If all goes well, I will go home tonight and check the bedroom floor and it’s newest coat of varnish will be hard as nails. If it’s dry enough, we can move all our living room and dining room furniture into the bedroom, clearing them out completely. Then, this weekend will be floor-o-rama as we […]

Thanks to everyone for the great landscaping advice – I’ve got a running list of things to check out now. While we wait for the hardwood varnish to dry completely (STILL….will it never end?), we’ve been entertaining ourselves by fixing exterior annoyances. Yesterday the weather was beautiful (so rare in Central New York!) so we […]

When we took our first trip to a nursery last spring, we were shocked at how much plants and trees go for these days. Our dreams of a nice, lush yard full of trees, bushes and flowers quickly vanished as we looked at pricetags. We ended up settling for a spindley little crab tree from […]

We wait, and wait, and wait for the varnish to dry (and apply a second coat, and wait some more). While we wait, we sleep on a mattress on the living room floor, between a displaced radiator and a giant mound of STUFF. The floor is our new bedroom – here’s what the house looks […]

How much Advil does it take to dull the pain caused by 2 12-hour days of kneeling and squatting? And why the hell didn’t I buy my own set of knee pads??? Our weekend can be summed up in a few words – pain, exhaustion, and exilhiration. We rented an orbital drum sander Saturday morning, […]

Last night, at 2am, we were awakened by the “beep….beep….beep” of our fire alarm. I, being the paranoid one, shot straight up in bed and tried to wake Teague, who declared “The fire alarm just needs batteries. It’ll go off on it’s own.” Now…. A) It wasn’t the “low battery beep, and no it won’t […]

We knew we needed to tackle some roof repair about a month after moving into our house; we had some minor leaking in the bedroom after a major rainstorm. Since the initial discovery, that spot has been patched twice, but continues to find new ways to let in the rain and snow. Teague’s been up-close […]

Aside from Teague, who of course is “in the business“, we have spent the last year and a half on the DIY straight and narrow. No outsiders – just Teague and I (and the occassional family member) pushing through all sorts of crazy projects. Now, as we’re nearing our floor-sanding days, we’re finding all sorts […]

Tired of ruining every piece of clothing you have? Sick of washing dirty, grimey work pants with your delicate whites? Embarrassed because every time you go to work, someone finds paint specks on your dress shirt? This guy has the right idea…..

Just when you think you’re far enough away from home to start acting like a normal person (instead of a home repair addict), something pulls you right back in. Behold my father-in-law, Don, pointing out an obvious case of the “notch trick“. Teague noticed it on our way out of a Butterfly Conservatory in Durham, […]