Domus Aurea

Bloggy Hiatus

2011-08-09T11:44:00.001-07:00

Okay, so my paint hand got tired. My local Ben Moore store ran out of paint. Aliens ate my paint brush.

No No No No No No No NO

I've decided to give up home renovations for the next two weeks and do something that doesn't include paint, hammers, drywall, plumbing, gardening, or any other home improvement vocabulary. I am running away to play! PLAY. Did you hear me people? I'm taking a well deserved break and am going to go PLAY. Play at the beach! Play with friends. Just play.

I'll be back in September sometime to show you what I'll be working on this fall.

Another Lamp Redo

2011-08-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited. I'm going up to Northern Virginia on Wednesday this week to work with a friend of mine. We are going to put some items in some big organized garage sale next weekend. I'm spending some time working on items I want to sell. It might be nice to get some money rather than spend it all the time. Besides, I'm running out of room for lamps!

So, here's what I've been working on today:

The Before:

With Primer:

The After:

Not sure that the shade is perfect, but it will do.

What do you think?

I'll be back tomorrow with a bunch of other items I'll be taking with me north.

How do you like me now?

2011-07-29T03:37:00.000-07:00

Remember this?

I picked it up at an estate sale in the 'hood a few weeks ago. It was a gilt and plaster light with thirty + years of grime.

Kinda gross, eh?

Well, look at me now:

Isn't it amazing what a coat of paint will do for you?

I took it down to the basement, took it apart, cleaned it well, rewired it and gave it a new chain. The chain that came with it was more foul than I care to remember. Sticky, dusty, and just down right grimy. Erg. But now, we're fancy, and shiny, and purty!

Problem is, I hate the light it casts! Remember those old police shows where the suspect was interrogated under a bright, harsh light and everything else was dark? Yeah, that is what it reminds me of. So, I need to figure out a way to make a diffuser that can be removed to change the bulb...any suggestions?

Paintapalooza!

2011-07-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

I can't believe I lived with the ugly for so long. Obviously, I am not quite done. I'm still painting the balusters on the stairwell, hence the blue tape. I'm working on putting in missing moldings. I also have a stencil for the risers. My hand needs a few weeks to recover before tackling those jobs.

It feels so much cleaner and fresher. Looking back, it amazes me that we could see any potential in that hideousness.

The color is Valspar Granite Dust and I really love it. It's a very green grey that changes color drastically through the day, sometimes a deeper grey, others very green. I love how color does that.

What do you think? Not bad for two years worth of work.

I've linked up to Remodelaholic's Friday Link Party

Garden Update

2011-07-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

While Paintapalooza continues, here's a quick garden update. I took a paint break to tackle more on the hill this weekend. I was having trouble keeping the upper portion of the hill weeded because I couldn't reach it. So, I installed several stepping stones for foot holds. And that has made all the difference.

Compared to where we started the summer:

Working

2011-07-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

I got sidetracked by socializing, but I'm back on the job. I've been working like crazy since Sunday and hopefully by the end of the week I will have a crazy before and after post for you full of pictures. In the mean time, you'll just have to content yourself with this sneak peak:

More Thrifting

2011-07-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so that first week was really productive, and the second week, no so much. Some of that hasn't been my fault though. I've spent way too much time waiting on other people. Waiting for the door guys. Waiting for the tire guys. Waiting for the car inspection guys.

While I was out hitting the thrift stores the other day, I did find a couple of other treasures. What can I say, I was so close, it seemed silly not to stop and look. Famous last words.

So, this is the treasure I'm most excited about. It's a concrete urn and it's very similar to the one that came with the house on the terrace:

Nice blue sky. Anyway, there's a second full base pillar up there that is kinda empty and lonely.

So, I thought a coat of white paint, some soil and the lonely planter will finally have a friend.

Then, I also saw these two sofas (crappy Iphone pics):

Each are going for $65. I like the style of them. They both need reupholstering which I've not ever really done, but they could be kinda cool for a couple of hundred dollars worth of fabric. I could end up with a decent couch... I don't think I'm going to be able to convince P that I have the skills to reupholster one of these. I dunno....I'm just sick of having a non-functional living room.

And, at a yard sale last weekend, I found this for $10 smackers (World Market sticker on the back said $99).

Ignore the gold rim, that's the coffee table.

So, what do you think, yes or no on the sofas?

Stop me before I lamp again.

2011-07-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

I have a serious lamp addiction. Let's set aside my chair addiction for a moment. I haven't bought a chair in ~~months~~ a week or two.

Hello, my name is Tamisha and I'm addicted to thrifting lamps.

I was out on the east end yesterday to get tires (ugh, is there a more unpleasant way to spend money??), so I thought I'd run by a few of my favorite thrift shops. And I found these beauties, and at $7 a pop, how could I resist???

Aren't they gorgeous? AND they have that detail all the way around and they are heavy. They are going to need a fabulous pair of shades which will cost me a small fortune as I have great (read: expensive) taste in shades. I can't decide if they need to stay that creamy yellow or go a celadon green. Or go a really deep, dramatic color with a black shade with a gold liner.

But, as I looked around my mishmash living room (still no couch - damn cat), I noticed something, see if you can see it:

Do you see how many lamps are in this picture???? SEVEN. If I were all fancy, I would actually have a picture of them numbered, but I'm not, so I'll give you a lamp-by-lamp show:

Flanking the left and right side of the photo of the whole living room are these graceful ginger jar items I found at Fan Thrift. I hate the tacky Target shades, but have been too lazy to go find better ones. I love their lines and the modest autumn flowers.

Just to the left of the right-most lamp is this lovely:

The shade is in good shape and it's silk. It has a black wooden base and has lovely green and blue leaves. Again, note the graceful shape.

Remember these I picked up at DT2 last month? I have done nothing more than sit them on the end of the bench. I still love them.

Again today's treasure:

And this one stainless steel lamp I have way off the left outside the whole living room pic:

Bleh.

That's a lotta lamp for one room. I'm thinking if I can find tops, I'll de-lamp the ones I got today and set them on the fireplace mantle. And homage to chinoiserie.

Keys to the Castle

2011-06-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

So, I've been planning this project for the past SIX months or better.

We found a pile o'keys in one of the kitchen drawers when we bought the Domus. Skeleton keys, car keys, luggage keys, deadlock keys, all kinds of keys and even a couple of fun key fobs.

So, with a dozen thrift store 8x10 frames, a can of spray paint, a couple of yards of muslin and a hot glue gun, I ended up with this:

Hanging them was kind of a bugger, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. I used 3M velcro picture hangers which are brilliant. In addition to keys, I used a couple of knobs we had laying around, and several Coptic crosses that a friend had given us years ago.

The frames are not pure black, but have a bit of highlighting with some rub and buff.

I am really pleased by the way it turned out.

What do you think? You like?

Yard Work

2011-06-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning (like from 8 to 11!) pulling weeds off the herb hill (you have to say that with a cockney accent and drop the "h"). The front is looking pretty spiffy if I do say so myself. I moved around a few herbs that were being crowded out by others or weren't getting enough sun.

Doesn't the front look so different from when we bought it?

The hill is looking more lush:

A pepper ready for its closeup!

I know it doesn't look it, but I did a lot of weeding, like 4 buckets full today.

We started a veggie garden up next to the house. It's a small plot, but it gets lots of sun and has good soil. We had several "compost volunteers" and we planted several tomatoes, eggplant, raspberries, and squash. We harvested our first zucchini the other day and it's on tonight's menu.

From the terrace:

Almost ready to pick.

And the view from the terrace. I never get tired of this view.

Finished Porch!

2011-06-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

Summer vacation is off to a great start. The porch is finished!

This is what it looked like when we bought the place.

Today, it looks like this:

An improvement, yes?

Thrifting!

2011-06-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

So, after two and a half days of work, I took this afternoon off to play. See, I've set myself a schedule this summer. Mondays and Fridays are cleaning days. Tuesday and Thursdays are house project days and Wednesdays are play days! Good schedule, right?

I did paint the second coat on the back porch today, so I didn't play ALL day. I took the afternoon off and went thirsting with a pal O'mine. We stayed right in the Fan pretty much. We hit a couple of swanky antique stores that we had both wanted to check out. Cabell House Consignment at Belmont and Elwood had some nice stuff. Pricing was generally good, but some of it was wacky. I still get a bit weirded out by taking pics inside a store, so I don't have anything to show you. We also hit the antiques store right next to Acacia Midtown. They had SUPER cool stuff, very pricy, but really neat, stuff. Ivory folding rulers, old fire hose nozzles, an old German wall map, cool old globes, Jefferson cups, and lots of other unique stuff. I fell in love with the industrial coat rack, but it was a thousand dollars. Just a wee bit out of my price range this week.

I did score big at the thrift stores though. We hit the Clothes Hanger on Cary St that is run by the Junior League. This is what I picked up there:

Okay, I know that you're thinking is a boring big box light fixture, and you're right. But imagine it with glass shades that I've made, and perhaps a bit of gilt on it. It should look better than this monstrosity that still plagues my stairwell:

We also hit Fan Thrift and I picked up the following for a steal:

A nice mirror that needs a paint job.

The cloche I found today. The cake stand I made months ago.

Last week, I picked up these winners at an estate sale:

This is a gilt and plaster hanging lamp that will replace the hideous boob light in the foyer. I need to redo the shade on the inside as it's pretty icky. I might paint it, but haven't decided yet.

This is a lovely batik that I found too and I just loved the colors and moody feel.

What have you scored lately?

This bodes well...

2011-06-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

It's just past noon and I've already painted the trim on the back porch, the outside of the icebox, and the iron banister. Let's hope the rest of the summer is just as productive!

Back door trim now matches the rest of the house. Please ignore the chipping paint on the ceiling. It's on the list.

Ice box needs one more coat to do it. Then I'll put the hardware back on and paint the hinges black.

Iron banister got a fresh coat. Steps and floor are on this week's agenda.

I had a poodle helper.

Gratuitous poodle shots. These were taken pre-paint.

Summer Vacation

2011-06-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Graduation is today and about 5:00 I will be officially free for the summer! Whoooopeeeeee! I have house projects galore planned. Famous last words. I always think I'm going to get way more done than I actually do.

This week coming up, I'm working on the back deck and back yard in prep for the three day end of year bacchanal that a bunch of us teachers throw. We host the hangover breakfast on Sunday. So the yard has to be in tip top shape. It's a bit weak right at the moment. Pics will be forth coming.

In honor of summer and the fact that we are not going on a real vacation this year, I'm going to relive a little bit of our vacation from last summer.

