It finally happened! For 4 years I have been asking myself why our wisteria wouldn’t bloom.
I did some research and learned that wisteria needs vigorous pruning in order to bloom. I found a great video that shows how and when to prune. I followed the advice and it worked. Flowers!
We pruned in January instead of February, as recommended in the video, because our growing season starts earlier in Southern California.
{See the video after the jump.}
(more…)
Restoration Diary, Home Office
We are making the opening of the closet larger. The closet is long and very narrow. Enlarging the closet opening will make the closet more functional by providing easier access. We are also going to get really modern and install lighting in the closet. Ha!
Can you imagine calling this room the heart of your home? To my modern eyes the early 1900’s kitchen looks rather cold and uninviting, utilitarian, and with all those pipes and exposed brick, industrial.
It is interesting how the industrial look is a current kitchen trend with industrial lighting and stainless steel.
At this time, some kitchens were still located in basements. In many upper middle class and well-to-do families kitchens were the domain of servants. Kitchens of yesteryear were not the hub of family life the way our kitchens are today. Friends gathering around and chatting to the host while she (or, as in my house, he) prepared dinner would have been unimaginable.
“Modern” conveniences such as a water heater, gas range, and garbage incinerator were available, but it is still a few years before what we would recognize or relate to as a modern kitchen of the 1910’s-1920’s.
Restoration Diary, Home Office, Wallpaper Removal
All the wallpaper is removed from the walls. The tip of using windshield washer fluid worked quite well.
Home Office Idea Board: 1. George Nelson Bubble Lamp 2. Benjamin Moore Paint 3. CB2 Triumph Lounge Chair 4. Flor Tiles, Grey Pop Tartan 5. West Elm Parsons Desk
One of the things that make bungalows such comfortable homes to live in is that they are well suited to a variety of design styles and tastes. I am taking a bit more of a contemporary approach in the design of our home office. This may be where some of us aesthetically part ways, but please don’t go away! Stick around and see how great a nearly 100 year old room can look with a contemporary color scheme and furnishings.
This home office needs to be functional for two people and it is a place where we will be spending 8+ hours a day. We work in a creative field and want our work space to be fun, colorful, streamlined and, of course, affordable.
I keep coming back to the pictures of the two rooms above. I love how they both have bright pops of color.
Nothing Important, Mean People Suck
Look familiar?
Update: The other site took down my article and photos this morning. Thank you to everyone who contacted them on our behalf!
Taking photos and content from my website without my consent or prior approval and posting them on your sham of a site, created for the sole purpose of generating Google ad dollars, is not appreciated. It is called stealing, but I’m sure you are already aware of that. You probably don’t care that it takes me a good amount of time to photograph and write the content on this blog.
My original article Stolen article {they have taken it down}
Did you ever think that those ad dollars that you are earning off of my work would be better spent lining my pockets? Have you seen my house???? The next time you are on this site to pilfer content please click on an ad or two, we could really use the money. We promise to put it towards remodeling our kitchen.
Yes, we are using part of a wooden crate to cover up a big hole in our ceiling. Yes, I did use duct tape to tape over a huge hole in the wall.
How To, Restoration Diary, Home Office, Wallpaper Removal
Let the restoration begin! Stripping layers of wallpaper from the plaster is more difficult since the wallpaper has been painted several times. The Dummies series has a very helpful article on removing wallpaper.
Here is another approach for removing wallpaper from Yahoo! Answers:
“Go to any store where they sell wallpaper supplies, etc. Home Depot will do, too. Buy the tool to score the wallpaper. It looks like a mini pizza cutter but with spikes on it. Run this up and down and all around the wall. Then take windshield washer fluid, the blue kind (which is unbelievable cheaper than wallpaper removal liquid sold commercially). Put it in a spray bottle and spray the wall in sections. Once a section has been sprayed, slowly peel off the wallpaper.”
I intend to give windshield washer fluid a try!
Bathrooms, Holidays, Restoration Diary, Valentine's Day
David’s Valentine’s Day present. Toto toilet with a walnut seat.
David is really the only person who uses the downstairs half bath. I decided it was time for him to get an upgrade!
Restoration Diary, Home Office
Bedroom Before
Now that our bathroom is completed we have decided to move into the bedroom located directly off the bathroom, a little more en suite…or as “en suite” as you can get in an almost 100 year old house. Our existing bedroom will become a home office.
I’m really excited to get started!
Bathrooms, Restoration Diary, Corgi
The bathtub is just the right size to give two corgis a bath and the sides are high enough that they can’t jump out.
Stripping Paint and Refinishing Woodwork
Historical Bathroom Photos
The Green House“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
{a few of my favorite things}