La Villa Loca

While most of the first floor of the sh*thouse has original (and astonishingly straight, if scratched-up) hardwood flooring, the second floor was graced with unfathomably gross off-white wall-to-wall carpeting, complete with dust, dirt, dead flies, and what looked suspiciously like blood stains(?!). I can’t think of many scenarios where off-white carpeting would be a good choice, but when you couple that flooring decision with literally decades of neglect (and maybe a double homicide), well... you buy yourself a respirator before tearing it up, is what you do. Armed with utility knives, contractor trash bags, respirators (I wasn’t kidding), and the cheerful help of a friend*, we set out to make the second floor a little more livable. We assumed we’d be left with fractionally-less-gross hardwood, which we could cover with cheap, DIY carpet tiles until we were ready to tear the whole floor up. So we started in the back corner of the back bedroom where we were met with the old, cr...

So yes, the sh*thouse had some plumbing issues which needed to be addressed prior to two rational adult humans occupying it. In short, there was a smell of sewer gas in the basement, which is... not what you want. Based on the information we had, it seemed like the drainage of fresh (rain) water, aka the "drain tile", and the drainage of sewage (gross) were somehow commingled, which is pretty bad. Gotta keep 'em separated. The plumber who performed the initial diagnosis of the issue wasn't our first pick to perform the work. In addition to the fact that he sort of hung us out to dry during the negotiations with the sellers (a story for another day), his particular style of arithmetic allowed for swings of approximately $5000 when calculating dollar amounts, which is, uh, a lot. So, we booked a few more plumbers to look at the issue and give us a quote. Kids, if you're considering paying for a liberal arts degree, go ahead and stop listening to whichever parent...

On April 30, we bought a house. If you know Joe and I at all, you could probably guess that it… needs some work. We love a project, and we’re no strangers to working with vintage homes. We’ve gladly embraced creaky floors, wavy walls and funky layouts if it meant personality, history, charm, and the ability to make it our own.  So we bought a house that has all that in spades. But, like any good opportunity, it comes with its share of risks, and maybe more. This project is bigger than any we’ve taken on before. And if you’ve found your way here to our blog, you probably want to come along for the ride. Let’s start at the beginning. Welcome to Crazy Town! Real quick, how did we get here? After 4+ years in our beloved condo, we began to feel that familiar yearning to stretch our legs. We wanted a yard for Chief, a living room big enough for the oversized couch of my dreams, a garage for the vintage BMW of Joe’s dreams. Room to grow into. You know how it goes.  Wee...