Got Those Homesick Renovation Blues

More Flowers

2009-06-07T12:01:00.006-05:00

Wow! My window boxes turned out great this year! I grew these Shockwave Petunias from seed. They have a trailing habit which looks really good in these planters.
The geraniums that I started from seed are getting big and look like they're growing strong but still no sign of any flowers. That's a little disappointing.

This Rhododendron was planted three years ago and this is the first year it bloomed. I was pretty close to digging it up and trashing it, that is until these gorgeous flowers appeared.

The Osteospermum that I started from seed are beginning to get flowers too. It's nice to see my hard work in the garden paying off.

2009 Container Garden

2009-05-31T10:22:00.004-05:00

I had everything planted by mid-May. Now things are beginning to bloom.

New garden area

2009-05-14T10:52:00.005-05:00

Well, my dad finally took away the pile of boards that was against the garage. Of course since they had been there for years there was no grass growing underneath them. To solve this problem, mom decided to give me another gardening area. Woohoo! It's covered in shade most of the day. I don't have much experience gardening in shade, but now I'll learn.

I couldn't get the stupid edging to go in straight. There must be rocks buried underneath there or something. Oh well. I still think it turned out good. I got it all planted today and I put down cedar shavings for mulch.

Tulips

2009-05-09T10:47:00.004-05:00

Tulips are blooming in front of our house now. Spring is really here!

I think spring might finally be here

2009-04-28T16:07:00.005-05:00

Perhaps all that rain we've been having was worth it. Check out the tree in front of our house. All this leaf growth just happened in the past week. Spring might actually be here. Everything is greening up nicely.So far, the forecast for this weekend looks good. I might actually get to do some planting outside if I'm lucky. Yea!

Garden Plans

2009-04-27T16:29:00.006-05:00

This is my plan for the garden in the front of the house this year. I've got lots of plants ready to be moved outside. The soil there is heavy clay, so I looked up some plants that are supposed to do okay in clay and poor soil. We'll see how it goes.

And this is my plan for my secret garden behind the garage. I bought a bunch of bare root plants to put back there this year. Getting bare roots was the cheapest way to go. I just hope that they grow since the soil isn't too great back there either. There are lots of rocks, broken glass, and roots in it. The perennials that I planted last year are already returning this year so I guess that's a good sign.

Will it ever warm up?

2009-04-20T15:15:00.008-05:00

Oh, how I wish it was warm enough to start planting outside!

I've got lots and lots of plants that I've started indoors that are just begging for me to transplant them to outside but it still gets too cold at night to do so yet.

I really went overboard this year. I guess it's because I've got the time on my hands being unemployed and all. Gotta keep busy somehow. This is a list of the seedlings I've started inside:

25 geraniums
5 lupin
17 cosmos
10 pentas
11 snapdragons
3 four o'clocks
5 delphiniums
10 rudbeckia
9 osteospermums
34 shockwave petunias
17 salvia
5 shasta daisies
14 asters
5 catchfly
5 coneflowers
8 dahlias
12 wild flax
21 zinnias
19 petunias
7 nasturtium
2 zucchini
5 mini belle peppers

Spring Fever

2009-04-04T18:35:00.017-05:00

If you live in Milwaukee you know about how unpredictable our weather is. Getting snowfall as late as May is not that unusual. Sometimes it feels like spring will never get here.

When I was a kid and cabin fever was really starting to set in, my mom would take my brothers and I to the Mitchell Park Domes. There we could run around without our coats on for at least a couple of hours. It's a good way to deal with Spring fever when it feels like it's never going to warm up.

We took a visit there with our friends Gigi and Jane when they were in town. Here's some of the pictures I took just with my little digital point and shoot. Enjoy!

First is the TROPICAL DOME which is by far my favorite one.

Next we went into the ARID DOME.

And last we went into the SHOW DOME which is my least favorite. It's display changes with the seasons. Here it's set up for Easter.

new tile in shower

2009-02-15T23:41:00.004-06:00

When mom first redid her bathroom, she used small glass mosaic tile. It looked pretty but after a while the tiles started to detach in the shower. It was really upsetting for her. She decided to take action and got her shower retiled with larger white ceramic tiles and also had a new glass block window installed.
Now the bathroom looks great. The white tile really brightened up the small room. She also had white ceramic tile installed as the baseboard. It really ties it all together. The old tile, the new tile, and the white fixtures look like they were meant to be together.