We drove up the Susquehanna river on our way to Maine and then boarded an 18th century wooden schooner and took a six day cruise around Penobscot Bay.

We stayed with some friends in Alexandria who have a marvelous view into DC and over the Potomac. This is the view from their balcony.

The next morning we got up and headed to Gettysburg, which neither of us had ever visited.

Coincidentally, we ended up being at Gettysburg on the 2nd of July, the anniversary. It was crowded. In all the little New England towns we stopped in, the cemeteries all had civil war memorials, but they were very different than the ones we have down in the south:

Then we just tooled our way up north, stopping at yard sales, antique shops, and small diners for lunch and dinner. We avoided the interstate as much as we could. It was a lovely drive. So lovely that I enjoyed looking at it and not photographing it. I suck at blogging! We did stop at the LL Bean super store.

Our first night in Maine, we stayed in York Harbor and had our first taste of lobstah.

We then made our way to Camden where we boarded the Lewis R. French.

We got to participate in the Great Schooner Race which was really the Great Schooner bob, as we didn't have much wind, but boy were there some beautiful boats.

Accommodations were tight, but they fed us amazingly well, all cooked on a wood burning stove below decks:

We would sail during the day and stop in the afternoon at various islands and ports in the bay. One day we stopped at the Wooden Boat School.

After the cruise, we headed up to Bar Harbor (Baa Hahbaa as it is properly pronounced) and spent several days touring Acadia National Park:

So, that was our summer vacation last year. This year, P is taking 2 weeks off in July and we will be jobbing on the house, trying to get as much done as possible. I'll be working every day on it and I promise to blog about it and take more pictures. We do have a week at the beach planned toward the end of the summer. I think we'll need some RnR by then.

What are your summer plans?

Thrifting and a Project

2011-05-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I was so looking forward to several big events. Two big church/school yard sales that I have scored at previously, the Lebanese Food Festival, and as always the farmer's market.

Farmer's market was first and by far the most successful. I picked up garlic scapes, fresh strawberries, and a few other things. Then I dragged P to the yard sales. Complete. Bust. Ugh. They were both so awful that I can't say any more about them without reliving the trauma and disappointment.

Determined to get some thrifting in somehow, I made P take me to Fan Thrift, also a bust, and then to DT2 where I hit the jackpot.

First up, these beauties:

A set of old metal TV trays. My parents and grandparents each had a set of these.

And the other big score of the weekend...this pair of gorgeous lamps (don't say a word, OF COURSE I needed another pair of lamps!):

The shades are trash and I need to check the wiring and tighten them up. Then I'll have to go find the perfect pair of shades and finials. And then they will be perfect and will replace the old ginger jar ones I have. Or maybe these new ones will go up in the guest room and replace those old candlestick ones I hate. I just don't know yet. But look at the detail:

It's just so pretty with that delicate crazing. Very chinoiserie without being too over the top. Lovely. Even lovelier was they were marked to half off! Got them for the same as the ginger jar ones. A true steal.

So, what's the project you ask? And what am I going to do with those TV trays? Especially since I don't have TV service? Well, this is what I did with them:

I primed them and spray painted the trays a lovely cobalt color, and the legs went white. Now, even though we don't have an outdoor dining table, we can still eat in style al fresco! These can move from front to back easily.

I can't wait to try them out.

What do you think? Have you found any treasures lately?

Home, Confidence, and Holes in the Wall

2011-05-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple of odd thoughts flowing through my brain over the past few weeks. Bear with me as I flesh them out on the old blog. Two events in particular have prompted this internal monologue:

1. I read Young House Love pretty regularly and a few weeks ago John and Sherry posted about how long it takes for a house to feel like a home and whether it's time or personalization.

2. Last weekend I called my mom on Mother's Day. She was asking about renovations. She said something that keeps floating through my brain. She said that P and I were very brave to take a sledge hammer to our walls and just start creating holes.

When and why does a house start to feel like a home? And am I brave because I'm comfortable dismantling parts of the house? They seemed related question.

Source

For a long time, I would tell P that this house didn't feel like home. We have always pinched ourselves that we were able to buy this house. We couldn't believe that we were able to afford and then have the opportunity to buy this place, in this unique neighborhood in the city, so close to everything. It seemed an incredible stroke of fate/luck/happenstance. But, despite that, it didn't FEEL like home to me. It didn't feel like MY home. Home is an indefinable sense, almost an emotion unto itself. It felt like a project. It felt like work. It felt like we were accomplishing something, but it didn't feel like home. For the first year or so, I would ask P if this felt like "home" yet about every month or so. I think she felt like she was home sooner than I did.

A few weeks ago, some close friends of ours who live in our old neighborhood invited us over for a backyard fire and visit. We drove by the old house, of course. I was HORRIFIED to see how they were taking care of my little old house. I poured lots of hours of love, sweat, and blood into that yard. And it looked like hell. The gorgeous reticulated cedar had been butchered. The grass needed cutting and it just made me sad. But, it didn't make me feel like I had a home there. It was just a house. It was no longer my home.

And then my mom's statement. Brave. Neither P nor I thought twice about sledging out that wall to see if there was a rehabilitatable ice box there. We had confidence in our skills, our house, and our ability to make it work.

Bravery or stupidity?

So, to answer the question, it wasn't a single moment that made me realize I was at home in this house. It was a series of smaller realizations. Home is an emotion, like love, that grows in fits and starts, until one day your realize that ~~it's taken over your whole life and has sucked all the money out of your wallet~~ it's just home.

Random thoughts on design

2011-05-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

First, thank you to everyone who posted a comment yesterday. It was the cherry on my sundae (hmm, maybe I should have posted that last Sunday, oh well). It did really make my day.

Given that I've spent the past three weekends gardening, I don't have anything house related to post just yet. We're going to get back on house reno this weekend. I should have something to post then.

So, in the mean time, I saw these two pics and just had to comment.

I can't say that I have brilliant taste or a stellar design style. Maybe I'm too "bougie" or "pedestrian" or even "low class". I'm willing to accept that. But some of this stuff, it just hits me between the eyes like a bullet, and that's not a good thing. Let's examine, shall we?

Remodelista featured a hotel in Turkey.

Source

This lighting fixture looks exactly like my car's air filter. I'm not a mechanic and I don't change my own oil or anything, but I can recognize an air filter. Not sure it's something I would want in my dining room. I would kill for a pair of chairs like that however.

Source

Now, you know that if you had this bedroom in your house, someone (most likely me) would hang their dirty clothes from those branches, right? Night gown, sweats, dirty jeans, all of it would get draped over those branches.

Do you ever just look at some images and think "um...wha?"?

Blogging

2011-05-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

Blogging is an odd thing. It sorta feels like you're talking to yourself alone in an empty room. You wonder if anyone is out there.

Source

When I met Karen last weekend, we spoke about how odd it is. You are alone in front of your computer and have no clue if anyone is out there reading what you are writing. Do they like you? Are they interested in what you have to say? It's like being back in high school again. You're left alone with all your own insecurities and no one to give you a reality check.

Can I ask you a favor? If you are out there reading this, let me know. Just say "hello" or "good job" or even "you suck" something to let me know that I am not alone in a room talking to myself. Cause that means I am crazy.

More cool people!

2011-05-16T03:41:00.000-07:00

I met Karen of Darling Octopus on Saturday. She was having her Open House and she happens to live in my neighborhood. She does wonderful things with paint and fabric to old, beat up furniture. It doesn't hurt that she has adorable kids and a super nice husband. He also runs the Byrd Park Community Website.

Here are some samples of her work:

I love what she did with these old Ikea chairs.

Her Victorian Table

I just love the lines on this chair.

And this chair is just so creative.

Please, go check out her blog and tell her I sent you.

Insulate it!

2011-05-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

ARGH! Blogger ate my post. And of course, like a dummy, I didn't save it anywhere before I posted it. So, now I'll have to recreate it.

Over spring break, we did manage to cross one thing off our list and that we can call "done done." Most things around here fall into the "done but..." category.

The powder room we put in a year and a half ago is lovely and the house sorely needed a bath on the main floor. The only problem with it was how frigidly cold it was. We put in a marble floor and if you went in there in stocking feet, it would make your bones brittle. We had insulated the walls before we closed them up, but the floor was over the old scary bathroom, which was nearly outside. We had gone ahead and insulated the ceiling in the old scary bathroom but thought we could do more.

You see, originally half the sun room was a screen porch and half was a maid's room. The maid's room had two doorways; one into the kitchen and one to the back porch off the kitchen. Whenever it was converted into the sun room, that door was simply covered over and then paneled over thusly:

So, when we built the powder room, we simply drywalled over this door. On the porch, was an busted up old screen door that had been nailed closed. So, to take care of the cold issue, we decided to insulate that doorway and see if that helps to keep that room from being so frigid.

We pried the screen door open, cut out all the old screen. Nailed a piece of beadboard paneling to the inside and stuffed the cavity between the screen and door with insulation. We nailed it back shut and painted the whole thing white again.

So, that job is DONE DONE!

The ice box, well that's still a work in progress. I'll save updates for a later time.

Cool People!

2011-05-10T03:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you come to this blog to see mediocre pictures of my house and garden, you can skip this post. I tend to be too into the moment to remember to take pictures to post to the blog. So, this is a wordy post, but no pics. Next time!

Over my break I met not one, but TWO fabulous women who blog.

I met Linda of Haven on Hanover who lives just a few blocks from me.

And, I met Connie of Hartwood Roses.

Linda and I have posted comments on one another's blogs for a while and have a poodle mutual admiration society. We had been trying to arrange a dog walk for ages and finally got the chance over spring break. Her white poodle, Lion, is a big love and he and Vivian had a great time romping together in the park. A few days later, P and I ventured into the Fan and she showed me her house and it is truly lovely. The five of us (including dogs) took a walk around the Fan, got to have an adventure by rescuing a lost lab/pit mix. I hope we get the chance to do many more walks this summer.

On Thursday of spring break, P and I were heading up to DC to see the Gauguin exhibit at the National Gallery (one of my favorite places to see an exhibit). Just outside of Richmond, I hit on a brilliant idea to call up a perfect stranger and ask if we could drop in with about 30 minutes notice (have I said that I'm a bit slacking in the planning department?). Connie, graciously said "Sure come on!" She took me and P around her fabulous antebellum restoration home as well as through the gardens and outbuildings. Amazing lady with a lot of energy!

I saw Connie again at the Lewis Ginter plant show where she was selling some of her heirloom roses. I picked up a "Black Ice" from her and it's going to be the centerpiece of my mini rose garden.

