2010: A Bacon Odyssey. The Final Chapter

So, today we pulled out the newly pelliclized bacon to finish it off in the final step: smoking.  I'd like to report that it was triumphant and trouble-free and fantastic.  However, that would inaccurate.  In fact, it was major drama and we had to make a major course correction.

First, we do not have a smoker.  I have been assured that as someone with a pretty fantastic grill that a smoker is overkill.  In fact, there are tons of web sites dedicated to using your grill as a smoker.  I would not reject this concept out of hand, since I imagine that someone must be able to do it successfully.  However, that person was not me.  

I followed the steps necessary to use my grill as a smoker, but when Chris showed up very enthusiastically waving a bag of giant hunks of hickory I realized that we would not be able to have them become fully soaked -- they simply were too big.  At this point, I should have tried a plan b.  I did not.

This all seemed fine initially.  However, as I was in the kitchen about half an hour later, I was surprised to hear the dogs barking as I also saw Chris run through the kitchen toward the back yard.  The grill was functioning as a smoker -- perhaps too well, as hickory-scented flames were licking the roof of the grill and sending smoke out in all directions.  

So, a tad chastened, I went to plan b.  Which involved taking the bacon slabs inside, putting them in the oven, and putting them on the type of low heat that they would have been exposed to on the grill.  And, um, they got exposed to the hickory, right?  

The final results?  Delicious!  Chris and I broke out some apples, a slab of brie, and all three cures.  Surprisingly, the brown sugar/salt-cured mix was probably the best, with the lightest flavor.  A close second was the salt and Two Sisters cure, which also had a great smoky flavor.   

So, the moral of the story:  Even if you almost burn your house down, bacon-making is easy and delicious. Or something.

Bacon in Bellefonte II

Bacon in Bellefonte II
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

pel·li·cle (pel-i-kel), n.:
A thin skin or film, such as an organic membrane or liquid film.

So, here's the top view after we completed a crucial step. Today, on day five, I pulled out all of the proto-bacon pieces and washed them. At this stage, though I realize we're several days away, I'd really like to eat one of these. Cures #1 (peppery mix and salt) and #2 (garlic, peppery mix, salt, and sugar) smell absolutely heavenly. Cure #3 (brown sugar and salt), well, smells good, too, but by comparison #1 and #2 are just amazing.

After pulling these out, I put them back in their dish on the improvised drying rack and pop the whole thing back into the fridge. Why? Because the bacon needs to form a pellicle.

The pellicle, a thin film that forms on the bacon as the cure pulls proteins out of the meat and then interacts with the air, is a necessary component of the smoking process. It creates the optimal conditions for smoke to flavor the meat.

So, in 24 hours we'll be smoking! Check back for updates -- and, of course, we'll need some samplers as well.

The Bacon in Bellefonte

IMGP3748
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

L-R, cures 1 through 3.

Today, on day five, we have some work to do. However, I feel the need to comment on how the bacon has changed since day one.

For the last five days, I have been pulling the bacon out, massaging it, draining off the liquid that has been pooling in the Ziplock bags, and flipping them. Today is the day that they came out, were washed, and put on racks in the fridge to do something kinda crazy before we can smoke them.

Normally, bacon is a bright pink. You may have noticed, however, that ours is not -- that's because the bright pink color comes from sulfites, which we're not using. At this point the bacon is somewhat smaller than it was before and a darker red -- it has been suffused with the cure and lost a lot of liquid.

The Long and Winding Road to a Reasonable Number of Bathrooms.

new bathroom II
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

This is a small, but momentous project which is now at the verge of being done (Done! Done! Imagine chortling and rubbing of hands).

Originally, this big old house had roughly 7 bedrooms and 3 baths -- two on the 231 side (one shower-only on the second floor, one shower-only in the basement) and one miserable, tiny, awful, closet-sized bathroom on the second floor of 233. This, to put it gently, was not ideal. 

Not only did it suck attempting to share one godawful bathroom, but it also made having guests over kind of challenging. In fact, on multiple occasions I've had to guide guests to the second-floor bathroom because the process for getting to it from the first floor requires a Sherpa.

So we upgraded the existing bathroom by combining the bathroom and adjoining tiny bedroom. And then we got started on converting the under-stair closet into a second powder room.

We quickly discovered that we had underbudgeted a bit, and we also discovered that our under-stair closet was originally a staircase to the basement!

The process, which started in mid-November, went something like this:

1. Hire a local contractor to reconfigure the space for our purposes -- this meant ultimately, a lot of complicated work to reconfigure the plumbing and bring plumbing for the first time in history into the "old" (pre-1885) part of the house. And it also meant rebuilding the wall and floor structures to create a box that slopes down to about 6' in height at the back. This ultimately cost about $1,100.

2. Assess and repair plaster/wallpaper wall. We started with the idea of stripping the wallpaper and repairing the wall. But the wall was exceptionally damaged. And in step 3, you'll see why else the original walls weren't really going to get conservator-type treatment. So, ultimately, we did what we had to do, systems-wise, and skim-coated everything. Cost: $200.

3. Call in the electrician to consider fixtures and whatnot. Since the electrician is Chris, this ended up being free. But since the electrician is Chris, this also means that we now have four separately-switched fixtures, including a can fan. And as a bonus, we got a hallway accent light to light up this gloomy alcove. Fixtures and stuff cost about $350.

4. Call back the contractor -- have him install tile floor and grout. Cost: about $350. Have him install sink and toilet and faucet -- about $150 for the toilet, $200 for the sink (special low-profile corner sink), $120 for the faucet.  

5. Paint it! Maybe $60.

6. Install beadboard -- $180.

7. Er, put up the stuff that's still not up. In this case, piddling stuff like towel bars and that last fixture. Fixtures and stuff: $20.