Christmas Decorations

2008-12-28T15:01:00.008-06:00

Well the house is all decorated for Christmas. We put evergreen garland up on Mom's balcony and an evergreen swag above the house numbers.
Mom decided not to have a tree upstairs this year. So instead we put up faux garland with lights so that she could still hang up her ornament collection.
I think it's even better than having a tree because this way you really get to see each ornament.

This is my white Xmas tree. (I decided on white because the pink one that I wanted was too expensive!)
Since there was going to be no tree upstairs, we decided to do Christmas downstairs at my place this time. This was the first time I put up a tree since we've been in the house.

Mom's little Christmas dinner party

2008-12-14T14:47:00.005-06:00

Every December, mom and her friends from work have a little dinner party. They're kind enough to invite me too.
This year we made Soy Ginger Chicken. It's a Martha Stewart recipe.
It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!
After dinner we play board games like Bananas, Yahtzee, and Oodles of Doodles.
It's always a fun time.

Hooked on Houses House Tour!

2008-08-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Hooked on Houses House Tour. This stop is my friends' house in Madison, Wisconsin. Christopher and Gary live in a 1940 four square in a great neighborhood on Madison's west side. Their neighborhood actually boasts the oldest neighborhood association in the country, formed in 1936! The house is flanked on the south and east by a huge nature preserve, so lovely trails are literally outside their garden gate.
The lovely setting is my number one favorite thing about this home.

As they always say, location is everything!
Let's start the tour by pulling up to the curb.

I actually think the house looks very unassuming from the street. You'd see the lovely garden,

but you'd never know how great this place is without coming inside the yard and the house. That's my next favorite thing about it -- it is in the middle of Wisconsin's second largest city, but it is very private. An oasis of beauty!

Before we go in, I want to point out these four little glass block windows up here. See them?

A four square has a basic layout of four rooms downstairs and four rooms upstairs. Those little block windows are actually in the closets of the two bedrooms that face the front upstairs. I remember waking up one morning and seeing a light coming from the closet. I thought, "oh, no! I left the closet light on." I looked inside the closet and saw it being flooded from light from two glass blocks. How clever! That's the thing about old houses -- they were so thoughtfully designed.

Well, let's go into the yard, up to the front patio, which sits above the two-car garage. Because it is the whole roof of the garage, this patio is huge. Room for a comfy seating area here.

And a umbrella table area there.

Here's the whole thing.

And from inside looking out the front door.

The front side yard.

And leading back to the expansive back yard. (More on that later.)

There's another way to enter the house, too. You can come in through the garage and enter in the basement, which has been renovated to add a spa-like bathroom with laundry room, room for the family dog (Romare, a giant Airedale), and the other half of the basement has a fireplace and large picture windows looking out on the backyard. Here are some pictures of the basement bathroom and environs.

Let's assume we have entered the front door. Remember, the four square layout calls basically for four rooms downstairs. These are the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and a den. But they aren't just little boxes. The spacious living room boasts a fireplace and opens right into the dining room, which is just off the kitchen.

From the dining room, you can also see the screened porch at the back of the house. You get to it from a door off the kitchen.

More on this screened porch in a minute. First, let's backtrack into the living room.

Yes, the antiques are genuine.

And look at this mantle.

In fact, the furnishings, especially the details, are another reason I love this house so much. Look at this lovely vignette.

And this lamp.

And the dining room, which isn't used much in the summer.

But here it is all decked out for our annual New Year's Eve celebration.

And now, the fabulous kitchen.

Christopher is a wonderful cook. They just had their kitchen renovated last year. It features a Wolf range,

Sub-Zero refrigerator and dishwasher,

and granite countertops. Also hardwood floors. And this lovely garden window, which really opens up the space. I just love this fish wall vase

and this statute of an Airedale.

The kitchen is small, but doesn't feel so because of the good layout, the garden window and this large mirror above a stainless steel counter height table.

