

goodbye summer

2008-09-22T09:17:00.003-04:00

I'm ready for the change of season. In fact, I'm always ready for a seasonal change. Not unlike our hometowns in Ohio, this part of the country provides a nice balance of all four seasons, despite the fact that you will hear comments like, "can you believe it's September" and "holy moses, we went from summer to winter overnight". Well here it is - fall - the windows are open; the mums are on fire; the geese are moving. Who can complain about this?

We sent summer out in a good way - sailing. Three years have passed since we've moved to Baltimore and we've yet to get on a boat (other than an occasional water taxi or tour). We recently met some new friends, Michelle and Rick, who graciously invited us out on their sailboat this past weekend.
Happy boys,

and a beautiful day

Welcome back, Fall.

wood door headboard; stripping paint

2008-09-19T09:38:00.014-04:00

These doors used to separate the front two rooms. They're big, heavy and among the few things that are original to the house. While we definitely love them, we knew they couldn't stay there. They took up way too much space and offered no utility.

There was no question and no discussion necessary - we both knew they'd make a fantastic headboard, especially considering the fact that our current bedframe is low and we chose it because the master bedroom in our previous house had much lower ceilings. i.e.:

Ahhh, let's reminisce about the days when there were dust-free surfaces and the big decision to be made was whether or not that purple pillow should remain on the bed... ... ...
Oh that's right - this was our living room the other day:

Back to the doors - stripping the paint is step one. We used Klean-Strip stripper because after all, it is America's #1 Stripper Brand.

It's a gel and fairly easy to work with. The label says 15 minutes, which is a pretty convenient amount of time if you want to go crack open a bottle of wine and boil some noodles. The problem is that the label lies, which makes me wonder about their claim of superiority in the world of strippers. It actually works much faster. In 15 minutes it was dry - and everyone knows it's much better to work with wet strippers. I'd still recommend this product, as it worked quite well once we got the hang of it. We found that it's best to just keep an eye on it and start scraping a few minutes after the paint starts bubbling:

Scrape away:

It took a few rounds of stripper despite the fact that there were surprisingly few layers of paint on the doors. We wanted to keep a worn look to them, which was a good decision considering our skill level.

Break time - and we wanted to see one behind the bed.

After the paint was off, they were sanded;

and then stained with English Chestnut stain from Minwax. After the stain, we used two coats of a satin finish polyurethane, also by Minwax. In between the coats of poly we sanded them lightly giving the final finish a nice smooth feel. Ta-dah - here we are - nicks, scrathes and all. We love 'em.

We're now working on the pair of fireplaces on the first floor... the stripper is proving less effective. There are many more layers and some of the old stains seem to be made of tar as seen here:

We traded leftover muriatic acid for a loaner heat gun with our pals Jessica and Joy. So far, so good - more to follow.

***a picture of the headboard behind the bed is in this post

contractors; wall removal

2008-09-19T09:38:00.010-04:00

The contractors have started working to remove the wall!

First of all – selecting contractors, spending money and negotiating is my day job. I follow strict regulations on a regular basis to increase competition and ensure we receive quality crap at a fair and reasonable price. I assume I can use similar methodology for our personal venture.

We called six different contractors – most upon recommendation. That seems good, right? Five of them called back. Still good – competition is up; these guys are wetting their pants with excitement at the mere notion of working in OUR house. After each one leaves I tell Craig how he reminded me of my Dad and how, "that one there, he's good, he's got the job - he's even willing to let us help with the work."

Then – mostly silence. I take personal offense. Why don't these fools want our money? I consider listing bank account numbers along with their mothers' maiden names, cities of birth and favorite foods. I also avoid begging for quotes – if this is indicative of workmanship, then they're already behind.

One guy continued to call back. I felt really good about him from the first visit, but feared his professionalism and fancy business card translated to cash; money; records. Seriously – his business card is two-ply maple. This gave him a significant advantage in this competition. All you guys with one-ply maple business cards, suck it.

