House in Progress Diary

Daily Diary Archive

Daily musings as we (slowly) create the house of our dreams.

In the Beginning

Of course, this is when all of the writing occurs. After midnight when everyone in the "transitional house" is asleep and the dog is snoring and I am up in the loft wondering, "What on earth have we done?"

What did we do? We bought our first house. Our second anniversary is Monday. And I have never been this thrilled, tired or scared since the week before my wedding. Though I was a LOT less dirty around the time of the wedding. Every day since last Thursday has been the same thing...work at my "real" job, go to the TH* (transitional home), change into work clothes, take the dog to new house and work like a gerbil sorting and hauling debris. Stumble home to peel myself out of layers of grime. And marvel at the amazing resiliency of a mistreated house.

I will catch everyone up on the story in the next few posts by cutting and pasting some correspondence that "sets the scene". Then we can get to the latest installments.

Every Day

Every day, there are discoveries at the new house. Those funny looking sink drains that I thought was just extra hardware? (They were thrown onto the hardware bench versus tossed out.)

Collectible flower frogs. Who knew?

At this point, we just want to peek behind the fireplace boards and get the first floor clean. And evict the raccoons from the attic.

Continue for more of "Every Day"

Credit Where its Due

J did a great job of providing the history of our situation in her previous post. I'd like to point out the great support and feedback we've received from the American Bungalow discussion boards. That group has provided us with great advice and encouragement through a challenging time. Thanks to each of them/you for your help and encouragement. I don't know if we'd have had the courage to buy this great old house if it weren't for the wisdom over at AB!

Plus, they deserve credit for this weblog! So many people had an interest in our situation--it was because of them that we realized that we had a somewhat interesting story to tell. (Plus we were trying to keep our relatives up to date on our situation...and they are scattered all over the place.) So yesterday I threw together this site and convinced J to commit to her job as an "embedded journalist" for our project! :-) If it works out, we think it will be fun to keep this site as a record of our progress and also keep in touch with the many friends we've developed through this experience so far.

So thanks again to the regulars over at AmericanBungalowMagazine.com. If it works out, we hope this new site is a useful (and fun!) way for us and for all of you to stay updated with each other!

P.S. - If you've never participated in that site's message boards, I recommend it highly. If you're interested in more background on our story, you can access the various posts/threads J has been involved in here.

Mysteries & Milestones

Parents came in for the cleaning "blitz" of the first floor. Photos should be ready soon. A & I bought ourselves 2 concrete pots for the front steps for our anniversary and then decorated them with red impatiens. We began trimming the hedges and mowed the lawn, set up the grill and have been sharing our abundance of overgrown backyard peonies with our neighbors.

It seems as if the "story" of the house's move-in condition has made it around the women's circle at church. Their enthusiasm to help clean is only matched by their curiousity in getting a glimpse inside of the "famously junky house."

Had a Geraldo moment as Dad and A pulled aside a board in front of the fireplace to see if the fireplace was still there ...yep, it's still back there. The front of it is gone, but the skeleton remains of the old gas fireplace. Wild. We'll eventually resuse the hickory boards for a built-in closet upstairs.

I should be able to publish LINKS to other pages at least...meaning, the pictures are going up. Not the Ofoto "before and after" shots, but we will be recording the work in progress and showing everyone what interesting "treasures" were left behind.

And we want your stories about these treasures! Maybe you remember your grandmother or great aunt having one. Let us know! We'll publish you.

Mysteries of the week:

Continue for more of "Mysteries & Milestones"

Where am I?

Whew. An all nighter. I haven't pulled one of those since college. But these days, it is the only time I have in front of the computer.

So, more new pages are up...more pictures. I go over to the house today to meet with the pest inspectors (gulp!) so I'll ty to take specific pictures for those who are interested. Then I have to make a slew of phone calls and tidy up the garage. So I'll be back this evening with more of the story about the house itself. Enjoy!

Clean for a Day

I've decided that FOX needs a new game show. Well, actually, it's a new take on an old game show. I'd call it...

CLEAN FOR A DAY

Rather like the "Queen for a Day" game show that our mom and/or grandmom watched, the winner would have all 70 years of dirt and grime and nicotine in his or her house (mid-renovation) sucked up into oblivion. They would be given a big bar of scented soap and led to a sybaritic white tiled room...with sun drenched skylights...to soak and talk on the phone to their friends or (if they prefer) to soak while watching a marathon of mindless TV or read trashy novellas. Water sprites would serve pina coladas silently and make sure that you don't slip below the water before being wrapped in dustless sheets on a clean, clean, cozy bed to snooze.

And there wouldn't be any raccoons for miles and miles around. Especially not howling on your roof.

I am exhausted.

I am exhausted.

First the raccoons. Two of four. With massive apologies to our newly-deafened sleepy neighbors, especially Krystina, Jay, Alex and Caitie (since the raccoons were on that side of the house).

Then, the accounting software at work was determined to break me today.

Then, my lovely mom-in-law and her lovely friend Millie went above and beyond to get me to a meeting for selling some of the camera equipment because the keys to the car went missing.

Things go better at the Chicago Camera Collectibles meeting. Great chaps. Know their stuff! I took a few things home again, but they were being kind about price and about a collection which to REALLY seasoned collectors must seem a little yawn worthy. They were terrific really.

I'm crawling to bed soon. There is $46 in my pocket which will be great to pay a little bit towards the rental fee for stashing our things when we couldn't move in because of all of the stuff. Plus a lot of new introductions into a pretty cool group of people.

Sorry, I keep yawning into my keyboard. More new items up on: What on Earth!?" Check it out...

