And…we have sod

Construction season

New sewer, new water main, new street, new storm sewers, new curbs, new boulevards, new sidewalks, new trees and lots of noise and dirt. And cutting down century-old trees… And still a long way to go.

Painting the front porch floor on my 120 year-old house

The front porch of our 120 year-old house has a painted floor, and it was peeling badly. It was painted an unfortunate emerald color at some point, and upon scraping, I determined it once had red shag carpeting. Classy! Here’s a side-by-side before/after shot: It made a great weekend project. Scraping took about three hours. […]

PAINT MAKEOVER: stunning transformation of our century-old home

After four years of living with the gray and pink color palette our home’s previous owners slathered over our 1890 home in historic downtown Chaska, I’m thrilled to share these before/after pictures. BEFORE: AFTER: What a difference a little paint makes!

Last week in pictures

Batman brought me to New York again… Including a stop at Wollman Rink… My colleague Wade tried to cast a spell on me with the magic wand he carries in his knapsack (for real)… Our flight out of LaGuardia was cancelled. Took a speeding cab ride to JFK. Got the last seat on the last […]

Goodbye Hot Tub

The main circuit board and ozonator on the hot tub fried. Partner the expense of fixing those parts (and whatever else was wrong with it) plus the idea of reclaiming part of our small backyard, plus the fact my Dad was in town, and we had a heck of a project this weekend. Before: After: […]

Toy Kitchen Set Refinishing Project

My grandpa built a toy kitchen set for my mom decades ago. It was my sister’s growing up and then ended up in a storage unit since the late 80s. It’s pretty great compared to the plastic kitchens you can buy at big box stores. It has “real” metal faucets, “real” stove/oven knobs and multiple […]