Latest Blog Entries tagged 'renovation' [Remove Filter]

I ordered a few fixtures and fittings for the master bath this afternoon. Actually, I think they are all fixtures because we'd have a hard time unhooking them from the wall if we ever moved - things like faucets, shower heads, shower base, tub spout, [Read More]

Meanwhile back at the house... things are definitely moving on the master bathroom front. Can you even recall when I first knew we had to go in and fix this 80/90s redo? I'm ashamed to say that after we made an offer on the house we walked through w [Read More]

Today was the day allotted to demolition of the majority of the plaster in the dining room, and after a somewhat slow start that was what we did. Whereas for the first ceiling dropping free-for-all we had almost too many people to work efficiently, [Read More]

Here we have a little one story, two bedroom one bath bungalow. Cute!  The plan is to raise it up and build a new first story underneath, remodel the entire house, and blog about the home design, construction, and architecture.  T [Read More]

More fun on the roof this afternoon. It rained against yesterday -- another 1 1/2 inches in my rain gauge pot, even with the dog taking a drink out of it (she thinks I keep it there for her convenience). Plus, downtown San Francisco flooded, with [Read More]

So, our roof leaks. We knew that, and we knew that after the foundation was finished, it was going to leak more, because we leveled the house, and that caused the roof to move. In case you are not well versed in construction lore, roofs do not wan [Read More]

We're about to embark on the biggest (in terms of finances) part of the ongoing gentle update of Beach House, the master bath That is biggest so far, we still have the kitchen to sympathetically update, but we've been here for five years now and we d [Read More]

And now in our series of posts about construction contracts (see our earlier posts for lots of controversy about Binding Arbitration and What Makes a Contract), let's tackle the subject of changes. You might think that having hired a lawyer, writte [Read More]

So after that rousing diatribe against binding arbitration clauses, lets turn around and get back to basics. What makes a contract a contract? And what can a contract do for you? It will come as no surprise that we both believe in having a writte [Read More]

As a bit of foreshadowing, I thought I'd work on a short series of posts on construction contracts. And I wanted to start with the subject of binding arbitration clauses. A binding arbitration clause says that in the event of a dispute over the wo [Read More]

April 2008 I get accepted for a job within my company that I put in for, which means relocating from Seattle to San Antonio, TX. I go on a househunting trip, looking for a place that's solid on the inside (nice layout, foundation, wiring, ...) but th [Read More]

I decided today that it would be wise to rent some scaffolding as I get more into the details of this paint job.  I had Stephanie snap a few photos to demonstrate the nightmare of our west side lot line.  Not only there only about 10 feet between h [Read More]

So much for the uniqueness of our house  Today I noticed that a house a mere two blocks away and that I’ve passed by thousands of times is basically the same as ours.  Like the other twin, it sits on a flat lot, so it doesn’t give the [Read More]

The sprayer came out today for the foundation and the porch ceiling.  The foundation needed to be sprayed, since most of it is an incredibly rough texture that couldn’t possibly be brushed or rolled, and the porch ceiling would have been too m [Read More]

I cannot believe how far the paint goes when you’re brushing.  We have used only 2 1/2 gallons to finish nearly 3 sides of our house.  Tomorrow I am going to spray the funky textured foundation, so that will probably eat through a lot more pa [Read More]

No, sorry, there were no exciting ladder incidents today, but I couldn’t think of another catchy title with the word brush.  Instead, you get more pictures of paint.  Working with a brush is definitely slow, but I’ve actually been enjoy [Read More]

The garden continues to be a much needed diversion from projects around the house.  The season for asparagus is so short you have to enjoy it while you can.  We'll... [Read More]

So, there's a stream in the little woods behind our house. We like going to the woods, but carrying a 2-year-old across the stream, via a "bridge" of a couple of large stones, to get to the main part of the woods, was becoming less and less [Read More]

I have wanted to make this post for a while. A few doors down from us a beautiful old bungalow was recently renovated and it went from being a complete eyesore to being one of the nicest looking houses on the street. Steffi and I had a look in the ho [Read More]

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