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We have an email shop here at work, and a coworker was selling some never used, JC Penney Home drapes w/ matching throw pillows, just what I need for the new family room! Now, if we can just close tonight... [Read More] 

If you've been keeping up at all with us, you know that shortly after moving into this home, we discovered that the previous owner's dog had an apparent bladder issue. This little bit of information was masked until we decided to shampoo the family r [Read More] 

Today was much more fulfilling than yesterday. If you compare the pictures, you’ll see why!
It always takes me awhile to get back in the groove of hauling up all the tools and starting the circus of sawing, shaving, cutting, sanding, shimming [Read More] 

Today was a fantastic but long day. I finished installing the base trim, finished puttying all the nail holes, sanded all the yet-to-be-installed trim (crown, base shoe, base cap, window stop), sanded the putty, taped the walls and floor and put on [Read More] 

This was the status as of last night. All the trim is finished, stained and polyurethaned. We picked up our couch yesterday, and I am nearly done with the TV wiring. A trip this weekend will keep me away from it until next week, but we could be [Read More] 

Today I started installing the hybrid of old and new trim. Most of what are using in this room is the original trim, but the sills and a few other pieces will be new. Each piece of casing has to be shimmed out by 1/2″ on the jamb side to ac [Read More] 

This is the latest edition to our temporary home theater room. It’s a nice sofa! We got it for free from my parents. They have been doing some rethinking in their home to accommodate for my dad, and this lovely sofa was just too hard for him to [Read More] 

I have advocated for a pass-through from kitchen to dining room for most of my married life. My grandmother had one in her kitchen that worked pretty well. At Thanksgiving, you could put serving dishes and silverware and whatever on the pass-throug [Read More] 

I haven't gotten much done around here -- in fact, I've pretty much done nothing house-related all week, really. I was traveling for part of the week and was just plain busy last weekend. This weekend may be more of the same, honestly.But, while I wa [Read More] 

two hard-working guys Originally uploaded by southsideandy ...and the baby furniture is here.Luis, my longtime friend and reliable Building a Better Bungalow fan, came over today to help me with more demolition and debris removal, which was a [Read More] 

Stained glass Originally uploaded by southsideandy Check THIS out! I'm so psyched about it. Of course, I had to demolish walls to find this, when really all I needed to do was clean out the utilities room, and it would have been right there f [Read More] 

North window and mess Originally uploaded by southsideandy ...time to roll up the sleeves. Yes, basement renovation is under way. I'm fully aware this is a monumental task. I'm fully aware it's not going to be a quick job.But, it should be no [Read More] 

What was originally the formal dining room is now the family room. Sitting in the middle of the home, it straddles the formal front rooms and the more modern kitchen in back.
In order to provide a smooth transition, we've painted the wainsco [Read More] 

We needed two ceiling fans to install in the third floor rec room. It's tall and open up there, with beige and taupe walls. It is our "concession to modern" floor, and I aimed to keep things minimal and light.So naturally, the first thing I did was g [Read More] 

We took a short vacation last week and spent Thanksgiving with our family in Florida. Instead of boring you folks with images of us and Mickey, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about my brother in law's bar. It will probably be the envy of [Read More] 

We are creating a second family room in our basement, hoping to create a space where our teenage kids can hang out with their friends. Here is am image of the plan...The square area is about 16' x 16', which will give plenty of room for the kids.Here [Read More] 

I have been working on a plan to center the family room windows and doors. I was having problems with the patio cover because the support posts are not in the correct location if the doors are centered. Today I worked in photoshop to come up with a [Read More] 

The third bedroom in our house is just off the kitchen near the back door. We thought it would be a perfect little family/media room, and I really like how it is turning out so far.
Originally I imagined the space as a TV/media/home office space, but [Read More] 

I thought I'd put together a little online Open House with before and after pictures of most rooms for those of you who couldn't make it. The pictures aren't all the greatest, but I think they'll show what we've done so far. I'll write a bit more a [Read More] 

Well, the nasty tile floor in the family room, seen below in the "before" picture, is now a pile of shards in our beloved dumpster. We rented a chipping hammer and power scraper at Home Depot this past weekend and went to town.Here, the results of ou [Read More] 