American Foursquare

Yes We Did!

2008-11-04T22:37:00.000-08:00

Wooo Hooo America, I love you!

May we all sleep well tonight. I know I will.

While I do not doubt her commitment to Sparkle-Motion

2008-10-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

I sure as hell don't want her a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Oh! And her bangs need cut!(as a Pittsburgher would say)

One More - About that Sofa

2008-10-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

This is the sofa that I talked about "deconstructing" in my previous posts. I guess it's about time that I posted the evidence that we were actually able to get it back together. I have photos of it in different stages of dis-assembly too - but right now I don't see a point in posting them cause what I hoped would later be a helpful "how to" has turned into a cautionary "please don't ever attempt this without a professional".

It was a LOT of work. Too much work and way too much anxiety to be worth it. The only reason we even attempted it was because there was absolutely no other way to get this sofa into this third floor apartment. None. Trust me - we considered everything. And what any sane person with a few dollars in their pocket would have done is buy one of those affordable sofas that are designed to break down into pieces that can be transported up narrow and winding staircases. Or not rented an apartment that was so aggressively inaccessible in the first place.

So, why did we go to this extreme? Because my terrific and very young friend from work finally managed to land her first apartment. She's mature and responsible beyond her years but has had a difficult time finding a landlord willing to take a chance on her. So although this apartment was pretty dismal and inaccessible it was affordable, available and most importantly close to work. She didn't have an extra dollar to buy furniture. It was this sofa or nothing. It was a generous donation from a Pittsburgh Freecycler. As was most everything you see in her apartment. If we had failed to get this sofa back together properly I wouldn't have known how to live with the shame. So please - don't take such a risk if you don't really, really, really need to. It took many hours, much cursing, eyerolling, sighing, time-outs, and bloodshed. Yes, it's back to good as new - but as I warned my friend - it belongs to the apartment now.

Here are a couple more pics of her place. Excuse the camera phone quality. I'm thrilled with how her kitchen turned out. When we first arrived every wall was stark white - the tiny countertop was stained and scored, the greasy wooden cabinets were hanging off the wall, and there was an eyesore of a hot water heater to the left of the stove.

We cleaned the cabinets and painted them, sanded and painted the countertop around the sink, built a cute little island/counter with storage space inside and covered two bi-fold doors that we picked up at Construction Junction for a song with striped wallpaper to serve as a screen to cover the ugly hot water heater. A donated pine lingerie chest was painted black and white and awaits a microwave on top, but the drawers are adding much needed storage space for small kitchen items and a stash of Ramen Noodles. Her kitchen is now clean, bright, functional and totally reflects her taste. Thanks to Pittsburgh Freecycle, co-workers, and a couple hundred bucks spent wisely at Ikea and Construction Junction.

About that sofa...

2008-09-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I announced our intention of dismantling and reassembling a sofa. Wow... In case you've been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to find out how that went - I won't leave you hanging any longer.

This is NOT a project for the faint of heart. While I've read that there are several companies in the NYC metro area that can do this for you in a matter of an hour or two for a couple hundred bucks, it's really not a quick job if you don't know what you're doing. And we didn't.

We carefully removed the fabric covering from the bottom of the sofa and then from the backside. I think we hoped that at this point the "secret" of deconstruction would simply reveal itself to us. Um... no.

So we spent a couple of hours removing the arms and the upholstery that held the arms on even after the nails and various sized staples were removed from the wooden frame. We banged apart nicely glued dowels and drew a curious crowd of spectators.

Finally - we had the 44" wide sofa in enough smaller pieces that we could squeeze it up the 27" stairwell of the third floor walk up.

Then it got tricky! LOL

I am greatly relieved to report that after several more hours of work and enough staple scratches to look like we were in a death match with a pack of feral cats the sofa body is back in one piece and seems no worse for wear.

I took some photos - admittedly less than I'd planned to - and will upload them later. Bottom line: Would I attempt this again? No freakin' way!

We were very lucky that we didn't turn a perfectly good sofa into a piece of trash. This is one of those things that in my exhausted and bloodied opinion is best left to trained professionals.

And in case anyone is in the sofa market - Bauhaus doesn't skimp on the construction. At all...

Oh, and one more thing - the public voting portion of the True Value contest ends today. Please toss me a vote, if you wouldn't mind. I'll be forever grateful!

Peace out! :o)

Dismantling a Sofa

2008-09-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

That's going to be the big challenge of the day. No, I've never tried it before and frankly the thought is making me feel a little queasy - but, I don't think we have a choice.

A very dear young friend of mine has just landed her first apartment and it's lovely. Or at least has the potential to be lovely. It's spacious and has plenty of natural light and a nice view. The trouble is that you need to climb two flights of narrow stairs to get to it. Twenty-seven inch wide stairs!

My first reaction to the the "how are we gonna get anything up here?" question was to think "Fire Escape!" But no... The fire escape - while more open - is narrow and rickety. Yeah it might hold up long enough for a 100 pound girl to run down it in case of fire but I don't see two adults carrying a sofa at shoulder height going up it without an ambulance on stand-by.

So, after thinking about ropes, hoists, boom trucks and a whole lot of other stuff that simply isn't going to work - we're going to try to take the sofa apart and put it back together. Apparently this is a pretty common thing to do in narrow stairway plagued NYC - and there are scores of businesses there offering this service. But, not here in Pittsburgh as far as I can tell. We're on our own.

Here's the plan: Carefully remove the fabric from the underside and the back of the sofa, look inside to see what we can cut and then re-attach to get the back away from the seat and "wing it". I'll take lots of pics to share the experience with you later. Please wish us luck - we're going to need it!

You May Be a Do-It-Yourselfer If...

2008-09-08T20:03:00.001-07:00

e2e7a52a0cca
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Someone describes themselves to you as a painter and you assume they're a house painter. Even if they've arrived at the job with no coveralls, tarps, ladders or buckets.

I forgot, much to my embarrassment, that there's more to the world than scraping off and applying wall and trim paint to walls and trim - there are actual artists out there. And the young man who had arrived on a bicycle with a backpack that I so boldly offered to "help paint" while we were waiting for the Obama Headquarters in Homestead to open was that other kind of painter - an artist.

Isn't that portrait phenomenal? And the man who painted it in a few short hours was very gracious about my mistaking him for a house painter.

The Price is Right?

2008-09-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about the TV game show - I'm talking about Craigslist and Freecycle. Love Freecycle! When something has got to go, it's been my experience that someone on Freecycle will come and take it off your hands lickety split.

Same thing with Craigslist - as long as it's free! Whenever I put anything free on Craigslist it's gone within hours - sometimes minutes. But, when I have something I'd like get a few dollars for.... the hemming and hawing, the coordinating and logistics. Holey Moley! With the exception of a couple of "construction/material" items - (which I guess us DIY types know how to jump on a bargain quickly!) - the hassle has made the transaction almost not worth it.

It makes me hesitate to post anything that I'm not willing to freely give away.

How does your experience compare to mine? Is it me? Does anyone have any tips?

There's a Glitch in the Matrix

2008-09-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Okay... My black cat came to the back door with some kind of spider-webby mess on her back and haunches. I wouldn't let her inside because I knew she'd head right to my pillow with that crap all over her. So I wet a paper towel, went outside, scolded her for getting into something nasty yet again - and started wiping her off. She resisted just enough to save face and did her typical affectionate meowing "rollover". After I finished cleaning and petting her I sat on the back steps watching her and our male cat Rodney play.

It was while I was sitting there watching that MY black cat came running around the corner and up the steps. Yep - I just cleaned off and scolded a complete stranger of a cat. Who looks and acts identical to mine.