Without the blog, I probably would never have had the opportunity to meet these lovely ladies. What an unexpected gift.

Who have you met by blogging?

Gardening

2011-05-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

So, one of the items on my spring break to do list was to finish de-sodding the hill in front of the house and to plant the whole thing with herbs. I can officially call this one "done done" as opposed to "done but" which is how most projects around here stand.

This is a pic to remind you what the house looked like when we bought it:

Lots of big ugly bushes and some weedy grass. On a big hill. Dumb. So the first summer we had it (can you believe it's been almost two years?) we sawzall'ed (great word) the bushes to open up the yard. Last year, I started removing the sod from the hill and planted a few herbs. You can read about it here in this post. The herbs did magnificently and now look like this:

Se how big those lavender got? They are HUGE and gorgeous.

Oddly enough, the soil in the front yard is pretty decent. The mint, thyme, and oregano took off like wildfire too. And, I had thrown in about 50 red tulip bulbs last fall that I bought from the kids. They were gorgeous (stupid me, I didn't take a picture). You can see in this picture that I'd stripped the sod all off and had started to plant. I've planted 8 thyme plants, 3 oregano, 2 mint, 8 different types of basil, 6 different types of peppers, 4 more lavender, tansy, tarragon, parsley, chives, chamomile, curry (weird plant and smells funny but pleasant), and a tomato. It is difficult to photograph, but here's my attempt:

Curry Plant:

So here is what it looked like last year:

And what it looks like today:

Big difference, right? Better, right? And those lavender!

I have pretty closely stuck to the "free or food" rule in the landscaping. I bought my plants exclusively from local sources. Maymont's Herbs Galore plant sale, City Garden's plant sale, and LDHS's plant sale.

In the "free" category, a friend gave me a bunch of red hot pokers (kniphofia) and they have bloomed beautifully:

Back Yard:

Where I broke the rule was in purchasing some hydrangeas from a lady in the neighborhood. She had lost a couple of trees in her back yard changing her shady ground to sunny and her shrubs were burning. So, I picked up three hydrangeas from her and planted them in the back yard.

From the LDHS plant sale, I picked up that flat of impatiens in lovely red and white. Given that the bird bath is simply a breeding ground for West Nile, I decided it needed a new raison d'être. I moved it to the corner and planted a bunch of the red and whites in there. I think it looks pretty dang good. I know I need to pinch them back, but I wanted them to establish themselves for a few days first. No need to shock them unnecessarily to quickly.

I also picked up a Japanese maple from a vendor at the South of the James farmer's market on Saturday. I believe it's a Hisaka Yama. Where I want to plant is unfortunately obstructed by the "sidewalk to nowhere" which I really hate. So, Saturday, I pulled out my trusty sledge hammer and started to whack at it, much to P's consternation. In an hour, I had this:

I think I'm going to continue the break up job over the summer. I'm going to use the big chunks to build the fire pit in the middle of the yard. Reduce, reuse, and recycle!

This is a close up of the maple. I love the variegation.

Back Door Project

2011-05-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the bloggy hiatus. We are back on track now.

Well, I got damn little of my list accomplished over spring break. Why is it I always think I'm going to get more done than I do? Am I that slow? ambitious? disconnected from reality? all of the above? Something like that.

I didn't touch the staircase and it mocks me every time I climb the stairs, which is far too frequently. I didn't pick up the paint deck, caulk the terrace, measure for wallpaper, or price out shelving.

So, what sucked out time so much? Stripping the paint off the back door trim. This is what it looked like when we moved in. Thousands and thousands of layers of ugly paint. All the detail on the trim was obscured and that hideous nicotine-mustard yellow color. The wall area below the window was covered in plastic tiles (who thought that was a good idea?) that bulged out so that the drawers just out of the right side of the frame wouldn't open all the way. It was pretty damned ugly.

Last fall we stripped and painted the back door.

As you can see in the pic above, P had started to strip the trim and the plastic tiles had started to pop off. Lovely to look at, no?

This is pretty much how things stayed for a very long time.

Then, the neighbor put her house on the market (sold in 6 days!) and posted pics of her house. Behind all that plastic tile lay the old ice box. We knew it was there, but the neighbor had all of hers all in tact and restored and gorgeous. I forgot to save the pic, I'm a lousy blogger. So, we decided to start banging off all those tiles and see if the bulgy wall hid perfect doors awaiting our restoration:

Oh, the anticipation is like waiting for Heraldo to open Al Capone's vault!

Just like Heraldo, disappointment awaits.

So, now we had a huge hole, no doors to restore, and a mess to clean up. What are we going to do with said hole?

A beverage fridge! It honors the old while incorporating the new, exactly what we wanted!

Lowes

So, after some stripping and cutting out of the middle bar, the hole looked about like this:

So, in lieu of more interesting progress, I started working on the transom. It's a three light transom and I knew I wanted some art glass in there. We pulled out the transom and I took it to the basement and started stripping it, breaking all three panes in the process. This makes me wonder if I'll be able to rehab the rest of the windows any more successfully.

Anyway, P suggested a fleur de lis motif that sort of corresponds to the dining room stenciling. So this is what I ended up with:

Installing it was quite a bugger and there was a lot of swearing involved. Mostly cause we are both short and the ladders weren't making us tall enough.

So, this is where we are now. I've still got to do one more coat of paint and the door trim is FINALLY done. Please don't ask me when the hole will be done. That's to be determined. We have a handyman friend coming tomorrow, so we shall see what he says.

I've also made a discovery, I'm a very good list maker but not a list follower. I make great lists to then turn around and ignore. Some people make lists in order to cross off items. I just make lists and then find other things to do. So much for organization.

Keep checking back, I've got several more posts in the queue planned.

Technical Difficulties

2011-05-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the unscheduled blogging hiatus. Hard drive and video card died.

The good news is that we have a screaming new fast old computer. Updates and pictures to come this weekend.

Staircase inspiration

2011-04-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Work continues. No great pics to throw up today so instead I'm going to post about inspiring staircases.

I love this bindweed patterned wallpaper on the risers:

Source: Ferm Living

These are my favorites however:

Source: Sugar City Journal

I really want to find a wallpaper or stencil to mimic this. I love the blue and white, the classic damask pattern, and the slightly unexpected surprise of it. I am thinking wallpaper would be best to hide all the dings and dents in the risers. It's also easiest to undo (if the risers are primed properly).

Then I want to add dust corners. Are you familiar with these little bits of Victoriana? They are small metal triangles that nail into the corners to keep the dust out and look like this:

Source: Van Dyke's Restorers

Installed they look like this:

Source: 5monsters

What do you think? Opinions?

Spring Break, Day I

2011-04-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

We started early this morning by running to the grocery store, after a long hiatus. I've gotten to the point that I really hate going. I am not a fan of the new Martin's. Kroger is undergoing construction makes it a pain to get in and out of. So, I've been avoiding it. Running out of toothpaste and toilet paper made it a necessity this morning. Then we braved the rain and made it to the South-er the James farmer's market to pick up dog food. Then it was off to City Garden for their plant sale. Picked up several types of basil, some Greek oregano, borage (for Pimm's Cup), and a couple of different peppers. Hopefully those will get put in this week.

After that, we came home and each went to work. P tackled her backdoor/fridge hole area and I went down to the basement to clean up the mess I made last week when looking for round nose pliers to string crystals on those sconces I showed you last week. That project is still in progress and hopefully I'll have pics and a post on that later on this week. In any case, the search for the pliers illustrated the mess that was the boxes of art crap I had piled up down there. So over the past week or so, I've been trying to unpack, organize, clean out and tidy up. Finished that this afternoon. Unfortunately, it's not very picture worthy. Suffice it to say, I can now find all my stuff and have cleared off both work tables down there.

P's project does have some photo evidence. Here's one of the earliest before pics:

This was from our earliest walkthroughs. The doorway on the right led into the sunroom. The one on the left is the backdoor to the back yard. Dig the plastic pearly brown tiles, floral curtain, and yellow/brown plaid wallpaper. YUCK!

A middling pic before we moved in. I'd primed the plastic tiles:

Once we had stripped and repainted the back door:

Last week, P got excited and did this:

And pretty soon it looked like this:

And tonight it looks like this:

The box is the old built in ice box. Sometime in the distant past, they removed the doors and drywalled over the hole. We knew it was still there behind the drywall because the box is still outside on the back porch. So, P went ahead and opened it up. We need to wire an outlet there and then slide in a beverage fridge. Thereby honoring the original architecture, but with a modern twist. If we still had the original doors, we would have restored it, but they were long gone.

I'm going to try and post at least once a day this week with updates on our progress, so keep checking back.

Spring Break To-Do List

2011-04-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

Finish stripping banister, sand spindles, caulk everything, prime and paint risers, baseboards, and spindles, stain banister and decide top coat (wax?).
Insulate old door to patio from new bathroom and install bead board in old screen door. (pics to come).
Caulk joints on the balusters on terrace and paint.
Address giant hole in the wall in the kitchen.
Pick up paint deck from Ben Moore and start deciding colors for guest room, foyer, vestibule, and master bedroom.
Measure powder room for wall paper.
Price out planned shelving unit for sunroom (inspiration here).
Kill weeds and remove debris from hillside in front. Plant hill with herbs and strawberries.
Drink lots of cold beer.

More Miscellany

2011-04-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

The long slog on the banister continues. It's not fun and exciting and it's even more boring to photograph. So, no pics of the staircase right now. I will confess, I only work on it sometimes. I'm not there scrubbing and stripping and sanding every weekend. I have to gird my loins, wrists, and fingers and force myself to work on it every few weeks. BUT, that will change when spring break rolls around. I am planning to dedicate my week to finishing up the staircase. I want that puppy stripped, cleaned, sanded, stained, caulked, and painted by week's end.

But, I have been out thrifting and doing some other fun projects. I suck at taking pictures and the iPhone isn't any better at it, but I'm not a professional getting paid the big bucks...so, we have crappy pictures.

I found two of these candle sconces at Goodwill for $3. Primed and painted, they will look great somewhere. The bobeches have holes in them so I'm going to need to find some crystals. Black ones perhaps?

I helped my neighbors with some planting issues they were having and in return they gifted me a vintage globe that they had a double of. I've been wanting one for a while and took it with glee! And painted that sucker with some chalkboard paint. Now look at it!

