We got duped…big time. After days of hanging drywall, we got fairly good at it. Mark can cut and hang it like a pro. And he’s getting some pretty big arm muscles using his Dewalt power tool to screw it in. We thought it was easy-peasy. Look how smug I am with the drywall…holding it up with just one finger. That feeling of superiority quickly went away when we started the mudding and taping. It….

We always get waaaaayyyy more done at the house when we know we have an awesome meal waiting for us at the end of the day. When dinner starts with a spread like this, you know it’s gonna be good. The only way it could possibly get better is if someone made you a pizza in their homemade pizza oven while wearing a ridiculous hat. Luigi (aka Mr. Cardone) made the most delicious pizza with…

With my trusty tape measure on one hip and a utility knife on the other, I feel like I’m a cowgirl ready for a duel in the Wild West. I know you are jealous of my super sweet sock/shoe combo. What can I say…it takes skill to look semi-homeless. 🙂 I finished putting up the last bit of foam board insulation in our bedroom. Measuring and cutting this stuff is not my favorite thing to…

You learn something every day. This weekend, I learned that walls have an incredible way of making you feel like you live in a house instead of a construction site. My new 2nd favorite brother-in-law…(my sister’s husband is #1)…came down from Toronto to help us. Dave is tall and strong and he doesn’t complain…the 3 best qualities in a man. The Canadian boys put up drywall throughout the entire second floor and only one time…

This is my brother-in-law, Dave. He was a big, fancy advertising executive and, now, he runs a corporation in Toronto and goes to very important meetings. That said, it is not beneath him to come down to Pittsburgh to help out his lowly brother and sister-in-law. We took him to Industry in Lawrenceville last night and today he wants to go to Primanti’s. We told him we will only continue to feed him if he…

Hallejuah, praise the Lord! Mark and I have been waiting for this day! The city inspector came and signed off on all the electrical work. That means we can start putting drywall EVERYWHERE. We started with insulation first. Mark is using Safe’n’Sound for the bathroom. It’s fire resistant and sound proof. We don’t want everyone hearing our bathroom/shower business and this insulation will absorb all that. When you come over, the only thing you will…

My husband and I have a problem. Every time we rent a dumpster, instead of just throwing away all the construction garbage we have…we start blowing out walls. The mood struck again and we decided to take off the door leading into the kitchen and blow out the wall next to it. The door is pretty cool and we are saving it for an art piece that I’ll tell you about later. 🙂 We got…

The only thing I worked on this weekend was trying not to lose my cookies and keep my head from exploding. On Friday, I woke up with a stomach ache that I thought might be food poisoning. That ache turned into full-blown sweats, chills, fever and all the other nasty stuff that comes with the flu. Since I couldn’t function like a human, Mark had to work on the house by himself. He saw this…

I swear my husband, Mark, has the golden touch when it comes to this home renovation stuff. Not only is he re-doing the entire house from the studs up…but he’s finding the COOLEST stuff to put in it. Case in point —> Mark picked up this old elevator door that used to be in a saw mill near 60th Street in Lawrenceville. A local artist who takes “throwaway pieces” and refurbishes them couldn’t figure out…

I thought we’d do a “before and after” now that we’re at the midway point. It’s cool to see the progress and, honestly, it gives my husband and me the little boost we need to keep going! This was a shot of the downstairs from the front door the way the previous owner had it… And here’s what we’ve done so far. A picture of the downstairs from the kitchen looking to the front door……