Exposing Brick
One of the walls in our bedroom is uneven because the chimney juts out. It's also in an awkward spot because we want to put our bed against that wall,…
Christmas 2015
Last Christmas we had just finished our first floor renovation and were finally able to relax in our home. Upstairs was a different story, however. We had a decent set-up…
Drywall Nightmares: Part 2 – The “Professionals”
Once we finished our demo work, it was time to find a drywaller. We learned a very valuable lesson: Drywallers are not the most reliable tradespeople. We had three separate…
Building Access to the Attic: Part 1
We are fortunate enough to have a pretty kick-ass attic space. It's totally not usable right now; it's dirty and there's no insulation (not that the rest of our house really has…
Replacing Hardwood Upstairs: Part 1 – Master and Middle Bedroom Demolition
The upstairs floors were generally in better shape than they were downstairs. There were, however, a few problem areas that looked like they fell victim to water damage. Given how…
Drywall Nightmares: Part 1 – Master and Middle Bedroom Demolition
Before we could start painting, we had some drywalling to do. We wanted a new wall flush with the exposed brick, we wanted a closet opening that would fit an IKEA…
Renovating the Second Floor: Let the Fun Begin!
It's been almost a year since we completed our living room/dining room renovation. We finally have a social life again, we can relax in the evenings and on weekends and we…
First Floor Reveal
It's been a year since we bought our house and a lot has changed. We've replaced our electrical wiring, fixed our fireplace, replaced our hardwood floor, painted the walls, installed tile in our front entryway and installed…
Does DIYing Really Save You Money?
Through the good and the bad of DIY renovations, Alex and I have been motivated by the fact that doing things ourselves is saving us butt-loads. I mean, BUTT-LOADS. But…
Replacing Baseboards: Part 2 – Installation
Once our baseboards were cut, we had to paint them. We first made sure to number each baseboard so we knew exactly where it belonged! Painting We sanded each baseboard to…
Replacing Baseboards: Part 1 – Cutting
We started our living room renovation about 10 months ago and we are now working on the finishing touches: baseboards! Since our house is over 100 years old, it came…
Fauxdenza
Now that Alex and I are done most of our major construction projects, we are working on updating some of our furniture - particularly those old Ikea pieces that we're…
How to Sew Door and Window Draft Stoppers
Our doors and windows are extremely drafty. We've managed to stop some of the draft with that ugly shrink wrap stuff, which is fine for our un-renovated and already-ugly upstairs. Now…
Vestibule Tile Installation
Our front door has a small vestibule. It was originally covered in tile, but when we replaced our hardwood floor we took this nasty blue tile out. We opted to replace it…