Monthly Archives: March 2010

Our soon-to-be-realized- floorpans.

Shades of Gray

By ADD | Published: March 31, 2010
I’m sitting in our backyard listening to the screeching whirl of a saw ripping eight inch poplar baseboards and watching tiny furled fronds push their way up through the soggy soil. I can imagine that the ferns are curling their way out of the ground as I write this.  There was no evidence of the [...]
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New Kholer toilet in master bathroom.

Working toilet in the master bath!

By ADD | Published: March 25, 2010
Anyone who has lived through a renovation knows that it’s an exciting day when your new toilet gets installed and you hear the sweet sound of a low-flow flush.  It was a big week at our brownstone construction site with lots of progress made.  The tiler, plumber and electrician were working overtime.  Both bathrooms and [...]
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Kitchen cabinet installation

Kitchen Cabinet Installation

By ADD | Published: March 21, 2010
Here’s a sneak peak of our kitchen cabinets, which were installed today.  There was a whole lot of sawing, planing and shimming going on because there are few right angles in our brownstone kitchen, despite our contractor’s valiant efforts.   The house was built in the 1890’s and there has been quite a bit of [...]
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The Hunt: Vintage Goodies

By ADD | Published: March 20, 2010
Olde Good Things is a terrific resource for vintage and antique lighting.  I posted previously about the caged ship sconces that I purchased here.  They have so many vintage fixtures & reclaimed architectural elements that I love, restraint is required with each visit. I thought these framed anatomy drawings would be perfect decor for a hypochondriac’s [...]
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B&W tile in master bath

B & W bathroom tile

By ADD | Published: March 13, 2010
The tile is about 50% installed in our garden level master bathroom.  They will use a stain-resistant white grout on the subway tile.  The hex tile floor was grouted with a dark charcoal grey, but it looks lighter than I thought it would be. They haven’t wiped the floor down yet after grouting, but the [...]
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Antlers rock

In Defense of Antlers

By ADD | Published: March 12, 2010
I heart antlers.   I started collecting them a few years ago on a trip to Montana.  I especially like the weathered, gray, unpolished variety laid out on a mantel or a rustic winter table-scape.  I recently read some antler squeamishness on one of my favorite blogs An Urban Cottage and I wanted to set [...]
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Who new? The Kübler-Ross "stages of grief" model can be applied to renovation.

Kübler-Ross stages of (renovation) grief

By ADD | Published: March 11, 2010
I am officially holding my breath as the heart pine floors are being finished.  Scott was there all day today,  but I’ve been working a lot and haven’t made it over to the apartment.  I hope we are almost past the “happy accidents” phase. I did see the master bathroom floor laid out earlier in the [...]
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bathroom hex tile pattern

Hexagon floor tile in master bath

By ADD | Published: March 8, 2010
Here is my rough, penciled-in/whited-out sketch for the floor tile pattern in our master bath.  Tile will be laid tomorrow over the radiant heat floor.  That little rectangle on the left is the stand-alone shower with a square drain (that will be in the middle).    I know this sketch might be a bit hard [...]
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heart pine floors naked and with one coat of sutherland welles tung oil stain and sealer

heart pine floors installed

By ADD | Published: March 6, 2010
Our new heart pine floors were installed this week on the parlor level.  And the first coat of Sutherland Welles tung oil stain/sealer was applied late today.  Below is a comparison of the unstained wood with the first (of four coats) applied and still wet. I’ll post a follow up with step-by-step’s for the arduous tung [...]
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The upstairs bath is still evolving.

outhouse chic in our vintage bathroom

By ADD | Published: March 4, 2010
Here is a preview image of our white-washed, mushroom wood wainscoting for the soon-to-be installed guest bath.  Scott said, “It will look like a shed with a toilet in it.  Let’s carve a half-moon in the door.”  I prefer to call it Outhouse Chic. This post comes right on the heals of my “happy accidents“ post- um, yeah. [...]
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