I have also been picking up lots of frames. I have a project in the works that I'll show you later once it's finished. But since I had the chalk board paint out...(dangerous words)

I've already confessed to you my thing for chairs. I have an equally rabid thing for lamps. I love them. I love to pick up a cool lamp at a thrift store and rewire and paint it and make it totally cool and unique. Cool lamps are also prohibitively expensive. I bought this brass lamp at the thrift store because of it's cool shape. I rewired it and picked up a shade (it's a bit too big for it) and painted it with some spray paint I had on hand. I like it! I have a few more to show you but I haven't taken any pics of those yet.

And I've been framing and hanging art around. Yes, I'm ignoring the fact that most of the walls haven't yet been painted, only primed. I was sick of looking at blank walls:

I'm hoping to pick up a CraigsList couch soon so that I finally have some where to sit in my living room other than my half a dozen mismatched chairs.

I really should start an etsy store to sell some of this stuff cause I don't have enough room for it all.

AND, I finally hung up this awesome, wonderful quilt a dear friend of mine made for me. I just love it!

Miscellanea Round Up

2011-03-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

Work on the staircase continues apace, a very slow pace, but apace nonetheless. I'm still scrubbing off the dried up stripper. I've picked up some ebony stain and hope that staining time comes soon.

So, in light of the slow progress, I thought I'd show some of the projects we worked on over the summer and fall.

Summer was mostly dedicated to organizing the basement. This is what it looked like when we moved in:

And that's pretty much how it stayed for a long while. Yes, I have a pair of mannequin legs in my basement, don't you? We moved all of my art space stuff to a back room in the basement and piled up tons of holiday stuff up against a wall, but found it was getting in the way.

So, we built a shelf under the basement stairs to store the holiday stuff:

Then I built two work benches:

And I built some lumber/mill work storage as well:

This game me the space to work on the cabinet. We got this cabinet from the rehab next door. Can you believe they were going to just throw it out? I spent several days stripping it, cleaning it, then repainting it. I did the same with the wooden sets of drawers that used to be the base of the desk at the old house. The pulls are glass that I made in classes I took at the Visual Arts Center.

Okay, so the after is a pretty crappy iphone pic, but you can see where the cabinet ended up. I still need to buy a marble desktop, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

The wonderful boys across the street donated an unpainted version of the skylight. I stripped and reglazed it and had the old painted one replaced (who paints a sky light?). Now we get light in there during the day.

We also painted the front door and shutters a lovely blue. It's more of a French blue than an Aegean blue, but I still like it. It's kinda quirky. We also took out the filigree from the storm door, which streamlined and cleaned it up a bit.

And I finally got to install my hand of Fatima door knocker that I picked up in Greece a few years ago.

We also stripped and painted the back door the same color.

Where we took out the old oven was a big hole that wasn't terribly useful. P built me a sturdy shelf and now I have a place to put my most often used cookbooks. We also beefed up the sides enough to put up my magnetic knife block. It was awesome to finally have some place to put things.

I finally got a mirror up in the downstairs powder room:

And the light I made a few years ago up in the master bedroom:

I also finished a transom to go in the master bedroom. I haven't gotten a decent pic installed yet. Here it is in process, before I had painted the wood frame.

The Stairwell

2011-01-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

P and I took the autumn off to raise a puppy. Vivian joined our little household last August about two weeks before I went back to school. When I went back to school, life got really hectic and we pretty much stopped doing any major work on the house. We did a few minor jobs and I'll post about that later on in the week. But mostly, we were going to puppy class and trying to keep Ms. Vivian from destroying the house we had just put together.

Gratuitous puppy pictures:

But, it's a new year and we decided it was time to get cranked up again. The first project on the agenda, the stairwell. I'd been putting this job off for a while. I was supposed to do it last summer, and then over winter break, and here it is January, so we thought we'd take advantage of the long weekend. I was putting this off because I knew this was going to get ugly before it got pretty.

Just to refresh your memory, the before. Note the paneling and carpeting.

And this is how it looked in October. Hey, I had to take advantage of how scary this beast was.

Gross, huh?

Part of me wanted to just slap some paint on this sucker and call it a day. Easy, straightforward, simple. No brainer. But this is a NICE stairwell, or it could be something really pretty, under all that ugly. Paint wasn't going to make it really pretty, paint was going to be like putting a crapload of foundation on a zit. You know, when it gets all caked up and cracked. Nice mental image, eh? No, in order for this stairwell to be pretty again, I was going to have to strip off a good bit of the ugly and that much ugly meant a big job. I wasn't fully convinced yet that the foundation trick wouldn't work, so I got started.

I started with something easy, puttying the holes in the risers. I knew that they would then need some sanding once the putty dried.

I decided to try sanding the handrail a bit to smooth it out. The putty paint started to come off very easily. I sanded some more and more paint came off easily. Hey, maybe this wouldn't be such a horrible job. Never count your chickens... So, I sanded and sanded and sanded and after a few hours, most of the putty paint was off the top of the handrail, that was the easy part, slightly rounded, but level and smooth. The sides are curvy and end in a cove-type shape and that wasn't so easy. The paint wasn't coming off easily and the sanding wasn't going so well. I finally called it quits after several hours.

I started up the next morning by pulling out the big guns. A while back I bought a big tub of Peel-Away paint stripper. I'd read that this stuff was the best. The idea is that you apply the stripping material, smoosh some special paper over it, let it sit for hours, and then peel off the paint. Easy peasy, right? The label claims you can remove up to 30 layers of paint with one application. I thought that I would be able to use it on the sides and those really difficult places.

This stuff has the consistency of warm cake icing. And in many ways, it works quite well. A couple of things to remember, don't let it dry, and cover it all with the special paper.

Our stairwell has fat spindles on the corners and skinny spindles in between. I knew that originally, the fat spindles and handrail were stained and the skinny spindles painted, so I decided to go ahead and strip the fat spindles. I slathered them with the cake icing stuff, and stuck the paper too them.

Then I started to just peel away the first strips I put on. Mostly, it came off well. The curvyness of the sides of the handrail are still a bit problematic, but a little bit of sanding will take what remains off. It does leave this gooey dark oily mess. Not sure how that's going to come off.

Where the icing dried is going to need some work. I have to scrub it off with warm water, but I ran out of weekend. I did some more work on it Tuesday, a snow day. I still need to scrub it, sand it in some places, and then neutralize it.

Thrifting

2011-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

Do you "thrift"? (Don'tcha just love how every noun is now available as a verb?) I lurve to thrift. I try to stop at one or two of my secret sources a week and browse. I've found some really cool things on Ebay as well. I try to keep it at a $25 limit, but break that if I see something really amazing. So, in the interest of keeping my resolution of posting once a week, I thought I'd show some of my more recent acquisitions.

First up are chairs. Right now, I seem to have a real hankering for cane chairs. They are all in their "raw" state and need paint and upholstery at the bare minimum. I would like to get the first two painted in a dark/black with a graphic print for the dining room, flanking the sideboard.

The one above I got through an estate auction (I'm just starting to get into the whole auction scene, much to P's chagrin!) I just love it's sexy lines and how beefy it is.

The one above is the opposite of the first one. It's got graceful curvy lines, kinda of a yang to the other's yin.

This one I scored through Craig's list and originally, the cane was in perfect condition. The puppy unfortunately, has nibbled her way through some of it, darn it. I'll end up ripping out all the cane and paint it.

This one I found on CL a while back before the move and reupholstered it myself. My first attempt. Unfortunately, there is a spring broke so it sits kinda funny, and the midcentury vibe clashes with the more traditional style of this house. So, it may find its way to a new home.

The next two items I picked up at that same auction. The first is a lovely pierced brass box, the second a decorative corbel.

The mirror was from P's mother's estate, and the porcelain piece P brought back from Japan.

In addition to being a chair ho (and a dish ho), I'm also a ho for lamps. So many wonderful shapes and so easy to rewire.

I absolutely adore these paperweight lamps. I picked up the pair of them on ebay for a song! I had to clean them up and rewire them and then find the perfect shades and finials, but they are my favorites!

This lovely lamp I found at Diversity last week. It's in perfect condition with a beautiful silk shade. SCORE!

This was one of the best scores yet, $14 for the pair of these lamps. I'm still not satisfied with the shades, but will live with them for now.

This is a $2 lamp I found at the thrift store last week. I'm in the process of spray painting it and will try and find the perfect black/black and white shade for it.

This vase was an ugly red/rust/brown thing (Note to self: take before pics!). I think it's looking mighty nice with a coat of silver and a coat of gloss. (Pardon the basement in the background).

These frames came with the house. They had crappy, nic-stained prints in them. You can see what they looked like when I found them. I've ripped out the prints and sprayed them with silver and gloss (I'm on a kick, what can I say, I will switch colors soon). I will be cutting mirrors for them today and hope to get them hung up somewhere. Seems only fitting since the mirrors and frames all came out of the house originally.

The pair of blue striped, rattan love seats were also a Craigs List find about a year ago. They have served us very well.

This is who has kept my from blogging...Vivian Grace Nottingham Pearl, meet the blog. Blog, meet Vivian. She's a 6 month old standard poodle, and she's a handful. Now that she's getting a bit better, I hope to be blogging more often.

Have you found any treasures lately?

New Year's Resolutions

2010-12-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

A big welcome to readers who found us through the R Home mention!

I know, I promised an additional before and after's post months ago. Time got away from me, as it often does. Stuff has been happening at the Domus, just not on the blog. Now that Christmas is over, I'll try and take some pics and get them loaded this week.

In the mean time, here's my list of events for the following year. Don't ask me how I'm going to afford to do this, I haven't figured that all out yet.

Domus Improvements To Be Accomplished In 2011
1. Blog more often (let's aim for weekly, shall we?)
2. Get stairs painted.
3. Install master bath.
4. Buy living room furniture (the old stuff met a nasty demise due to a seriously pissed off cat).
5. Get gas fireplace installed.
6. Get plaster moldings in foyer fixed.
7. Paint vestibule and foyer.
8. Install the rest of the moldings in the guest bedroom.
9. Rehab at least two windows.
10. Paint stairwell and hallway upstairs.
11. Master Google SketchUp to post fascinating and interesting imaginings about the Domus.

That seems ambitious enough. Anyone want to chime in with paint colors?

Before and After

2010-08-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Lots of projects going on but not much photo department. I stenciled the dining room, but it doesn't show up well. I mostly have been focussing on cleaning up the basement. Built two work benches which provided the workspace I needed to refinish a cabinet, which as yet to be installed in the dining room.

So, last month was our one year anniversary for closing on the house. I was planning to do a big massive before and after post, but was too busy with actual projects to get it done. So, I will do it now.

