An ironing board cabinet re-purposed as the coolest spice rack.

What to do with an unruly bougainvillea?  Strap it to a trellis. What to do if you don’t have a trellis?  Build one! To keep the bougainvillea from falling into the fish pond, Carrie built us a trellis.  And she let me dig the holes for the concrete footings. Carrie translated this sketch into the […]

We realized that our new neighbors’ Chihuahua would be able to step through our fence’s nine inch openings.

Here is a preview showing Carrie hard at work. The fence is cedar and replaces the chain link that used to separate us from our neighbors’ driveway. It is seriously neighbor-friendly in that it looks the same on both sides; no ugly stringers on either, and we put the boards’ best side toward the neighbors. […]

Realizing what a lift in quality of (yard) life there was when we completed our first replacement of chain-link with privacy fence, we have embarked on the next phase of fence building. And these pictures tell most of the story. This was the only place in the backyard with no privacy fence. We fixed that […]

The side yard space that we enclosed with our new fence got an exciting finishing touch last week. Between the trees and bushes drinking all the water and the shade they produce, the ground is not well suited for grass. Here is the “before” shot so you can see the dirt. We had planned to […]

There hasn’t been much change in pond life since we built our second pond. We’ve added some fish and have watched them grow. At Carrie’s urging (and perhaps subsequent dismay at my choices) we named the fish. I picked a “Swedish Fish” naming convention for the big pond which has five fish, two Koi and […]

The repairs and upgrades are just some aspects of the pleasure of restoring our old house. Another delight is learning about the families who lived in our home before us. For example, we have done significant research about the Ostemans who were the original owners in 1921. Last week the research came looking for us. […]

The fence is cedar and replaces the chain link that used to separate us from our neighbors’ driveway. It is seriously neighbor-friendly in that it looks the same on both sides; no ugly stringers on either, and we put the boards’ best side toward the neighbors. The fence gives us a number of quality-of-life enhancements. […]

Repairing the Hutch in the dining room is like many projects in our old house. It is on the list, but not urgent. The structural and mechanical work, such as replacing leaky roofs and pipes and repairing crumbling foundations and electrical systems, usually get priority. The hutch needs some drawers repaired but most visibly, the […]

Our fourth roll-off construction grade dumpster, this one especially for concrete, and a sunny Friday added up for our idea of a fun day. We had been accumulating concrete rubble for two years. There was an old driveway in the backyard that we had broken and piled up that made up the bulk of the […]

In a masonry context, “pointing” is a word that describes stuffing mortar into the spaces between bricks or stones. With the roof projects nearly complete and the electrical and plumbing projects well under way, we started our foundation repair today. The foundation of our old house is made of stone. For the most part it […]