5, not 4

I take that back. Make that two of FIVE raccoons. How did we miss that she had 4 babies? And that she is too smart to let the remaining 2 get near the traps? I cannot see a pretty end to this.

Not much today at the house. Except the advice that people gave us running through our heads..."everything will take 3-5 longer than you think it will." Yes. That is because you get so so so so tired.

Brain-numbing tired.

A and I are trying to think of ways to keep this fun and not let it drag our relationship around. We are trying to be pre-emptive. Advice from seasoned veterans on that one is welcome. He is working very very hard at the office and I bounce from part-time office to house and back. The movers are scheduled for Friday afternoon and I am just nervous about getting the rest of the first floor clean and hoping we can fit our furniture all into the first floor of the house. Plus, how much to unpack? I'm tempted to say "Nothing!" but then, where else do you put it?

At this point, there are enough things in the house for 3 garage sales. Everyone is also saying "Ebay!" but every item would be so time consuming that you could do this full-time for a year (or more). We'd like to donate one garage sale's worth to the Senior Youth Group at church so they can finance their retreat. One garage sale for us to help finance home repair and what it is costing us to delay moving in. And donate a number of items to World Relief and other worthy causes who could use basic household items. A few things we need to sort out and investigate. Like the lithographs from Japan and Europe. Artwork? Garage sale worthy? Who knows? The research alone is mind boggling.

I took a long shower today before going to a lovely goodbye dinner for our Pastor and his wife, who are retiring. I adore them. He married A and I, was my first "non-Catholic" pastor and they are such a beautiful, loving couple. I will never forget, after being dreadfully, doggedly sick for 3 months last year when we couldn't figure out half of my symptoms, I returned to church and sat on the back bench with A while he ran sound. It was a huge milestone for me to be up and out of the house. During the recessional and before the benediction, Pastor A strode down the center aisle of our large, lovely church--a tall distinguished man--heading straight for me with no hesitation and just wrapped me in his arms in a gentle, loving hug. I was so surprised that I still burst into tears at this memory. I was still pretty frail then and not getting around so easily and I was so moved by this homecoming. This neighborhood means so much more than this broken, sad house (that will be beautiful again). It is filled with beautiful families who feel like home. I did get a compliment on my hair tonight...one on how it looked and another on how good it smelled. What can I say? I cleaned up for this occasion :)

Today, I saw kids riding their bikes and playing up and down the lawns like I used to do in Pearl River, New York with my cousins or in Pittsburgh with the neighbor kids. This was IN THE CITY. In the suburb where we were, though I am fond of it in a way, I never saw kids without parental supervision every moment. This is better. Much better.

And I need to remember that when I am cleaning and dragging myself through the selling off of things and battling raccoons. It is the bigger picture of creating a home.

10 Bags of Trash

Okay, three raccoons transplanted. The mother and one of the babies still elude us. When we're finished with the raccoons, we can begin with the squirrels :( They are living above the porch.

Emotionally, I bounce all over the place about the house. As I wrote to my friend K when I wasn't sleeping well in transition and was trying to read myself to sleep, "I just finished the "Little House on the Prairie" books. Again. For the one zillionith time. I found myself saying goofy, dumb things like, "A, if PA can build a house ON THE PRAIRIE from NOTHING, than we can restore this house." And some days, I believe that. Other days, I go home and weep. Like tonight. Some relatives were visiting and were curious about the house. They were shocked and dismayed. Seeing it through their eyes, I was dismayed too. I am going back to read a few passages from Little House on the Prairie again tonight. Do all these people think Rome sprang from the ground fully built in a day??? Well, then again, Rome was probably never this filthy dirty.

Reading Mother Theresa's biography didn't help me either. I found myself crying, again, and thinking "I'm not worthy for God's world! I must get a sari and begin serving mankind immediately!!"

Well, tonight, wearing neither sunbonnet nor sari, A and I lugged 10 trash bags full of yard waste to the dumpster in front of my in-law's house. This is so we can leave more trash for the regular city garbagemen and work our way towards getting a garage back. I was in the same jeans that just WILL NOT come clean. Because the previous owner never cleaned. And now it is ground into my jeans. Honest. We were vacuuming 1-2 INCHES (no exaggeration) of dust off of boxes and trim. There were old mouse "party favors" STILL IN THE KITCHEN. We know there aren't any mice IN the house because the pest inspector and I crawled over that place for 3 hours. Only raccoons and squirrels. But, well, gross! If you had mice at one time and you knew about it (we knew she knew because we found an ancient trap)...wouldn't you clean your floor???!!!

I am only thankful that I do not have toddlers at this point in time and I break out the bleach.

Closer...

The remaining raccoons are accounted for! No more raccoons in the attic! (Thanks to Lou from Critter Detectives for your hard work and perseverance!)

We think the squirrels may have been scared away in the raccoon scramble. Lou put some paper over the hole to test it and if they haven't broken through by tomorrow, we are boarding that bad boy up! Meanwhile, the stainless steel grille cage for the mushroom vent/fan goes on in 3 days when the attic is officially declared "raccoon free".

Today we moved our furniture in (all on the first floor) and we move in with cat and dog tomorrow. We also had our second dinner guests (after my parents)....A & L. We tested out the new grill in the back yard which will function as our kitchen until the weather becomes too cold for words. The current kitchen is a little hard to cook in.

And the "Silent Paint Remover" arrived. Everyone on the street and the alley has been offering us unlimited use of tools and equipment and that is really saying something. We have some pretty handy people in our neighborhood, all of whom know what kind of shape the house is in. After doing the math and adding up the cost of liquid paint stripper for everything needed inside/outside of the house AND the outside of the garage...the SPS was the way to go. It uses infrared heat, doesn't give off the fumes and other hazards related to heat guns, does tile/paint/varnish/and more, AND it's from (well, where else?) Sweden. So, we'll let you know how that goes. The guys on TOH gave it a big thumbs up. Hopefully, we will too. So now we have our own unusual power tool to lend to helpful neighbors because, well, with a contractor and handy ma'am for neighbors, what do you lend to the couple who have everything?