Weird...

***Update***

Apparently we have four cats. I don't know how or when this happened. But, last night after I posted this entry the "strange" cat came to the back door TWICE to be let in. Curious, hubby let her in. She's obviously familiar with the place and with our other pets. In fact the only one of our pets that didn't appreciate her presence was our own black cat. I don't know how many times we've let her in not realizing that she wasn't our cat - but her doppleganger. And in a two story house with a basement and three "free-range" cats I suppose it wasn't hard for a "duplicate" to slip by as long as she and our cat didn't turn up in the same room at the same time. Freaky...

Today's Agenda

2008-09-02T07:18:00.001-07:00

100_2123.JPG
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Because I work in retail my weekends start on Monday. Today is my "Sunday" and tomorrow will round out my three day holiday "weekend", and bring my personal summer vacation to an end.

I haven't picked up a paintbrush, hammer, drill or pry bar since the first week of July. After tomorrow that all ends and we're back to stripping paint, hanging cabinets, building storm windows, stripping floors..... sigh...

But today, TODAY - I'm going to float in our teeny tiny pool, relax in the shade with a book, and then take a nap on the porch swing. I will try to resist the temptation to check in throughout the day to see what bizarre new allegation is surfacing on the Sarah Palin soap opera, but I will tune in to F/X at 10pm to catch the season premiere of my favorite TV series - "The Shield" .

I'm looking forward to today, and I hope your day - wherever you are and whatever you're doing is at least half as enjoyable as mine promises to be.

Whoa... That was close!

2008-08-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Turns out that thirty six hours of indecision was long enough to take the decision out of our hands. Someone jumped ahead of us on the road to crazytown - the house down the street is already under contract. Someone is getting a terrific bargain. Or soul sappingly deep money pit.

We hope they're "owner/occupants" and have what it takes to put this 140 year old gem back together. Most of all I hope the first thing they do is rip that goddawful porch enclosure down. I've wanted to do it ever since we moved here. It's one of those things that can bug you - like a big fat white head that needs popping - I have to keep my hands in my pockets to keep from crossing the street and picking at it.

HandyKid, who is actually more mature than me when it comes to stuff like this, seems okay with it. Something about "for the best", "timing", "cash", "priorities", yadda, yadda, yadda...

Are We Crazy?

2008-08-27T05:42:00.000-07:00

After fourteen months of back breaking, budget busting work we finally have our home in pretty nice shape. Not "done" mind you, but at a place where we can live comfortably and do the rest as time and money allows.

So what are we thinking of doing? Seriously thinking of doing?

Buying an even OLDER, even WORSE house than ours was when we got it! Arghhh... My palms are beginning to sweat just typing this.

Okay - here are the details:

I ~~conned~~ convinced my early 20's son, hereafter referred to as HandyKid, to move to Pittsburgh with us earlier this year and help us with some projects. It's been great. We've got a lot done and it's a nice arrangement - all living comfortably and not in each others hair at all. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if he lived with us forever. We've got the space. It's not like we're tripping over each other.

But HandyKid, quite naturally, longs for a place of his own. Somewhere to swing a sledgehammer with wild abandon. And who can fault him for that? (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.) And right now there's a mess of a house available, right on our street, for a probably never to be seen again bargain basement price.

So what's the problem? Well, hubby and I have already thrown every cent available at our current house and HandyKid has next to nothing to start with. Even if he can arrange financing for the purchase the house is going to need tons of work and even more tons of cash to get it up to snuff. It would be a long term project. And I'm scared. On the other hand, at least he'd have the advantage of being able to continue to sleep and shower here while his plumbing, wiring, plaster etc are in a total state of disarray. An advantage that we didn't have last year.

And he wouldn't have to re-purchase all the hand and power tools we've already invested in...

Is this a good idea? Or are we just flirting with disaster (again)?

Confessions of a Pack Rat

2008-08-25T06:13:00.001-07:00

100_2198.JPG
Originally uploaded by gimbler

I daydream of a clean clutter free home. Where everything has a place and is in it's place from the basement to the rafters. But, in my heart of hearts I know that it's never going to happen - it's too far from my nature.

I don't have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. I have a pack rat who sees some unrealized potential in every piece of junk on one side and a Cleaning Demon on the other who wants every square inch of space to look permanently "staged".

My pack-rattish-nish gets too much positive reinforcement for me to ever really tame it. I can't even count the number of times I've thought I needed to buy or make something to suit some purpose and then found that all it really took was a trip to the basement and a sharp eye to turn some old thing I had no use for into exactly what I need.

Like the other day when I carried an old milk-glass vase of cosmos and dahlias into the bathroom and put them on the vanity. Oh, they looked nice there - really they did. But, they blocked the toothbrushes. So I moved them to the other side. Too near the soap dish. Blocking the cotton swabs. Gonna get knocked over... That's when I noticed the unused space on top of the cold radiator. What I need, I thought, is a little shelf to sit on top. I have lots of scrap wood... I could whip something up... paint it white... or maybe black... Do I really have time for this now? I just want to set this vase down and get back to dead-heading and weeding.

A quick trip to the basement, a narrow eyed scan of "THE WALL OF CLUTTER" and there it was - a dented old Ikea metal file box - with a LID. That lid looks about right. Let's try it!

Vindication is hers - Pack Rat scores! Then rubs Clean Demons nose in her victory reminding everyone within earshot how this moment would not have been possible if we'd listened to Clean Demon. Poor Clean Demon - she wins the occasional battle, but she's never going to win the war.

Loving the Floating Deck

2008-08-23T08:18:00.001-07:00

Backyard "after" 2
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Sorry - we didn't take any "during" photos. This thing came together so quickly any pictures would have been a blur of action anyhow. Okay... I exaggerate. But, not by much.

We found everything we needed to make this deck - from design, instructions, shopping list and price estimate at deckplans.com. Sure, almost any home improvement store, large or small will help you design your deck in order to better sell you their products. But, will they let you make endless modifications without losing patience? Are they available at 3am when you're suddenly struck with inspiration and longing? I think not!

We built on a slope and over a former above ground pool depression in the lawn without the back breaking and time consuming task of digging holes or pouring cement. Deck Blocks Rock! You can change your mind... move a little to the right, a little to the left... Then just plop your 40 pound hunk of block down and level it out. Easy Peasy!

The instructions on the site are quite easy to follow, but just in case here are a few things we did to make it go smoothly for us. After we laid out the four corner blocks for the 10'x12' main deck we laid the two 2"x6" x 10' frame pieces on the ground, evening up the edges and screwed on all the galvanized joist hangers at once. Then we attached those to the 12' long pieces to make one big rectangular frame that we lifted in place and rested on the corner blocks. After that it was a breeze to set the rest of the blocks.

We cut the 4" x 4" post for the corner blocks first and when we got the frame level we started laying the 2" x6" x12' joists into the joist hangers, but not screwing them in yet. We just set them in place one by one to measure how tall the 4" x 4" needed to be cut in order to seat in the deck block and support the joist. After they were all cut and set in place it was time to toenail the joists to the 4" x 4" posts and screw the joists into the joist hanger and end boards.

It was so fast and easy and the results were so solid and pleasing that before we knew it we were building another multi-level deck down behind that little red tree you see in the background.

Last summer our back yard was a no mans land of mud, weeds and ankle twisting holes. We spent as little time as possible in it. Now we spend as much time as we can out there.

Thank you deckplans.com!

Becky Puts Out

2008-08-22T07:12:00.001-07:00

100_2078.JPG
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Becky the Shasta Daisy, that is! She puts out blooms all summer long.
A perennial that blooms like an annual - does it get any better than that?!?