My, this house tour is long. I will skip the den and go straight to my third most favorite thing about this house -- the screened porch. The guys use this porch all year. Its charms in the summer are obvious.

But, even in the winter, it's a bridge to the outdoors. At Christmas, the guys put a bowl of bright ornaments on the table and hang lights. And the tough carpet out there is great for cleaning off Romare's paws when he comes inside. He has been taught to walk around the table twice to get the snow or mud off his paws before entering the kitchen.

Now, it's time to check out the backyard.

Okay, a quick trip upstairs to see what's there. Here is the master bedroom.

And here is what I call Erin's room, because that's where she and Keeley sleep when we stay over.

And here is my room.

I forgot to mention that both Erin's and my room have memory foam mattresses. When I stay here, it feels like I'm sleeping in a treehouse. Here's the view from my window.

The fourth bedroom is mostly used for storage, but it does have this balcony.

You can tell the house is loaded with goodies when a balcony gets little use because there is so much other outside space!

Here is the upstairs bathroom with its original tile work. Don't you love it?

As in the rest of the house, the decorative items are not to be missed in here.

Well, that's the house! What did you think?

I hope you enjoyed my part of the Hooked on Houses House Tour. I'd like to thank my friends for letting me show their place. Thanks, Christopher and Gary!
Don't forget to continue the house tour! Click here to return to Julia's tour page.

Sweet Cool Evening

2008-07-27T19:00:00.003-05:00

Today, I decided to make my balcony safe for our dog, Keeley. The slats in the balcony railing are too far apart and I worry he will fall through. There isn't the budget yet for new railings, so I decided to screw plexiglass panels to the front, so Keeley can still look out, but safely. The evening sky is beautiful, isn't it?

Here's Keeley enjoying the balcony.

Fireworks!

2008-07-19T18:31:00.002-05:00

This summer, we haven't done much to the inside of the house, but we are sure enjoying the outdoors. Erin took some pictures of some of her flowers, and I thought they looked like fireworks. Hence, the name of this post. See what I mean?

Summer 2008: Garden

2008-07-06T22:19:00.013-05:00

New Porch Stairs!

2008-06-14T18:30:00.003-05:00

We have been having wet weather here for the past couple of weeks, with flooding and tornados and torrential downpours. We caught a break today with clear skies, so today was the day we replaced the front porch stairs, which were bad to begin with but were certainly not helped by all of the rain. We had to resort to roping them off so no one would fall through. Remember?

Kudos to Dan, our neighbor's carpenter friend, who did the bulk of the work. Dan took the time and care to make sure the steps would be really solid for years to come.
He shored up the header, put down cement pavers where the stringers would meet the ground (the old stairs completely rotted out), and cut new stringers. We had mistakenly thought we could use the pre-cut stringers that we got from Lowe's, but Dan determined they would not work for our install, so he cut new ones.

Wouldn't you know it? The clear skies gave way to threatening clouds from the west, and by the time we were installing the risers, it had started to blow and rain. A quick check on Weather.com revealed a thunderstorm warning, but at least no tornado. Billy and Chu (our neighbors) helped get the risers in before we had to call it a day.

We were all a little soggy, but happy with our progress.

We will finish up with the front toekicks in a few weeks. For now, it is great to just have working steps again.

June 2008 Project Start: Secret Garden

2008-06-01T14:43:00.006-05:00

Earlier this year we discovered a woodchuck had burrowed underneath our garage. For Keeley's safety we decided that we needed to get rid of it. First we removed all the junk that had been being stored behind the garage. This exposed the entrance to it's den which we plugged up with some rocks. A week later, we borrowed a trap to use to catch it but never ended up actually using since by then we were pretty sure it had already moved on to find a different home.

We were wondering what we could do with this space to avoid any further destructive animal activity. I've always wanted a shade garden but up until now, all I ever had was full sun. This seemed like a great opportunity to gain some more garden space.

So far I've done some planting and embedded about a third of the stone pathway. I've still got the other two thirds to go. Plus I'd like to add a few more plants still this year and mulch. I'm very happy about how it's turning out so far.

We're calling it our secret garden since you'd never guess that it was there.

