We just got our oil tank completely filled up.
My wallet is gasping for breath.
No wonder we keep the house at 55 during the winter.
Excuse me while I go get a hat and put on my fuzzy blue robe.
January 29, 2011
January 25, 2011
Back into the swing of things...
When you start demo'ing a room it helps to have a plan of attack. Even if the eventual goal is to have that entire room torn down to the studs, you still have to have the steps planned from A to end point Z. It seems almost ironic to you need to plan out the mass chaos that you are about to impart upon the room. But taking a few minutes to mentally plot out your crowbar attack saves such frustration and effort that plotting the destruction is so worth it!
Here is how I started with our upstairs bedroom. I knew that paneling would be the big thing that had to go and that was my main objective item to get out of there.
First up was to tear out the makeshift closet up on the back wall. After that 'closet' came down I looked up, which is when I realized that the ceiling tiles should/had to come down before the wall panels did. I had to take the ceiling down first for this room, but it is also usually best to work from the top down when demo'ing a room.
First up was to tear out the makeshift closet up on the back wall. After that 'closet' came down I looked up, which is when I realized that the ceiling tiles should/had to come down before the wall panels did. I had to take the ceiling down first for this room, but it is also usually best to work from the top down when demo'ing a room.
Closet bar and shelf are now on the ground hanging out next to our amazing propane work heater. That heater is the best way to take a work space from freezing eyeballs temperature up to a pleasant frostbite feeling. And as an added bonus, it looks kinda like R2D2. Almost.
The ceiling tiles were a lightweight pressed paper product and thankfully were tongue and groove style stuck up there. Which made them really easy to pull down when I didn't have to worry about any errant bonks on the head. Crazy easy to jam my crowbar (Mr. Smashy) up and just pull pull pull, they came down with almost no effort. I started stacking each tile into neat(ish) piles. Right next to the second makeshift closet of the room. Who know you could have so many faux closets in one room?
Once the tiles were off the ceiling, I went around the room and pried off all the trim. Which was annoying in the fact that all I wanted to do was start taking off the paneling! But the trim was a necessary step before the paneling. All the trim was well attached to the walls and would NOT budge no matter how hard I tried to pull it off with the whole panel. Bummer. Whomever put up the paneling did it right, if there is even such a way of putting of fake wood paneling right.
Finally, I got to start on getting the paneling off. Thankfully it came off with almost no fight. The glue that was used to hold it up had long since petrified and was hard as a rock. A small benefit to working in the freezing weather.
Where was Pete? Knocking down our suprisingly sturdy fake closet. It really helped to open up the room back to its original shape. This house is so disjointed and messed up that it makes me laugh. Doors where windows should be, parts of the wall missing, holes cut in the floor... sigh. Got to uncover it all to see what we're working with here.
Once the tiles were off the ceiling, I went around the room and pried off all the trim. Which was annoying in the fact that all I wanted to do was start taking off the paneling! But the trim was a necessary step before the paneling. All the trim was well attached to the walls and would NOT budge no matter how hard I tried to pull it off with the whole panel. Bummer. Whomever put up the paneling did it right, if there is even such a way of putting of fake wood paneling right.Finally, I got to start on getting the paneling off. Thankfully it came off with almost no fight. The glue that was used to hold it up had long since petrified and was hard as a rock. A small benefit to working in the freezing weather.
Where was Pete? Knocking down our suprisingly sturdy fake closet. It really helped to open up the room back to its original shape. This house is so disjointed and messed up that it makes me laugh. Doors where windows should be, parts of the wall missing, holes cut in the floor... sigh. Got to uncover it all to see what we're working with here.
January 18, 2011
current projects
We're back on the project front right now...
Currently our focus is on two exciting things, one ongoing and one that shouldn't take us longer than the winter.
- Demo on the Wee house when we have a few spare hours on the weekends
and
- Figuring out stair treads for our beach condo's spiral staircase
If you guessed that the wee house demo was the ongoing project, you'd be a winner! It will constantly be our "filler" project between major to-do's for now. The demo has been going along swimmingly well these last few weekends. Even though we move a little slower in the cold, I've been very pleased at what has gotten done during our few smashing hours over there. You forget that sometimes demo can be so gratifying for the renovator soul. Fast demo can remind me that maybe, just maybe, we won't be stuck with a crappy house for the rest of our natural lives. And that with continual hard work there is more than a snowballs chance in hell that we'll actually turn this house into something nice.
I'm going to file this optimistic moment away for when I really need it.
Which I'm sure will be soon.
The before shot of the room we've been focusing on currently...