My grandmother, the ultimate gardener, turned me on to Shasta Daisies. They were her favorites. I have to admit that they were not mine while she was living. Maybe I was too young to appreciate them fully, preferring more colorful flowers. As I've matured so has my taste and I'm turning more and more into my grandmother with each passing year. Becky Shasta Daisies are now MY favorite.

I've come to appreciate the phrase "fresh as a daisy"! How could I have once not loved a flower with a bright, perfectly symmetrical yellow center surrounded by petals so white they're practically blinding? I dunno... The folly of youth?

The "Becky" daisy is a relative newcomer in the Shasta daisy world and in my opinion is the best you could possibly hope for in a daisy. In fact it was named Perennial Plant of the Year in 2003. It asks for nothing except sunshine and in return it produces profuse blooms between mid June and September. But, does it give up in September? NO! This plant keeps blooming, if not as heavily, right up until frost.

It grows about three to three and a half feet tall and needs no staking. The leaves are lush and green, it's flowers upright and proud on long stems perfect for cutting. It's one of those plants that lets you fill a vase without robbing your garden.

I love her...

Sweat Equity - a surprisingly nice fragrance!

2008-08-21T13:43:00.001-07:00

100_2077.JPG
Originally uploaded by gimbler

So - where'd we go? What did we do? LOTS!

We refinanced our house for a sweeeet lower interest rate and learned while in the process that our house, in less than one year, had appreciated more than 30%!

:::: takes a bow :::

How did that happen, you might ask? With real estate values flat-lining or sinking across the nation? Well, for one thing we're in Pittsburgh - and Pittsburgh never experienced most of the "bubble" that was happening elsewhere. According to Citibank we're in a "neutral" zone. Yay Pittsburgh!

Now on to explain how we added value. You've already seen photos of what we did inside. Nothing really that major - switching out a sink, some light fixtures - replacing trim, painting, adding a 2nd floor laundry - patching holes. The usual "we bought a fixer-upper" stuff. And sadly most of it I think cost us more to do than the "return on investment" so far. But, that's okay cause it's our home, and we love living comfortably in it.

What really knocked the appraisers socks off and gave us a lot of bang for the buck was what we did outside. And comparatively it cost us very little. In fact I think in terms of equity we may have doubled to tripled what we spent. It has been a LOT of work, but oh so worth it - dollar-wise and enjoyment-wise.

When you last heard from us a bitter (to me!) Pittsburgh winter was coming to an end. Our yard was an inhospitable nightmare that I knew we couldn't ignore for another summer. So, the minute the sun came out so did we. And I'm sorry I didn't have time to talk about what I was doing while I was doing it, but I hope you'll understand that the work we were doing literally consumed every waking moment that we weren't sleeping or "working for the man" between April and July. (I've spent August just enjoying the fruits of our labor!)

First we knocked some stuff off of the ole New Years Resolution list and moved that silly hose bib. Then we tore all the rotting wood out from under the front porch and the off railings. (Tip: It's always more than you think!) Then my son and I scraped every square inch of peeling paint from the porch floor and repainted it. We hung a porch swing and I made some cushions for it. While I had the sewing machine out I made some cushions for the radiator bench. (It's awesome!) Found a rocking chair on Craigslist and another on clearance at Michael's crafts and painted them black to go with the new railings.

Replaced the rotted porch skirt with nice new lattice, and the board under the top step (that was home to about a million carpenter ants) with new wood and trim.

Had five yards of mulch and garden soil delivered and carried it up from the alley one bucket at a time in order to create a new flower bed.

Built not just one - not just two - but THREE decks! Okay - so one of them is really small - only 4' x 12' and might be considered by some to be part of a multi layer deck - but, not me. I built it separate and I want credit, dammit! lol

We put up a privacy fence along one side to block the neighbors chain-link fence and their pool. Who wants to sit on their new deck sweating their butt off staring longingly at the neighbors while they splash around? Not me, I assure you!

After learning that we could still hear them and that that was just as torturous we bought a little pool to cool off in from Target and honest to goodness I'm enjoying it as much (if not more!) than I did our in-ground 18 x36 from two houses ago.

It's tucked tastefully down a slope practically out of view and not taking up any of our precious little yard space. We have a HUGE parking area between the alley and the retaining wall and steps up to our yard and since we don't normally need to park like six cars it's a much better use of the space. It's like reclaimed! Woo Hoo!

Oh, and before I forget - about that "nice fragrance" - in addition to the swell new equity, and having a yard that feels like a mini-resort - it smells WONDERFUL out here. Especially the pretty flowers like the one in the pic above. It's some kind of African Gladiola (I'll have to look it up) and they've been blooming non-stop for the last eight weeks. Their fragrance is heavenly!

-Update -
Since I spent all afternoon uploading pictures maybe I oughta post a link, huh? If anyone is interested this is the entire history of the yard - from the first time we saw it in April of 07 through today.

A Perfect Home

2008-08-21T09:14:00.001-07:00

rodney
Originally uploaded by gimbler

In 1830 it was a snug little collection of modest one and two story frame dwellings whose white-washed exteriors were almost concealed from sight by climbing tangles of of rose vines, honeysuckles, and morning-glories. Each of these pretty homes had a garden in front fenced with white palings and opulently stocked with hollyhocks, marigolds, touch-me-nots, prince's-feathers, and other old fashioned flowers; while on the window-sills of the houses stood wooden boxes containing moss-rose plants and terra-cotta pots in which grew a breed of geranium whose spread of intensely red blossoms accented the prevailing pink tint of the rose-clad house front like an explosion of flame. When there was room on the ledge outside of the posts and boxes for a cat, the cat was there - in sunny weather - stretched at full length, asleep and blissful, with her furry paw curved over her nose. Then that house was complete, and its contentment and peace were made manifest to the world by this symbol, whose testimony is infallible. A home without a cat - and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat - may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title? - Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

The above is one of my favorite passages from one of my favorite writers and I am reminded of it every time I find one of our cats stretched out enjoying the "amenities". Too bad they refuse to be captured on film in these totally relaxed and vulnerable positions. Still... I can feel the evidence of " perfect title" reflected in my own heart wherever I find them lounging.

Please forgive my months of absence from blogging and forgive in advance the flurry of posts I feel coming on. We've been VERY busy and there's much to tell.

Pay It Forward!

2008-03-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

I've been recovering from the worlds longest cold and haven't done much of anything around here since making an upside down curtain/shade for the bathroom (see my last post...) So after a few days of not even turning on the computer, as all my energy has gone into making it through the work week I settled in tonight to do one of my favorite things - reading houseblog after houseblog to see what everyone else has been up to.

Housebloggers are inspirational! Funny! Profound! And very human. I'm at least an hour into reading when I hit one of my favorite blogs, ThirteenEleven and see that the post is about one of my favorite people - Sandy!

I see that Sandy has given Jenni at ThirteenEleven an Excellence Award! And it makes me smile! Isn't that just like Sandy? To do something so sweet and fun? She's everywhere! She's friendly and she's almost like a glue that helps bind us into a community of friends who've never actually met, instead of just a collection of people with similar interests and experiences putting our stories out into the ether.

So, of course I had to head over to Sandy's to see who else got an "E" award. Oh. My. God.

ME!

Can you believe it!?!? I'm so touched, and thrilled, and flattered, and, and, ... just plain grateful! Sandy, you've once again made my day!

The thing about this award is that it was bestowed on Sandy with the condition that she pass it on - and she has. And now, as a recipient of an "E" award it falls to me to pass it on as well, to 10 more bloggers. Isn't that just a fabulous opportunity?