From 9.19.08

The original quote was pared down quite a bit because we are saving a bunch by doing the framing and drywall work ourselves. After that, I negotiated and knocked off a chunk of cash from the bottom line. I can't stress this enough, people – if you don't ask, you won't get it. Negotiation feels rude and cheap at first; but fatter pockets are sexy and more fun. I also suggest that when you ask for something, offer something. In our case, I pointed out that we already had done most of the demo work and would finish the remainder prior to them starting. He liked it and we signed the contract.

Before - a few things to note, the drop ceiling was put in at some point because when they upgraded plumbing in the past, they placed all the pipes below the joists. This lowered the ceiling by about eight inches - idiots. Also, the bulkheads (i.e. those big drywalled boxes taking even more of our precious ceiling space) were built around a very strange mess of HVAC ductwork. We considered living with the multiple leveled ceiling, because we thought it'd save money. Although, because of the way the contractor has to work and re-support the structure, these items all needed to be moved. So, the ceiling will be all one level and quite a bit higher.

The plumber came out first and moved the pipes into the ceiling.

From 9.19.08

Here, you can see more of the pipes as well as the steel beam and bricks.

From 9.19.08

This is the workzone. See those large, solid looking vertical wood columns? Those are the temporary supports that are put in place to hold the structure while they're working on re-supporting the new opening. There are a few more on the other side.

From 9.19.08

Today they are finishing the wall removal and the HVAC guy comes out Tuesday to finish his part. We're so excited that this is moving so quickly!

salleyway brite; fig tree

2008-09-05T13:53:00.007-04:00

Baltimore is under a tropical storm warning. Apparently, Hanna has us in her sights - fortunately she's weak and not at hurricane status. A hurricane in Baltimore? Yep, it happens. Isabel came through in 2003 and from the way people talk about her, she was one angry b*tch.

I thought Salleyway Brite had a good ring to it - and when you see the pictures you'll understand why it's an appropriate title. I also thought it sounded like something Gwyneth Paltrow might name her child.

Once again, a job that could have taken hours (or days) was made super easy with the right tool. And once again, you get to see the tool after it's been used:

The paint sprayer is fun and perfect for painting things like masonry and brickwork because it can really get into the nooks and crannies. My lesson learned: the red (now yellowish) hose in the picture screws into the machine sort of like a garden hose. As I worked up and down the salleyway and kept turning and adjusting, the hose started loosening - much to my dismay. There isn't a safety mechanism to stop the paint from shooting out at a blinding speed if this is to happen. You get the point - now we have a nice mess to deal with. It was a comical mistake; yellow paint shot up in the air, all over me and the siding:

I think the pressure washer will clean it off - but we'll worry about that later.

Craig really wants me to start doing before and after shots, so - before:

After:

From the other end - Jaxxon came by to inspect:

It looks a little ridiculous in the picture. The yellow is more subdued in real life and brightens it up in a cheery sort of way; not a "hey, guys, come to our house to check out the sun" sort of way.

Now about this fig tree. We're quite fortunate to have a mature tree in our neighbor's back yard providing shade and some wildlife. I also like that it actually gets figs and the leaves are pretty:

The problem is that it attracts a billion flies per second (people who have visited can affirm this problem - it's disgusting). It also attracts a few too many birds - who LOVE to eat the figs and subsequently turn them into fig'poo. It wouldn't be nearly as bad if we had grass below the tree, but it gets uglier and uglier as the summer goes on. I was going to write about it and tell you all how I want to chop it down - but then today I took this picture of the birdhouse that we love. And look, a little yellow finch flew right by as I took the picture. He looks like a ghost, just to the right of the birdhouse:

Then he sat up here in the tree and made a "SAVE THE FIGS" sign:

Damn finches. I'll be oiling my chainsaw...

duck tour; brick work (cont.); leo

2008-09-03T21:55:00.009-04:00

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day! We enjoyed the long weekend with friends and Project Rowhouse took a break.

Have you guys heard of the Duck Tours? It's your typical city tour - cheesy tour guide, families, amphibious vehicle, superfluous photography, wait... what's that you say? Amphibious vehicle? That's right people. The 'bus' turns into a boat and rolls right into the harbor. We took the tour last weekend and I'd recommend it. We learned some interesting things about the city and you can get some great views of our 'hood from the harbor. I must warn you - just after they force you to pose for a picture in front of the bus'boat, they hand out kazoo'ish duck quackers to each passenger. Everyone uses them, often. Loudly. You'll do it too.

