Category Archives: home improvement

The Norwegians are Invading

Posted on October 19, 2011 by

G’s family is coming in from Norway this week. So grab your lingonberries, boil all your food, and get caught up on everything the band a-ha has done since that video where they turn into cartoons. There’s work to be … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, Home, home improvement, Norwegians | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

The Appliance Fairy

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

Oh hiiii there. How are you? Things have been a tad hectic around here. But a good hectic. The Appliance Fairy came this week. We put soggy frozen corn kernels* under our pillows and the next day she appeared. Granted, … Continue reading →

Posted in Home, home improvement, Kitchen, kitchen renovation | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

The thoughts I’m thinking on Kitchen Cabinet Delivery Day

Posted on August 11, 2011 by

1. The cabinets are arriving today on 2 pallets via truck. How are G and I going to manage bringing them into the house? Brute strength? Tae Bo? Telekinesis? 2. Please don’t rain today, sky. 3. We need to finish … Continue reading →

Posted in Home, home improvement, Kitchen | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

How to refinish & resurrect 100 year old floors – part 1 (the good part)

Posted on August 9, 2011 by

G and I knew for years that under ugly cracked tile, and layers of linoleum, and layers of tarpaper, and layers of crud, there were original maple floors in our kitchen. The question was – after we excavated down to … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, flooring, home improvement, Kitchen | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Confessions: Cheating on your house

Posted on April 28, 2011 by

G and I cheated on our house this week.  Maybe it wasn’t a full-fledged, call-the-tabloids affair, but it’s an emotional affair for sure. We drove around another neighborhood and lusted after houses that weren’t ours. Whew. A weight has been lifted. … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago Bungalow, Home, home improvement | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

A plumbing post (note to self: don’t tell the raccoon story)

Posted on April 23, 2011 by

I think it’s time to move on from the last post. So let’s in fact move on… to another tale of MURDER! G KILLED the bathroom plumbing job. The bathtub is now installed. Well, kinda-installed. Turns out the metal drain … Continue reading →

Posted in Bathroom, Chicago Bungalow, DIY, Home, home improvement, remodeling | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

“And the sky was all violet” (sung in your best Courtney Love voice)

Posted on April 15, 2011 by

See that round blue thing? Kind of looks like the color of the sky, doesn’t it? Kind of looks like a big, gaping hole, maybe 4’’ in diameter or so, right there in the roof of someone’s master bathroom. Just … Continue reading →

Posted in Home, home improvement, remodeling, Roof Repair | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

She don’t use jelly or any of these…

Posted on April 6, 2011 by

I hit the ignore button on the blog. Totally unintentional. A bit of busy reno work, a touch of traveling, a smidge of laziness, and here we are. So I last talked to you about our pyromania-mania. Turned out it … Continue reading →

Posted in demolition, DIY, Home, home improvement, insulation | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

‘MacGruber’ is a verb, and we MacGrubered the foam insulation project

Posted on March 17, 2011 by

Really big fantastic news: We started insulating the kitchen and pantry this past weekend. Really not that fantastic news: We didn’t finish. But that’s only because it took us 32 millionty hours to prep for the project. I’ve written about our … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, Home, home improvement, insulation | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Bathroom Blitz

Posted on March 10, 2011 by

When I was a kid, my friend C and I used to watch this show called Cartooning with Bruce Blitz. I think it was on PBS. Have you seen it? Bruce showed you how to draw cartoons, and he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Bathroom, Chicago Bungalow, DIY, Home, home improvement, remodeling | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments