Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’m still nowhere near finished with either of the two new bathrooms – and for the last three months, I’ve been without a second-floor toilet. That’s meant stumbling down the back stairs (because the front stairs still have no rail) … Continue reading →

I’m exhausted, but there’s still a few hours to go until the “Downton Abbey” finale; I had to do something to stay awake. So I decided to fix some floorboard problems. At some point in the distant past, presumably for … Continue reading →

My house is in massive disarray right now, with wires sticking out of switch boxes and ceilings, holes in the plaster (some intentional, some not) and lifted floorboards that my cats are treating as a new playground. I have light … Continue reading →

After uncovering the knob-and-tube wiring, I called my electrician friend, Tim. I don’t mind fishing new wire or pigtailing to add a plug, switching out a fixture or putting in a new switch. But when it comes to abandoning and … Continue reading →

It’s cold and grey here – a great day to hunker down in the house and get some work done. On the list (after making coffee, which is always job no. 1) was to chip off the plaster where the … Continue reading →

You know the saying: We plan; the gods laugh. I fully intended to by now be ripping out the bathroom on the second floor, and framing a new doorway from my bedroom to said bath. (The current design is circa … Continue reading →

This house rehab stuff was easier 12 years ago, when I dug into the first one. After a Friday evening and Saturday morning spent running up and down ladders with a recip saw to cut out stud walls, and tearing … Continue reading →

OK – I know it doesn’t look like much, but do you see that square of cardboard in the picture above? That’s where the washing machine was until Tuesday. And my butt was against the basement door as I took … Continue reading →

Following a couple recent hard freezes, I figured most of the wasps and spiders would be dead (I was right about the wasps), so it was time to face the wee beasties in the top of my garage and clean … Continue reading →

I knew when I bought this place, there was a ton of work to do. But I swore I’d work methodically, tackling one big project at a time and not moving on to the next until the former was completely … Continue reading →