The kitchen updates have been an ongoing, slow-moving process. Christmas preparations pretty much stalled our progress, but now that things have died down I have a renewed energy for fixes. So, our cupboard doors are FINALLY back on the hinges. They’ve been leaning up along the walls for about a month now, and staring at […]

We got some great gifts for Christmas this year, including some perfect picks for our house. I’m dying to take a trip out to Historic House Supply to use our gift certificates from Teague’s parents. I’ve been stalking this store for months, and now we actually get to buy something there. Yeehaw! My new pride […]

Nevermind coal in our stockings – we got a letter in the mail on Christmas Eve telling us our homeowners insurance policy was being canceled. Merry Christmas to you too, Met Life. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was. They did the inspection over a month ago. No agent called with concerns, so […]

I’ve been neglecting our poor little site, so you might think we’ve been slacking off on the housework, but you’d be wrong…. we’re busier than ever trying to squeeze Christmas preparation in with the house repairs. I primed and painted the office a nice gold color, but we haven’t taken pictures yet since the room […]

You can always tell when we’ve been working on the house, despite our best efforts to clean ourselves up. (click for larger) Dressing the dogs up in funny hats and laughing uncontrollably while they wince in embarrasment is one of our Christmas traditions. That’s Bruiser in the Santa hat – here’s Nero in his penguin […]

I love radiators – I grew up in a house full of them and always liked being able to cozy up next to one when I felt cold. But the dining room radiator is right in the room’s focal point, and it’s not pretty. It looks like this: It’s half white because we were going […]

After calls to the bank and the lawyer that handled our closing, it appears that the bank made a major miscalculation and we DON’T owe an extra $200 every month. They haven’t officially retracted the higher payment notice, but supposedly the issue is fixed. Hurrah! In other news, we got plenty done this weekend. Teague […]

If you’re thinking about painting, Behr’s “Inspiration” section has some great historic color palettes, as well as some helpful design tips. The page for Victorians is here Here’s what the interior palette looks like: Sherwin Williams has some great period palettes too, and they’re very well designed, but they don’t put theirs online.

Yesterday, we got a letter in the mail stating that our mortgage payments were going to be over $200.00 higher than originally stated. This is a large increase considering what our monthly payments are and what the house looks like. My mother calmly talked me through a small nervous breakdown (Thanks, Mom!) After that, I […]

For the first month, we had momentum. We were an unstoppable force. We ran from room to room ,taking care of the mini-crisises and cleaning emergencies that kept popping up. But now, amidst the already stressful (not to mention dark, gloomy, and rainy) Christmas season, I can feel myself losing steam. Last night, I painted […]