I feel better with our things in the house. Though I need to clean it again (this will be the fourth time) to get the rest of the dirt/grease/grime/dust that I didn't get first 3 times. Soft Scrub is my friend.

We're in!

(insert bars of dramatic organ music here)

We are IN the new house. First night. So, of course, I cannot sleep.

We have crammed our boxes and furniture all on the first floor since work will begin with gutting the second floor entirely. We will be saving every piece of trim, every door, every beguiling bungalow feature and dragging out everything else.

The house had only 1 bathroom and 5 bedrooms until 1951 when W decided to purchase "brand new watercloset accessories" and convert the upstairs bath into the strangest, elongated bathroom you have ever seen. While expanding the possibilities for bathroom usage, it is not the most elegant of solutions. The bathroom-related portion covers 1/3 of the room. The rest is just...well...open space. Plus, lack of proper ventilation has made a mess of things and a broken wax seal on the plumbing years ago that went unattended to made a mess of the ceiling of the bedroom in which we camping out. Since we have to lay at night and look at that for up to 12 months or more, we purchased 4 inexpensive tablecloths from Le Target and will be pinning these to the ceiling in the manner of a sultan's tent. Self-denial is a balm to the renovator's senses.

Continue for more of "We're in!"

Geez...Bees

Today was a little more, um, organized.

So we are moving the furniture into the right rooms but...ugh. It is unbelievable to be so dirty ALL OF THE TIME! Dave the Cat snuck onto the second floor today and came down happily two hours later with black paws. Fine, except his paws are usually snow white.

Have you ever tried to wash a cat's paws when they are unwilling? It is like trying to shake hands with a slot machine over an extended period of time. That arm just keeps shooting back.

Continue for more of "Geez...Bees"

Recleaning

I am so tired of recleaning. We're on recleaning #4. Or #5. Something like that.

So instead I offer you the newest edition of What On Earth? You get to guess whether the items are random or related.

If you haven't been to pages 1-7 of "What On Earth?", by all means please help yourself to the link in the right-hand column of this page. Sorry about the ancient page design. We're waiting for the new, improved version of Blogger and we're just holding ourselves together (barely) in the meantime.

Just like everything else.

More cleaning. More unpacking.

More cleaning. More unpacking.

We even went back to my husband's parents' house today to try to undo the damage that 6 weeks, 2 transitional adults, a hairy cat and a hairy dog will do. And I learned something. My pets are ambitious. Their "shed ratio" increases with house size. In the old condo, the cat was content with one chair in the living room and a bench in the bedroom. In my husband's parents' house? The cat was a fat, fuzzy, gray "Goldilocks-wanna be". This chair is too big. This chair is too small. This one is too warm. This one is too cool. And around and around. We lint-brushed cat hair off of each chair in the entire house, I think. Enough to make a new cat. And it doesn't help that our cat has hair the consistency of cotton candy. Enough said.

We've gotten many requests for pictures of the creatures. Here they are:
Coco and Dave the Cat

We are squeezed onto the one (relatively) clean floor of the new house and still are unpacking. And yes, there is still more stuff in A's parents' garage and basement. Mostly books. Because we cannot find the fasteners that put the shelves on the 8 bookcases that we own. We put them in a "safe place" before we left the condo. Which means that they are at the bottom of one of many boxes.

Lastly, it is 85 to 90 degrees in Chicago this week. Which should be okay because we have two large window A/C units on this floor. When the owner was leaving, she (probably guiltily) took us aside and explained that they were "a little unreliable". We were puzzled. We had tried them out during the inspection--we knew they worked. But now we know better. As in the entire front of the house (2 A/C units, living room, sunroom, entry way, dining room, front half of basement) is on ONE circuit breaker. Oh. As in we can have one A/C unit on AND use the portable phone. But add a light or TV to that combination and we are plunged into a sweaty, dark nightmare. Have we told you that all of the windows on the first floor are painted, stained and (in the kitchen) GLUED shut?

We don't have any massive monthly assessments anymore though. And our washer and dryer are in the same building that we are in. Life is good.

Some days are more adventurous than others.

Some days are more adventurous than others.

The one thing I like more than anything about this project is the people. Our cool neighbors, the talented craftspeople we are discovering, hearing from people who read the website and have their own stories to tell, fellow bungalow owners.

I haven't been in touch with my bungalow pals as much as I'd like these past 2 weeks. We are cleaning like mad. Floors are scrubbed and rescrubbed. The insides of closets, walls, trim, everything covered with grime and dirt. Plus, garage living and newsprint have not been kind to our things, so they all need to be washed and freshened.

Discovery. For better or worse, this whole project is about discovery. And vision. Can we make these walls bend to our will? Turn back the clock? Sometimes others don't see what we see and even tell us, "Yuk. Glad it's not me." And that makes me sad. I wish I could show them what we see. The fully remodeled upstairs that keeps all of the trim and windows and floors and lovely nooks, but straightens out all that was muddled. The lovely living room that is rebuilt with the original fireplace, stained glass windows and bookcases. The really sunny kitchen with its bungalow touches of cleverness and efficiency.

It's at times like these, when no one else can see your vision, that you do realize that your husband is your best friend and confidant, your best grill chef and organizer.

p.s. I'd like it to rain now, please. We need the cooler air. And the plants in the backyard, especially the rosebush which has painted itself against the white clapboard wall of the tiny garage, are thirsty.