As for the stair treads at the beach condo, we're still shopping around for the right material for them. Like all our other projects it has been a lot of up in the air "what should we do" discussing. Waffling back and forth with what our budget will be and how to get the biggest bang for our bucks combined with ease of DIY ability. So far we're leaning towards cutting out the treads from wood and staining them.
Why work on the beach condo when we have so many other projects going on, like a crap hole of a giant house? Simple- because it needs love to. The beach house was dated and was uncomfortable at times to stay in. In order for us to maximize our investment, we needed to be able to attract renters and have ourselves be comfortable there in the off season. Hence the slow climb out of the early 90's to get the condo up and kicking. Last year we invested a ton of money and time into the condo, which has resulted in some great improvements. This year we wanted scale back and take a breather from the heavy duty major projects down there.
Which is why our only project for down there this off season was to get the stairs and teeny tiny hallway done. Paint, new stairs and a new door for our heater closet. Thats all! Maybe I'm over simplifying the steps by condensing them down into three items, but it will be a (relatively) small project that should have a nice impact in further improving the place.
January 14, 2011
Year ahead plans
Currently my head is swirling with a ton of fresh new ideas for 2011.
When my head is full like this it is hard for me to pick out the specific bits to get them down on here. There is just so much to do and I'm thinking about it all. But I'll try to pick out the big and interesting stuff so you guys can get a peek at what we (might) have in store for all our houses this year.
Major goal of the year:
Based on our guesstimate, we have about 10 more solid weekends of working on the garage until we can call it complete. Since projects always run longer than we think, I'd say it is safe to put money down on it really taking about 12 more weekends for a solid wrap up.
Left to do (not in order):
Regrade the land around the garage
Build the car port on the side for our everyday drivers
Get the top section of the back wall up
Prime, paint and install the batten boards
Paint the garage
Paint and Install the garage doors
Build and install copula.
Put down sub-floor upstairs
Build staircase to second story
Install back windows
- maybe? will the economy allow it? who knows-
And that is just a taste of what we're planning on tackling this year. There are many more ideas just bopping around in my head, waiting on their time for action. Unfortunately time and budget constraints might put the kibosh on some of the above items, but I'll try my hardest to accomplish my house related goals this year! I mean, if I can give up salting food for a year...
When my head is full like this it is hard for me to pick out the specific bits to get them down on here. There is just so much to do and I'm thinking about it all. But I'll try to pick out the big and interesting stuff so you guys can get a peek at what we (might) have in store for all our houses this year.
Major goal of the year:
Finish the garage.
Based on our guesstimate, we have about 10 more solid weekends of working on the garage until we can call it complete. Since projects always run longer than we think, I'd say it is safe to put money down on it really taking about 12 more weekends for a solid wrap up.
Left to do (not in order):
Regrade the land around the garage
Build the car port on the side for our everyday drivers
Get the top section of the back wall up
Prime, paint and install the batten boards
Paint the garage
Paint and Install the garage doors
Build and install copula.
Put down sub-floor upstairs
Build staircase to second story
Install back windows
Secondary Projects:
Fix up the stairs and hallway of beach house
- new stair treads, painting, decor and new heater door-
Tear out the upstairs of the Wee house
- already started but continue on with the de- paneling and carpet removal, get to crusty plaster tear out-
Clear out our house.
- we have a lot o'stuff. a lot. -
Clean up our rental after our college students move out
- hopefully sans rabies this year-
Project that are at an impasse
( otherwise known as Eva wants to do them, Pete doesn't)
Lipstick touch the kitchen
- Sand and refinish butcher block counters, paint darker brown, add a faux copper tile back splash, replace hated bamboo floor-
Finish Dining room
- New light, get rug, add open shelving along one wall, new curtains-
Paint TV room
- The murder red color is slowly driving me nuts-
Wallpaper hall
Finish closet room
-paint clothing racks, add throw rug.-
Sell our college rental- maybe? will the economy allow it? who knows-
And that is just a taste of what we're planning on tackling this year. There are many more ideas just bopping around in my head, waiting on their time for action. Unfortunately time and budget constraints might put the kibosh on some of the above items, but I'll try my hardest to accomplish my house related goals this year! I mean, if I can give up salting food for a year...
January 6, 2011
Craig L. Hunting
We're back to my current PA/ S. NJ/DE craigslist finds! I love hunting on CL, it is so much fun and fills a slow day perfectly.
I love the modern country lines of this dining room set. The set looks ripe for a good makeover with some paint and new fabric on the chairs. Nothing too bold, but a light aged turquoise combined with linen recovered seats would look smashing and fitting with the style of the furniture. Maybe even a two-tone table with refinishing the top of the table in a darker stain of wood. And the price? $39! Win.