Front of House

Ours is the unit on the right hand side. Big ugly bushes, dark green shutters.

Bushes gone, some landscaping done.

Living Room

Note the shag carpeting, cornice boards, striped paneling, mirror, and all that gold.

Painted mostly. Carpet gone.

Dining Room

Yes, that's a wall of mirrors. And all that gold.

Kitchen

Sunroom/Powder Room

Back Yard

More to come next week.

Update and a Fanbook Page

2010-06-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Summer!

The school year is finally over. Grades are in. Seniors are graduated. And I am free! Free to throw myself into housework once again.

My Summer Projects (yes, it does need to be capitalized) include finish painting the downstairs, rehab downstairs windows, removing/recovering plastic tiles in kitchen, painting kitchen, stripping and painting front door (hello Mr. Dip and Strip), stenciling dining room (still yet), stripping/painting/installing glass front cabinet in dining room, building desk for under glass front cabinet in dining room, and going on vacation and not thinking about the house for two weeks.

Who's taking bets as to what will get finished by August 15?

Don't be too quick to bet against me. It's only the second day of summer vacation and I've already stripped, primed, and painted the skylight window; primed and painted the back door, stained the terrace decking, and stained and installed a fan trellis for the climbing rose a friend gave me. Not bad for a day and a half.

And we have created a Facebook Fan Page. You should be able to see it on the right hand side. Hope I did that right. We also have a new email address: domusaurearichmond@gmail.com, if you have any questions about our renovations.

Now for the good stuff, pictures!

Fence is stained!

Don't mind the minimalist landscaping. I went with the "food or free" method of gardening. I only bought herbs and veggies and everything else was practically given to me by gracious and wonderful friends who were willing to share their own garden bounty.

Front yard a bit more filled in.

Terrace after one coat of stain. I don't love the color, but I'll live with it.

Yard Work

2010-05-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

Since going back to work, inside projects are on hold until summer break. Of late, we have been working on the yard. Over spring break, we built a privacy fence in the back yard. I love it!

This is the back gate leading to the alley. The pergola over the gate matches the shape of the eaves on the roofline.

All told it took us three girls four days to build the whole thing. I'm right proud of us. We had three different guys come up and ask us for the name of our fencing company. HA!

Additionally, we've installed a doggy/kitty door and we have now gotten rid of the heinous catbox! Yeah! All the furbabies love being able to come and go at will. It also gives us a bit more leeway as we no longer have to rush home to relieve the animals. Of course, it does mean that the neighbor cat had to make a couple of midnight visits, just to check out the place.

Here's my front yard. I'm slowly starting to replace the grass with herbs. This hill is south facing and gets beat with the afternoon sun. I'm not busting my hump trying to keep grass alive and then mow it on a hill. So, my solution, low maintenance perennial herbs, like a true Tuscan garden. So far, I've got lavender, thyme, oregano, mint, and a couple of oddball peppers thrown in there. As I get more cashola, I'll strip out more pieces and plant herbs. The pots up above are filled with basil, as I find it does much better in pots than in the ground.

My grumpy neighbor doesn't seem to appreciate it, but oh well. I think once everything starts to fill in and the smell fills the air, it will be freaking awesome.

Living Room Painted

2010-04-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

I got the living room painted last week. Used the same Silver Sage from Benjamin Moore. I'm in love with this color, it's moody and changes subtly throughout the day. I also rearranged the furniture layout for more comfortable conversation. Took out one chair and the bookcase. The orange patterned chair needs to be replaced but no money to do that for now. I like it!

I'm starting to win the war against the god-awful gold trim. I only have the vestibule, foyer, and stairs/stairway downstairs! Those will have to wait until summer. I'm not painting again until summer break. My two major projects for summer are painting and rehabbing the windows. They will be painted black which is why I didn't tackle the gold on the windows.

Dining Room Update

2010-03-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

I finally got the dining room finished! Or at least, mostly finished. I think the term "finished" is relative. The walls and trim are painted. Took me forever! I still need have to stencil above the chair rail, but that will come later. Window mullions will be black when I redo them this summer. Walls are Benjamin Moore's Silver Sage. It's a soft grey green. It looked awful against that gold, but once I got the trim painted, I was thrilled with the color. The dining table needs a rug and the bar stools need recovering. Always more to do. AND, the last pic shows the newly painted fireplace.

Finally an Update

2010-03-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so apparently once a month was a stretch even. Oh well. Part of the reason I've been so absent is multifold. Part of it was a surgery (I'm fine) and a moratorium on house projects for a while. Part of it was snow (we've had lots of it), part of it was work, part of it was pure cussed laziness. Well, all that's over. I'm back in the swing of things.

Powder room is done with construction and is fully functional, if not fully decorated, so no pictures yet.

Upstairs bathroom has been painted finally. I used the same light blue ceiling paint I used in the sunroom. I had lots of paint, and the light blue mitigates some of the yellow a bit. But, it does not photograph well and simply looks white, so no pictures of that either.

Dining room currently in a state of disassembly as I'm trying to get some paint on the walls and the moldings. I'll finish base coat today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to start the stencil. I'm going for a damask effect by using semi-gloss with the stencil. Hope it turns out. So far, I love the color. Painting all this trim is going to be pure misery however. Some of it will be stripped, some of it will be painted over. Oh the agony. It's going to take forever. Oh well.

Plans are in the works for a backyard fence. That will be a welcome change. I also settled on a plan for the front as well. Eventually, there will be a columned pergola dripping with grapes and wisteria. I'm going for an edible Tuscan garden feel. That will happen a long ways down the road though.

I will leave you with one photograph however. We have some crocus pop up in the front yard.

And, we had this visitor in the backyard.

Sunroom Make Over

2010-01-04T03:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so originally, my plan was to blog daily. Then it got pushed back to weekly. Now, I'm aiming for one monthly update. Life is too busy for regular blogging, and I think that's a good thing.

Over the two week winter break, I worked long hours to give the sunroom, just off the dining room, a complete make over. My friend Andy came and helped and so the first week was spent doing the necessary carpentry work. We put up the real beadboard around the powderroom (v board actually), trimmed out all the windows, installed beadboard panels on the ceiling (to hide the old asbestos tiles), reinstalled crown and base. Then I started priming, then painting. It was a huge paint job and it felt like it took forever. I think I painted for five days straight! So much trim in this room. I finally got the painting done yesterday in the afternoon. Found a couple of wonderful Craigslist rattan couches and voila! I love the fresh spring green against the crisp white of the trim. The ceilings are a pale shade of blue perfect for a beadboard ceiling, and so traditional.

Here's the before pic from when we bought the place:

Please note the dark paneling, dusty rose shag, and the radiators.

This is how it looked last night:

and in the daylight:

Pretty cool, eh? I'm tickled with the way it came out. I'll be back next week (hopefully) to post about the powderroom which should be installed soon!

Living Here

2009-12-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

We are fully moved into the house now. Most of the boxes are unpacked and most items have found a home. There's still a ton of stuff to be done and I will be posting projects as they come up. We have our fave handy-woman coming in next week to work on a couple of little projects: sunroom floor, powder room floor and the beadboard walls in there, finishing up the downstairs trimwork as well as a couple of other projects. The next major push will be after tax money comes in. We need to get the two new baths fully installed and operational. We need to put up a fence and a doggy door. That's going to suck most of the money.

I am usually a list person: grocery lists, to do lists, errand list, etc. There are so many jobs left to be done in this house, I am afraid to make that list as I am afraid of its potential length. I think I'm going to start by picking one smallish project, like priming the trim and stairs over the holiday break. It's ambitious enough to keep me busy, but not so big as to overwhelm.

Living in the house is wonderful though. We have entertained frequently and have had several folks over for dinner or brunch. I LOVE cooking again. I went nearly a year without cooking on a regular basis and it feels so good to have homecooked food. Cooking in this kitchen is delightful. Very satisfying. I have more space than I realized and despite the loss of the old pantry, I still have empty cupboards and drawers. I don't even mind not having a dishwasher. It really doesn't take much more time to wash the dishes by hand than it does to rinse and stack in the DW. It's kind of soothing actually.

Part of our decision to move into the city was to live a "greener" lifestyle. One of the things we have done towards that end was to sell one car. We have taken additional steps like join a CSA farm coop, begin shopping at the local farmers markets, not driving everywhere all the time. It feels really good, I have to say.

Not much to post pictures of as the rooms are still kind of cluttery and haphazard which makes for unattractive pictures. I'll try to tidy up and get some new ones up soon.

My contractor, Tom Henning, has gotten his site up and running and there is a new link over on the right. Check it out as he is amazing and wonderful I cannot praise him high enough.

Moving Day

2009-11-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting updates, but we are moving in tomorrow!! I cannot wait. I am so ready for this move, I can't stand it. Kitchen looks really good and I've posted one still yet incomplete picture. I snap a good one over the weekend and try posting something Sunday. All I have to say: NINE feet of countertops....

Catching Up

2009-11-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's been three weeks since my last post. Blame it on being frantically busily, limited amount of computer time, and being plain tuckered out. But, despite the fact I haven't been doing anyone electronically, we have been making massive progress on the house. In fact, we have a move in date, November 14th. Less than two weeks from now! I cannot wait. This process started a year ago when we decided to put our old house on the market. We moved out of there five month ago and have been working on this place for four months, almost to the day when we move in.

So, what has happened since the last update? Carpentry, primer, floor sanding, and painting. See for yourself:

Kitchen being primed:

Kitchen Demo'd and Painted (Cabinets at least)

We pulled the stove and the oven out completely. We also took out the cabinets under the stove and under the bar, as well as the countertops above those counters. For now, we've purchased some white, stock cabinets and custom sized laminate. On the left hand side of the kitchen, from this view, will go a run of cabinets and NINE feet of countertop. The bar will still be bar height and the tiny remnant of yellow counter will be replaced as well. I'm in the process of painting the old handles black. The old yellow sink cabinet has gotten a fresh coat of white paint as well. The yellow walls are actually formica walls, not sure what we're going to be able to do with them. I was reading about painting formica, so that may be an option. With dark counters, dark floors, the bright white will pop and look classic, I hope. It will have to do for a few years while we build up the kitty to redo the kitchen. Then we will be gutting it to the studs and rebuilding it.

Guest Room Primed

Dining Room Being Primed

Floors are in the process of being redone right now. It was sanded and will be stained tomorrow. We're going with the dark walnut stain. I think it is going to be beautiful up against crisp, white mouldings, when ever I get to that.

