Month: March 2012

A tale of broken pipes, or the end of the Shower of Sadness

/ Pink Bronwstone / Leave a comment

Buying an old house is an adventure. Buying a house that needs work is like starring in your very own disater/horror movie: fun, but requires a certain amount of, um… intestinal fortitude. Thus far, our nemesis has been plumbing: our pipes simply are all manner of disgruntled. After the great Poop Gate of 2012, we thought we had the major plumbing issues behind us, but it was not to be so.

Plumbing has thus far consumed a major portion of our home reno budget. Sure it’s great not to have a feces-filled basement,or a gas explosion in the foyer – however these are all decidedly un-sexy things. It’s stuff that happens in the background and really doesn’t improve the house’s appearance (only its function and its comfort, after all it’s pretty nice to take a hot shower).

The plumbers finished up on Friday and we’re now a fully functioning household. The Shower of Sadness has been banished from existence, the gas leak has been fixed and the washer/drier/laundry tub have been hooked up. We’re like grown ups now! No more cold showers and smelly clothes!

Progress in the Garden Hallway

/ Pink Bronwstone / 1 Comment

The Pink Lady  has been throwing us some curve balls lately. No, not the doorbell that rings randomly (it seems as we have a ghost that locked itself out and wants back in. I call her Constance). Our biggest problem is that the mechanical systems are organizing a mutiny and a general strike of Greek proportions. Oy!

So let’s talk about something different entirely, shall we? Here is some good before/after stuff that is far more fun that plumbing, BTUs and wiring:

Remember what the floor looked like when we bought the house?

This shot extra dark and gloomy to illustrate exactly how we felt about this part of the house

Looking towards the front of the house (the door leads to the entrance under the stoop)

Well, through the creative use of a crow bar, some elbow grease and the magic of turning round bamboo into flat flooring, we now have this:

Work in progress: the floor is in, just missing the trim pieces

There is still some work left to be done in this area, but one more weekend and it should be done. Woo hoo!