This is the end of our street from the water;

and some construction going on nearby (as seen in the previous post).

As far as the house goes - we feel good about the pace right now and have been surprisingly productive during the work week. We've moved onto the next step in the brick exposing process and I love it. Muriatic Acid:

The box is so dramatic. Lots of things are poison.

This stuff is pretty amazing for giving the brick a finishing 'scrub'. It is acid and safety precautions must be taken. Wear the proper gear, have ventilation, keep baking soda around for neutralization (for spillage and overspray), etc. I'm going to give credit to Baltimore Rowhouse (a fellow renovation blog) for describing the muriatic acid process in detail. More info here. Check out the results:

We love the way it's looking. Even though the process is taking a while, each step is quite rewarding.

Any thoughts on that wood board going up the wall? There is quite a bit of damage behind it. There will also be a column nearby where the contractor will be removing the wall. Our thoughts are that we will finish them both in similar style.

Closeup - so fresh and so clean:

We also have a new addition to the home. Meet Leonardo D'Shrimpleton, aka Leo:

Part miniature dachsund, part miniature poodle; his eyes are bright blue and he's relatively tiny... sort of an impulse, but we really like him!

and we're back

2008-08-19T20:35:00.005-04:00

We've been slightly more productive than it seems here on the blog. Sorry about the lack of posting; I was surprised to find out how many of you are checking back frequently. Thanks. We do have a good excuse - unfortunately, I don't think I can muster up the enthusiasm to talk about it here. Instead, I'll post this picture we got today.

Project Rowhouse has the porch light on.

Back to the renovation -

The brick-exposing is a multiple step job. We are now scrubbing the bits of plaster that were left clinging to the brick. This is the messy, labor intensive part. The original plan was to use variously sized wire brushes - imagine much stronger versions of the brush you use to clean your grill after making kabobs. The pros to using this brush is control and precision, the cons are that it sucks in many different ways. Speeding this up was imperative. I knew I could find a more productive tool.

This drill attachment did the job amazingly well. I was initially nervous that it would tear through the mortar. While I managed to gouge a few areas slightly, it's very easy to control once you get the hang of it.
A tip: as you switch arms, hands, kneeling positions - always keep in mind the direction the drill is spinning. Switch it up so that it's shooting the brick shrapnel away from you.
We're thrilled with the results - the portion on the left is before the scrubbing.

To keep the dust down as much as possible, I hung walls of dropcloth from ceiling to floor creating impressively thick dust clouds. I highly suggest this - along with well-fitting goggles and dust mask. Anyone familiar with this process knows I am not exaggerating here.

We also:
hung a new porch light (and allowed that hanging plant to barely hold onto life):

painted the doors (a darker blue than the back door... I like this one better); and removed the cover that used to be above the salleyway door:

Ta-Dah.

decision making :: floors, backsplash, wallpaper

2008-07-24T10:16:00.016-04:00

I'd prefer to be posting things like, "hey guys, check out the new counter tops" but for now we are still waiting for these darned contractors to get moving on the quote process to get rid of this wall. There are quite a few issues, let alone the fact that it's a load-bearing wall. There is plumbing, HVAC ductwork and electrical lines that will need to be reconfigured. Each contractor that has come through ends up having to schedule a second appointment with other people to give an accurate quote. So - it's taking longer than expected.

Fortunately, while we complain about not living on the first floor, we do have a fairly comfortable, efficiency'esque 'apartment' in the basement.