So...let's see...roughly 15 man hours and $2730 later, we now have two bathrooms.  Come visit!

Bacon! Today's Final Step

Proto-bacon on its way
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Now, the hard part -- sticking the proto-bacon in a bag and stuffing it in the fridge.

See, this is where we basically will do nothing for the bacon for a few days. As the cure leaches into the meat, the meat will lose moisture, which will pool in the bottom of the bag. So each day we will simply remove the bacon from its resting place, drain off the collected moisture, flip the bacon over, and put it back where it belongs in the fridge.

Recipes I've read suggest that at day 5 or 7 you pull out the bacon and ready it for smoking, but I'm still researching that step. So, either December 28th or December 30th, we'll be moving on to the next step.

Meanwhile I've improvised in typical fashion to prepare for the curing process. I can't find my Sharpie, so an envelope with the recipes on it rests on top of the three segments. Beneath that are three 2-gallon freezer bags, each with a piece of meat in it. Beneath that is a turkey roasting rack and the ends of the bags, so that hopefully in between drainings the moisture will pool away from, rather than on, the meat.

Anyway, that's it for now. The whole thing took about 45 minutes. Easy peasy.

Bacon! The Brining Process

Bacon Cure 1
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

First, let me say that if you're looking for precision, fussiness, and a bunch of exact measurements for this process, you're looking at the wrong girl. While I can be precise and technical at times, I rarely choose to be for any reason when I'm not doing things that other people would like to be done precisely, like work.

Now, with that parts aside, I'll share this process, which is not at all precise. It goes something like: take your pork belly and slather it with lots of salt and other stuff.

In my case, I am experimenting with three cures in a dry brine, each of which ends up being a mixture of about 3/4ths of a cup.

Bachelor #1 consists of 1/2 salt mix (and that's half Morton's and half hand-ground sea salt) and half Two Sisters Peppery Mix.

Bachelor #2 consists of 3/4ths salt mix, a punch of Peppery Mix, a pinch of sugar, and three cloves of minced garlic.

Bachelor #3 consists of a pinch of hand-ground pepper, 1/3rd cup of salt mix and 1/3rd cup brown sugar.

It's a very complicated process, really. Basically you take whatever it is that you have mixed and rub it all over the meat. And the result is this gorgeous-looking thing you see in the photo.

Stripey, meaty, rainbowy pre-bacon!

Bacon!

Bacon!
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

So, this morning I got started on 2010: A Bacon Odyssey

I started by acquiring the bacon-making meat at a place called Nittany Meats, which is a butcher shop in Zion. The guys at Nittany Meats tell me that the pig I bought came from somewhere near Indiana, PA. They stock meat from local and regional sources, but apparently most of the pork comes from Western PA during this season. What I got is called a "pork belly," and is the strip of meat that runs in front of the ribs.

(For the record, "bacon" doesn't have to be pork.  But in this case, and usually, it is.)

The photo is of my ingredients and tools laid out for bacon-making.

Left to right, there's:

1. The dish in which I will be curing everything (I promise to get that back to you soon, Aunt Linda)
2. Morton's Salt
3. Pepper Mill -- when we used the fresh-ground stuff, it's an international mix from Williams-Sonoma.
4. The red mixing bowl in which I mix up the cure.
5. Two Sisters gourmet -- "peppery mix"
6. The salt mill -- about half of the salt used is sea salt that I hand ground.
7. Two knives. I'm embarrassed to admit that my swanky Henckels santuko is awfully dull, and I had to bring in the bonus Cutco knife to finish the job.
8. Paper towels.
9. Freezer-sized Ziplock bags.

As you can see, I've split one pork belly into three slabs. We'll be trying three different cures.

Spring Creek Mink

Usually I try to bring some sort of intelligence and order to my thoughts on this blog. But I had to admit that this is so cute that my brain just sort of says "Squee! Mink!"

We fish in Spring Creek regularly when it's a little warmer. In fact, it's a world-class trout stream. And we often bring Nobbler or Edgar along. However, they've been so antsy that we haven't been able to let them explore and now I think I know why: Squee! Mink!

2010: A Bacon Odyssey

So, you might ask, what's this I hear about homemade bacon?

Well, it's almost the holidays. And as a university employee I get a little more time off than the average bear -- in fact, I get about a week off, which gives me time I don't usually have to tackle projects that require more time or diligence.

And we're into local and slow food to the extent that we can work it into our lifestyles. We bought a 1/4th cow from a local farmer this year, and our grass-fed buddy has been nutritious, inexpensive, and delicious. We made beer and it was thirst-quenching and tasty. But we haven't made anything like bacon since...well, we did make gravlax once, but it didn't involve smoking. Now that we have a nice grill and someone who likes to use it, I thought we might try something related.

So...bacon. This afternoon, I'll stop in at a place called Nittany Meats and pick up a 7ish-pound slab of pork belly. And I'll blog it from there -- come back for more info on what happens next.

FTR, there are quite a few fairly good pictorials online detailing the attempts of others to do the same. Here's one.

Merry Victorian Christmas

What's that, you say? Isn't there some giant event associated with my town that happens around now?

Why, yes, there is. Victorian Christmas, which is one of Bellefonte's more major tourism events, happens the 2nd week of December each year. I attended a small part of it last year, which was a somewhat thwarted event due to really awful ice storms. Seriously, I live down the street from one of the craft fair venues, and I could hardly walk there -- I can't even imagine how someone from further afield could manage a visit.

So, this year I actually got to participate to some degree in the festivities. Specifically, I made it to a portion of the craft fair and the house tour. I meant to attend caroling, which last year was a lot of fun despite the weather, but schedules did not permit it.