Tired

2009-10-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know when I've ever been so tired. P had surgery on Monday and her right hand is in a big old cast. She's not much use around here right now. So, in the interest of domestic peace, I sent her to Lake Gaston to spent the weekend with friends. I spent Friday night dusting down the front room. Used an entire box of swiffer wipes on that room along. Saturday, I was here by 9 and spent the day dusting the rest of the upstairs. Had some hired help for a couple of hours which helped. T washed down the floors and vacuumed the stairs. I dusted part of the downstairs before quitting and heading back to the Springs. Stopped at 5 Guys (damn they have good burgers) for dinner. Went home, showered and fell into bed at 7 PM. Was up at 6:30 this morning and at the house by 8. Spent the first part of the morning cleaning up. Washed all the dishes, the countertops and did some general de-dusting. Then finished de-dusting the downstairs. Cracked open the primer around 1ish and started priming. Got the master bedroom primed to where I can reach. I don't have the energy to pull the ladder up the stairs just now. Started priming the bathroom when my hand just gave out. Decided to take a break and try and get a post in.

Taking pictures of people washing floors or dusting walls is pretty uninteresting. So, no pictures today. Maybe after priming has happened.

Walls, At Last!

2009-10-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

We have walls, I tell you! We have walls! Plaster guys were here all last week working upstairs putting in drywall and repairing/skim coating the plaster and I have to say, it looks beautiful! So white and clean.

First the guest bedroom:

The Hallway and Bathroom:

The drywall guys said we were going to have to pull down all the plaster in the bathroom because it was so deteriorated due to the leaking skylight. Penny started to go up and work on that on Wednesday (her day off). The guys looked at her and asked if she was going to do it now. As she is having hand surgery on Monday, Wednesday was going to be the only opportunity for her to get the plaster down. I think her pitiful hand made him feel bad so he agreed to laminate the old plaster with new drywall and box in the opening for the medicine cabinet too!

Master Bedroom:

So, what's left?

Downstairs skimcoating/plaster repair has to be finished.
Electrical is wrapping up.
Need to install sink in golden bath.
Skylight has to be fixed as it still leaks.
Downspouts need to be installed.
Need to get a new stove/range as now both the stove and the oven have crapped out on me.
Need to dust and then prime.
Then we get to call in the floor folks to fix and refinish the floors.
THEN we get to move in. I'm still hoping for November 1, but I'm thinking that is going to be pushing it. We'll see.

It won't be perfectly completed, but it will be livable. We are hoping we will be able to put in the powder room downstairs now too. It would be nice to have a house that has two toilets.

I'll be back later in the week with more wall pictures. Promise

Stucco

2009-09-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the delay in posting. We pulled two very long days last weekend and I never got a chance to post on Sunday. We are trying to get the walls all prepped and ready for drywall and skim coating of plaster. We'll be back at it this weekend as the plaster/drywall guy starts on Monday. That will make a HUGE difference.

The stucco work was started and completed last week.

Monday they delivered materials.

Tuesday they pulled down all the old plaster and nailed up a metal mesh.

Wednesday they skimmed on a first layer of concrete

Thursday they did another layer.

Friday they did the texture and packed up all their stuff and went home.

Insulation update: Our wonderful contractor, Tommy, found someone to come blow the insulation in and take the huge green machine back to Lowes. What a relief that was. Penny spent much of Saturday insulating the soon to be master bath using the blue fluffy stuff.

We spent the weekend trying to get the last of the wallpaper down in the stairwell and get the walls cleaned.

We will spend this weekend washing walls and getting all the little bits of wallpaper off. The plaster/drywall guy thinks he can do most all of it in a week. That may or may not include skim coating the ceilings. I hope we can get at least the downstairs ceilings done. With walls in and skimmed, I can start priming. Once primer is on, the floors can be done and then we can move in! Oh, I'm so hoping we can make the November 1 date. I am so ready to have something of a "real" home. Well, as much as we can get for now.

We got the quote on tiling the master bath and that is going to simply have to wait until we get the tax check in February. We should be able to get the downstairs bath in however. That will give us a bath and a half, most importantly, it will give us two toilets.

Defeated by Insulation

2009-09-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

I can't say that Penny and I are expert DIYers, by any stretch, but we'll tackle almost anything. This weekend, we tackled insulation. We did our research. We priced out the job. We reconnoitered Lowes to see what materials we needed and how much material we would need. As we did sell the Rav4 on Thursday, we had to figure out how to get all that material and the machine to the house as well. We spent most of Saturday doing all the prep work. We drilled perfectly round holes in our plaster walls upstairs. We stapled plastic to the outside walls where we had pulled down the plaster. We even went and purchased the lay-in insulation for the areas where we had removed the lath. We decided since we needed such a small amount, we splurged on the green stuff (which is actually blue) which can be installed without layers and layers of protection. The pink lay-in stuff is fiberglass and is a very messy and unpleasant job. We were thrilled with the way the green (blue) stuff went in. Of course, the first time we purchased it, we purchased insulation for 2x6 walls. We had to turn around and exchange them for the stuff that fits in 2x4 walls. Easy to cut. Easy to install. Skin friendly. This gave us confidence that the blow in insulation was going to be a snap as well.

So, this morning, armed with all our measurements, we trundled off to Lowes. As we only have a Yaris (Japanese for "very little car"), we rented the Lowes Truck. They were kind enough to load 20 bags of blow in cellulose insulation and the 500 lb green machine. We climbed in and drove the now filled truck the two miles toward home. We (meaning Penny) did a brilliant job of driving that sucker into the alley where we then unloaded all twenty bags of insulation. Then came the big green machine. We did manage to get it off the truck without breaking 1. ourselves or 2. the machine. I dragged the hundred foot hose up the stairs while Penny took the truck back (you only get it for 75 minutes). Upon her return, we started up that sucker. I was downstairs outside filling the machine and Penny was upstairs with the hose, filling the walls. We flipped the switch and waited for blow. It blew, but it didn't blow insulation. We couldn't figure it out until I decided to read the directions. It seems you have to open the hopper for the stuff to flow into the hose! With that figured out, we took our respective places again and flipped the switch. The problem was that Penny was upstairs inside and I was outside with a loud machine. I couldn't hear her yell to stop. This was the result:

At this point, covered in insulation, Penny declared "I ain't doing this shit any more. I'll stand outside and YOU blow this crap!" She was not amused. She was even less amused that I insisted on taking pictures.

So, we tried it again. We got some of it in and made some progress, but our plastic stapling job left something to be desired, and mostly what we ended up with was a mess. After about three hours of wrangling with the hose, cellulose, staples, plastic, etc, we threw in the towel and called our contractor and begged him for help. He's sending help tomorrow. I get to go to school. Penny's off and she will have to be helper. So, should you be so bold as to think you can blow in insulation into your walls, my advice is DON'T!

Add that to the live termites found, it hasn't been a great weak at the Domus Aurea, this week. Yes, the electrician found some live termites and so we will have to have the house sprayed again. Thankfully it is under warranty and won't cost us anything. He's coming Tuesday. The neighbors did get quite irate with the Grand Canyon trench between the houses. It was quite the show from what I heard. Penny had to deal with it, not me. She had to make a quick call to Tommy who rushed over and quickly mollified the neighbors (who in turn hired him to do a job for them!). Then, what we suspect was a drunk driver, plowed into our wall at the back of the yard. Luckily, I don't think anyone was hurt, but he sure did a number on the wall. We assume he must have blown through the stop sign and going pretty fast to have done so much damage.

We did pass a whole bunch of inspections. The trench finally passes inspection and that is now filled in (much to our neighbor's relief). The show pan passes inspection. The HVAC system passed inspection as well. The framing is to be inspected tomorrow afternoon and hopefully that will go well.
All in all, not a good week at the Domus.

Also tomorrow, the stucco work is to start. James River Exteriors will be doing that work. Once that is done, new downspouts can happen. I think somewhere in there, part of the house has to be jacked up and reinforced, but I'm kind of hiding my head from that job right now. It's more than I want to hear or can bear to hear. I think we have figured out who will be doing the drywall and plaster work and that should start once the framing work has been inspected, so likely later on in the week.

Since we sold the car, Penny is now living here. She'll be biking to work. It takes her 9 minutes to get to work. I will be in Highland Springs, taking care of animals. Hopefully, this will only be until early November, when we hope to move in. This is her new home:

Other random pictures:

Glass Block

New Terrace Surface

Not much to post

2009-09-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Not much progress to post this week. Mostly a continuation of previous projects.

Outside Work
The dig to China (replacing the lead water supply from the street) has continued and is at a standstill, much to my poor neighbors' regret. The trench is deeper, but we still haven't found the supply line yet. The city has to come out and do the next step by digging up the sidewalk and replacing the line under the street.

The roofers have been here the past two weekends. Last weekend they fixed the gutters. This weekend they are replacing the terrace roof. The last thing they need to do is replace the downspouts. That will lead to the start of stucco work.

Inside Work
Penny took down the plaster in what will be the master bathroom. Tom (my wonderful contractor) and the tile guy were in there last week discussing tile options. Penny was off so she was in there as my proxy. They were asking too many questions and I ended up talking them through my desires via cell phone. Oy. I think we are going with a basket weave tile inside the shower floor, a 2 inch white hex tile with black buttons on the floor, white subway on the walls with a black pencil line just below the top of the wainscot. These are the lights we've picked out. This is my bathroom inspiration. Lovely, isn't it? I think the plumbers are coming to put the shower pan in and there has to be an inspection of that this week as well.

Glass block is in and it looks beautiful! I will post pictures a bit later, promise.

Electrical continues. We did pass the rough in inspection.

We put the Rav4 up for sale. It's a lovely car and I do hate to part with it. It is probably the nicest car I'll ever own and it breaks my heart, but having two cars in the city just doesn't make sense. You can see the ad over at the AutoTrader. There's also a listing on Craigslist - Richmond as well, but I can't link to it from work. Someone, please buy it!

Summer ends...

2009-08-30T05:11:00.000-07:00

Bye Bye Summer

Well, this is it, summer is over and I go back to school on Tomorrow. I am so not ready to face the classroom. I have no clue how I will split my brain between these two all consuming projects. I’m sure I’ll figure a way. I am excited to meet new kids and see my friends more regularly.

Much progress this week, however. We have laundry facilities once again (thanks to everyone who let us mooch their washer and dryer for the past two months!). We have plumbing for the two new baths. We have framing for the closets and baths. Most of this all happened on Wednesday. The house was an absolute hive of activity. I think there were six guys from the plumbing company, a day laborer digging a trench to replace the lead pipe, two HVAC guys, a carpenter, and two electricians. It was all I could do to just stay out of the way.