For those that are looking to jump on my newly found love off brass accent items. The airy open bottom pairs with the glass top and clean lines to form a coffee table that could get put in such a variety of rooms. I'd bring it into my living room to play against all the older style and antique items.
I love the modern country lines of this dining room set. The set looks ripe for a good makeover with some paint and new fabric on the chairs. Nothing too bold, but a light aged turquoise combined with linen recovered seats would look smashing and fitting with the style of the furniture. Maybe even a two-tone table with refinishing the top of the table in a darker stain of wood. And the price? $39! Win.
For those that are looking to jump on my newly found love off brass accent items. The airy open bottom pairs with the glass top and clean lines to form a coffee table that could get put in such a variety of rooms. I'd bring it into my living room to play against all the older style and antique items.
Link
An antique wooden filing cabinet has been on my furniture wish list for about a year, so I'm always searching about for the *perfect* one. I have to say, this file is pretty freaking close to being the perfect one. However, I'm on a shopping diet right now so it's $400 price tag is too rich for my blood. S
Link
January 5, 2011
2010: long wrap up
This weekend while I was in the midst of a well deserved Saturday morning veg out session on our couch. While relaxing I thought back about this last year in terms of home renovations, construction and major house based changes.
All those thoughts made me tired.
and they made me realize why we're totally broke.
January:
Started the year off with a 30% renovated bathroom in our beach condo that was running longer than we anticipated thanks to a run of extremely frustrating set backs that included the wrong tile color... and realizing it at 2 am.
We also chipped away at demo on our not-heated-at all wee house where I learned the art of layering gloves.
February:
It was the month of spending weekends at places with acronyms.
A valentines day trip up to NYC that included a quick stop at the C&B outlet. The weekend after our jaunt to NYC I took a sibling trip to DC for some quality time with my sister and step brother. Following weekend was Pete's birthday which we spent in AC and then drove down to OC for some more worker bee action on the bathroom.
March:
Finished working on the beach condo bathroom! 15 seconds after bathroom completion we ripped up the carpet in the bedroom at the condo. I painted the living room in our Wtown house from a raisin purple to a fresh cream color. We got notice that after 8 long months and close to 40 showings our house had its first offer.
April:
First offer fell through. Got second offer. Felt amazingly optimistic that house would sell.
Worked our tails off on getting the marble tile floor down in our condo bedroom. Included bringing 27 boxes of tile, 7 sheets of plywood and cement board up three flights of ( no elevator having) stairs. Also discovered the wonder of the Craigslist free section for getting unwanted and extremely heavy furniture out of said third floor condo with no exerted effort from your own muscles.
Loaded up our old bedroom furniture, on our open trailer, and brought it the two hours down to the condo during a raging spring thunderstorm. Yay for plastic wrap and lots of tape.
May:
Kicked off the month jumping through all the house selling hoops, in anticipating of a end of the month closing. Combed through the house and got rid of some bigger ticket items on Craigslist.
Spent all free weekends down at the beach condo and worked multiple 12 hour high stress days on the bedroom floor. All in an effort to get the whole place ready for our memorial day kick off for a season of renters. The 26 year old A/C blew up on the deck (seriously, I thought a car hit our building), got emergency HVAC work done that resulted in a new A/C. & Heater for the condo.
Get news that house sale is DOA. Crushed.
After failed house sale: Buy new headboard since old bed is now at the beach house and the mattress was living on the floor. Buy new dining room table, cause it was awesome and 50% off. Start my epic dining chair hunt.
June:
Built a raised veggie garden bed, of what was a very successful tomato and basil garden, and put it in all.by.myself. ( still so flipping proud of my DIY raised veggie garden box )
Our one and only outsource, the concrete contractors, started and finished the Wee house garage foundation. Marvel at the speed of contractors while lamenting the price.
Got a peek at the damage that was done to our college rental after the tenants moved out. Not pretty. Curse at poorly painted orange walls and subsequent orange wall cover up job.
Curse college students that 'sneak' having a cat. Cat that uses the floor of the bathroom as its own litter box. Start the massive project of deep cleaning while Pete renovates half downstairs bathroom of rental. Buy new fridge for the rental, as other fridge has one too many beer pong balls clogging the inner workings and leaks a strange liquid substance.
July:
Officially took the house off the market. Bought new furniture at Ikea, and turned our office into a walk in closet. Finish up working on college rental. Move right on to prepping the garage site for building! Start buying our massive amounts of materials that are needed.
Got news that the lock on our condo door malfuntioned on the 4th of July and that a locksmith had to get called out.... a 3am. Balls.
August:
Working on the garage framing, learned that "hey! I can build a wall! Who knew?". Get the trusses up. Start to prep the trusses for the roofing materials by marking and installing ~10,000,000 purlins.