Zen & the Art of Kitchen Cleanliness

I washed the kitchen floor 2 and a half times today.

I had to.

The first time around, I was just making mud.

I cooked on the grill for the first time all by myself because it will be our kitchen for the next year.

Which should make Christmas dinner pretty lively.

peace. and good sleep to all.

We've added comments!!

We've added comments!! Now anyone can comment on an individual posting by clicking on the "Comments" link below each entry. We'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas, so comment away! :-)

The First Survivable Floor!

Let's take a trip back in time and then look at...

THE FIRST SURVIVABLE FLOOR

I can only do the front half tonight...tomorrow is second half. Then we're back to the stuff we've found and BOY! Has it gotten interesting! (Are you intrigued? Please be intrigued. It motivates us to keep going.)

Living Room BEFORE we bought

Yes, this is where the fireplace and built-in's were. They will be back someday.

Continue for more of "The First Survivable Floor!"

Is this progress?

I just posted pictures of the first floor, "Before We Bought" and "After We Move In". I thought, "Weee...we are making progress here! This is livable!"

And then I discovered the drawbacks of photography.

It looks a little bit better 2-D. But to really appreciate the amount of space we have and the progress we have ALL (A & I, his parents, my parents, our neighbors who helped) made...you need to SEE it 3D. And SMELL it. (No moldy, dust, yuckky smells.)

Right now, it's about the quality of a college apartment. But with a lot more potential.

And better furniture. And healthier food in the refridgerator. And no finals. You get the picture.

P.S. Hey! A big shout out to all of the grandparents in our families following along as well as the folks from the American Bungalow Magazine forum...peace!

More of the First Survivable Floor

Let's take a trip back in time and then look at...

THE FIRST SURVIVABLE FLOOR

The second half of the first floor. Tomorrow, it's BACK TO THE STUFF.

Bathroom & Bedrooms BEFORE we bought

Continue for more of "More of the First Survivable Floor"

Another Day, another BBQ & Home Depot Run

Back to the stuff...tonight's edition of "What on Earth" (Batch 14) is in honor of our American Bungalow forum pal, Kitschywoman. It's a quiz for all of you playing at home, with a few ringers thrown in. Do you know your kitsch? Are you sure? Here's your chance to throw that gauntlet down :)

It was a busy weekend with A's family in town for the ordination of A's mom (go D!). Some of the group were going to go downtown to see a few museums on Saturday. After touring our home on Saturday morning, they decided that was good enough and they were free to ride the EL around the Loop and visit the John Hancock tower instead! (No fooling.) Yes, we're officially competing with The Field and the Museum of Science & Industry now.

Continue for more of "Another Day, another BBQ & Home Depot Run"

Lawn Care & the Ego

A neighbor who was mowing his lawn waved at me today.

That made trimming the bushes and falling in that thorny rose hedge last weekend worth it.

There is something about cleaning up our yard that brings out the approval-hungry teenager in me. "Love our lawn? Aren't we good neighbors? Aren't I a good person? Do you liiiike mmeeeeeeee????????"

Marketing companies must chortle in glee over people like me, grab their phone and dial up the advertisting buyer for Home Depot. "No, really!!! One more $80,000 ad in this Sunday's ad circular and she is all yours!!! On a silver platter! I promise you, man..."

I am so transparent.

Coco Takes One for the Team

The dog and I are sharing a new experience...allergies.

I just get headaches. The dog has these "5 in a row" sneezing fits that are so fierce, she bangs her head on the floor during the blowback.

So now when I hear her start to wuffle, I throw my body between her chin and the floor. I've only managed to prevent a few "sneeze hits". Generally, she is so startled, she forgets about sneezing entirely.

I'll have more exciting things to post after a holiday weekend working on the house. I will be attempting to make (ta DA!) curtains. Temporary ones for the downstairs windows which currently have sheets on them.

Wish me luck. I'm going in.

A....CHOOO!

The Biggest Pile of Trash Ever!

Okay, so I cleaned out part of the basement today. One of the TWO toolbenches. W was a real "do-it-yourself" guy. I found a bunch of old tools, parts of things and a LOT of dirt and rust and broken glass and pieces of wood and string.

Life is not all eBay excitement here.

Continue for more of "The Biggest Pile of Trash Ever!"

A New Site!!

Welcome to our new digs! We decided that we were having a lot of fun with this and that we should get a proper set of tools and our very own web address! :-)

We hope you like the new look. It also has cool new features, like the category buttons along the right. Try 'em out!

It's a HOUSE! (A crazy house!) It's a WEBLOG! (Mom, that's an online diary...) It's a, um, HOUSEBLOG! A HOMEBLOG! A CHAOSBLOG? Chaosblog seems most appropriate for the moment.

PS - Thanks to AJ for the webhosting. If you're looking for a good service try him out at aefjdesigns.com.

It's us against the weather

This isn't living. It's survival.

How did vintage bungalow people do it?

I mean, sure. Their windows opened back then. But they had petticoats too.

Yesterday, the thermometer topped 93 degrees outdoors. I don't even want to think of it indoors. Meanwhile, for the hottest part of the day, we (2 humans, a cat and a dog) huddled against the A/C in the bedroom with the door closed and prowled around at night. Until we all fell asleep at 4 a.m. That's when we found out that contractors don't work when the rest of us do...they are tireless.

Continue for more of "It's us against the weather"

It's too darn hot

I had to sing the song "It's Too Darn Hot" in swing choir in high school. I thought the premise was neat...it had rhythm...as much as my 15 year old brain could understand jazz rhythm.

The reality is much much more of a bummer.