First impressions:

1. The craft fair is pretty awesome. No, it's not "special" in the sense that it's not a place where you'll find a lot of high-style goods. But there are many, many wonderful small-scale crafts for sale. I particularly enjoyed buying a lot of locally-produced food, including some jam from The Piper's Peck and some awesome organic hand-milled soaps. Just generally: yum. I also saw some nice jewelry and a lot of textile art. Good stuff -- oh, and I only made it to one venue, so I only saw a small sampling of the available options.

2. The victorian house tour is, well, um...I would have preferred some tweaks. First, it's crucial that I note that of the 8 or so houses, 3 of them were worth the price of admission by themselves. The Reynolds Mansion is gorgeous and amazing, The Monsell home was every bit as well-situated as I would have imagined (having looked up at it while stuck in traffic at the light for months now), and the Forge House was not only amazing but very well interpreted. However, there was a ca. 1970 home on the tour (which is, um, not victorian) and there were several homes which were not particularly exemplary but seemed to be included as part of a sales strategy on the part of a local realtor. Note: It's kind of a cool idea to have an open house during Victorian Christmas. What's not cool is pretending that these open houses are part of a house tour which I would imagine most of us are undertaking because we want to see great architecture or learn about local history.

3. While I didn't get to participate, the horse buggy tours appeared to be a ton of fun.

Oh, most importantly, Victorian Christmas is put on by a large host of volunteers. And as far as I could tell it was a ton of fun, and very well executed.

Merry Christmas Every One

merry christmas
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

...and especially to my contractor.

Now, I LOVE my contractor. I finally got a chance to inspect stuff, and I am so beyond thrilled with this stupid little door project. Without my telling him how to do it, he reused the door from the laundry that's being displaced, matched the woodwork on the "modern" side and matched the woodwork on the old side, and did the whole thing so that the old hinges were used and the old lock is on our side.

I'm pretty excited about the whole third floor space, actually. Here is the tiny bedroom, which if you'll look at the front of the house is the room in the center of the balcony on the third floor. It's only about 8' wide, and maybe 15' deep. You come up the stairs and it's on the landing. It has a really pretty radiator, too.

Anyway...on to more projects.  Thank you guys for reading.

Hard at work lately...

Typical Saturday
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Wow, have we been busy. Tons of small stuff.

Look What We Found!

Recovered Walkway III
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Actually, look what Herman the German found.

In the last few weeks we've had Herman over to replace a drafty, damaged door of uncertain vintage (these came out of it). 

It seems like a small issue, but the door and its damaged sill and water infiltration were specifically enumerated as a problem requiring remediation in our homeowner's inspection during the purchasing process. And it was leaking huge amounts of heat.  So we needed to deal with it.

While in the process, Herman decided to replace the area around the sill. And while doing so, he found the first of a few dozens bricks and slate pavers -- each was buried about 4" down. The portion in the upper corner is more or less as uncovered, and the rest is reconstituted from the slates and bricks found.

More photos in my Flickr stream (here and below)-- enjoy!

Norma Desmond Dreams of Her Comeback

Norma Desmond Dreams of Her Comeback
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

In other words, Edgar's cool with dress up.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins on the 231 Stoop
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Boy, is it nice to live in a place where people take this holiday seriously.

Where there are formal trick-or-treat hours, where there are nice and walkable sidewalks, where people take their kids out in costume and ready for the pilfering.

We had a blast, carved some pumpkins, dressed some dogs in embarrassing outfits, and so on. Really, it was awesome.

Our Sunday, In Pictures

Saturday night we had a large dinner party. 24 guests. Lots of food. The dogs, therefore, got to eat grit casserole, bbq, and potatoes in bacon fat.

This tuckered two of them out. Judah and Nibbler were positively bushed.

Edgar? Not so much. While he wasn't sure about the new fire pit, he certainly basked in its warmth when he wasn't tearing around the yard or playing with inanimate objects.

Plants I'd like to Plant

A list, in no particular order, of plants I'd like to work into my kinda bare back yard, as soon as I have some free time:

• Viburnum "Mohawk."  These smell really heavenly right now.
  
• Viburnum "Dawn." Likewise.
  
• Helleborus foetidus.
  
• Helleborus nigrens.
  
• Helleborus whateverus.  I just love them.  All of them.
  
• Blue Flag Iris.
  
• Hammalacidae, Forthergilla Major or "Mount Airy"
  
• Lilacs?
  
• echinacea purpurea.
• Oak Leaf hydrangeas.  And maybe a Lady in Red, if I can get beyond all the time and effort I put into the last Scarlet Strumpet that cursed/graced my garden.
  
• Hostas -- sum & substance, blue angel.
  
• Trillium.
• Stachys.
• Ghost ferns or painted lady ferns.
• epimedium.
• dicentra.
• Hens & chicks.
• wood poppy.
• Some native azaleas, maybe a rhododendron or two.
• forsythia

Really, this is just a list of my favorite botanical things.  But I have excluded those that won't grow this far north, such as my beloved tea olives.

The Wolf Family, 1850 to 1886

Theresa and William Wolf owned the house from 1850 to 1886, though records indicate that they didn't always live in it.



The Wolf family is one of those that shaped the history of Bellefonte, both through their work and their legacy. William S. Wolf may have been born in Bellefonte, but he is now buried in the Union cemetery and worked as a tinsmith in the borough for 30 or 40 years. His life appears ordinary, but well-documented, and indicates a man who was a very active citizen. In addition to his work as a tinsmith, newspapers of the time note his involvement on juries and committees, as well as his pitching in during a fire to attempt to save the Brockerhoff Hotel.



The census indicates a long progression of tenants, which are instructive even as statistics.