Get news that beach condo washer/dryer unit has up and died on our renters, estimated replacement cost of $1,400. Friend happends to have old washer dryer unit that gives it to us, Pete takes the day off of work to install everything himself.
September: Continue to work on the garage. Started putting up the fiber cement siding panels.
Bought the garage doors from craigslist. Learned how to install a window.
October: Started roofing the garage. Averaged about 6 panels up per 8 hours of working. Drove off to the south for some much needed R&R.
November: Finished the garage roof. Helped my Dad move out of his house in prep for his new life traveling the country in an airstream, took lots of Dad's cool house and tool stuff. Spent rest of free time getting garage winter tight.
December: Start working rejuvinating the staircase and hall of the beach condo.
Lose track? Here is cliff notes version....
All those thoughts made me tired.
and they made me realize why we're totally broke.
January:
Started the year off with a 30% renovated bathroom in our beach condo that was running longer than we anticipated thanks to a run of extremely frustrating set backs that included the wrong tile color... and realizing it at 2 am.
We also chipped away at demo on our not-heated-at all wee house where I learned the art of layering gloves.
February:
It was the month of spending weekends at places with acronyms.
A valentines day trip up to NYC that included a quick stop at the C&B outlet. The weekend after our jaunt to NYC I took a sibling trip to DC for some quality time with my sister and step brother. Following weekend was Pete's birthday which we spent in AC and then drove down to OC for some more worker bee action on the bathroom.
March:
Finished working on the beach condo bathroom! 15 seconds after bathroom completion we ripped up the carpet in the bedroom at the condo. I painted the living room in our Wtown house from a raisin purple to a fresh cream color. We got notice that after 8 long months and close to 40 showings our house had its first offer.
April:
First offer fell through. Got second offer. Felt amazingly optimistic that house would sell.
Worked our tails off on getting the marble tile floor down in our condo bedroom. Included bringing 27 boxes of tile, 7 sheets of plywood and cement board up three flights of ( no elevator having) stairs. Also discovered the wonder of the Craigslist free section for getting unwanted and extremely heavy furniture out of said third floor condo with no exerted effort from your own muscles.
Loaded up our old bedroom furniture, on our open trailer, and brought it the two hours down to the condo during a raging spring thunderstorm. Yay for plastic wrap and lots of tape.
May:
Kicked off the month jumping through all the house selling hoops, in anticipating of a end of the month closing. Combed through the house and got rid of some bigger ticket items on Craigslist.
Spent all free weekends down at the beach condo and worked multiple 12 hour high stress days on the bedroom floor. All in an effort to get the whole place ready for our memorial day kick off for a season of renters. The 26 year old A/C blew up on the deck (seriously, I thought a car hit our building), got emergency HVAC work done that resulted in a new A/C. & Heater for the condo.
Get news that house sale is DOA. Crushed.
After failed house sale: Buy new headboard since old bed is now at the beach house and the mattress was living on the floor. Buy new dining room table, cause it was awesome and 50% off. Start my epic dining chair hunt.
June:
Built a raised veggie garden bed, of what was a very successful tomato and basil garden, and put it in all.by.myself. ( still so flipping proud of my DIY raised veggie garden box )
Our one and only outsource, the concrete contractors, started and finished the Wee house garage foundation. Marvel at the speed of contractors while lamenting the price.
Got a peek at the damage that was done to our college rental after the tenants moved out. Not pretty. Curse at poorly painted orange walls and subsequent orange wall cover up job.
Curse college students that 'sneak' having a cat. Cat that uses the floor of the bathroom as its own litter box. Start the massive project of deep cleaning while Pete renovates half downstairs bathroom of rental. Buy new fridge for the rental, as other fridge has one too many beer pong balls clogging the inner workings and leaks a strange liquid substance.
July:
Officially took the house off the market. Bought new furniture at Ikea, and turned our office into a walk in closet. Finish up working on college rental. Move right on to prepping the garage site for building! Start buying our massive amounts of materials that are needed.
Got news that the lock on our condo door malfuntioned on the 4th of July and that a locksmith had to get called out.... a 3am. Balls.
August:
Working on the garage framing, learned that "hey! I can build a wall! Who knew?". Get the trusses up. Start to prep the trusses for the roofing materials by marking and installing ~10,000,000 purlins.
Get news that beach condo washer/dryer unit has up and died on our renters, estimated replacement cost of $1,400. Friend happends to have old washer dryer unit that gives it to us, Pete takes the day off of work to install everything himself.
September: Continue to work on the garage. Started putting up the fiber cement siding panels.