As the process goes on, decisions are constantly being made - and then changed - and then changed back - and then thrown out the window completely. Here are some considerations:

Wood floors - the ones in the house are pretty amazing. The planks are all slightly different widths, the color is warm and they are some seriously solid, thick floors. Original to the house, I imagine they could have been hand-scraped, according to this article, wood floors weren't mass produced in factories until the 1900's. Although, we were told by the previous owner that at some point in the '80s they were pulled up, cleaned and relaid - this is probably why they are in as good as shape as they are - not much squeaking or moving at all. Anyhow, they're in need of a refinishing. The options are:

--- a typical sanding/refinish to expose a new, very clean surface to then finish with polyurethane of some sort (we probably won't stain them, which will leave them a very light color) or;

--- buff them with a light sanding, leaving them the current color, but giving them a very shiny, hopefully nice look with multiple coats of poly. We like this option, because it will retain the rustic look that we really like - I love the dark line in between each board and would hate to lose that to a deep sanding;

--- any thoughts? like that window in the middle of the house? That's the wall that needs to be taken out - it used to be the rear of the home, hence the window.

Backsplash - this is so far down the line that I have time to change my mind at least 37 times. We are considering a few materials. One being stainless steel tiles. We saw this in a house and it looked great. I've read a few things about people having problems with it looking dirty and/or scratching - which makes me nervous. Especially when considering the fact that it'll probably cost twice as much as other materials. We went ahead and ordered some samples from Modwalls, just to see how they look. They look pretty great - the subway tile (second below) is my top choice (it's about .75"x1.5", to put it in perspective):

Wallpaper for the bedroom - Despite the fact that we sort of hate it after removing as much as we did (and still have more to do) - we love the stuff over at Ferm Living. This is only going to be on one wall in the bedroom, behind the headboard (which I'll post about later, we're making it out of the huge doors that were on the first floor - s'gonna be nice). We don't agree on this decision at all right now.

Craig is fighting for this:

But I like this one:

I'd actually pick this one right now - but it does not seem to be within Craig's compromise-able range:

passion flower and blue paint

2008-07-17T11:26:00.012-04:00

This is one of my favorite plants in the garden. The flowers are different and unique looking, the dark green foliage is beautiful and as a quick grower, it should cover a good deal of this wall before summer. The vine is on the left in this picture.

Here is the flower - this vine sometimes produces fruit, but I'm a bit skeptical of eating produce grown around all this, um, wildlife.

I love how the tendrils are always reaching for something to grab.

We also painted the back door and awning blue... along with our bench, that was looking pretty sad lately. At first the blue was jarring, but it's really starting to grow on me. I would like to replace that awning at some point.

Sorry the pictures are blurred... I'll be switching to Flickr after this post.

And one more - this is the Salleyway I mentioned in a previous post. We're looking for a gate to replace this old, dark wooden door. This picture, makes it look bright in here... it's usually dark and the air is stale. We pressure washed this past weekend and plan on painting it all a light yellow color sometime soon.

wallpaper removal

2008-07-17T10:19:00.004-04:00

There are many ways to remove wallpaper. I initially tried a mixture of fabric softner and water on wallpaper that had been scored - I've heard of this working, but it didn't fair too well. It would have taken months to finish the job we have - and I imagine it would take ten bottles of fabric softner. So we rented a steamer for $34.

...still a slow process, but it helped immensely. It's easy to use and no chemicals. First, you fill the tank with hot water - it took about 30 minutes before the steam started, so the hotter you start with the sooner you'll be working. It's a relatively small tank, but it lasted a good amount of time. While you're waiting for steam, score the paper so that the steam can permeate the glue. Slowly run the steamer plate over the paper and it should start loosening from the wall.

The stuff in the bedroom was horrible and took much longer. It came off in two layers, first the decorative easter egg layer, then the backing paper.

The walls will need repair and primer before painting, but it's nice to take a step in the right direction.

The ivy paper was thicker and held together, so removing it was much easier. You can also see that we ended up exposing the brick all the way up the stairs. The darker diagnol line is where the roof over the basement stairs used to be.

Some tips:
-Keep a spray bottle nearby. If the walls are very wet, it comes down easier;
-Using the scraper is sometimes inevitable, but I tried to keep it's use to a minimum. If everything is wet, you can use your fingers to pull it down with less damage to the wall;
-Pull slowly and try to get as big a piece as possible.

shopping :: housewerks

2008-07-15T12:40:00.006-04:00

Housewerks is an "architectural werkshop" chock full of great items.