HVAC is finished and we have air conditioning (and heat) now. And, we have a new hot water heater. Yeah! The only drawback is the AC return. It’s kind of an eyesore, but I think I’ll be able to build a cabinet around it so that it doesn’t stick out quite so grossly. I am thinking a marble counter top with a matching cabinet on the opposite side and we’ll have buffet room. Maybe some open shelves on either side for dishes?

In the flurry of plumbing activity on Wednesday, the crew removed the yucky ceiling and all the faux bois wallpaper (not to mention all the plaster) so I didn’t have to. Upstairs, the master bath was also plumbed and the shower stall framed out. Originally, the plans blocked up three windows up there and had the shower wall running to the ceiling. I was afraid it was going to feel like a coffin. We modified the shower wall to have a transom for ventilation and one of the windows is going to be filled with glass block. That leaves me with two functioning windows and a glass block window. Glass block should be installed Monday morning.

We are spending weekends here at the Domus now. We had some old friends drive down from Delaware. They just built a house in Milton and they had twenty eight gallons of left over Benjamin Moore paint and primer they brought to us. We do have the most remarkable friends.

Roofers started yesterday on the gutters. Given they’ve left their ladder, I am assuming they will be back today. I tell you what, I wouldn't want to be wandering around up there, that's for sure!

Pictures:

Shower

Laundry

Closets

HVAC

Trench for new pipe

First Night

2009-08-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

We slept in our new place for the first time last night and it was wonderful!

Some wonderful friends came to visit and provide free labor. Since there is no room at our little cabin in the woods, we decided to camp out in the new place. Yesterday, two of us went upstairs and scraped more wallpaper (argh!) while Penny and our other guest demo'd the sunporch. They took up the floor and pulled out the paneling in the area that is to be the new powder room. They uncovered the blocked up door. Then, we all showered and headed out for a fabulous seafood dinner and a terrific bottle of wine. Came back, and we each snuggled into our beds. The late afternoon had brought a lovely, and much needed rain storm, which cooled everything down. With the fans blowing, it was quite comfortable to sleep. We kept giggling that we were spending our first night in the house. Didn't hear any ghosts or goblins. We did hear a couple of drunks stumbling down the street at a rather early hour though.

All in all, it was a good night!

We see the light at the end of the demo tunnel. All major demo is done (I hope). I still have to remove wallpaper in the tiny bedroom, the closets, the sunroom and the golden bathroom (which has been de-paneled). Since there is only a week left before I go back to school, I hope to get all the wallpaper down and all the walls washed in the next week.

Things we've done last week: I washed the dining room walls so they are ready for whatever comes next. The paneling in the sleeping porch (soon to be master bath) has been pulled down. All the moldings that need removing have been removed. Sunroom floor has been pulled up and all that paneling has been removed that's going to be removed. Oh, I fixed the leaky faucet in the kitchen almost all by myself (with a little bit of guidance from my electrician). I was quite proud of myself that day.

What's happening this week: The HVAC system is almost finished and we should have AC (and heat) by next weekend. We are getting quotes on the framing/drywall work and the plumbing for the two baths we are installing. We went ahead today and purchased the medicine cabinets for all three bathrooms. Penny has Monday off so we are going to look at pedestal sinks for the master bath tomorrow. This is the style of sink I want in the master bath. Roofing guy is supposed to start sometime this week but do the major work next weekend. Things are moving rapidly. I think we'll probably spend the night here again so that we can get started in the morning.

BUT, the best thing is happening tomorrow! We are finally getting a washer and dryer!!!!!! OMG, I am so happy I could just cry. They will be installed sometime tomorrow. I am OVER THE MOON about this. For the past two months we have been begging laundry time from friends or going to the laundrymat.

So, on to the pictures. As demo winds down, the pics are less dramatic (except for the sunroom ones).

Bathroom without sparkly faux marble paneling (only to reveal pea soup green paint over more @#$% wallpaper)

Faucet Repair: I carefully removed all parts and laid them out in the order I removed them and even took a picture so that if things got mixed up, I would have a record of their order.

Sun Room Demo

Faux Bois Wallpaper

The room formerly known as the "blue room" without wallpaper

I blame HGTV.

2009-08-18T03:52:00.001-07:00

QUESTION: My mom asked me in an email how I was feeling about the project so far. What did I think about the progress? Was it slower or faster than I thought? What surprised me? When do I think we'll get in. I wrote her a long winded answer, but have been thinking about the question and frankly, it kept me up all night.

ANSWER: I cannot give a simple answer to the question. The more I try to unravel all the strands of that answer, the more hopelessly tangled my thoughts get. I'll try to sort out the major threads here, but if this post goes wildly astray, well, I did warn you.

Strand One: It seems to be bringing Penny and I even closer. We work really well together and genuinely have fun even when we are doing to grossest, hottest, most sweat-inducing jobs. When I'm having an "OMG-what-have-we-done" kind of day, she steps up to the plate and gently directs me to a simple, necessary task that will yield immediate results and calm me down (like washing walls). And when she has days like that I can "talk her down" as well. That's pretty cool.

Strand Two: Overwhelmed. There are days when it simply seems like such a huge and daunting task that we have taken on and I wonder what in the hell we thought we were doing buying this house. We have virtually no renovation-necessary skills (plumbing, carpentry, electrical, framing, woodworking, nothing). We've never done a renovation before. We did a very light (VERY LIGHT) renovation on our old 1950s ranch, but we had lots and lots of help with that too. What made us think we could do such a thing. I blame HGTV, quite honestly. Those wonderful 30 minute programs that show you how effortless it is to renovate and redecorate your house with a few simple tools, some paint, and elbow grease. What the evil producers never show is the army of workers who do the grunt work (like hauling 99 buckets of plaster down stairs and out the the dumpster), sweating like pigs, the weeks and months of this effort, oh no, all that falls on the editing room floor. That doesn't make for good television. Those wonderful 30 minute shows dupe us poor schlubs into thinking that we can tackle that wall demo, no problem! After all, the built an entire house in just two 30 minute episodes.

Strand Three: Time - time is a weird construct. Sometimes, it moves so slowly (like when you're waiting WEEKS for your house to close) you begin fantasizing that the clock is an evil, sadistic enemy bend on making you miserable. Then there are the times when time seems like the telephone poles swooping by you as your speeding down the interstate. If you were like me (and aren't you all?), then you could count them as you went across the country and within mere moments you had reached 100, 500, and 1000 before you lost interest and decided that counting swooping telephone poles was a stupid way to spend time and started to antagonize your brother. We closed just over a month ago and days are flying by like those telephone poles. I can't believe I have to go back to work in less than two weeks. Holy Crappola, Batman! Where did the last month go? Every day is chock full of stuff to do. My day starts by dropping off Penny at work, coming to the house, opening all the windows, tidying up last night's mess. Picking a project for the day. Welcoming any crew that is here to work. Working. At some point, I go walk the dog. I might do an errand or two and get some lunch. Back to the house to work some more. Pick Penny up at 5:30. Some days we work some more. Some days we try and get some other work done like laundry (begging at our friends' door as we do not have laundry facilities either here at the house nor at the rental), grocery shopping, cleaning the rental, taking the dog to the vet, or the other hundred errands that come with being an adult. At some point, we fall into bed, often at the ungodly hour of 8 o'clock. And sleep quickly (unless were up all night fretting about the house), only to start all over again at 5:30 the next morning. I have never been so busy in all my life.

Strand Four: Amazing people in our lives. This project has shown us how incredibly fortunate we are and what super cool people we know. Yesterday, a friend of ours who lives in Arlington, drove down with a truck full of extra tools she had lying around and gave them to us. We are talking a sawzall, a shopvac, three or four hammers, several prybars of different sizes, and even an electric sander. Then, she wired a light in the bathroom for us. She got back into her truck and drove home. She wouldn't even let us take her out for a meal. How fricken' cool is that? Then there is the couple that makes us an amazing and delicious home cooked meal every Tuesday night. They live just a few blocks away and they feed us and provide huge moral support every week. Then there are the friends that are "renting" us their cottage. Our rent consists of mowing the lawn and paying the utilities. Then there's my contractor who is just the coolest man on the planet. He calls me daily simply to touch base and tell me it is all going to be okay. I honestly do not know how we could do this project without the love and support of everyone we know.

Strand Five: Time, again. I don't know if we are moving fast or not. I honestly can't tell. Penny wanted to move in right away. I was thinking maybe September 1 (as a highly hopeful date). We've pushed it back to hoping we can move in before Christmas. We've done most of the demo ourselves, save for the bathroom and the basement ceiling. That means we've taken out walls, learned to remove moldings without breaking them (mostly), and hauled literally a ton of plaster. The major demo is done. It's taken us a month to do that. Is that fast? I don't know. I have no yardstick for comparison. When we first closed, Penny had two weeks of vacation and we worked every day. In the entire month, we took one day off to go to the lake and we took a weekend off to go to a (super cool) wedding in Nags Head. Other than that, we've worked. We generally knock off no later than 4 pm, because we are just wiped out. We usually start around 7 am in the morning. Some days, we've worked until dark. Last night, we laid in bed looking at all the pictures we've taken, from when we first toured the house, to where we are today. We have come a long way in that time. All the carpet is gone. 95% of the paneling is gone (we still need to tackle the sun room), much of the wallpaper has been removed. Walls and closets and bathrooms have been demo'd. Electrical has started. HVAC has started. Both should be finished by the end of next week. Next weekend the roofing guy is coming to fix the gutters. After that, I'm not sure what's next.

Strand Six: Wow, what a freakin' cool place to live. The neighbors are awesome, welcoming us to the 'hood. Inviting us in and showing us what they've done to their houses. One guy even brought us a bottle of wine. There's always a breeze on the terrace and of course a lovely view. We are mere blocks from great restaurants and cool little shops. It takes me less than five minutes to reach Penny's work to pick her up. So many of our friends live near that we're going to actually be able to walk to see friends. We get to walk the dog around the lake and greet neighbors. I want to take some time and make friends with the neighbors. Dogwood Dell, a local outdoor amphitheater is just a beyond the lake and we'll be able to take advantage of that soon, I hope. I am so looking forward to the time when we can just LIVE here and enjoy all the benefits of living in the city. So much great architecture to see and areas to explore. I'm looking forward to walking to restaurants for dinner, frequently the farmer's market, and creating a whole different lifestyle here.

So, that's some of what I'm thinking and it is only the most simplified version of it.