Bought the garage doors from craigslist. Learned how to install a window.
October: Started roofing the garage. Averaged about 6 panels up per 8 hours of working. Drove off to the south for some much needed R&R.
November: Finished the garage roof. Helped my Dad move out of his house in prep for his new life traveling the country in an airstream, took lots of Dad's cool house and tool stuff. Spent rest of free time getting garage winter tight.
December: Start working rejuvinating the staircase and hall of the beach condo.
Lose track? Here is cliff notes version....
- New Bathroom
- Laid marble tile floor
- Tore out old house
- Cleaned, painted and put a new 1/2 bath in rental
- Bought, re-homed or recieved over 12 items of furniture
- Built a garage
- added a "closet room"
- painted the living room
- didn't sell our house
January 4, 2011
Welcome 2011. I'm not ready.
As per my usual MO I'd way late to all the year-in-review blog land posts...
I did start one, but I'm still stuck somewhere in October and currently mind boggled at the length of of our 2010 list. The length isn't only because I am terrible at short explanations for anything, but also because we apparently did a ton of house related stuff last year... a few things that I never even blogged about.
I'm working on condensing the list. How does everyone feel about just bullet points?
As for 2011... I'm not super thrilled that 2011 is here. Overall the passage of time has started speeding up for me and the year twenty eleven just feel so futuristic. Yet it is here. Right now.
We have a whole lot of work waiting for us this year ( so much it is kinda scary).
After seeing how much of the garage we got done since the end of July, which is when we started the DIY portion, we're a little eager until we can get back outside to finish it on up. Once the garage is "finished" the two of us are going to shift our entire focus to the Wee house, which is when I might start to cry out of happiness. It has been a few years of talking, planning and saving to make the renovations start happening, so to know that we've finally gotten to that point? Well I'll be thrilled. Even though I know it is only going to open up a huge can of new worms when we start our serious house renovations.
As you could well imagine, I haven't quite gotten to my goals for 2011 since I'm still wrapping 2010 up in my head ( and on here).
I did start one, but I'm still stuck somewhere in October and currently mind boggled at the length of of our 2010 list. The length isn't only because I am terrible at short explanations for anything, but also because we apparently did a ton of house related stuff last year... a few things that I never even blogged about.
I'm working on condensing the list. How does everyone feel about just bullet points?
As for 2011... I'm not super thrilled that 2011 is here. Overall the passage of time has started speeding up for me and the year twenty eleven just feel so futuristic. Yet it is here. Right now.
We have a whole lot of work waiting for us this year ( so much it is kinda scary).
After seeing how much of the garage we got done since the end of July, which is when we started the DIY portion, we're a little eager until we can get back outside to finish it on up. Once the garage is "finished" the two of us are going to shift our entire focus to the Wee house, which is when I might start to cry out of happiness. It has been a few years of talking, planning and saving to make the renovations start happening, so to know that we've finally gotten to that point? Well I'll be thrilled. Even though I know it is only going to open up a huge can of new worms when we start our serious house renovations.
As you could well imagine, I haven't quite gotten to my goals for 2011 since I'm still wrapping 2010 up in my head ( and on here).
January 3, 2011
December 25, 2010
December 21, 2010
Philly Architectural Salvage Locations... p3
The last Philly salvage place we check out was ReStore.
Overall: A. we'll definitely be back.
We got lucky and snagged a street parking spot right in front of the place. I'd imagine that any other time but in the evening you'd be able to find the same, since it is on a residential street.
It is a mid-sized loft-ish type warehouse where everything is super well organized, the place is well lit with natural light and the surroundings feel nice. The major bonus is you're not paying for the "nice feeling" surroundings, everything seemed fairly priced to me.
Overall: A. we'll definitely be back.
We got lucky and snagged a street parking spot right in front of the place. I'd imagine that any other time but in the evening you'd be able to find the same, since it is on a residential street.
It is a mid-sized loft-ish type warehouse where everything is super well organized, the place is well lit with natural light and the surroundings feel nice. The major bonus is you're not paying for the "nice feeling" surroundings, everything seemed fairly priced to me.
Vintage door knobs are pretty much automatically awesome in my book, but I went nuts for these milk glass knobs! They are pretty unique and are just gorgeous in real life. There was serious restraint on my end to hold back from purchasing them for the price of $30 a set. Only slightly higher than the normal brass or crystal sets they also had on the table.
Pete caught me eyeballing up antique tiles for our eventual fireplace(s). I'm leaning more toward old, original (and slightly ugly-ish, they are a brown and green tie-dye look) tiles for them while he like something less authentic but nicer looking.
Windows galore! Doors Galore!