Paving Project

2008-05-20T08:00:00.003-05:00

Our driveway is so narrow because it is in between our house and our neighbor's. The strip of land between our concrete driveway and our neighbor's house was nothing more than mud and weeds when we first moved in almost three years ago. In September 2007, when we sodded the backyard, we used the leftover sod on that strip of land. That worked well all last year, but this winter was too hard on it, partly because there is something wrong with our neighbor's gutter on that side of the house. Every time the snow on their roof melted, a steady stream of water came pouring down on the grass. I assume the gutter is clogged, preventing the water from going down the downspout, so it just pours over the roof. At any rate, this Spring, it was clear that the grass wasn't coming back. It was just a muddy mess. We decided to put paver bricks all along that side of the driveway so that we would at least avoid the mud problem. I spent two days digging up the dirt, laying down a weed barrier, putting down a layer of pea gravel and sand and then the pavers, but it looks nice. Here are some pictures. This one looking down the driveway.

And this showing the top of the driveway where Erin has her container garden.

And here are some more pictures showing the garden in the back.

Keeley in his yard.

The garden in the front of the house.

My Japanese Maple:

Our next project: replacing the front porch stairs. Here's why.

New Collection: Irish Terrier Images

2008-04-08T21:01:00.004-05:00

I've begun collecting images of Irish Terriers to eventually be hung in my kitchen. I've only got 3 so far but its still going to be a few years before I can get my kitchen together the way I want it to be anyhow. I figure that I'll just collect a few each year and then by the time I get the kitchen together, I'll have a really nice collection.

Tiki Collection

2007-10-08T20:35:00.003-05:00

I love collecting things and I love looking at collections. A group of like items always looks great to me. Some things that I am collecting or have collected in the past include: tiki mugs, hula girls, Rat Rods (model hot rod cars), Barbies (Dolls of the World Collection), and gnomes.This is my tiki mug collection. Most of them I got on Ebay or from Munktiki or from Tiki Farm.

Summer 2007: Garden

2007-06-21T15:35:00.005-05:00

May 2006 Project Complete: Side Garden

2006-05-16T15:39:00.003-05:00

Before this area next to the house was all just weeds. Now it's been graded, edged, planted, and mulched. It's growing good!

A dog makes a house a home

2006-05-12T05:44:00.005-05:00

Keeley's Homecoming! Welcome to your new family, my sweet little fur-baby!

Before & After: Lower Dining Room

2006-01-08T17:13:00.008-06:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'm using the dinning room as a television room for now. The walls have been repaired and painted. The floors have been refinished. I decided to keep the existing light for now since it's in good condition and has a dimmer. I still need to decide on a light for above the built-in cabinets. I got new window treatments and a new television too.

Before & After: Lower Master Bedroom

2005-12-28T17:01:00.005-06:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:
The walls have been repaired and painted The floors have been refinished. The window dressings have been replaced. The ceiling fan is new. I got a new bed. I decorated with my print/poster collection.

Seamless Floor Repair - Hot Damn!

2005-09-05T17:32:00.001-05:00

Remember the part of the living room downstairs where the faux fireplace used to be? Previous owners pulled out the fireplace and flanking bookcases and slapped down vinyl tile. We ripped that out and replaced it with hardwood to match the rest. Here's how it looks now that the floors have been redone. Sweet!

Summer 2005: Hardwood Floors Refinished

2005-08-12T15:58:00.004-05:00

Here's a view from my dining room, through my living room, to the sunroom. The floors look terrific now that they've been refinished. We still have to reinstall the quarter round or get new stuff.

Summer 2005: Hardwood Floor Repairs

2005-07-21T16:03:00.000-05:00

Originally there was a built-in faux fireplace in my living room. However, at some point one of the previous owner removed it, Instead of filling in the hardwood floor where it used to stand, they put down plywood and self-stick vinyl tiles.My dad torn up the tiles and plywood and now he's filling it in with oak hardwood to match the rest of the floors.
When the floors get refinished, we shouldn't be able to tell the new floor boards from the old.

Summer 2005: Sunroom Floor Strip & Sand

2005-07-20T16:46:00.003-05:00

BEFORE:When we first got the house, the floor in the sunroom had been painted black.

AFTER:Since the company refinishing the floors said they don't remove paint, my dad sanded it all off in advance. What would I do without him!?!

