Sunday Challenge Question!

You are a thirty-something, first time homeowner. You are able-bodied and have access to a wide variety of tools.

You walk into your home and up the winding stairs to the third floor. You take off your shoes as you enter the back bedroom which you have designated as your temporary living space. You walk across the room and enter the kitchenette. You open your 9.6 cu ft refrigerator and gaze idly at its contents. You close the door and wander to the east window to gaze idly out.

You are suddenly alert. There is something in the tree.

There is a discarded piece of pretty wooden porch, a porch demolished before you bought the house, entangled in the tree. You run downstairs to the first floor, out the side door of the house, and into the backyard.

'Why did they just leave it there?' you think to yourself. 'How have I not noticed this before? That must be twenty feet in the air. How have the recent wind storms not dislodged it? How on earth am I going to get that down from...' Your pondering stops silent as an excellent solution appears in your mind.

'Crazy,' you say aloud, 'but it just might work.'

What is your solution?

(We don't have one yet.)

Into the Middle of Things

Hello, blogosphere, and, more particularly, friends and family!

Today I begin telling the story of a nineteenth century, three story, brick row house in Baltimore, Maryland. Our house was built, on speculation, in the wake of the Civil War. A hundred and thirty-some years of care, and a few recent years of abandonment and neglect later, my brother and his wife call this place their home. They own it; they are not squatters; however, if you were to walk in the door right this second, you might question that assertion. Right this second, it's more of a construction site than a home.

This is where I come in. Together with the help of my brother, Toby, and his wife, Hyeseung, and various visiting friends and relatives, (and some licensed professionals like contractors, plumbers, roofers, and other excellent people) we are dedicating one year to making this house T&H's home.

Our plan here is pretty simple. T&H both work full-time outside the home, and I work full-time on the home. And then a good chunk of T&H's free-time is spent working on the home, too.

This dedicated year began September, 2010, and it will end with August 2011.

So here we are, smack dab in the middle of things. Much has been done already, and I will do my best to catch everyone up to speed on the basics of the house and the details of the plan in good time. For now, here's the brass tacks:

roof has been replaced:

main water supply line to the house has been replaced:

all interior plumbing supply lines have been replaced:

cast iron waste/vent stacks which ran along the outside of the house have been replaced with PVC stacks that run inside the house:

all interior waste lines have been replaced;

one bathroom has been finished and hooked up to the new plumbing;

sideyard, backyard and garage have been cleared of debris (sideyard shown);

the tree growing out of the garage door has been conquered and uprooted!

And we bought a sweet truck.

Currently, my main focus is The Laundry Room. I'll write all about that starting tomorrow, but for now, I leave you with a before picture:

Lovely, no?

Until tomorrow,

S