So I didn't do curtains. It was too hot. We couldn't take down the blinds and do curtains because that would let the sun in. To the windows we can't open. In the house with one window A/C unit.

You're getting the picture, right?

We spent the holiday in the basement.

And therefore, I would officially like to thank my parents--ONLINE--for the getting me the best present that any house restoration-obsessed daughter (and part of a couple) could ask for upon the event of her birthday.

Continue for more of "It's too darn hot"

Waxing the Tub

I waxed my bathtub today.

Just for the record, I do not wax anything else in my life. Car, floor, legs...(I'm a razor grrl).

But when Tim says "Wax the tub every 5 days for the first 30 days", I become a Turtle Wax devotee. A slave to bungalow renovation.

I also caulked some fixtures and reassembled them. (Caulk is messy.) And realized, dispairingly, that before we tile the walls in the first floor bathroom, we're going to have to go into the wall behind the fixtures and fix whatever is lurking there first. I guess I feel better that we don't have to go through TILE to do that...because the tile is already gone. But we have LOOKED at replacement tile...3 x 6 subway tile...so proper for a bungalow.

The Bug Slayer

Before I moved into this house, I was a total wuss about anything with more than 6 legs.

I mean, there were things with six legs I wasn't keen on either. Like the Palmetto bug. These bugs have six legs but THEY ARE LARGER THAN MY SHOE, therefore making them part of the "HTK" (Harder to Kill) category and super scary. (Click to make photo larger...IF YOU DARE!!!)

My friend, K, is going to bust me on this one because I think that is actually a picture of a giant roach. But a palmetto bug LOOKS like a Giant ROACH to me. So. There.

Well, we don't have these. But! We do have icky SPIDERS:

Continue for more of "The Bug Slayer"

We're a hit!

Today our site was featured on the popular site boingboing.net! (You can see their description of our site here.)

As a result we saw a HUGE spike in traffic today!

Many thanks to Cory and boingboing.net! :-)

Random...it's all random

This entry is totally random. My life has become random.

Things I'm thinking about:

- I do not miss cable TV except that I can't get any news of the outside world. This may be because I ONLY get my news from one source...The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Because if we weren't laughing, we'd be crying. (But it REALLY bothers me that you have to get through ads to get to their site now...Jon, I love you. Now stop that.) Okay. Enough politics. Or big JW is going to jump in here and rant at me. :)

Continue for more of "Random...it's all random"

I am SO difficult.

So, we continue to sally forth.

Today we awoke to a sticky kind of heat...the kind of heat that makes you wish that you could just sprawl in a kiddie pool all day long. Whoa. We COULD get a kiddie pool. There is no condo board here!

A is sketching different tile strategies for the bathroom. TILE is HARD. Not floor tile so much...we're digging that American Olean has 1" hexagon tile and other neat patterns with backing so you can install them in sheets. (Cheating, I know.) But WALL TILE.

That's a whole different story.

If you have good wall tile, go thank it before you go to bed tonight. Say, "Nice tile, nice tile" and brush your fingers along its straight, geometrically perfect grout lines.

For fun with tile, go to this site. Can you believe that this is my brand of FUN these days? :) I used to go clubbing. Now, I play with tile software.

Continue for more of "I am SO difficult."

Smelly Encounter

"Adventures in homeownership"

We took the evening off.

After I got home from work and used my new CLEANER OF CHOICE (vinegar) on a couple of things (it really does work)...

...we went sailing for the first time this season. A's family has had a trim little sailboat in the family for three generations so we headed out for the evening on Lake Michigan with our pals, AJ and L.

So relaxing. When the water is calm, the breeze is steady and its dusk...it's like sitting in your living room with the coolest view of Chicago in the world. And...you're moving.

Ok. So. Anyway. When we got home, we took the dog for a stroll around the new 'hood...

Continue for more of "Smelly Encounter"

No good, very bad, horrible day

Last night I used vinegar successfully to take some funky stains off of some vintage Pyrex glassware, but then set off a huge cloud of acrid smoke in the basement when I turned on the mangle to try pressing some towels.

At 3 am.

So A and I had to drag that thing into the back yard (with it screeching and protesting and belching smoke the whole way--I am terribly sorry for our neighbors) so we didn't have to worry about it exploding before morning. I turned the hose on it a few times for good measure.

It was the sorriest sight to see over morning coffee.

The poor thing looks like it tried to crawl out to the garbage and died on the way there, next to the sidewalk.

This sleep deprivation thing is a huge bummer.

{waving hello madly...}

You know...this Internet thing is super fun.

I had no idea the interesting sites that I would find by looking at people who had looked at OUR site. This is one big Internet-fest. Sorry I sound so much like a geek but honestly, this blog thing is a pretty new phenomenon to me. Though I really miss the Table Talk crowd at MWT for Salon.com. :(

And to those of you who are tuning in to just our site (like my family), roam around a little bit. These folks, especially some of the livejournal crowd, are very good writers and FUN!

Our top ten linked sites (according to web stats) are:

1. BoingBoing - This is some very cool stuff served up piping hot daily.

2. American Bungalow Magazine - If you love the site, the zine will have you swooning. Plus, such a helpful house restoration crowd.

3. Old House - If you have an Old House, you need this site. Not to be confused with "This Old House".

4. Purejuice - She's a great writer, she's got soul, and she's got a kickin' site. Also voted Livejournal user we'd most like to have a margarita and conversation with.

Rest of top ten if you click the link...

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Electricity and I--Not the best of pals

Today, after I got home from work, I put on a brave face and started to sort and tag. For the garage sale, that is. Man, but researching what things should cost is stressful. There is a LOT of stuff in here. And a lot of it is worth very, very little. Trust me on this. Old does not necessarily equal valuable.