Wall repair and electrical work

2005-07-10T20:52:00.001-05:00

We decided our first priority would be to finish a number of projects before we would move in. We wanted to fix all the walls -- fill in cracks and sand. It was astounding to see the lack of quality in previous occupants’ handiwork. Sometimes while sanding the walls, we would find holes that were patched with scotch tape and paint. Often, nails would be hammered in and painted over. In the kitchens, our predecessors had painted over grease-spattered walls.

In addition, we needed a lot more electrical outlets installed. There were only eleven outlets in the upstairs unit. We added seven new outlets upstairs, including 220 wiring for the electric stove. Downstairs, we added five. We were so blessed to have my friend’s father, a retired electrician, to do this work with us. It was quite a gift, as much of the work had to be done from the attic and it was a very hot July. I served as the electrician’s assistant, and I learned a lot. But my most important function was to keep Mr. Hutchinson hydrated. He is the same vintage as the house.

Plus, check this out. There was a bathroom fan AND the switch for it installed inside the shower. How's that for shocking?

First things first

2005-06-20T07:32:00.011-05:00

We closed on the house on June 16th, and rushed over to find. . .a mess. The sellers left an attic full of mattresses, old computer equipment and junk, a basement full of more junk, including a broken washer, a commercial mop and bucket, their dog's choke chain collar, a horrendous odor, and numerous leftover cans of paint, and more stuff on the main floors, including clothing, unused checks, an ugly fake leather recliner and lots of pennies. Oh, and they left their Rottweiler tied up in the backyard. Clearly, we have a lot to do. And did I mention the (early whorehouse) red walls?

We'll spend the first few days ridding the house of the previous owners' stuff. Besides the aforementioned items, they left their son's bicycle (which we hope to sell at a rummage sale) and a bunch of old car tires and car parts, a wet/dry vacuum in pretty good shape, a wrought iron cheapo table and two chairs (also to be sold at the rummage sale),

a non-functioning power lawn mower and a couple of dirty barbecue grills.

Our neighborhood is not designated as a historic district and has seen a lot of neighborhood conditions through the decades since it was built in 1929. At its birth, our house was probably the height of luxury. It has built-in china cabinets with art glass and coved ceilings in both dining rooms, crown molding and stained glass windows in the downstairs living room, French doors to the sun room which also sports crown molding, leaded glass in the living and dining rooms on both floors,

a floor-to-ceiling built-in in the upstairs kitchen

and built-in linen cabinets on both floors, gorgeous arches,

original woodwork throughout, original cast iron kitchen sinks with drainboards,

and hardwood floors throughout. Our house was built during that brief time when real fireplaces were considered unnecessary because of central heating and therefore, originally, our house had at least one faux fireplace. By the time it was in our hands, however, that fireplace and flanking bookshelves had been removed and vinyl tile had been installed over that portion of the subfloor in the downstairs living room.

It was these "good bones" that saved us from buyer's remorse.

Closing Day!

2005-06-16T19:05:00.001-05:00

It's not in a historical district and the neighborhood isn't posh, but our house has beautiful arts and crafts features and deserves a new life. We will be like careful plastic surgeons, first doing no harm. Our goal isn't faithful restoration, but we are mindful of its style and grace as we renovate. Most of what we want to do is to fix what time and careless remodeling has inflicted on this 1929 duplex.

Welcome to our World

2005-06-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

It was Spring 2005. The housing market was crazy and interest rates were low. It seemed like a good time to jump in and actually buy a house, one we both could live in and enjoy. We were a middle-aged woman and her twenty-something daughter. Or, to hear her tell it, we were a twenty-something woman and her middle-aged mother. What did we want? An old house, preferably a duplex where we could each have our own space, preferably bungalow style. Character. That's what we wanted. And that's pretty much what we got. But being novices in real estate, we only saw potential, not the whole picture. And two and a half years later, we still see a lot of potential, but also an endless supply of hard work and expense. Would we do it again knowing what we know now? We just don't have a single answer for that question. There are multiple answers, and most come with qualifiers. Love our house, hate all the problems, but we just keep goin' down home improvement lane, never knowing what's around the bend, just keep singing those homesick renovation blues. . .