The 1870 census notes the following residents:

• France/is Boal, a 48 year-old woman, was the head of the household. Her occupation is listed as “Bonnet Manufacturer.”



• George O. Boal, 17



• Nellie W. Boal, 13



• Lucy Burnside, 10, “At Home”



• Ann Owens, a 20 year-old domestic servant from Wales
  

Lucy Burnside and Frances Boal were sisters, and the daughters of Judge Thomas Burnside. Thomas Burnside, born in Ireland, had many accomplishments:

In 1811 he was elected to the State Senate, and was an active supporter of Governor Simon Snyder in all the war measures of 1812. In 1815 he was elected to
Congress, and served during the memorable session of 1816. In the summer of the
same year he was appointed by Governor Snyder president judge of the Luzerne
district. He resigned this position in 1818, and resumed practice at Bellefonte.
In 1823 he was again elected to the State Senate, of which body he was chosen
Speaker. In 1826, before his senatorial term had expired, he was appointed
president judge of the Fourth Judicial District (Centre, etc.), which office he
held until 1841, when he was appointed president judge of the Seventh Judicial
District (Bucks and Montgomery). On the 1st of January, 1845, he was
commissioned as one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, an
office which he filled with honor up to the time of his death.By his second
wife, Ellen Winters, he also had children, now residing in Bellefonte,-Miss Lucy
Burnside, Thomas Burnside, and Mrs. Frances Boal. Mrs. Ellen W. Burnside died in
Bellefonte, June 3, 1859, aged seventy-three years, eight months, and seventeen
days. Source: History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania; John
Blair Linn; Philadelphia; Louis H. Everts; 1883

The 1860 federal census notes the following as occupants:

• Daniel Welsh, a 44 year-old contractor, was the head of the household. Welsh may have emigrated from Ireland -- an investigation into susipisious voting practices in which his son was questioned included testimony that he and Jane became citizens.



• His wife, Jane E., was 30



• William G. Welsh, a Justice of the Peace, was 73



• Jane M. Harris was 27



• Eliza L. Welsh, 23



• Louisa Welsh, 20



• Catherine Gofney, 21, is a servant, from “Konemara, Ireland” (Connemara) – probably actually Catherine Gaffney Meagher, who died in 1918 in Michigan.



• Franklin Johnson is a 16 year-old African-american.

The 1850 federal census indicates the following as occupants:

• Felix Mullin, a 45-year old male, whose occupation was listed as “Manager” and who was born in Ireland.



• Eliza Mullin, a 44 year-old female, also born in Ireland.



• John Mullin, an 18 year-old male who is listed as a student of medicine.



• Frances Mullin, an 11 year-old female.



• Margaret McGlarity, an 19 year-old female.

Window Inserts, the Good vs. the Perfect, and Other Big Issues in Small Increments

We live in an old house -- I know, brilliant observation.  

However, when you're a historic preservationist who lives in an old house, you have a lot of concerns about old stuff and yet you want to preserve as much of it as possible.  Also, there's only so much time and money in the day and in your life.  So you find yourself, as I do, thinking about improving things without changing them too much.  Also, there's the planet, and when we can we think about it, too.

Whoever lived here before us used the lack of sight lines to the back of the house to thwart the historic review board and replace everything they could afford to replace.  So we now have about 1/3rd new vinyl windows, 1/3rd old windows with old aluminum storm windows, and 1/3rd just plain old windows.  So, should we replace the remaining windows, or should we just bolster them?

I see a lot of literature about how you should replace your windows for energy efficiency, and the old ones are only single-paned.  However, I'm skeptical.

1. I saw the excellent film Blue Vinyl, and in general I'm aware that it's not a good idea to get cruddy vinyl very close to your home/life/things you value. 
   
2. A lot of energy and effort and resources are embodied in historic building materials. So it's in fact pretty green to keep them, when you can.  
3. I also see a lot of literature about the value of adding insulation to windows and how that compares, performancewise, to simply replacing them. The gist is that while adding isn't as effective as replacing, it's very effective relative to cost and the other factors above. 

All things considered, I've decided to add interior storm windows rather than remove and replace our gorgeous old windows.  (Seriously, look at these.  Gorgeous.)

The three most popular options are Window Inserts, Innerglass, and ClimateSeal products.  These range in price, interaction with professional types, and so on.  But, you know, anything's better than what we have.  Also, I'm not convinced that there's a huge difference between the $80 windows and the $380 windows -- but I am aware that the $380 windows take longer to order and get.  

So, the perfect being the enemy of the good, I'm ordering the inserts.  I will keep you posted as they come in. 

The Measurer

The Measurer
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Chris is off napping already, and it's barely 9 o'clock. But a long day of work followed by a long few hours of measuring and sanding will do that to a guy.

What's that, you say? We've been measuring and sanding?

We have indeed. In fact, despite our plans to take it easy over the winter we have to press on a little longer.

Two of the projects we've been involved with are painting/patching/sanding our hallway and ordering interior storm windows for all of the old windows that don't already have exterior storm windows. On an old house like this one, that's quite a job -- it involves measuring the windows at three points for each dimension, as well as ordering preliminary windows and then actual windows. How will it go? We'll let you know.

H. Aaron Hequembourg

H. Aaron Hequembourg
Originally uploaded by Bryan Loar

Just wanted to highlight this -- Aaron Hequembourg's work was among that featured in the Central PA Arts Fest. 

Great stuff, and I'm not just saying this because it bridges the gap between my old home (Hequembourg is from Monticello, GA -- known pretty much only as the home of one Trisha Yearwood and, uh, that place where they filmed My Cousin Vinny, but also a place where I did a really interesting charrette) and my new one.  GA to PA Holla!

Gorgeous work, using reclaimed wood from sharecroppers' cabins and other otherwise wasted material, mostly from this farm. Good stuff.

His site is here, if you want to see more.

ArtsFest 2010

The community mural grows
Originally uploaded by Kate12303

For those who live under a rock, the Central PA Arts Fest was held this week. It's a time when Centre County is inexplicably overrun with bands, kids activities (like the community mural in this shot -- AWESOME!), artists, and so on. Good stuff.

Friday I squandered my lunch hour on a ramble through the gajillion arts booths, appreciating everything from purses to carnival food (yum!) to paintings and metal work.

Next year I hope I'll have a little more time to linger.

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Gardening in PA

Echinacea purpurea
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

You know what I love about this state as opposed to my old state?

I love the end-of-season/hot weather sales, which occur when it's about to get vaguely hot for a few weeks. Don't get me wrong -- it does get hot. But it's also windy, so it doesn't feel that hot, and the heat only lasts a month or so rather than the ALL ETERNITY that it feels like in Georgia. So, in Georgia I buy plants at heat wave sales and the chances of them surviving are pretty remote. In Pennsylvania I buy them and their chances are upwards of 75%.

Or anyway, that's what I told myself yesterday. I was able to buy eight gallon-sized foxgloves and eight large square-potted echinacea purpurea plants. Grant broke the clay soil, mixed it in with potting soil, and extended the existing beds about 6 feet for the echinacea last night -- he's planting the foxgloves today.

Spinach, Mushroom, and Miso Soup

Spinach, Mushroom, and Miso Soup
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

I'm doing this food study/diet, which involves me eating a lot of veggies and a lot of nonfat dairy. Here's the recipe for the above, which was pretty awesome and incorporated lots of fresh herbs from the back yard:

1 c. spinach
1 c. mushrooms
1 c. broth
minced garlic -- to taste. I had about the equivalent of 2 cloves
1 c. milk

1 tsp. miso

1 cube bouillon
thyme, basil, parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Oh, and did I mention I don't have a stove? You could make this like normal people do, but my instructions are for a microwave.

1. Chop spinach, mushrooms, herbs, and garlic -- cover with broth in a microwave-safe bowl and wrap in plastic. Microwave on high for 10 minutes, watching and adjusting once the mixture is simmering.
2. Take mixture, add 1 c. milk and remaining inredients, and use a blender to puree to taste (I pureed all of it 'cause I like it thick).
3. Salt & pepper to taste -- enjoy!

Another Busy Day...

Yawn
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Lately I've been neglecting the blog a little. But that's because we've been extremely busy with the business of daily life.

Some new things we've been doing:

1. Fishing at McCoy's access. This is where the photo was taken, and it's about halfway between Bellefonte and Milesburg. A few years ago the Clear Water Conservancy removed the dam and restored the stream bed. The result is very good fishing, but for someone like myself who mostly just supports other people in fishing it's a great spot for reading and watching the sun set.

2. Planting stuff -- the Patchwork Farm tent at the Nittany Mall is closing shortly for the season, so everything is very economical. And, luckily, the plants I failed to raise from seed are among those on sale ! So, today we're planting foxglove and echinacea.

3. Harvesting stuff: growing in PA is a lot easier than growing in GA, probably because everything isn't getting dessicated by arid conditions mid-summer. Technically temps aren't far apart, but the wind in PA keeps the misery at a minimum. Currently we're just beginning to enjoy blueberries, strawberries, and hungarian wax peppers. We expect to be enjoying jalapenos and tomatoes soon, too.

Reclaiming the Hell Strip and More

Whew. Let's see...

I had this great idea. I thought "hey, I'll pull up the slate in my hell strip and have a hell strip that's all cool like the one I linked here a few weeks ago. No biggie." Except it IS a biggie. It is a very biggie. The slate varies from 1' X1' to 4' X 3'. I had to have Chris's help. And Chris couldn't really do it easily, either.

So we pulled it all out. We put in 25 bags of topsoil, peat humus, and composted manure. And we planted and mulched. And I don't even have anything really awesome to show you guys for all of my work, either. Except a plant list and stuff. And this photo, which is of just some of the slate that we pulled out of two 6'X6' beds.

So...I'll put in some photos later. Meanwhile, here's what I planted where the slate used to be:

• Red tulips
• creme daffodils, yellow daffodils, and "old fashioned" daffodils from my Georgia neighbor's yard.
• blue flag iris from my old yard
• "Homestead" verbena -- scored from the rescue pile at Lowe's -- 18 plants, 17 in tiptop shape, for $3.
• "Champagne Bubbles" poppies
• "Blue Spruce" sedum
• "Bee Balm," a.k.a. Monarda didyma.

I also tidied beds out back and planted three varieties of blueberry, some rescue strawberries, and hellebores from my old yard. Then I mulched like nobody's business and now I'm in the public library looking like a vagrant and typing about it to you guys.

(Oh, did I mention I don't have internet at my house right now? Comcast is a sad, sad company with really poor customer service.)

Curtin Village

Hold My Calls

Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

We lead lucky lives, most of the time. So, Saturday our plans were derailed by a bachelor party for a guy we don't know. Don't get me wrong -- he's an awesome guy. We're friendy now. But we didn't know him as of 2 p.m. on Saturday and by 7 p.m. we were at his post-bachelor hangout. Turns out one of his groomsmen is an old friends of my husband's and some other friends' and the mother-of-the-bride, who is a neighbor we hadn't met yet, connected the dots.

Anyway, the bride suggested a fishing spot to Chris. Chris really wants to fish, since we live in the fishing capital of Pennsylvania. I really want to be supportive, and spend some quality time exploring architecture.

Enter Curtin Village.