I'm so glad we took the time to check out these Philly salvage and antique places. Not only are they so close to us, but they provided us with the chance to talk more about the upcoming renovations for the Wee house. Talking about the reno always gets our creative juices flowing again, especially when they have been stalled behind a long time of garage building. Makes me so anxious to get the garage done and move on into working on the house!
Pete caught me eyeballing up antique tiles for our eventual fireplace(s). I'm leaning more toward old, original (and slightly ugly-ish, they are a brown and green tie-dye look) tiles for them while he like something less authentic but nicer looking.
Windows galore! Doors Galore!I'm so glad we took the time to check out these Philly salvage and antique places. Not only are they so close to us, but they provided us with the chance to talk more about the upcoming renovations for the Wee house. Talking about the reno always gets our creative juices flowing again, especially when they have been stalled behind a long time of garage building. Makes me so anxious to get the garage done and move on into working on the house!
December 15, 2010
Dining Room Seating- Check!
Confession: After buying our fabulous new dining table in May, we moved the old dining set into the living room, with every intention of putting it up for sale immediately. We sold the set on craigslist in November.
Even I'm giving us the side eye glance for waiting so long on that one.
However, that means we did finally settle on seating for the new table. It was a really long process where we sat in countless chairs at so many different stores, brought home four options (that ultimately got returned), did hours of online browsing and had at least 3 blog posts ( here, here , and here ) devoted to the dining room alone. What can I say? I either make extremely fast snap decisions based on emotion or I like to beat an idea to death with thorough research and pro/con lists.
Our search ultimately ended with me sitting in a Home Goods chair looking extremely dejected and frustrated. Taking a thoughtful sip from my Starbucks, I looked up at Pete and went "Lets go with the couch and the stools. We both really like them and I'm tired of dealing with this crap."
Couch and stools. Um Eva, you're missing the "chair" part...
I'll backtrack to the start. It all started with this picture that I found floating around the blogosphere last year that eventually got sourced back to SouthernLiving.com. Everything about the picture looks so inviting to me. I loved the smaller in stature wood and metal table paired with the upholstered loveseat. Everything about this set up makes me want to plop down and have a cozy dinner at the table with Pete, something we rarely do.
When we came home with our new table, this picture popped back into my mind. So while searching for chairs, I also expanded my search to include an armless love seat. Which is why when I came across this love seat on overstock, I was uber excited to show Pete an example of how we could interpret the look from the inspiration picture. The loveseat was pricey at $300, but I figured if we ever tired of it at the table that I could easily find another place in the house for it.
Since we need seating for more than two people at the table we grabbed the another idea of using stools in place of chairs. That would open up and be a good balance to the bigger love seat.
The stools would be the CB2 Contact Stools I wrote about way back half a year ago. Pete loves them and now that we have then, I'm a fan myself. With their small size and simple look I thought the stools could pull furniture double duty by being movable seating and act as side tables if the need arose.
They are a great as seating option for kids because they are super solid, spin in circles and can be wiped down. A few days after ordering the stools showed up on our front porch. We almost had an "oh no" moment after placing them at the table, because they came close to not fitting. Thank goodness that even despite not measuring the height of the table they did end up working just fine. You think we would have learned that by now, but always freaking measure!
Which is how we ended up with this:
December 13, 2010
Philly Architectural Salvage Locations... p2.
I'd grade the Antiques Exchange a B-, depending...
Not horrible but I doubt we'll be jumping up and down to get back to the place. The place just didn't fit well with us and our needs (budget) right now, but there we do think it is worth another look at a different time.
Major bonus is that this is right down the street from Standard Tap.
(Go and eat there. Delicious food and great beers)
I'll start off with my biggest problem of the place- everything was really overpriced. Which is why you all you see are price tags that have faded ink and have started crumbling. You know when the tape yellows and starts to flake away? Lots of tags just like that. I also liked the "hold" on an item from June of 2009. Just a hunch, but I have a feeling that they aren't coming back.
The other thing that really got me and knocked the grade down was that I'm pretty sure a large amount of certain items they had were reproductions. Really crazy cool looking reproductions, but I take issue whomever is trying to pass a modern piece as an antique. Especially when you're talking a cost of multiples of thousands of dollars.
Other than those negatives, we did like poking around all the floors and saw some neat stuff.
Our favorite was the door section, where we found some awesome old pocket(?) doors that had glass inserts with the original rolling hardware attached. Love them and the fact that they aren't something you always come accross while shopping. When it comes time for the Wee house, we'll definately try to come up with a place for a door like this.