A good thing and a not so good thing happened.

I did drag our BIG PRIZE SCORE from the dangers of the unventilated bathroom to the dry comfort of the storage room in the attic. This part of the attic has a cute little door and everything. Very sweet...

As is the TRUNK! (Our aforementioned big score...)

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Say whaaaa...??? (To paraphrase Jon Stewart)

So, we are at that place where we feel like we are losing momentum rather than gaining it. After the initial cleaning and before we've had time to begin anything major and drawn out. Before the hot and muggy weather is gone.

Luckily, a phone call to L in Boston has me laughing instead of blue. Not only do her sister and brother-in-law live in a gorgeously renovated Victorian in Northampton, but they have put themselves through this more than once! Is there a type of -mania, like "kleptomania", except with renovation? What IS that Latin word for "renovates endlessly putting themselves through torture repeatedly"?

She's says I'll be alright. That is the absolutely most yucky stage.

Well, that's good.

So, before we fall asleep at night, A and I read our little "Do It Yourself" picture books and gear up for the weekend. Here's a snippet of our conversation from last night:

A: Listen to this. Who writes the copy that goes with these pictures? (reading aloud) “…sometimes, though, you want to go beyond the basics and experience the real pleasure of bathing. The deep relaxation of hot water. The therapy of quiet immersion. The peaceful pleasure of bathing with family or friends…” (stops reading) Whaaaaa? (makes funny cartoon shaking head noise)

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What have we learned so far about old things?

You know, researching the history of historical and vintage items is so much more difficult than we thought, After many trips to the library, and bookstores, and MANY searches on the web, I still have the following questions:

1) Who is the pottery artist named "de Vegh?"

2) What is the story on the Gefle company in Sweden?

3) Who is Lewis Weil?

And many others. It's back to the books on this one.

The objects themselves are interesting, however, it's the story behind each one that I find fascinating. I spied this on a book list somewhere and thought it might explain my general fascination. Objects of Desire: The Lives of Antiques...

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Is this renovating? Or dating?

The cable person stood me up today.

I feel like I am dating again.

I thought A and I were safely tucked away within the bonds of matrimony and suddenly we've been thrust into the front lines of THE HOME REPAIR GAME because we have bought a fixer-upper. Waiting by the phone? Yes. Wondering if they'll like you enough to come back? Yes. Moping around until you hear from them? Yes.

I'm in high school all over again. I'm scanning the "Ask Norm" column in This Old House magazine as feverishly as I used to scan the "Dating Tips" column in Seventeen Magazine.

So, we did a lot of stuff ourselves this past weekend while pretending like we didn't care that the most POPULAR contractors were spending time with OTHER clients. Probably cheerleader clients.

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A peaceful place

Instead of showing you pictures of our dusty, yucky place today (can you tell we worked all day?), we will show you our vision of hope...a little piece of paradise that we call...

A's parent's house.

A's parents lived on the same street that they live on now when A was born. They moved a few times and eventually settled back in Chicago, a few blocks away from their original house. They rented THIS house from the previous owners and then eventually bought it. It is adorable.



It is a Tudor-revival bungalow with a clever, lovely addition in the back. It is also clean. And everything WORKS. And they are working on a new garden. Sigh.

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Our Own Personal Niagara Falls

Today was a very unusual day.

Coco had a yucky day. She ate something that didn't agree with her and didn't feel well.

She didn't feel well many times. On almost an hourly basis for about 5 hours. This kept us on our toes all day.

And it rained VERY hard today. And also hailed.

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Everyone needs a buddy break!

You know, when this whole process becomes too overwhelming, we are thankful for our friends. Because they make us laugh. And think hard about world issues. And help us through the rough spots. (But...at the end of this story is a surprise appearance by the EMPEROR of creepy crawlies...be careful when scrolling.)

Today, K came in from Law School in DC...we were SO HAPPY to see her! She and her sister, B, as well as friends L & A helped A & I to celebrate a mild Friday evening in the flowery backyard. And to break in the new (old) lawn furniture! (Okay, okay...I'm the one next to L on the seat...with the blue dress. A is taking the picture.)

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The Gang's All Here!

Sometimes, while you are reading this blog, you may be thinking, "Who is nutty enough about a type of ARCHITECTURE that they would put themselves through that renovation stuff?"

Well, we are. But we're not alone!

We have plenty of Bungalow Pals who get us through our ups and downs. Including many on the American Bungalow Magazine forum. People who love bungalows are more than a "group"...they are a movement! Much like the movement between 1910 and 1940 when most of the bungalows across the country were built. Bungalows may look little but they live LARGE, are esthetically pleasing, and have a lot of heart AND soul.

We have many Bungalow Pals who have blazed the "un-muddling" trail ahead of us...and lots of bungalows we admire. The folks on the AB Forum are a nice group whether you have a bungalow or just want to talk renovation and interior design (and furniture and paint and so on). Maybe you have a Georgian, a Colonial or other type of home...this group that will invite you in, shake your hand and settle you down on the porch with a glass of wine.

We can't list ALL of them here--there are so many! But here are few cool places to check out...make sure you click the links to review THEIR before and after photos.

Suzanne's Sweet Bungalow

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Looking for Mr. or Ms. Good Wrench

Coco and I went on a mission together in the car.

We were looking for....craftspeople.

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Just a Regular (Fair & Balanced) Day

Okay. Remember this guy?

Alright. So HE is how my day ended. Let's start from the top.

5:00 am

Wake up in a seated position on the couch with the laptop in your lap and an aching neck. Because you still have insomnia and are having a problem synching up the "sleep" software with the "laying down on a comfortable bed" software.