Thank you again, Sandy for not just making my day but for giving me this opportunity to hopefully make someone else's day.

I want to think about my list of "E" bloggers and make it in my next post. But, I also want to take this chance to commit to something else - to be more like Sandy! I want this honor to serve as a reminder to me that I shouldn't need to be prompted to take a moment to offer someone a kind word. I can do it... I think nice things and often appreciate the stories and advice that others share - surely I can take a second or two to say so.

Sandy, you're a gem!

Don't snicker...

2008-03-17T10:32:00.001-07:00

shade
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Some of us are severely window treatment impaired. Handbags and window treatments are the bane of my existence. So, please keep that in mind when I tell you I'm actually quite pleased with this. Oh, I may look back in six months and realize it's a terrible monstrosity - but, in my cold medicine addled mind, (and my general failing in the window treatment dept) this feels like a success this morning.

Since moving in last spring the bathroom windows only adornment was a white vinyl roller shade. In all these months I have not been able to find what looked to me like a good curtain or valance option.

Then inspiration struck! Or was it codeine? Matters not - what's done is done... I took a piece of fabric that I thought looked pretty and a can of spray adhesive and permanently wed the fabric to the roller shade. I left a few inches of fabric loose along the bottom so that I could gather it up to look more like a balloon style shade. A balloon shade that ROLLS! LOL

Trouble was the white vinyl underside of the shade showed at the top where it was rolled up. Luckily there was a scrap of fabric about 8 or 9 inches wide left over from trimming the edge of the shade. I "Sitch Witcher-ied" it into a long tube and now it's an overly wide "valance" that covers the top of the roller. I suppose I could have moved the hardware in an inch or two on either side - but that would require tools and I'm just not up to tools today. I'm not even up to sewing and it's a wonder I didn't burn myself with the iron! Speaking of which - the black ribbon trim that is pretending to gather the "curtain" is ironed on too. And no - the iron didn't melt the shade. Not that I thought to test that out in advance...

The cute little pull ring? It's courtesy of the lid to my husbands Mr. Peanut jar of peanuts. (I really should remember to go put some saran wrap of something over his exposed peanuts!) I popped the metal center out of the yellow plastic threaded ring and wound black yarn around it.

Done!

Then I stepped back and realized the fabric pattern was upside down...

Pittsburgh Potties -or what's in your basement?

2008-03-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

I mentioned "Pittsburgh Potties" in my previous post and a couple of people commented that these open toilets in the basements weren't exclusively a Pittsburgh phenomenon. Some Jersey foursquares and Baltimore rowhouses feature this "amenity" too!

So, being curious and easily amused - I googled up "Pittsburgh Potty" 337,000 hits! One of which was a post by Steel City Experiment, where I snagged the above pic. (I hope Katy doesn't mind!)

So I'm wondering - just how widespread is this basement potty thing? Do you have one? Have you seen them in your city? Please check in. Enquiring minds want to know.

Which reminds me...

2008-03-10T21:37:00.001-07:00

Aimee at Aimee's Petite Maison is doing a fun and generous giveaway for a Solay Salt Lamp. All you have to do to get into the running is post a comment on her blog by March 17th stating why you'd like to win it.

I commented half jokingly that living in Pittsburgh, I could use some negative ion cleansed air.

Half joking... Which reminded me that I've been intending for a while to blog something about the soot covering our house.

Native Pittsburgh-ers like to talk about how much cleaner Pittsburgh is now that the steel industry has largely been replaced with medical industry. Uh huh... Pittsburgh still ranks number two in the nation for worst air quality. You may have come a long way, baby - but there's still a long way to go.

Which brings me, finally,back around to the topic at hand. Our sooty stones. Which I love. Decades of soot and crap have fallen out of the sky and covered our sandstone (limestone?) with a patina that ranges from lightish gray on the more protected areas, to a deep velvety black on the more exposed areas. It's given the facade an almost verigated appearance.

One of our neighbors, and a couple of co-workers, noticing that we are "fixer-uppers" have suggested that we have our stones cleaned. We're about as receptive to this suggestion as we were to the mover who suggested we enclose our front porch to increase our first floor living space. No.Freaking.Way.

I don't care how many buildings downtown have been given a "new lease on life" after having their grimy history sandblasted or power-washed away. It's not like we have some weird love of grime. But, we do have a love and respect for history. I know this house wasn't built to look this way, that the steel mills down the river changed it from it's original and intended form, but neither of us want to "restore" this aspect of the house.

It's late and I'm not even sure how to articulate my feeling about this but I hope I can make it make sense to someone besides DH that the sooty layer on our house should remain, like a testament to what made this city what it was. Like a tribute to the men and women who lived and toiled in this gray polluted city where the mills followed the men home from work, covering their homes, their gardens, and their families with black reminders of the blast furnaces. Where no shopkeeper or executive could find complete exclusion from the price being paid by the men in the mills. To enjoy the commerce, to profit in this economy they too would have to bear the stains of the product making it all possible.

In our basement we have what is commonly referred to (at least by local realtors) as a "Pittsburgh Potty". Most older working class houses here seem to be equipped with at least a toilet in the basement. Ours has a shower as well. We've been told that these were considered a necessity earlier in the 20th century. So that the men, returning home after working a hot, dangerous, back breaking twelve hour shift, covered with soot and scale could clean up and change their clothes in the basement so as not to ruin the family floors and furniture.

So, no... we're not going to come to this town like a couple of johnny-come-lately carpetbaggers and wash what are now "our" stones squeaky clean like nothing ever happened here. It would feel disrespectful, I think. Besides, to our eyes they're lovely just the way they are.

Let there be light... and VENTILATION!

2008-03-07T07:40:00.001-08:00

vent fan
Originally uploaded by gimbler

No, it's not a UFO, it's our spiffy new bathroom ventilation fan, disguised as an art deco style (imho) ceiling light fixture - and I LOVE it! The fan is so quiet I can barely tell when it's running. Plus it moves twice as much air as our previous crappy little fan with no light, even AFTER we removed the TWO birds nests from the ductwork. (Which my very handy son smartly screened off so we should have no more birdie builder issues in the near future.

Other things around the ole foursquare are moving along nicely too. I just haven't had a chance to blog about our progress the last few weeks. Perhaps because I've felt too self conscious to sneak away from the actual work to sit down and write about it. Handy-kid is a real work horse and I just didn't know how to say "Excuse me from this messy task - I feel the need to blog".

But, he spent the night out with friends last night so I thought I'd creep in here before work and post a brief update.

The fireplace facade is finished, the replacement trim is done, but could probably use a little sanding and another coat of paint, three Billy bookcases with extension shelves have been assembled and now have glass doors - (less dusting, yay!) and oodles of little incidentals have been wrapped up.

The next focus, inside anyway, has got to be fixing that Texas sized and shaped patch in the stairway.

We've had two nice spring-like days in the last week and when the weather really breaks I want to be ready for planting and deck building - not still eying Texas, you know?

Happy Friday, everyone - have a great one!

Waiting on my personal "Take Home Handy Man"

2008-02-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

I'm off from work today and had big plans - BIG I tell ya! But, I got sidetracked early on with a photo organizing project and now I don't feel like I have a big enough chunk of uninterrupted hours to get much accomplished. That, combined with today's cold damp weather is really draining any enthusiasm I had when I woke up.

My "handyman" son is moving coming back from Jersey for an extended (hopefully permanent!) stay on Thursday so I don't think a wasted day will set me back much seeing as how we're going to have an extra pair of hands soon. Ironically, I've already "lent him out" to our neighbors for the weekend. He doesn't even know yet - HAR! But, I feel like it's the least I can do - volunteer someone else's labor and skills - to make up for pulling a big hunk of plaster off their wall a few days ago.