We're on a mission to find a few iron gates for the salleyway. This is a recently learned term - our house has a side alleyway, which is basically an outdoor hallway connecting the back 'yard' to the street out front. Because we're a middle unit and we don't have an alley running behind the house, this is a convenient way to carry trash to the curb.

We need two gates, one for the front to replace the current barn'ish wooden door and one for the back to keep the dogs out of the neighbor's space - who also has access to the same salleyway.

These look good, but too narrow:

I liked these more than Craig did, but they need some substantial modification to fit the space, let alone some serious cleaning up:

For now we'll keep searching, there are a few places to check this coming weekend.

Housewerks has all sorts of fantastic items, check out this sink:

And the main room:

Off topic, the garden is coming in nicely - and much less work than the yard at the previous house!

exposing the brick...

2008-07-14T11:50:00.013-04:00

...is hard work.

Typically, the rowhouses in Baltimore are brick boxes. There are a few wood framed rowhouses still around the city - and we looked at one that was beautiful - but for the most part they're all brick. There was even a law at some point in the 1800's requiring the houses and buildings be constructed with brick because fires were much angrier then and entire cities would be destroyed in hours.

I like the fact that our 200 year old box is made of brick.

In most houses, the brick would be covered with plaster. In our case - and many others - drywall would be hung over the plaster. The drywall is typically the easy part. The plaster should have been outlawed along with the wooden houses. I've read some articles about how the plaster would fall off in large pieces. Our plaster holds on to the brick for dear life.

A few tips:
-Wear gloves, dust mask and safety glasses;
-Your brick might not be pretty - test an area to make sure it looks good;
-We used hammers, prybars, mallets and a good dose of elbow grease;
-A labradoodle could do this - DIY 100%.

We haven't committed to doing huge areas just yet. Here's what we have so far.
This is in what will be the living room:

In this area, rather than hanging the drywall on furring strips, it was glued to the plaster for added fun!

Eventually, the television will hang on the wall above the fireplace - oh my, I hate that wallpaper. Play Cornhole.

John McCain makes one angry.

Speaking of fires... do you think there may have been one in the basement at some point?

The next step is cleaning the brick, which creates an incredible amount of dust and sore biceps. More on that later.

Oh, and we have to do something about the dining room:

Meet Kanga and Jaxxon - renovations are exhausting, but plaster tastes delicious

hello pop candy

2008-07-11T11:05:00.009-04:00

hey all!
welcome to the site!

a change of scenery

2008-07-10T10:27:00.007-04:00

The before pictures of the outside were depressing - these are from our previous house - loved those day lillies:

Another contractor is coming by this week to take a look at the wall we want to remove. Hopefully, more updates to come.

Progress outside

2008-06-25T14:37:00.005-04:00

We decided to start outside. There is so much to do inside in so many different rooms, that we figured we can get the back in good enough shape to enjoy somewhat quickly.

While we still have more ideas - this is a good start. Mostly, it was filthy - years must have passed with only the weeds to enjoy the yard.

Before:

In Progress:

We hung this lattice by simply nailing furring strips directly to the cinder block wall - using my new favorite tool: a power hammer. This thing is amazing, and scary. You put a nail in the front and a .22 caliber round in a chamber - voila! We like the lattice look and have considered going down the other wall with it.

Craig just had to see what the stain looked like - we'll finish it soon enough.

Closed - An Unsettling Settlement

2008-06-10T15:18:00.007-04:00

We finally did it.

I find the "Buying and Selling" post comical at this point. Did I actually think there were going to be no more surprises? Because the first few steps went so well, I was delusional I suppose.

Just about every thing that could go wrong, did. While the end result turned out to be better than we had ever imagined, getting there was stressful and terrible. We had a mortgage broker completely flake out on us (think two separate week long periods where there would be no contact whatsoever). We lost the opportunity to get into a needed program for the mortgage. Then - when everything seemed to be falling into place with a new, better mortgage co. - we had appraisal issues (too low) in combination with a stubborn seller. We actually were forced to go look at other houses less than two weeks before we were scheduled to settle. Apparently this showed the seller we weren't messing around and he lowered the sale price to the appraisal amount (by $20,000, mind you).