Chris got to fish in the gorgeous and tranquil Bald Eagle Creek, while I walked around and photographed darn near all of the Curtin Village historic ironworks. This site is really underrated, I think -- I'm used to historic sites that are sort of limping along, but this one is in pristine condition and open a surprisingly large amount of time during the summer.

Anyway, I played with my macro settings, goofed around with color saturation (since the sky was mostly a really lurid blue), and even tried a little action photography. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.


The photo stream at the bottom chronicles our adventures. Enjoy!

Bathroom renovation as of April 17, 2010

Bathroom renovation as of April 17, 2010
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Here is the "Intermediate" -- new floor, new vanity, new mirror, and stuff is painted. We're still missing wall trim and a variety of improvements in the tub/shower area...

Which, you may have noticed, is no longer in the entryway to the room. Yay! The shower/tub is in the adjacent area, and looks kind of rough right now.  

We will also be building a bench over these radiators under the windows.

Here are the products we used:

• Behr's Pure Premium Paint in Cornsilk.
  
• Allure resilient flooring in  Cherry.
  
• The Valencia 3-piece euro vanity.
• The toilet is from Kohler -- can't recall what it was called.
• Glacier Bay "teapot" sink.

Bathroom Before

side 2 bath
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Please note that this was the bathroom when we bought the house in November.

It was long and narrow, had this hideous marble-pattern plastic wall cladding, was carpeted, and stank. And when we finally turned the water on, we discovered that the plumbing was completely shot.

What you'll see next isn't exactly "after," but is definitely an improvement over the thing you're looking at now.

The "Hell Strip" and the Daffodil Thing

The "Hell Strip"
Originally uploaded by Athens Nikita

Currently, what I have is this sad thing that you see to the right. What I want is something more like this. Oh, well. Maybe once I dig myself out from all the house projects and the temperature goes up by 10 or 15 degrees, I'll pry up those slate pieces and go to town.  

I just found out, though, about Bellefonte's daffodil thing.  I say "thing" because it's a fairly complicated happening.  Project Daffodil was originally done in 2004 as a community planting that would function as a sort of tourist driving tour in the Spring.  Roughly 100,000 daffodils were planted from State College to Bellefonte.  Since then, innumerable daffodils have been planted.  

Anyway, now there's a daffodil game and other tie-ins.  But I have no daffodils whatsoever.  So, as soon as is practical, I'll be fixing that.

So...when was this house built?

This is a great question. And the answer is: I really don't know.

However, as we get into the Wolf era, it's important to note that I bought what was supposedly a house contructed in 1885. Certainly the house showing in the historical photo from the turn of the century looks like my house, and the easement that is on record in 1906 indicates that whatever was there had roughly the same dimensions, which is to say dimensions placing the Burrows Street side way too close to the neighboring house. So it's definitely at least ca. 1900. And the style, which is a sort of Italianate/Eastlake/stick/Queen Anne/late victorian polyglot, suggests that it is of roughly the 1880s or 1890s.

However, it wouldn't be unusual to see a house modified and decorated which was actually constructed earlier, and there's a lot of evidence suggesting that the house is actually older.

That evidence is:

• The development pattern of Bellefonte, in which Allegheny Street developed all the way to the site of the current elementary school during the Civil War antebellum period.


• Sanborn maps and other historical maps -- which indicate a double structure on my property in the 1850s and 1870s. These same maps indicate some additions -- the rear staircases and side porch and commercial area -- over the years.


• The deed research, when coupled with the census. The deeds continue to be transferred and legible back to 1823. The census indicates residents on that lot back to 1820.


• The relatively good records of the Civil War era -- Bellefonte at the time had four competing newspapers. So if there was a structure on the property before 1847 and it burned down or was otherwise replaced before 1880 or so, we'd probably know.

So...I don't know when the house was constructed. but I'm definitely assuming that it's pre-1885.

Hastings and Spangler, 1886 to 1896

In 1896, Daniel and Jennie Hastings sold the house to J.L. Spangler and J.H. Sands. There's a surfeit of information about Hastings and Spangler, and I will attempt to keep it brief.



Hastings was, among other things, a Civil War general, a natural-disaster hero, and Governor of Pennsylvania. J.L. Spangler was his law partner. Together they mounted a number of initiatives, including starting the Blue Baker Coal Company that was a crucial part of Johnstown's early growth. In fact, an unincorporated area in Cambria County bears Spangler's name in his honor.



Spangler and Hastings probably never lived in my house, though Hastings owned my house, then sold it to the father of Mrs. Lane about the same time that he bought the Lanes' home and expanded it into more or less the house that we see today as the Hastings mansion. Presumably renters that I've been unable to identify thus far lived in the house instead.

Is It Ever Done Done?

This post pretty much sums my current mind state up.  We have a second and final tenant moving into the house sometime this week.  She's pretty gung ho -- and that's pretty cool.  But she wants to move in right now and we're not ready.

There's a lesson here about the road to hell and home renovation, but I'll spare you guys.  All you need to know is that absolutely nothing is done.  We had fantasies, and you know what they say about fantasies. 

Oh, but we did get some stuff done.  We now have a bathroom painted Cornsilk and a mossy greenish front-room carpet in the rental side.  Good stuff.  

Small Towns

Holy Schmiscuit, Batman!

I don't think it was clear to me before I moved here exactly how small the Happy Valley is.

It's this small -- so small that my hiring was announced in the local paper!

Horses: To Have and Have Not

I had been in the process of planning to bring my horse, who had to stay behind in Georgia until after final frost to reduce the chances of colic, to Happy Valley, when ironically he colicked and died. I now have to go back to Georgia to pack up his things, among other things. So this will be a combination commentary on horse facilities in Happy Valley and a sort of memorial commentary.

