Victorian House Renovation in Bloomingdale, DC
paint has an amazing power — one in that it transforms the look of whatever it is you are painting, and two that it can take hours for your to chose the perfect shade. so after considerable time invested into researching whites for trim and doors in the house I settled to Benjamin Moore’s Minced Onion. I wanted a more creamy white that is similar to the ones you would see in old apartments and homes.… Read the rest
I finally have one of my own! So very exciting — cause Sergey’s got lots and lots of tools and until recently I had none. I have been eying sanders ever since we did the kitchen cabinets and finally ordered one from amazon a couple of weeks ago.
well, let me just say, sanding with an electric palm sander is a whole lot easier than doing it manually.… Read the rest
That is the question you should all be asking when staring at old door with layers of paint. I am on a quest to get all hardwood doors for the VIB. And obviously without a money-pit, we have to get them second-hand, which means they have tons of paint on them. But you known, I think being old and all gives the doors, what do they call it, character!
Anywho, back to the door.… Read the rest
Two weeks ago I randomly won tickets to the first-ever Washington DC Antiques Roadshow. Obviously, I was very excited, even though I was quite certain that I had zero antiques to have assessed. On Saturday, Sergey and I ran around the house trying to find anything that was possibly worthy of an appraisal.This is what we came up with:
And off we went to the Convention Center, where we waited, and waited, and then once we got to the top of the line, we were assigned tickets for specific categories, such as silver and decorative arts, and then we waited some more in the appraisal lines.… Read the rest
Yesterday, after 4 long months of waiting it finally happened. We got a DC RiverSmart audit! The DC government program basically allocates $1200 per property to alleviate issues connected with storm water run-off via rain barrels, water gardens, shade trees and permeable patios.
We definitely needed it. We noted the issue with flooding almost as soon as we moved in. Well today’s rain looks even worse, our backyard is a mess of standing water.… Read the rest
As I mentioned, part of my excitement for the Baltimore trip this past weekend was definitely the salvage stores.
I have already talked about Loading Dock on this blog. We got lucky again with hardware, picking up a whole bunch of drawer pulls , whose new home is tbd. And found an outdoor light for just $1!
I think Loading Dock is my winner for low prices award.… Read the rest
Sergey decided that instead of delivery, we would go get our dryer – money wise wasn’t that much of a difference, so I was surprised when he insisted. Something about how stories happen when you go do stuff, instead of sit around and wait for it to be delivered. (I suspect he also really, really wanted a dryer, but whatever).
(apologies for the blurry pictures, I was super tired and a little anious over the whole get-this-thing-down-the-stairs-myself)
Well, the dryer is here.… Read the rest
I was super proud of Sergey when he was asked to design posters for the annual Climate Rally concert on the mall. So I got three of his posters framed (I think the plan is to rotate the three different prints in this spot above the kitchen table).
Even those the posters were standard 11 X 17, apparently there are no mattes and frames that are pre-made.
My next thought was getting a custom frame, which would have been a very nice way to show Sergey that he is awesome.… Read the rest
Yes, I know its been awhile. And no, there has been no progress on the drywall. We have had so many things going on that I don’t think there will be anything of substance done until September. I do have a few small things to share.
First up, if you remember I talked about shoe storage contraption. Well, this is what I planned to do — and unfortunately it didn’t work out.… Read the rest
We made it! its been all cool over here at VIB for the last 2 days (and hopefully for good). I am happy to report that the fridge is also working very well.
Here’s a re-cap of how it went. We used Argent –out of 5 estimates, only Argent and one other firm pointed out the need for a hot air intake upstairs. Sure, we spent extra to put that in, but what’s the point of CAC if it doesn’t work upstairs where you sleep?… Read the rest