We've mentioned this before, but one of the most difficult things about this home renovation process has been remembering how much we've accomplished. It's easy to get busy, especially during the summer, and next thing you know, two weeks (or more) have passed and you haven't done anything house-related. The primary reason that it's easy… Continue reading BEHIND THE SCENES
Living in a city can feel like a concrete jungle. Sometimes we would prefer an actual jungle - or at the very least, a bit of green. We are fortunate to have a tiny yard and have occasionally made use of it (see: pumpkin bonanza). But this summer, the front yard and back patio have… Continue reading WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
We thought it might be a good idea to start posting consistent weekly updates of what we've accomplished. Our weekends have been extremely productive lately, but sometimes the results aren't always pretty. Our efforts don't necessarily result in something that is "post-worthy" on its own, but they do result in something real. Many of our projects lately have… Continue reading WEEKEND UPDATE: ONE
We have a love-hate relationship with our floors. There is so much character in them. Character is a major reason why we love old homes and their old parts. Character can be attractive, romantic, and nostalgic. Character can also mean that things are inconvenient, inefficient, or downright gross. Our floors have a multitude of those… Continue reading DIY: PAINTED WOOD FLOORS
Over the next few weekends, we are both finally home, not traveling, and with no major plans – perfect for knocking one of our smaller home improvement projects off of our list! As you may know, we own a multi-family walk-up in Chicago. The first floor is a rental unit, currently occupied by tenants, and… Continue reading PUTTING SOME PEP IN OUR STEPS
There are many home renovation tasks that we are ill-equipped to tackle ourselves (e.g.: plumbing, electric, etcetera). Provided that the house and/or our lives aren’t under any imminent threat from our inexperience, we like to do (or attempt) as much as we can. One of the “simpler” items on our ever-growing to-do list is painting.… Continue reading BEFORE + AFTER: PAINT EDITION
Renovating a home can be a fairly stressful task. Not only is it expensive, but it takes a lot of time and energy. The way we see it, you basically have two options: 1. do the project yourself: saving you money, but taking A LOT of your time, or 2. have someone else complete the… Continue reading TILE STYLE
When someone walks into a room, they never think to themselves, “I really wish this room had less storage space.” Older homes, such as ours, are notorious for having extremely small rooms. Bathrooms included. This limitation makes choosing the pieces to fill this space extremely tricky. On the one hand, you want to take full advantage of your… Continue reading SMALL SPACE, BIG STORAGE
Just looking at this bathroom makes you want to take a shower...except if you took a shower in this bathroom, you would probably feel dirtier than when you started while picking up a case of athlete's foot in the process. Don't break open any skin in here or you may wind up with all of… Continue reading REBIRTH OF A BATHROOM
A renovation project is really a ton of different projects under one roof. As we have said before, every home is a fixer-upper. And some need a lot more TLC than others. Our Bucktown beauty had seen better days, and while we wanted to make it better, there were some days when we didn't really… Continue reading WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