Settlement ended up going mostly smooth and we found out that the house is much older than we thought - the first recorded sale of the property was 1809! We'll have a bicentennial party next year.

So now that we're moved in - and sort of unpacked - we're eager to get working. We're starting a few small projects. Unfortunately, the first major step is removing some load-bearing walls and that is something that we don't consider DIY. Contractor's will be coming by to give some quotes and I'll have some pictures and updates as work progresses.

About the new place

2008-04-06T17:17:00.024-04:00

The new place is in Little Italy - which is a nice, traditionally Italian neighborhood in the heart of downtown. The location is great and we'll be able to walk to plenty of good spots - restaurants, bars, shopping, grocery store, etc.

It's a typical Baltimore rowhouse, here's the front

We plan on painting the window trim, adding shutters and flower boxes under the windows. We're not sure on color yet, but black is what we've been talking about recently.
There is another window that is hidden behind the jeep just below the first floor window.

It's a quiet street - we have off-street parking across the street in a parking garage, but it seems like there are always a few spots available.

When you walk in the front door you are in this foyer type room. There is a fireplace to the right. The next room is about the same size and has another fireplace to the right. We are hoping we can remove this wall and open up the space. The doors will be stripped and reused elsewhere, they are huge and have some cool, old hardware on them.

This is that second room - that wall directly in front will hopefully be coming down also.

This is where the new kitchen is going. It's a shame that when we rip the wall out that the faux ivy lattice wallpaper will have to come out - it's a gem - more on that later.

There are four fireplaces in the house, two of which are sealed off. The mantles look like they are in good shape and will be salvaged - they should look great in front of exposed brick.

The kitchen is in the basement. It's quite average and getting a new one upstairs is high on the priority list. It'll be nice to have this while the first floor is in shambles.

I wish I could say that we are all pushing 7', but it's not true - the ceiling is really that low. This is the other half of the basement. That wood floor is going to come out (it takes about 5" of height) and the kitchen will turn into more of a wet bar (to accompany the pool table).

This is the master bedroom on the second floor. The wallpaper here is another rare specimen, we can only assume it was hung to have yearlong Easter celebrations. The beams are exposed in this room and are huge - we are in disagreement about what will happen with them. Maybe cover them with drywall, maybe paint them...

Here is some brick that has already been exposed - this is the stairwell wall and the brick will stretch from here to the front door.

Third floor bedroom - they both look about the same.

Some outside pictures. Lots of work to do here - but it is a relatively big space for the city. There is no alley behind the house, which gives it more of a private feel. The deck picture is the neighbors' houses - file this under 'long term goals'.

View from the stoop. This is looking down toward Craig's office building the other direction is more rowhouses. The harbor is just past that block!

I can't give a tour without pointing out the talent of the meticulous wallpaper artist. This is clearly why we love the house.

Selling and Buying

2008-04-06T09:05:00.006-04:00

We have decided to chronicle our next big project using this blog. It will hopefully be a great way to track the progress and tribulations of renovating a rowhouse that is 200 years old.

While we absolutely love our house - our first house - here on Forrester, the time has come to move up and take on a new challenge. We have learned so much about caring for a home and are looking forward to taking that knowledge and building upon it with the rowhouse on S. Exeter.

Performing a renovation project on a home of this age will certainly teach lessons, affirm limitations and try emotions. Although, I truly hope that the buying and selling phase - where we are right now - proves to be the most stressful. It has been a relatively quick process that has been filled with highs and lows. Ultimately, we have been very fortunate despite a mediocre real estate market.

The current owner of the rowhouse quickly accepted our first offer and has been very helpful throughout the process. Our house was listed and we received two offers within seven days! We are getting just under the asking price for our house and we are buying the rowhouse for about $35,000 less than the original listing! Needless to say, we are quite pleased.

The settlement date is tentatively scheduled for June 4, 2008 - assuming no more surprises. We are sort of expecting a few more surprises, but our fingers are crossed. For the time being, we will be packing, getting our house ready for the home inspection and letting our imaginations run wild with ideas - more on that later.