If these pictures pique your interest or you're planning on visiting Philly for another reason, then I will say it won't be wasted time or effort to plan a quick stop at the Antiques Exchange. Just don't bank your hopes on it and bring a fat wallet. Info in case you want to check it out for yourself:
http://www.architecturalantiques.com/
715 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia
Not horrible but I doubt we'll be jumping up and down to get back to the place. The place just didn't fit well with us and our needs (budget) right now, but there we do think it is worth another look at a different time.
Major bonus is that this is right down the street from Standard Tap.
(Go and eat there. Delicious food and great beers)
I'll start off with my biggest problem of the place- everything was really overpriced. Which is why you all you see are price tags that have faded ink and have started crumbling. You know when the tape yellows and starts to flake away? Lots of tags just like that. I also liked the "hold" on an item from June of 2009. Just a hunch, but I have a feeling that they aren't coming back.
The other thing that really got me and knocked the grade down was that I'm pretty sure a large amount of certain items they had were reproductions. Really crazy cool looking reproductions, but I take issue whomever is trying to pass a modern piece as an antique. Especially when you're talking a cost of multiples of thousands of dollars.
Other than those negatives, we did like poking around all the floors and saw some neat stuff.
Our favorite was the door section, where we found some awesome old pocket(?) doors that had glass inserts with the original rolling hardware attached. Love them and the fact that they aren't something you always come accross while shopping. When it comes time for the Wee house, we'll definately try to come up with a place for a door like this.
I really adored this Victorian fireplace surround. Something about its smaller size and toned down details really attracted my eye. I forget the exact price, but I do remember it made me laugh.
This cooper antique coffee urn made us stop in our tracks with its large size and shiny looks. However we didn't love the $1,4oo sticker price. Shame that is so completely out of our budgets, this would look awesome in an antique kitchen or dining room.
The top floor was really cool, it was amazingly bright with natural light thanks to the skylights, but was really run down ( complete with graffiti). You could tell it was the area where things went when people stopped caring about them. 
If these pictures pique your interest or you're planning on visiting Philly for another reason, then I will say it won't be wasted time or effort to plan a quick stop at the Antiques Exchange. Just don't bank your hopes on it and bring a fat wallet. Info in case you want to check it out for yourself:
http://www.architecturalantiques.com/
715 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia
December 8, 2010
House of (Holiday) Cards
From: Eva
To: Peter
Christmas card?
From: Peter
That is really funny. I like the hat. I don’t need to be in the Christmas card anyway. Leave it solely up to the Jewish girl :)
From: Eva
I figured that you could be on the inside of the card. Maybe even the back!
And it is not my fault you didn’t want a picture with the hippo at south of the border!
What about this one?
I agree. But I spent many years setting the negative precedence that cards are stupid. I like to expect them, just not give them. You know, like any selfish person would do!
What about this one?
Better?
Maybe we should take a picture with the garage? Since that is really our baby this year?
From: Peter
Maybe we should take a picture with the garage? Since that is really our baby this year?
From: Peter
Are you really thinking about getting a Christmas card this year of just us? We never send them out. That sets an expectation for the next 100 years you know.
From: Eva
I am contemplating it... I feel like it is my job as a wife or something to send them out...
I loved getting all the cards from my friends last year. They made the house look so festive!
I’m seriously getting into the holiday spirit this year. Be prepared for major January Post-Holiday sadness.
Plus, Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards to bloggers.
I like free.
From: Peter
From: Eva
I am contemplating it... I feel like it is my job as a wife or something to send them out...
I loved getting all the cards from my friends last year. They made the house look so festive!
I’m seriously getting into the holiday spirit this year. Be prepared for major January Post-Holiday sadness.
Plus, Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards to bloggers.
I like free.
From: Peter
I agree. But I spent many years setting the negative precedence that cards are stupid. I like to expect them, just not give them. You know, like any selfish person would do!
****End of Email Chain***
* edit... Shutterfly, you disappoint me by punking out on the free card promise. Despite that I shilled your products like a two bit table dancer on my measly blog I got nada from you.
-signed-
sad cardless eva
December 7, 2010
Wrapping up for the holidays!
Much like a lot of people, Thanksgiving was the official kick off to our holiday season. We took a long look at the December calendar and saw that it was packed with obligations. Which is when Pete and I decided that it was time to pack up the garage work for the winter. There are people to see, presents to wrap and champagne to drink every weekend! Sad as it is to have halt the work that was rolling along I would be lying if I said that I didn't need a break from the garage. Cause I really do.
As much as I love the garage and am having fun building it, working outside in the winter on construction is a hard way to spend all your free time and every weekend daylight hour. Work goes slower cause you're slower to get things done. The wind hurts your face. You come home with sniffles everyday. The sun sets before you know it. And we have a lot of limitations on what we can do because of the weather (such as no painting).