Link to more photos

2009-08-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

Click here to see all the photos posted on Facebook. You do not have to be a facebook member to see the photos.

One Month Into the Project

2009-08-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our one month anniversary. And, despite the fact that some days the progress seems so slow, we have come a long way. This week especially. On Tuesday, we had a demo team come in and take out the white bathroom. We had three guys whacking on tile and within hours, the whole thing was gone, floor, ceiling, tiling, everything. It was a huge mess. I was glad that I didn't have to do it.

While the guys were working, HVAC started! By next week, we ought to have heating and cooling! YIPPEE!!! I can't wait. Here's the first evidence of having AC!

Mostly, we have been tearing out walls and hauling bucket after bucket of plaster down the the dumpsters. We have removed lots of closets, stupid closets. And opened up the soon-to-be master bedroom.

Contractors

2009-08-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

I know contractors get a bad rap. I have to say however, that I have been so very lucky to work with some awesome folks on this project so far. I wanted to make sure they were recognized for their stellar work, punctuality, and professionalism. As a woman, I have often run into condescending attitudes from men when discussing construction issues. I will fully acknowledge that I am not fully cognizant of every detail or problem that might arise, nor do I possess every solution, however, I do have a reasonable modicum of intelligence and can understand most issues when clearly presented. All of the gentlemen I have dealt with so far have been the utmost of polite and professional and never once have I been talked down to. That is a characteristic I prize highly. To that end, I will be linking websites of contractors that we are working with who have given us the highest quality of work, materials, and customer service. I urge you to contact them if you are in need of their services.

Widespread Solutions, LLC

These folks did the demo on the basement ceiling and the upstairs bathroom. Dan is a super nice guy and all of his workers were amazing. Also, a portion of his profits go to the McShin Foundation, a non-profit peer to peer addiction recovery support organization. How's that for cool? Hire good guys and support a good cause.

Acors and Griffith Heating and Air
These folks are putting in our new HVAC system. These gentlemen show up on time and work the entire day. They are friendly and easygoing and I can't recommend them any higher.

As other contractors come in, I will continue to post their names and websites. I think word of mouth advertising is the best there is. I will also add them to links on the side so that folks do not have to go looking for them.

Work Slows

2009-08-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

Penny had to go back to work last Monday so work has slowed considerably with only me working all by my lonesome.

I continued the never-ending wallpaper removal process. I got most of it down in the center foyer. I still need to get it off the angled ceiling under the stairs. My arms gave out.

The big news for the week is that I took out the wall between the two bedrooms to make the big master bedroom. That was big fun, the cleanup however, really sucks. Plaster is heavy crap and I have to haul it down in five gallon buckets. It took about 15-18 trips to get all the plaster out. It's going to be a really cool room though.
The wall before

Me in full demo regalia

Plaster down on one side
Plaster and lath coming down on the other

I still have to demo the goofy closets that are 18 inches wide and 8 feet deep. That should be fun.

We went ahead and bought a mattress and boxspring for what will eventually become the guest room. We have a bed, but not the mattress, and this way, as soon as the hvac goes in, we can start sleeping there. As I start school in three weeks, we will be sleeping here sooner than later.

I also had a guy come out to give me an estimate to get a fence built. We need to have a fence and doggy door for all the puppies and kitties once I go back to work.

Monday, a demo guy is coming to take out the white bathroom. Penny and I demo'd one bathroom in our old place and it took us two weeks, a hammer drill, and a huge toll on our bodies. (Check it out here.) We both swore never again! So, we're hiring it out this time. Money well spent.

Also on Monday, we're having the SECOND dumpster emptied. Hopefully, we will only have the third and final dumpster as those get pretty pricey!

Wednesday, the HVAC guys get here and will start working on that project. They say it should only take them a week or two.

Week three already?

2009-08-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, time is flying!. Demo continues. All the carpeting is gone, hurrah! The smell is slowly starting to get better.

1. living room wallpaper is nearly all removed. I missed behind the mirror, but now that I have that down, I can remove the paper.

2. All carpeting has been removed to the dumpster. This includes the miles and miles of tack strips and most of the staples used for the padding. I spent hours on the stairs alone.

3. kitchen floor has been removed, all four disgusting layers of it. Of course it was tacked down with about a bajillion inch long staples.

4. UPstairs hallway has been de-papered. I still haven't figured out how to get it down in the stairwell. It's too tall.

5. Took down lots of plaster in the vestibule where the leaking issue was most damaging.

6. Homeowners Insurance cancelled my policy due to the poor condition of the house. Had to scramble to get a new policy and am now paying through the nose of a policy. Hopefully we can get the roof, electrical, and stucco addressed and finished quickly so that we can go back to the cheaper insurance.

7. Went up into the attic and cleaned out a half a century's worth of trash. Found a few treasures including a cool 50s desk, some paintings, and some other odds and ends.

8. The cedar closet in the tiny bedroom was demo'd by our demo guy revealing a badly damaged wall. Took down most of that plaster.

9. Electrical work continues apace. The HVAC guys are going to start NEXT Monday.

10. Purchased a queen sized mattress which will be delivered on Tuesday. Penny swears she will be sleeping here, but without AC, not sure I will be.

11. I got all the transom windows open, so that was quite an accomplishment.

12. Penny smelled gas one day and called the city. They came and tried to light the stove pilot light, but condemned it instead. Sears is coming Tuesday to take a look at it.

13. I took pictures of the scary maid's toilet in the basement. Realize these pictures were taken after it had been cleaned up and far less scary that it started out.

So, that's where we are for now. I honestly don't know when we will be moving in for sure. I had said (optimistically) September 1. Now, I'm hoping for November 1 or at least before Christmas. We'll see.

Demo Continues

2009-07-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

Good Monday Morning.

The demolition continued throughout the weekend and I'm quite proud of our progress. Penny and I got most of the paneling throughout the house down and out. We also got the dining room and foyer carpeting out. Penny pulled up the flooring in the vestibule to reveal rotted/termite damaged floor boards. With some help from my friend Jamie, I got all the wall paper down in the dining room, all four layers of it. I still need to wash off the glue, but overall, the plaster in that room is in very good condition.

Some discoveries we have made:

1. Found the original kitchen doorway.
2. Discovered the reason why the previous owner would not allow us to do an invasive inspection in the foyer/vestibule. There's no plaster left in that wall at all. It also looks like a combination of water and termite damage. Some of the vertical beams will have to be replaced. But the good news is that the horizontal beam seems to be quite sound.
3. Despite the torrential rain last night, no leaks have been found in the house this morning.
4. Other than the vestibule, the floors seems to be in pretty good condition. We just have thousands of staples to pull.
5. Moldings in the foyer are plaster, as are the corbels under the arch. Neato!

Vestibule Demo

Vestibule floor

Dining Room Sans Wallpaper

Original Kitchen Doorway

Hot and Sweaty Penny

Hardwood Floors

Progress in the first week

2009-07-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

This week we've just spent trying to clean, get organized and figure out what comes first. We did get some of the windows open. I got some paneling down, and started taking off wall paper in the dining room. There were four layers of wall paper in the living room. Given this house is 90 years old, I didn't think that was too bad. Here are pics of the progress so far.

The front bedroom (The Green Room) - I started taking off the paneling to reveal pepto bismo pink paint over lilac wallpaper.

The living room

Removing wallpaper in the dining room

After one afternoon

Uncovering history, it reads: H.A. Pollard, June 25, 1945. Pollard is a common name in Richmond.

The Before Pictures

2009-07-20T12:24:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of the "before" pictures. Most of these were taken during our initial walk through of the house. The house is currently listed as a four bedroom, 2.5 bath house that has roughly 1800 square feet. The reality as you will see is that the fourth bedroom is mostly a closet and there isn't room for a crib, let alone a bed. The "half bath" we discovered was actually a "maid's bath" that can only be accessed from outside. It's not even a real "bathroom" as it only has a commode and no sink. Very scary place. I will get some pics tomorrow and post those for you as well.

On to the pics!

The Golden Living Room

The Golden Dining Room

The Golden Kitchen

The Sun Porch

The Golden Stairwell

The Golden Hallway

The Front Bedroom aka "the green room"

The Back Bedroom(?) - apparently they turned a tiny bedroom into a cedar closet. Note the groovy red vinyl flooring.

Another Back Bedroom

The Blue Room

The Golden Bath

A Map and Historic Views of the Area

2009-06-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

It doesn't show our actual street on this map but we are on the eastern side of the park, near that corner at Lake View Avenue.

Boat Lake
These two are Shields Lake before they closed it to swimming to prevent integration.

Byrd Park

2009-06-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

The house has a view out onto Swan Lake in Byrd Park. Gorgeous location. I was all set to write a post about the history of Byrd Park, and then I found a page that did it complete with pictures. Why recreate the wheel!

Byrd Park History

What is a "Domus Aurea" and why have you called your house renovation blog after it?

2009-06-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Domus Aurea is a reference to Nero's grand villa he built at public expense in downtown Rome after he annexed the burned out city center. The decor relied heavily on gold leaf, hence the name. The ceilings were studded with precious and semi-precious stones. The walls were covered in ivory or frescoes. There was a large man-made lake and fountains flowing in and around it. It had nearly 300 rooms, but what their exact use was remains a mystery. It was rumored that Nero was running a brothel out of the place to help finance it, but this is rumor and not supported by historical documents.

Nero believed himself to be quite the actor and athlete. He was also something of a brute, committing fratricide, matricide, and spouse-icide. He participated in the Olympic Games as a charioteer and nearly managed to kill himself in an accident. The judges awarded him first place anyway. Just before he committed suicide, he is said to have muttered "What an artist dies with me!"

So, why did I name my house after such a place of decadence and debauchery? Well, once you step inside, the reasons become quite obvious.

Can you see all the gold in that place? I have affectionately dubbed it the "Porn Palace" which only heightens the comparison.

The resemblance does not stop there. Out front we have these two views:

Please note the fountain and man-made lake.

Also, note the varied style of architecture. From what the neighbor has told me, this little loop was built by a man named Cosby who got rich in WWI by selling scrap back to the government. After the war, he and his wife toured Europe and fell in love with the variety of houses. They returned and built these houses representing all the different styles they saw in Europe. This loop he called the "Keyhole" as it was on the western edge of the city and looks out over Byrd Park. Apparently, he lost his fortune when the stock market collapsed in 1929 and committed suicide. His wife moved out of the corner house and into one deeper in the loop. Two pairs of houses have been occupied by twin siblings. In one they even cut out doorways in order to be able to access each other from the inside. I can't wait to learn more history as we go along.