Nice people... They only asked for my opinion on whether to patch or tear out. Oops.

Maybe I'll just take a nap and leave well enough alone for the rest of the day.

We're Back!

2008-02-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

With a cool new fireplace face-lift/makeover to "show and tell"!

While waiting for the arrival of our new Macbook I had some time to knock at least one goal off of the New Years Resolution list. Not only did I finally make a decision about what to do with the fireplace - (cover it up!) but, I think it's just an hour or two from being a finished project.

The 1950's stone facade was like a big black eye (to me) in this 1920's colonial-ish foursquare. With the somewhat unexpected expense of the new computer I realized I wasn't going to be chiseling this stone off in hopes of finding buried treasure any time soon. What if it's just an awful gaping hole underneath? I'd be stuck looking at it for a long, long time. I just couldn't do it. And I couldn't look at the gray stones much longer either. So, for about a $100 worth of lumber and tile this is the solution I came up with. If it's temporary fix, no big loss. If it turns out to be permanent I think I can live with it.

The tiles are two inch tumbled slate, I used black grout, a birch plywood for the face and trimmed it out to the bookcases I built earlier this year and now they actually do look "built in". Sorry for the crappy photo. I took it with my phone.

Now on to making a decision about the bottom of the hearth... more tiles or white wood? hmmmm...

Technical Difficulties

2008-01-23T07:28:00.001-08:00

Just in case anyone thinks I might have fallen off the face of the earth I wanted to make a quick post: My computer is dying a very noisy and painful sounding death. I can use it for about 10 minutes before the fan starts making an awful racket and I have to shut it off. So for now I'm trying to save what little time it has left on this earth for important things like online bill payment.

On the home improvement front - my mission to Jersey was successful! My super handy youngest son came back to Pittsburgh with me for a week and we made up a deck plan, a materials list, priced it all out and are ready to go as soon as weather permits.

In the meantime he installed some much needed under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen and I hung the TV on the wall in the living room. What a good move that was! It helped immensely with our space issue and I'm now finally satisfied with the furniture layout. If I'd known what a difference it would make I'd have done it months ago.

Hope to be back soon with a new computer (oh, our poor practically non-existent "budget"...) and more updates on the progress we're making on our American Foursquare.

Jersey Bound...

2008-01-11T05:29:00.000-08:00

American Foursquare will continue to be MIA for a few more days. I hope to return early next week and if everything goes right I'll have a strapping young handy-man in tow. (My youngest son). Have a great weekend, everyone!

DIY Copper Vessel Sink

2008-01-02T12:23:00.001-08:00

another view of copper vessel sink
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Taking a break from re-arranging furniture and thinking back to a fun project from our last house.

I mentioned before that our last house was new construction and boring. Re-doing the kitchen ate up the lions share of our budget and there was VERY little left over to change the builders grade fake oak and beige laminate vanity in the downstairs powder room. Oh how I hated that tiny featureless room. Oh how I longed for a copper vessel sink...

These photos were taken last year before we moved, but this project was actually completed in 2001. Back in 2001 I couldn't find a copper bowl sink for under $800.00. Definitely NOT in the budget.

So, I made one for about $25.00!

We found two old copper bowls at an auction and managed to snag them both - just in case the first try didn't work. It did - so the bowl itself cost about $17 and I still have the other one (with no hole in it!)

We tore out the original cabinet and replaced it with a small old washstand that I think we picked up at the same auction. It was in terrible condition so I didn't have any qualms about drilling holes in it.

What I did to make this sink was to cut a hole for the drain. You can buy a drill bit for this and probably make it an easy 2 minute job. I cut mine by perforating a circle using an awl and a hammer, snipping it out, then dremeling the edge smooth. About a 1 hour job.

I went with a larger kitchen sink drain assembly because it had more surface area and I thought added stability. (That and the silicone caulk between the bowl and the vanity top.) Plus - it looked kinda cool, imho.

Then there was the issue of getting a faucet tall enough to reach. I couldn't afford those either and wasn't up for running plumbing through the wall for a wall mount fixture - which also wasn't in the budget.

I remembered an old oak box I'd been carting around for years that had no particular purpose. Aha! I lucked out - it lifted a standard faucet fixture to just the right height. So, I attached it to the vanity top, drilled some holes, and used flexible plumbing hoses to hook it up.

The chrome and white porcelain faucet wasn't exactly what I wanted and I probably could have spent a few extra bucks for a rubbed bronze, but it was okay and kinda helped tie the white toilet with chrome handle back into the room.

This little "make do" setup turned out to be the most popular feature. My son's girlfriend used to say that it looked like our water was coming out of a box. Everyone who saw it had to "test it" by turning the water on watching with amazement. Our realtors took turns, turning it on and off and laughing like school kids.

The rim of the bowl wasn't thick or rolled - it had a kinda funny little crimped edge. Some glass mosaic tiles from Michael's Crafts finished it off nicely.

The towel hook was free - it's actually a broken candle sconce that I found in the parking lot of a T.J. Maxx.

On a scale of 1 to 10, for anyone with very basic plumbing skills, I'd rate this project about a 4 on a difficulty scale. The most time consuming part of the job was finding the bowls. Putting it together took probably a few hours.

symmetry

2008-01-02T09:51:00.001-08:00

100_1430.JPG
Originally uploaded by gimbler

"Harmony, proportion, or uniformity between the parts of a building and its whole." - oxford university press - architecture and landscaping

It was chilly in Pittsburgh last April. In fact I remember that every day we spent in Pittsburgh from our arrival in late February through till April 20th something fell out of the sky every day. Rain, snow, little pelting pellets of ice... something.

It wasn't until we stepped into our current home for the first time that I realized I'd been sort of holding my breath since our first trek up Sycamore Street (which is really more of a treacherously steep goat path than a road) on the day we arrived.

We'd looked at probably a hundred houses by mid April, but knew in an instant that this was THE ONE. It needed more work than many we'd looked at and our realtor had forewarned us about the fiery HUD hoops, but damnit - for the first time in two months, as I stood in that entryway I felt like I could BREATHE. Not just shallow strained little survival breaths either. I'd never read "Waiting to Exhale" but I finally understood the concept.

When we took all of our measurements and went home to our rental I made little snippets of graph paper furniture to arrange on our graph paper room grid. Hmmmm... This was going to be a challenge.

And it is.

I've come to understand that one of the best features of our house, it's lovely soothing symmetry is also one of the biggest drawbacks when it comes to furnishing.

The wide doorway from the entry to the living room (that I'm measuring in the pic) is centered perfectly with the fireplace on the opposite wall. The front wall (with the radiator cover/bench) has a large bank of three windows - and they line up, again perfectly, with the wide doorway to the dining room, which in turn lines up with the dining room fireplace, flanked with built in cabinets on the back wall. If you're following this you can see what I'm saying right? It's a house of "focal walls" and doorways that can't be obstructed.

Two days ago I bought a set of two small chairs and a matching side table. I thought they were small enough to fit - (hell, they came in one box that I could lift by myself!) - and help with our lack of seating. Ummm... no.

After getting a little worn out shoving furniture around I googled up some online furniture arrangement sites. Value City Furniture has a pretty nice one. Unfortunately all it could really help me to do was confirm the futility of fitting what we have into our space. Maybe it could save someone else out there some grunt work.

Me, I'm not quitter so I think I'm off to play "ring-around-the-rosy" with the actual furniture once again - much to the cats chagrin. Surely there's some super secret creative solution to this puzzle.

