Kids Room #1: Repurposing Closet Doors That Were Found in the Garage

These closet doors were a massive undertaking that had me questioning my DIY skills. I worked for MONTHS to transform a doorless closet to a sunburst closet. Before we could do the fun, sunburst idea, I had to find doors that fit the gaping hole that was a kid's closet. It was not much fun,…

Kid’s Room #1 – Water-Damaged Bedroom Ceiling Repair

When we moved in, one of the kid's bedrooms had some damage to the ceiling. It was hard and had a bit of a lump. With my amazing cleaning skills upon move-in, I decided to vacuum the ceilings (cobwebs!) and very unluckily sucked off part of the ceiling: This particular damage is beneath a bathtub…

Kid’s Room #1 – Sealing Gaps in Baseboard Trim

We have a bug problem. We live built into a hill, so our finished basement is halfway underground. Awesome for HVAC, not awesome for vermin. The first fall we lived here, we saw SO MANY SPIDERS. We got used to it, but, honestly -- we shouldn't have to, right? The most glaring issue is our…

Clearing the Chicken Coop Path: Part 2 – Water Run-off and Tick Rehab

Last summer, I cleaned up the path from the driveway to the chicken coop. I mostly weeded the heck out of it. It made the path more attractive, both in looks and function. I hate when plants brush up against me when I'm walking outside, so that was pretty much the only goal. This is…

Island update: Refinished butcher block, installed sink & faucet

This weekend we tackled the butcher block countertop. It wasn't in terrible shape, but it wasn't in great shape. We discovered our love for large single-basin sinks at our last house, and made it a priority to have one here. So, we searched the internet for the best deal, also purchased our old faucet again,…

Reconstituting Old, Dried Up Paint

This was the first time I tried to save old, dried up paint by adding water and mixing well - and it worked! We removed a shelf from one of the walls in the office, leaving a huge area that needed to be remediated. After sanding, spackling, sanding, spackling, and sanding more, we had a…

Sealing Floor Vents for HVAC Efficiency

Luke and I have been trying to make our house more efficient to both save money and the environment. We don't have tons of extra money for upgrades right now, so we've been doing our best to make do with what we have. Two cheap things we did this last month was clean the floor…

Weird Wall Fixer Upper

We have some interesting wall material above our mantle. I truly don't know why the house was put together this way, but there is vertical planking juxtaposed with the drywall. We discussed tearing out the planks and drywalling, but honestly, who has the time. So while we gear up for that project, in 85 years…

The Trim is Falling

Earlier this year, I noticed the trim on the front of the house was falling off. As always, keepin' it classy: The screws that were holding it in place were stripped, so I figured we'd forgo them and just use construction glue. (Originally, it was held in place with both. Fingers crossed that glue will…

Goodbye Tuscan kitchen

Our Philly home was the first house we bought. We looked FOREVER for a place to settle into after we were married. We fell in love with the Art Museum area after living there as newlyweds, but sadly, we could not afford it. Luke found this sweet gem in Northern Liberties. We jumped on it…