First, Happy Valley is gorgeous and land is actually supposedly more expensive, but also more available than it was in Georgia. So when I started looking around for the right barn for my boy, I was immediately able to find a few places in the are that would take him and sounded more or less appropriate to what we were doing. However, in general I've noticed that Happy Valley isn't as internet-savvy as Athens -- most businesses lack a web presence, and are kind of hard to identify by remote means. In other words, you gotta network.

But networking turned up a number of acceptable facilities, and it also turned up some hidden options, such as renting an entire barn at the base of Tussey Mountain or share boarding on the edge of state lands, which of course one has to share with hunters but are gorgeous. Anyway, not that it matters right now, but I did find better options than in Georgia. I have to think about whether I want another horse, and when I might want one, but it sounds like when I am ready, I will have good options.

The Lanes, 1896 to 1948

The record on the Lane family is a complicated one, with several sales. Yet, for over 50 years the house was occupied by various members of the Lane family.

Patty and James Eldridge sold the house to William and Alta McClure in 1948.

Patty Eldridge was the sole heir of Elliott Eskridge Lane, and inherited the house at Lane's death in 1948. Elliott Lane bought the house at a public sale in 1942, when its value was thought to be about $6,500 -- Lane paid $5,000. At the time, it officially belonged to Elliott and several of his siblings, including Martha Lane/Pattie Lane Fay, Fred Lane, James B. Lane, and John H. Love. (Their parents, John Lane and Louisa Lane having presumably moved to what would eventually be Governor Hastings's mansion.)

The group had inherited the house in 1913, from J.H. Sands, when Sands died and the Pennsylvania orphans' court distributed it to the group. A notation in a historical text notes that J.H. Sands was also a relative -- his daughter was Mrs. John Lane.

The Lane family has an interesting connection to President James Buchanan, as well as some of the other movers and shakers of Pennsylvania history, such as Daniel Hastings. From Memories from Another Era: a complete collection of the articles written by Charles A. Mensch on his memories of growing up in Bellefonte, 1995:

“Living next to the Sieberts was the family of Mr. and Mrs. John Lane and their two sons, Fred and Elliott, and Mrs. Lane’s father, J.H. Sands, who had owned a bakery, later purchased by Joseph Ceader, in what was known as the Sands block on S. Allegheny Street (where the Fountain restaurant is now located). Mr. Lane was related to Harriet Lane, a niece of President James Buchanan, who served as the official hostess of the White House during her bachelor uncle’s administration. A bookcase, one of two which stood on each side of the fireplace in “Wheatland,” the President’s ancestral home and birthplace near Lancaster, was given by heirs of the Lane family to the Bellefonte Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The local chapter had it restored to its original beauty and presented it to the State and National DAR. The bookcase is now part of the completely restored shrine honoring the first and only native-born Pennsylvanian to become the nation’s chief executive.

Before the house came into the ownership of the Lanes, however, it was occupied by them. In 1896 the house was sold to J.L. Spangler and J. H. Sands by Daniel Hastings. However, the 1900 census makes it evident that the occupants of the home were the Lanes. At the time, they included:

• John N. Lane, a 48 year-old male


• Louisa S. Lane, a 40 year-old female


• Eskridge Lane, a 12 year-old male


• Fred Lane, a 15 year-old male

This situation is one of the fun things about the house -- since it is a double house, at various points it has been occupied by renters. Spangler, for example, probably never lived there, since records indicate that he lived elsewhere. More on him later.

The Casher, Barr, and McClure eras, 1948 to 2009

The most recent history of the house is a tad dull. Not only because sites like Ancestry.com and such concentrate on the further past, but because I'm choosing not to delve too deeply into people who are still alive or whose heirs are still alive.

First, let me thank them all for not modifying the house a lot. We can see the architectural history of the house pretty easily, and this is because the most egregious thing that's ever been done to it is that someone decided in the mid-60s to cover the interiors in wall board. So, who might that have been?

Most recently, I bought the house from Pat Casher, who still lives in Bellefonte. Someone during the Casher era or immediately preceding ran a travel agency from the commercial space -- the sign is still there! I only met Pat once, but he was very helpful, and told me that the house is a double house, but has also always, as far as he knows, been occupied by families. When he owned it, several relatives of his lived in the two sides.

Pat Casher bought it from Norma Barr, who was the widow of David J. Barr. I wasn't able to find any information on Norma, but David is an interesting case. He used the house's commercial space to run his physical therapy business up until his death in 1997. However, the local newspaper indicates that David was a mechanic at the Nuclide Corporation in 1964. At the same time, an attorney named J.A. Harris operated from the commercial space. Incidentally, we have a valuable historical resource in our carriage house tenant, who hasn't signed a lease since he signed one with Mrs. Barr sometime in the late 90s. He has also shared some information about how things in the house were arranged.

The Barrs bought the house From William and Alta McClure. They are absolute mysteries -- I wasn't able to find any information on their jobs or heritages.

How To Research Your House

I am planning to blog out my new house's history in this space shortly, but I am still locating information about some residents. So I thought, while I am letting that information percolate, I would share the nuts and bolts of how one researches a historic (or any) house.



First, there are some pretty good resources out there. Use them!



But if you really want to know when your house was built, who lived in it, etc., you basically need to do the following:



1. Go to the local records room and research the deed. If you're in Athens, GA, you'll have to ignore the snooty professional parapros and law school students. But do that -- you have just as legitimate a need for those records as they do, and pulling them will give you a structure and some facts that will be very hard to get otherwise. Note: you may learn some very odd things in this process, since older deeds tend to include descriptives that would now be unusual or even illegal.