2007 - Thankful You're Coming to an End

2007-12-31T11:00:00.001-08:00

Day 1 - Mt. Washington
Originally uploaded by gimbler

We painted, cleaned, organized, packed and sold our home.
We painted, cleaned, organized, packed and unpacked our sons home.
We "sort of" unpacked some of our things and lived in two rooms on the second floor of a rented Victorian perched and precariously leaning over a cliff while we looked for a new house in our new city. The landlord kindly allowed pets and wasn't a convicted child pornographer (but that's another story...)

We found a house and fought tooth and nail with HUD over it for over two months and had our settlement delayed six times.

We went a little crazy with a sawsall and became "squatters" in a HUD house for 11 fretful days before it was legally ours.

Then the real fun started - plumbers, electricians and roofers, oh my! Everyone it seemed needed a check for $7000.00. Apparently that's the going rate in Pittsburgh for whatever it is you need done. Or it's just a really strange coincidence. Was there a secret meeting somewhere where it was decided that $7000.00 was the magic number for us?

From June through early December we worked from sun up to sun down and sometimes well past. We laughed, we cried (okay I cried once), we drained our bank account, proclaimed both our love and hatred of Pittsburgh and had a very public fight in the local Target over a shower curtain.

It's been a hell of a year and I can't say I'm sorry to see it pass. But, I'm thankful too - thankful for the contractors who really did each do a fabulous job - especially our electrician who became like part of the family. I'm thankful for our new friends and neighbors who couldn't be more nice or supportive. I'm thankful to have the kind of home that used to only be a dream, and most of all I'm thankful to Drew for having the patience of a saint. He doesn't particularly enjoy any of this mayhem that he's spent the last year totally immersed in. He's not a DIY'er, doesn't like disruption in his routines, and would like nothing more than to relax with a beer and watch a football or basketball game after work. I wish him more of that in the new year.

And no more packing and unpacking!

Happy New Year Everyone!

The word of the day is: SAD - but, I'm happy!

2007-12-30T21:34:00.001-08:00

Chairs
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Our last house was only two years old when we bought it. I think we had a pry bar and sledgehammer in the trunk when we went to the settlement table. Our very first act after getting the keys was to completely gut the kitchen. Next came the powder room and at one point there was a toilet next to the fridge in the living room.

This memory is one of the reasons that my husband promised to never try to talk me into buying a new house again. It doesn't matter to me that the electrical is up to code, the drains drain or that the heater heats - I've got tools and I gotta be me.

Once the new kitchen was finished it was, in our estimation, pretty fabulous except... something.... Something was missing. You know that "not quite right" feeling in a room. It was shiny and new and we finally realized what it was missing - something OLD. Something to juxtapose all that "perfection", our "ying" needed some "yang"!

I can't remember how we arrived at the decision to remedy this situation by adding a chrome and formica table with vinyl chairs into the mix, but we did. We started scouring ebay and local auctions looking for a red "cracked ice" table. You know the routine I'm sure - "this one's too big", "this one's too small" etc and then one day I saw them - across the room - they called to me. Four simple black wooden chairs that looked like something my grandfather would have put together in the basement with a copy of Popular Mechanics at his side.

At first glance hubby poo-pooed them. They weren't what we were looking for. I pouted. I made him sit on them. I gave him "the eyes". I promised things we both knew I'd never deliver on - but, it didn't matter - cause we got the chairs!

While loading them up I noticed a paper label under the seat of one of the chairs. H. T. Cushman Mfg Co. That sounded vaguely familiar... I googled the company up and found quite an interesting history such as Henry T. Cushman was the man who came up with the idea to attach an eraser to the end of a pencil. You can read about H.T. Cushman here if you'd like.

Well, the chairs were perfect for the kitchen and just the touch it needed. Hubby was in complete agreement on this and we completely reversed gears on the red cracked ice table and found a nice old enamel top table with chrome legs that didn't match the chairs but certainly complimented them.

Time went on, and last year we sold our house and moved to Pittsburgh. I remember telling the mover that the kitchen chairs were "my most prized possession". I don't know if that's true but it seemed the thing to say at the time as he was gingerly swinging one around in each hand.

From time to time I try to find out more info about the chairs but always come up empty. I've never seen another set like them. I think they're from a 1920's bridge set (each of the chairs has a playing card suit cutout in the back splat). They're simply constructed in an arts and crafts fashion with the little pyramid shape on the top of the backrests and held together with bolts.

Last night I emailed a gentleman whose name I found on a Vermont website who was listed as an authority on Cushman furniture, and included a poor quality photo showing two of the chairs that are currently in our entryway. Yeah, I still call them my kitchen chairs - but, this house's kitchen is a lot smaller and being that the chairs and house are from the same era they seem to be at home wherever I place them.

I didn't expect to get a response over the weekend, but Mr. Gertz replied very promptly this morning and seemed cautiously excited. So now I am too! Of course he requested more and better photos and since today was a workday for me I'm grateful that hubby picked up my slack and hauled the chairs out into the daylight to take some decent photos with our cheap digital camera.

He was also kind enough to upload the pics and send them to Mr. Gertz but in the text of the message he mentioned something about being "saddened...to see the black paint drips remaining from whatever idiot painted over the original finish."

I never knew that he was "saddened" about our chairs being painted black some decades ago. I LIKE the paint, and the worn spots, and the tiny paint spatters where someone used a roller nearby but no tarp. Maybe in the end it will detract from their monetary value... but, "saddened"? They're pretty damned cool - we got them for a song - and I think their mystery is about to be revealed. I'm psyched!

I called my son's longtime ex-girlfriend over lunch to tell her the news - our chairs are "rare" and may be "fairly valuable"! The girl is like a daughter I never had and I knew this would be right up her alley. We could talk design and renovation all day! Our conversation turned to auctions, antiques, and finally to Ikea. It seems there's no Ikea near their home and she's been trying to talk her current boyfriend into taking a day trip to one. He's unfamiliar with Ikea and apparently not too keen on the idea - asking her "isn't it just a furniture store?".

She told me that she assured him that she too was sad when she first learned she was being taken to a furniture store! I laughed my ass off at that! It was me that drug her off to the Gulph Mills Ikea Grand Opening! She was a teenager at the time and never even occurred to me that driving an hour to spend a Saturday at a furniture store wasn't her idea of fun! LOL We did have a blast though, bless her little heart. And I know she reads this blog so I want her to know she made my day.

So, today I learned (or re-learned) two things:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that I am insensitive and blissfully unaware of the feelings of those I love.

UPDATE: Mr. Gertz replied this morning and says that he's never seen Cushman bridge chairs from the arts and crafts era and that they are "very rare indeed"! :o) He was kind enough to include photos of a later Cushman's "Colonial Collection" bridge set that aside from the cut-out back splats are worlds away from the style of our chairs. Mr. Gertz can date our chairs to between 1915 and 1930. For reasons I cannot even articulate I feel fairly confident that they were made in the 1920's. Take that for what it's worth... Oh, and speaking of worth - he feels that a collector might value the set in range of $400 to $600. Not bad for an $80 investment that I don't plan to ever part with anyway.

How lucky were we to be in just the right place at just the right time that this set went to auction?

All Will Be Revealed!

2007-12-28T19:19:00.001-08:00

Clean Tiles!
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Final update on the the peroxide/tile treatment:

I promise this will be the last post about this subject this year (snicker...).
The peroxide treatments didn't make the tiles "look like new". In fact cleaning all the dark crazed spiderweb looking areas revealed every other little flaw they had. There are some minor edge chips that became more apparent after grouting, a few shallow chips here and there right in the faces of the tiles. There are a few hairline cracks...

