I don’t know what these little penciled numbers mean, but I love finding tidbits of when the house was originally built (1903/1905), especially because there’s so little “original” left. Since starting our renovation, we’ve determined the house was first gutted in the mid-’50s and had been poorly maintained ever since (e.g. I’ve found remnants of […]
It’s hard to tell, but when we pulled off all the drywall and ’50s lath, we discovered there had been a second doorway in this wall. It made me wonder if there may have originally been a colonnade splitting the living and dining rooms. I’ve always thought it was a bit odd for this house […]
I planted our garden in our front yard because a) our backyard will continue to be a disaster for a long time, b) the front yard gets excellent light, c) grass is pretty useless and just sucks up water, and d) we ultimately want to make our empty spaces more productive. I planted these beds—mostly […]
We had such a magical old house afternoon! ✨ We met a fellow old house lover named Nils who was giving away free beadboard on Craigslist. We had scoped it out in his alley last weekend before actually meeting him and noticed a house lifted up on cribbing behind his house—just like our house had […]
Everything’s a disaster but it’s okay because we make a pretty great team. 💕
Today we ripped off most of the back of the house. 😳 Yes, this is close to the same view from two photos ago (our sink used to be before that “window”. We started the day by cleaning up the yard to a) finish filling the dumpster (which gets picked up tomorrow), and b) make […]
I hit the vintage razor blade jackpot yesterday. If you live in an old house, look in your medicine cabinet. If it’s an old medicine cabinet, there’s likely a slot in the back. This slot was designed—by a rather short-sighted person—to accept razor blades and store them “in perpetuity” within the bathroom walls. Apparently the […]
Well this certainly isn’t normal… Today we busted through the ceiling of the kitchen to prepare for taking the walls down. But before we could do that, we had to clear the debris—previously stacked to the kitchen ceiling—and take it to the dumpster that had been delivered yesterday morning. We filled all 20 cubic yards […]
We pulled this sink from the main floor “powder room,” which was really just a toilet and sink shoved under the stairs with no door. It was in Trevor’s office, so we called it his “executive washroom” (may I remind you, there was no door). The front portion of the house where this sink was […]
Guess what, Seattle? We’re back! 😸 We had a blast surprising friends and family last weekend. It still doesn’t quite feel real! Just like when we left for California, here’s a little FAQ: – 1) We’re both staying with our jobs, just transferring to our respective Seattle offices. – 2) We’re not living in #hellohilltop […]