5:15 am

Find the Advil. Do a load of laundry and wash the dishes. Feed the dog and the cat because they both are hanging on to your ankles. Think long and hard about someday being a parent. Decide to just leave it up to Providence.

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Nothing Much

Some days we make more progress than others. Today was one of the others...

We did have a nice dinner with my parents and grandparents, though. It just didn't result in any progress in our estate-sale preparation or our home improvement quest. Oh well...

Ssssh. Don't scare him away...

(whispering)

Okay, cool. We may have found an electrician. A guy that digs plaster walls, has loads of experience and is very pleasant. We saw his work in progress on C & D's house and called him. He has the precision of a surgeon when it comes to plaster walls and ceilings. Until we are sure that we haven't scared him away, we will have to refer to him as

Mr. X

(cue organ music here!)

Continue for more of "Ssssh. Don't scare him away..."

Eventually, life finds YOU...through the internet

Okay, before I launch into our very fun experience yesterday, I just want to give you a small visual update.

THIS room used to be FULL to the BRIM with things. And now, most things on the second floor have been researched, tagged, photographed and put in their proper temporary storage place. Either for sale or for keeping. We worked on this floor today. (click to make things larger):

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Mom, do not read this. I'm serious.

Another scorching day. Another day spent by the A/C unit.

I didn't know whether I should write about this next topic or not. But, in the absence of further progress on the "de" construction (and at the insistance of my dear spouse), I shall now bring up a very VERY serious topic with all of you.

The matter of what to do with your wedding band during home improvement projects.

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What are you DOING here? It's a HOLIDAY!

Really. You need to take a break from looking at home, um, improvement. It's Labor Day. Meaning a day to celebrate by NOT laboring. A day to fire up the grill and invite some pals into your backyard so they can look in horror at the mess you've bought.

Like we are.

So, while we are out in the yard, we can offer up these sites that we find interesting, clever and amusing (and educational!) and that we aren't usually able to feature because they have NOTHING to do with our topic. Home De-construction.

Check them out. You'll enjoy yourself. And have a happy Labor Day. From all of us at Home in Progress.

Chaos Kitty: Simply elegant and funny.

Ze Frank: Still the master of creativity and having a good time on the Internet. And, he mentions his mom a lot in his blog...always good to give a little love to the mom.

Things that are broken make me want to fix them. (Except companies. I've gotten out of that now. Because, well, they don't want to be fixed.) Plus, Mark Good is a very nice down to earth guy who knows his stuff.

This American Life...the real one.

My life right now. Except I'm in one house and these guys are everywhere.

Chicago Uncommon. Some of the most beautiful photography to be found documenting a city I love.

___________________________________________

Ask my mom. She will tell you that I was born marching to the step of a different drummer. Which means that these following links will be of no surprise to her. But, if you just want to keep to the lighthearted portion of this holiday....do not cross this line, please.
____________________________________________

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What are you looking for?

We were enjoying ourselves thoroughly at our BLOCK PARTY tonight. :) Neighbors are cool. Plus, we are thoroughly convinced that we live on one of the coolest streets of neighbors in Chicago. They've been doing this block party thing for 20 years! There was live music and great food...it was much fun.

So, with little time before I head downstairs to rummage, I checked out our "stats" on the site, which I do occasionally. It's fun to see which countries access the site and so forth.

I'm always intrigued by what people are LOOKING FOR when they stumble across our site via an Internet search engine, like Google or Yahoo or MSN.

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Shh! Be Very Very Quiet...

...and no sudden moves.

Our favorite electrician out of the bunch we reviewed is BACK! We are so excited. More about Mr. X later.

It's all in the details.

Some days I am quite sure I know why we bought this house.

Other days, as I am vaccuuming yet more dirt from the floors, or brushing plaster dust from my clothing, or washing my 4th set of dishes that day, I think...

What did we SEE in this place?

Okay. Okay. It was the location (in A's old neighborhood near his parents and near our church). It was the neighbors...awesome. It was the "flow" of the house...very nice. And it was the details. They obviously blinded us to all else.

The built-in cabinets>...(click on a picture to make it larger)

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Never Ever Alone

If you double-click on this picture, you will get an impression of what it is like to grab a quick burger between tagging and cleaning in our house.

You are never, ever eating ALONE!

And, by the way? Since we published the search engine phrases that have led people astray and to OUR website, we've actually had a few funnier, some definitely puzzling, and more gross ones, like:

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A trip to the Restoration and Renovation Expo

Today we went to the Restoration & Renovation Expo at Chicago's Navy Pier.

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Happiness CAN be found in an Appliance

Well, not complete happiness forever and ever. But a little "whee, kicking up my heels" happiness for the moment. And that is nice.

Our very small dishwasher...She is working! And that is HUGE! Even though she is not. Huge that is :)

She joins the ranks of admirable appliances here at Chez Mess. Mr. Vacuum, Mr & Mrs Washer and Dryer and Mr. Electric Lawnmower.

A long time ago, I used to think that washing the dishes was soothing and pleasurable. Here, it is the battle of Sisyphus against grime and dirt.

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What do you want, Coco?

Would someone out in Readerland please read this dog's mind and tell us what she wants. Please? (click on the picture for the full effect)

Because we honestly DON'T KNOW.

Her nightly ritual at 9:45 pm has become *grrr, grrr* then BARK! BARK! BARK! then a series of meaningful looks that plead..."you KNOW what I want. C'mon. Give me what I want."

But we DON'T know. We know it's not "out". We know it's not "play". We know it's not "toy" or "cat". All attempts are met with only frustrated sighs and dog groans.

I guess I don't even need to say that this never happened in the old house.

As I type this, the cycle has been repeated twice and it is beginning again. From the top. With the *grrr's*.