After buying a heat gun and coaxing out a crazy amount of old caulk between the tiles and the tub I found that the tiles were pretty roughly cut along their bottoms to make way for the tub.

Our house was built in 1920 and our toilet (a Standard Purimo) is dated 1929. I suspect this tub was added as part of that early remodel. I wonder now if we really should have had a clawfoot tub? Oh well... If wishes were horses beggars would ride...

I still can't get the old pitted fixtures off and I hate to call a plumber for such a small job, but it may come to that.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results. I won't be embarrassed or have to explain that the bathroom isn't really dirty anymore.

So, in closing - here's the breakdown: 30% peroxide cream from a beauty supply store - really cheap. I paid about $15 for a gallon of it. It's wicked stuff and not at all like the 3% peroxide you buy in a brown bottle at the drugstore. If you decide to do this invest in a couple pairs of disposable gloves. It'll turn your skin whiter than my tiles - and a lot quicker! Ventilation is really a must.

Heat is the key - you'll definitely need a heat lamp or space heater pointing right at the area you're cleaning.

Also - I applied a tile sealer designed for porous tiles before and after re-grouting. I'm hoping that this will prevent any more gunk from making it's way behind the glazing. I'll let you know in about six months how that works out.

And one more thing - a couple of people asked me whether I'd tried chlorine bleach. No.

Here's why - chlorine bleach, if not completely neutralized will eat the tiles away from the inside out. It would not have been practical to expect to get every trace of the bleach out from behind the glazing so I didn't want to risk it. I think I would have rather let my husband go at the walls with an 8 pound sledge before trying bleach. If you've ever seen an old piece of pottery leaching out little white "flakes" that come off easily but seem to grow back - that piece of pottery was soaked in bleach at some point.

Quick recap: Bleach bad. Peroxide good, but not for your skin or nose.

I'm off now to eat some Cestone's pizza! Yay!

2008 Resolutions - Mess with Texas!

2007-12-27T09:29:00.001-08:00

texas
Originally uploaded by gimbler

Aaron started a discussion topic over on House Blogs asking "What are your plans for 2008?"

My own list is pretty extensive and now that I've actually written it out maybe it'll serve as a handy reminder. Or maybe it will haunt me, mocking my inadequacies... We'll know in a few months!

One thing on my list - which I'm about to copy and paste from the discussion forum - is to "mess with Texas"! No not the state - the hole in the wall. A hole that seemed to me to be the size of Texas that was made to install the new plumbing for the bathroom sink without disturbing the tile walls in the bathroom.

I actually at one point thought I'd done a pretty good job patching it and matching the texture of the plaster surrounding it. Alas... that was before we had electricity on the second floor. My initial elation after climbing down the ladder, flipping the switch and having LIGHT in the second floor hallway was quickly doused when I turned and there it was... Texas! It's outline as clear as when it was still a gaping hole in the wall.

It's presence dogs me. Speaking of dogs - that's our Ridgeback, Rufus, who helpfully inserted his head into the frame so that we can judge the scale of my shame.

Texas, you gotta go in '08...

and reprinted, for posterity's sake - the list:

Here goes - in no particular order:

Replace the crappy replacement windows on the 2nd floor with better replacement windows.
Make interior storm windows and exterior screens for the original windows on the first floor.
Replace the back door and storm door.

Replace the front storm door.
Save up and have the 50 year old furnace replaced by next winter.
Add more insulation to the attic.

(are you noticing a theme here? As I type while wearing a heavy robe OVER my clothes, slippers OVER socks, and for good measure a chenille throw around my shoulders and across my lap?!?)

Okay - back to the list:

Mess with Texas... Redo the crappy patch job that I did on the Texas shaped (and sized!) hole in the plaster on the stairway.

Strip the paint from under the eaves around the porch and repaint.
Strip and paint the porch floor boards.
Remove and replace the rotted wood around the porch skirt.
Replace porch light fixture - the bare bulb just leaves something to be desired, I think...

Build a low deck in the backyard for the pergola.
Plant a cutting garden
Fight the weeds in the creeping juniper
Reseed the lawn, pray the bare patches from the excavation turn green
Add a load of gravel to the parking area
Build a raised bed vegetable garden at the front of the parking area
Get a barrel to collect rainwater from the pipe that shoots it out into the parking area and bury soaker hoses in the vegetable garden.
Move the badly placed hose bib to the other side of the back porch.

Finish replacing the trim.
Paint the upstairs hallway.
Strip the doors.
Remove and maybe replace the carpeting on the stairs.
Refinish the living room and dining room floors.
Replace the amber 70's plastic panels in the built-in bookcase doors.

Make a decision regarding whether to cover the hideous fireplace in the dining room that may or may not be covering up the original fireplace or get up the courage to take a hammer and chisel to it and see what really lurks beneath.

Paint the bathroom in the basement
Find someone who wants the 40" 1940s Tappan range taking up space in the basement.
Replace the cracked cement laundry tub, and it's plumbing, in the basement.

I suppose that's a start... sheesh I'm tired already. Guess I'll go regrout the tile...

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Cleaning up today

2007-12-24T09:47:00.001-08:00

Guest Room
Originally uploaded by gimbler

I'm excited to finally be able to see the bed in the guest room! Aside from the bathroom tile project, which is really a perfect winter project considering that it turns the bathroom into a sauna - I've found that my pace has really slowed down as the temperature has dropped.

Last summer we were bounding out of bed by 6am to get started on the day and then working on the house 12 to 14 hours on our days off. Now I'm lucky to drag myself out of bed by 8:30 and spend more time "thinking" than actually "doing".

Today I'm compromising with myself and I'm just going to organize and put things back where they go. Ladders to the basement. Tools to the toolbox. Boxes to the attic.

Then the plan is to vacuum up about 2 or 3 pounds of pet hair and enjoy a "work free" Christmas Day.

And we're wishing you the same - a day to enjoy the fruits of your labor and your loved ones. Merry Christmas from a half-cleaned American Foursquare!

Update on the Subway Tile Cleaning

2007-12-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

Well, this is what the tiles look like after one application. Not perfect, but a WHOLE lot better. I think after another "treatment" or two we'll be ready for regrouting and sealing and there will be no more talk of gutting the bathroom in the foreseeable future.
And a "before"...
A "before" close-up...
An "after" close up...

Lessons I'm learning as we go:

If you can possibly remove the fixtures do so - I couldn't figure out how to get mine off. I thought if I unscrewed the screw in the center of the handles they'd just pull straight off. No such luck. I definitely want to figure that out before the next application of peroxide because I think they're acting like heat sinks and hogging up all the heat that's supposed to be baking the tiles. The results are not as good in that area as elsewhere.

That the peroxide seems to work quicker and more effectively if the tiles are wet first. As I've moved along in small sections I've found that the heat is really drying out the surrounding tiles and when I coat them with the peroxide and plastic without running water over them first it takes two to three times longer to pull the grime out.

And that Goof-Off is really good for removing baked on duct tape adhesive.

Oh, and that gloves are REALLY important! God bless hairdressers - this stuff makes paint stripper seem as benign as lemonade.

Is that a ladder in your bathtub or are you just happy to see me?

2007-12-17T13:37:00.001-08:00

My husband complained about the bathroom yesterday - actually suggested that we may need to gut it. My husband doesn't complain much so when he does it gets my attention. Gut the bathroom? Oh, perish the thought!

What drove him to conclude that we need to gut the bathroom is his disgust with the condition of the tiles. The wonderful original subway tiles that our home inspector warned us we'd better like because they're sunk into solid concrete. I say wonderful because they're original and they're subway tiles. Who doesn't like subway tiles???