No one really gives you a medal when your eyeballs freeze or snot pours out of your nose all day long on job site. And I'm not into doing things just so I can say I did and be a DIY Topper.
Example of the DIY Topper: " Well I worked outside on my garage during the biggest snowstorm the east coast has seen in a 1,000 years."
One cold and windy Saturday we double layered and headed over to check off in our pre-winter to-dos for the garage.
I moved our considerable sized stash of awesome old oak planks out from the rusty and crusty lean-to, into a much more suitable home in the garage.
All while Pete worked on a temporary winter wall for the back side of the garage.
We towed in Pete's someday project car, the '72 Land Cruiser. It proved especially challenging because of the one flat tire. But now the Land Cruiser lives in the garage until Pete has time to work on it. Which will be in about a decade.
And then we put up our winter " garage doors", which are in the form of plywood.
As much as I love the garage and am having fun building it, working outside in the winter on construction is a hard way to spend all your free time and every weekend daylight hour. Work goes slower cause you're slower to get things done. The wind hurts your face. You come home with sniffles everyday. The sun sets before you know it. And we have a lot of limitations on what we can do because of the weather (such as no painting).
No one really gives you a medal when your eyeballs freeze or snot pours out of your nose all day long on job site. And I'm not into doing things just so I can say I did and be a DIY Topper.
Example of the DIY Topper: " Well I worked outside on my garage during the biggest snowstorm the east coast has seen in a 1,000 years."
One cold and windy Saturday we double layered and headed over to check off in our pre-winter to-dos for the garage.
I moved our considerable sized stash of awesome old oak planks out from the rusty and crusty lean-to, into a much more suitable home in the garage.
All while Pete worked on a temporary winter wall for the back side of the garage.
We towed in Pete's someday project car, the '72 Land Cruiser. It proved especially challenging because of the one flat tire. But now the Land Cruiser lives in the garage until Pete has time to work on it. Which will be in about a decade.
And then we put up our winter " garage doors", which are in the form of plywood.
I'm ready to change gears for a little while!
December 1, 2010
Philly Architectural Salvage Locations... p1.
Even though our feet are firmly planted in the demolition part of the wee house renovation, we still can't help ourselves when it comes to checking out items for the future rebuilding stage. We like to look for the items we know we'll need or want (eventually). Shopping architectural salvage/antique places really helps to fuel the creative process for us and we get a ton of light bulb moments while browsing around. Almost like we're building an inventory or mental check list of certain things.
Because of our constant searching regarding anything house related that is old and awesome, we try to check out almost every salvage place we hear about within a few hours of driving distance. Unfortunately that means we've hit some dud places along the way, in addition to our perpetual fave spots. Which is why when we saw Provenance featured on a DIY network show we wrote down the name so we could a) remember it and b) make plans to check it out.
There is a small parking area outside the warehouse and you just walk right in the open door.
The warehouse for Provenance is large, but not huge and overwhelming. Something I appreciated because those monster sized warehouses tend to feel a little creepy when you get to a dark corner.
I LOVED how nicely everything is arranged inside. It is about as neat and organized as I think a architectural salvage place could ever be. Makes it about a million times easier to shop the place when you don't have to constantly dig out items just to even take a look at them. I'm not a gal that is afraid to wade through the muck and get her hands dirty while searching for a gem. But I know not everyone is like that and that some people don't always have the time to hunt down that *one* item. For those that don't like a hot mess of a salvage location- this is the place to go.
I want to make out with this door because it is just that awesome. It is almost exactly what I want to put in the front of the wee house (eventually). I die for its transom. and the hardware. I wonder if the house wants this door as a holiday present...
Just a few old glass knobs...
Small mantles...
Big mantles....
Antique heat registers, something we're definitely planning on incorporating in the Wee house.
The outside area....
and there was so much more inside that we didn't snap pictures of.
We got to chatting with one of the partners for a bit and he filled us in on the business and how they operate. Provenance definitely is a place we'll be going back to, and I'm thrilled that it is so close to us and walking distance to one of our favorite burger places in Philly, Standard Tap. Makes me so excited to move on with the Wee house renovations. Now if only the garage would ever get itself finished...
and there was so much more inside that we didn't snap pictures of. We got to chatting with one of the partners for a bit and he filled us in on the business and how they operate. Provenance definitely is a place we'll be going back to, and I'm thrilled that it is so close to us and walking distance to one of our favorite burger places in Philly, Standard Tap. Makes me so excited to move on with the Wee house renovations. Now if only the garage would ever get itself finished...
* this is all based on our own personal experience and you must be out of your gourd if you think I got compensated in any way for writing this. I just like spreading the good renovation word around.
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