WHAT DOES SHE WANT????!!!!!!

Dust you can write your name in

Today, we tried and tried to get the best of our "to do" list, but some days it IS hard.

The dust left in this house does not help. In the beginning, it got into everything...our hair, our clothes, our food. We clean and clean but it will take awhile...and that is BEFORE the work begins! It is dust you can write your name in.

I wasn't kidding! This is the top shelf of a bookcase we tipped over to carry down the stairs.

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Nooooooooooooooo!

Not a garbage strike! No, please, not that!

And, what will we...I mean, where will...what will we do with the LITTERBOX????

Come to think of it, the collectors probably should get more money based on our house alone. Sigh.

Sick. An Tired.

I am sick. I am also tired. Mostly this is due to the cold season coming on (I work near pre-schoolers and with folks in college.) I tend to pick up every "bug" imaginable.

How tired am I? Last night, I climbed into bed with my dinner (a stack of plain rice cakes) and my book. I don't remember anything until waking up this morning with the book on my stomach and a totally complete rice cake STICKING OUT OF MY MOUTH!

I hadn't moved all night. Even to chew. I was THAT tired. I must have breathed through my nose, which is a miracle.

Why neither pet took advatage of my plight shall always remain a mystery.

CUBS WIN!!!

Cubs Win!!!!

The last time the Cubs won a (postseason) Series is BEFORE THIS HOUSE WAS BUILT!

Which means that there will be a lot more of this happening around here for a little while.

Yeah. The last time there was no house. No TV. And that chair certainly wasn't around. Wow.

This is all a mind blower. Right, A? A? A?

Something tells me I'm on my own for researching and tagging for the next few weeks.

HouseKEEPING...in progress

How does one live in transition? Live in a house while work ON the house is ongoing?

You go a little nuts trying to keep up. Then you set your priorities and your expectations around everything else sinks very VERY low.

Then, you go into a frenzy about every 2 weeks crying out, "Please! No more dust!! NO MORE DUST!!!"

Because, every 2 days when you dust (no longer is it 1 week or 2), you have this:

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This might finally be a reality show we can relate to

I'm not a big fan of reality TV.

I don't consider it very "real". Even shows which are fun about home improvement are a little SURreal...where's the disagreement about door placement? Where are the 18 trips to Lowes or Home Depot or the local lumberyard?

And NO WAY can you do the amount of work they're doing in 60 minutes. With commercial breaks.

BUT! TBS and Lowe's have just announced a NEW reality TV show called "House Rules." If it shows just ONE real thing about a couple working on a house that is a mess (some quiet crying maybe? Or a trip to the Emergency Room?), I will consider this to be "the real deal".

If you are or were one of the couples who responded to this site, hats off to you, mates. You are brave souls.

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Early morning, thinking about remarks made about "treasure hunting"

It is 5:00 am and I cannot sleep again. There are many things weighing heavily on my heart and mind. I won't put them here.

I stepped outside of the back door this evening and found this little tree just blazing Fall glory with all of its might...the leaves actually seemed to crackle and burn with colour.

Fall is such an appropriate season for letting go...but it is difficult, because the colours call our attention to the beauty of everything that will soon be hidden.

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Which is MORE frightening?

Which is more frigthening? You decide...

The STEPFORD WIVES?

(A bunch of housewives in the 1970's become faceless, expressionless zombies, who are pleasant, malleable and ignorant. But WHO or WHAT is making them THAT WAY? Intrigue, gender power wars, the "perfect wife", robots, murder, strangeness.)

Or.....

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Sanity Retreat

This weekend we had a "mini-retreat" from the house. We spent a night at a Comfort Inn in Milwaukee (J had to fly out the next morning), and a hotel room never seemed more deluxe!

Working light fixtures, clean floors, no dust! Who would have thought that these "normal" comforts could seem like such a treat!? Actually, the best part was the jacuzzi tub we were upgraded to when our first room was by the elevator and too noisy. After a bath we were cleaner than we had been since June!

Coming back wasn't a downer. It was just nice to spend a night with the comforts that we'd grown so used to until we took on the challenge of the live-in renovation. I'm sure there will be more "sanity retreats" in our future...

Smells like...? A new game. Unfortunately.

So, we had a smelly basement and thought we had fixed it. We felt so clever. So superior. So...naive.

It's back. The SMELL IN THE BASEMENT!

Why I can smell things before A can or even when he cannot, I have no idea. Luckily, other people do. Otherwise, A would think that I was a complete nut.

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"I will not pick at the house...I will not..."

I can't help it. It's like...well...it's like playing with a thread that is unraveling from your sweater. Or scratching a mosquito bite.

You KNOW you're not supposed to do it. But, it FEELS so good. You know?

I get that way with this house. So much stuff peeling and flaking and tearing away and drooping around here. It's so HARD not to pick at it.

So, I'm on the phone and completely engrossed in the conversation and my eyes naturally drift to my kitchen floor. And to the obvious border that USED to be the outside wall of the house before they moved the back door 3-4 feet to the west.

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Happy Halloween Coco!

Coco and I took first shift of trick-or-treat duty since A was commuting from work.

She decided to go as the "Wolf who Ate Grandma in Little Red Riding Hood"

I told her it was a very scary costume. Good choice!

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Restoration with Love

As a couple, you don't get to spend a lot of romantic time staring into each other's eyes and being mushy when you have a lot of work to do on a house!

So, you have to get creative. So, maybe you're stripping the tile backing off of a wood floor one day. Your dear spouse is working in the basement or off to try to find tile under the tar in the bathroom.

So you proceed to strip the floor...around the carpet anyway. 89% of the thick black dust in this house can be traced back to this flaky floor.