Unfortunately they are badly crazed and in the tub area the crazing is badly soiled. They look moldy - but, they're not. Dirt, body oils, etc has become embedded BEHIND the glazing. I understand my husbands feeling of defeat - I really do. I've seen the look of doubt pass across our house guests faces when I try to convince them that the shower is not dirty - it just looks dirty.
In the six months we've been here I've tried to address the problem. I've googled "subway tile restoration", "crazed tile" into the wee hours looking for suggestions. I've tried every bathroom cleaner known to man - and some unconventional products as well. Below is a photo of just some of the "losers" in the battle of the stained crazing. I've even given some thought to professional steam cleaning or perhaps resurfacing as a last ditch effort.

Well, no more! No fakey paint type "semi-permanent" solution for these tiles. Today I tried my last idea. I thought I'd better quit stalling before I come home to find hubby sledgehammering out the walls. You wouldn't believe how EASY this is going!
And the winner - in the war on bathroom tile sludge is..... drum roll please..... 30% Hydrogen Peroxide Solution!
I knew that soaking old pottery in salon quality peroxide would clean the grime out of crazing - but the challenge here was that a) it was a vertical surface and b) keeping it moist. You can put a piece of pottery into a tupperware container full of peroxide and forget about it till it's done it's job - which can sometimes take weeks. Not so practical when the item you want to "soak" is the wall of the shower you need to use every day. And - did I mention? It's vertical!

Turns out the secret is applying some heat. It really speeds up the process. I'm using a disposable paint pad to apply the creme peroxide to a small section of tile at a time (about 2 squares of paper towels) - laying paper towel over the peroxide as if I were wallpapering with it - then using the pad to kind of "pounce" some more peroxide on top of the paper towel. The jabbing/pouncing motion seems to keep the paper towel from lifting, shifting, and tearing. I'm then applying a sheet of 3 mil plastic over the paper towel/peroxide mess and taping it into place with what else? Duct tape!

Then I'm positioning a space heater right in front of it to really heat it up. Most of the sections I've done today have come remarkably cleaner in about an hour. Some places are going to need a second or third application but overall I'm quite pleased with how it's going. And greatly relieved!

Now I guess I should do some research on finding a product to seal the tiles once I get them all cleaned up. Woo Hoo - it's been a very good day!

Building a Radiator Cover Bench

2007-12-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a remark about "contributing" to the house blogger community. Then I started wondering just what it was that I might contribute - since most of my time cruising the other houseblogs is in search of answers. Then I remembered the radiator cover bench that I built a couple of months ago. I'm no carpenter, and we only have very basic tools, but I'm pretty satisfied with how this project turned out so I thought I'd share how I did it.
I've made a sketch showing a kind of "exploded view" below. But, this is how I did it - it turned out sturdy - and you can make one too if you'd like for a lot less than it would cost to have one built. (Believe me - I priced them - YOWSA!)

First measure the length of your radiator and any pipes sticking out next to them. Add a couple of inches for adequate clearance. Write all this down, and maybe sketch it too or you may find yourself staring blankly, as I did, at a pile of lumber later.

Measure the height and again add an inch or two for clearance. Our radiator was pretty long and I wanted the bench to be even longer and even with the window sill. Ours is a little over 6 feet - with a long span you should definitely use 2" thick board for the top.

After figuring out how long and how tall I wanted it to be I cut four 2x4's to lengths 4 and 1/2" SHORTER than the desired height. Then I cut four lengths of 2x4's to my desired depth. I then screwed them together to make two identical sort of "frame" shapes - with the "depth" boards on the top and the bottom.

For the ventilation holes on the top I cut a bunch of little 2" squares from the 1/4" by 2" slats I used for the front and side covers. Then I measured out equal distances on a 1"x2" board and made a sort of "triple decker sandwich" - One 1x2, little squares along my marks - another 1x2 - another layer of the little squares - one more 1x2 - then drove 3 and 1/2" screws through all the layers at each little "chunky" part where the squares from the 1/4 x 2 x 2" squares were. I've been told I could have done this with a router. I don't have one. What's more I don't know how to use one. But, if you do I guess that's something to consider.
Next I put both 2x6 boards andthe vent section I'd just made on top of the "frames" and "mooshed" them around on top until I was satisfied with the positioning and then fastened them to the frames with screws from the underside.

I used 1x6 boards to make rectangular frames for the front and sides, then screwed the 1/4" x 2" slats to the backside of the frames. Next I screwed them into place from the backside of the 2x4 end frames. It might be easier to use metal corner brackets to attach the side panels. I think I just "toenailed" them at an angle.

Also - I didn't show it in the "exploded view" - but after the front and side panel were in place I went in from the open back side and attached another 2x4 lengthwise to the 2x4 end frames just for additional stability. It probably wouldn't have hurt to do one across the bottom too - but I was out of 2x4s and it really is pretty sturdy as is. Someday I'll probably get around to adding it. My husband is a little over 200 pounds and he and I can both sit on it at the same time without feeling nervous. If you're just making a cover, and not a bench the extra reinforcement would probably be overkill.

Oh, and I almost forgot - when it was finished I put two of those little self adhesive plastic slider things under the 2x4 frame on each end so it's a breeze to slide out if we need quick access to the radiator.

Knowing your limitations

2007-12-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

Clint Eastwood once said, in a movie, "a man's gotta know his limitations". Or something like that... Well, so do homeowners and I find I have to remind myself of that sometimes. Maybe I watch too much HGTV, or read too many design magazines, or drool over too many other housebloggers photos. All I know is sometimes I catch myself getting caught up in a "fixer upper" daydream that's just not practical to the situation we're in.

Take our trim for example: Oh, wait! You can't take our trim! Someone else beat you to it before we even moved in. Yes, that's right. Someone removed the very beautiful oak trim as well as the two sets of pocket doors in our living and dining rooms and some random pieces from the bedrooms too.

They "patched" the tell-tale holes where the pocket doors would have gone, but the bottoms of the walls were just left bare. Don't get me wrong here - I love this house - and want desperately to "make it right". But, oak replacement trim, (let alone pocket doors!) just aren't in the budget. Perhaps if this house were in a different neighborhood, in a different market, I could justify the expense. But, I have to face reality. It's an adorable house, in rough condition, in a decent working class Pittsburgh neighborhood. Should we have to sell it one day - even ten to fifteen years down the road we'll probably be lucky to break even.

Paint grade pine it is... At least it's not MDF. Right?

What's a Foursquare?

2007-12-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

You'll find lots of information online about fourquares, but the one thing I really had trouble finding were typical floorplans and layouts. So, I mocked up these rudimentary sketches in photoshop to show basically what our floorplan looks like. I believe these are pretty typical layouts for modest foursquares. No pantry, no mudroom, no powder rooms like you might find in the larger or more affluent homes of the time.

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

2007-12-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

I suppose if I were going to blog about this experience it would have made sense to start from the beginning. Instead we're about six months down the road of this remodeling/repairing adventure and although far from over we have managed to overcome some of the biggest hurdles to making this a proper home.

Not the least of which was purchasing it in the first place. It was a bank foreclosed REO, transferred to HUD, who was more than a little difficult to deal with. Aside from obvious charm and sturdy bones this home failed every other possible aspect of it's home inspection.

A failed roof, an active termite infestation, lead paint, bad plumbing, faulty wiring, an ancient furnace, pilfered trim, missing light fixtures, missing doors, damaged walls, stinky carpeting, cracked windows and mold is only a partial list of what we faced when we signed onto this project. But, we loved it then and we love it now.

So, welcome to the blog that I hope will document our trials and accomplishments as we continue to pour heart and soul - oh, and money - bags and bags of money! - into our darling little money pit.