Category Archives: Home

How do you solve a problem like OH MY GOD THE PIGEONS RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

Posted on May 13, 2011 by

There’s a certain woman in our neighborhood. A nice enough lady. Let’s call her Mrs. Z. Mrs. Z started feeding birds a couple years ago. Wait. “Feeding birds” conjures up images of lovely Italian piazzas – filled with fountains, children … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Home | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

You spray, you saw, you conquer

Posted on May 7, 2011 by

Totally forgot to tell you about the last part of spray foam insulating. You need to then grab a saw and hack away at the excess. Since the foam expands, you trim away what “puffs” out beyond the studs, so … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, Home, insulation, remodeling | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

We’re caught in a (hair) trap

Posted on April 8, 2011 by

This arrived a few weeks ago. It’s a bathtub. It’s giagundo. Well, the tub itself is a nice size – 72’’ long, 36’’ wide. But the box it came in was like a double decker bus. Actually, it was like … Continue reading →

Posted in Bathroom, Bathtubs, Home, Norwegians, plumbing | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 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

The pitch: a sequel to the movie Glitter, where Mariah has a wisecracking, sidekick dog

Posted on March 6, 2011 by

So I realized that I’ve only been talking about the kitchen and pantry lately when in reality there’s a lot more going on – namely, two bathrooms and the master closet. Come with me into Stresslovania… The 1st floor bathroom … Continue reading →

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