Postcards from the Home Addition Process- #2: Architect?

Back to the series on the big process of adding on to your house.  In Postcard #1 I talked about nailing down a clear “must-haves” list so you can stay on course through all the slings and arrows of this typically year long process. Now on to the Architect phase.  Lots of different choices here [...]

Contractor help for the smaller project

A sure sign that middle age draws nigh? You don’t think twice about getting a professional to do a small renovation update project that just a few years ago you’d have done yourself in a Del Ray minute. That’s just what I did over the holidays and it was awesome.

Sometimes finding high quality [...]

Postcards from a Home Addition: #1 – Must Haves

When we were doing our addition (two story job with new kitchen and master) a while back, oh how I wished for some credible context on the blizzard of decisions we were making, the big chunks of dough we were committing, the long term relationships we were entering into. So now that we’re done and happily ensconced [...]

In Defense of Fire: Chimney Sweep

I grew up with a fire crackling away in our living room most every night from November through March (back when winter was cold). It was part of a nightly ritual – Dad get’s home from work, kids run to greet, I play bartender and make him a bourbon and soda, my mother a gin [...]