2. Search for local Sanborn maps. This will show you things like what your house's footprint looked like and what it was constructed of at various points in its life. It answers questions like "is this siding original?" or "was my craftsman house really built in 1960?"



3. City directories, which are usually in the nearest rare books library or heritage room, are AWESOME. Especially if you own a house that you suspect may have been rented at some point. City directories tend to contain information like who lives in a house, how old they are, and what they do for a living. In short, trace the individuals by any means necessary. Useful resources include census records, cemetery listings, old newspapers, city plans -- any historic records that might show your house or show how things that might affect your house (like the siting of the road it sits on) would have occurred.



4. Oh, you can also ballpark the date of construction or modification by taking a stab at the style, and there are some great resources for this, too, but this type of research can be awfully confusing depending on how much your house has been modified, how free spirited the architect was, or how avant garde the local design community was. I suggest you do it because it's fun, but two houses of similar style can be radically different in age depending on factors like the above. Or you could, like me, own a house that's basically a hodge-podgy mystery.



5. Also, you can try to date the house from its construction. Nails, in particular, are clearly characteristic of certain eras.



Here's a handy-dandy checklist!

House History, Ground Rules

I'm about to post the house's history. However, I wanted to lay out the rules so you kind readers can follow.

1. I will go from the present as far into the past as I can go.

2. I will tag all of these posts with "house history," so I can isolate the actual history.

3. I will set out any issues in their own posts, so I can isolate those, as well.

4. I will post, each post representing a new ownership period, every 3 days or so, until I run out of owners to post about.

Wish us luck!

We're having about 50 guests this weekend, a good number of whom are helping with the house. Can my father in law and a troupe of rogue comedians coexist? Only the shadow knows if the bathroom will be completed!

I'm also hosting a St. Patty's Day thing at the Red Horse Tavern in Pleasant Gap. Come down if you have a few hours Saturday afternoon!

Stuff We're Doing

Ok, so, as you guys know we're in the midst of a pretty extensive bath and kitchen redo, with the bath leading the way and affecting the kitchen. 

So... 

The bathroom has a holey floor, which has absolutely no insulation in it. We'll be fixing that. The washer/dryer closet is framed in and the bath tub is up in the room. And after all the consideration of barn doors, pocket doors, and so on the carpenter thinks he can take one of the doors from the attic and extend the door header so that the washer/dryer closet has double doors. Anyway, we had a big, lengthy series of discussions about how it's all going to shake out, such aswhere the vanity and toilet and lights go. 

We're also going to add hall lights, so that this area won't be so ridiculously dark. 

the kitchen ceiling, which when put back will not be dropped but will have a bulkhead running above cabinets and appliances on both sides (which is the only good way to get the vent above the stove legal). Removed skirting above the cabinets that are staying. What I think we're doing is doing a beadboard wainscoting, reusing and mostly leaving alone the sink side of cabinets, and using the short wall on the opposite side for the stove, fridge, and either an espresso machine bar with some open storage or a set of display cabinets. 

Stuff We got Done

Since we just rented out most of 231, I thought I'd share some photos we took while it was staged for showing:

The tiny bedroom/"hot box."


231's upstairs bathroom. -- it's too small to photograph most of it.


The front bedroom.


231's stair hall. 

This is the done stuff. Next post: the stuff in progress. 

Old House Philosophy

Philosophizing here, in brief: 

I feel like in some regards owning my house is a constant job of managing other people's prejudices and expectations.I know they mean well, but specific fallacies I get very tired of include: 

1. The idea that my house is going to take forever, and that old houses are a ton of work, and this would somehow not be the case if I bought something new. That's actually not true -- I am pretty lazy and I wouldn't buy an old house if it wouldn't will perform comparably to a newer house once it's not derelict. Besides which, I have yet to meet the person who doesn't invest some portion of their money into maintaining and altering their house, regardless of its age. 
2. The notion that newer is better. Sometimes, yes, but this view ignores the role that economic, legal, logistical, etc., factors play in material selection and manufacture. A 2X4 is not superior to a steel beam, necessarily, but a 2X4 happens to at one point be a better choice or even just the choice that's made given all the factors mentioned above. 
3. The notion that newer windows create savings, which is somewhat true. but that is a very simplistic statement that ignores when you individually would realize savings based on how inefficient the old ones are and how much new ones cost and also ignoring intermediate solutions. Also, the old windows are part of the historic fabric, which is the primary reason I own this house. I get that it doesn't matter to you, but it very much matters to me. 

Finally, for someone who loves them owning an old house is not always a practical matter. In my opinion they are beings, like books or other storied things, and I am writing the next chapter of their lives, such as it is. So my renovation choices have a moral component. In other words, no, I'm not interested in hiring some jerk to cover my house in vinyl siding or tearing out my historic woodwork to simplify the application of sheetrock. I do make compromises, but the fundamental compromise that I do not want to make is compromising the house's historic essence. 

More on flooring

Er, well, a few posts back I posted about the laminate stuff that we put down. A few weeks later, I really like it -- we were discussing what kind of floor's going down in the new bathroom, and if we can find a design we like we're probably going to go with more of the same line. 

Advantages: 1. Scoffs at water, 2.looks great, like tile. 3. Feels soft and somewhat warm, unlike linoleum, vinyl, or tile. 4. actually has a lower finished cost than other alternatives, despite being a more expensive material., 5. 25-year guarantee., 6. easy installation and a very forgiving process. 7. crazy easy prep -- sweep and you're done, unless you need to pull carpet. 8. cuts with scissors or a carpet knife. 9. mine turned out REALLY cheap because the size of the pieces allowed me to work around islands and such -- so I ended up needing two fewer boxes than estimated. 

When we were looking at it, we also looked at some laminate wood that looked really great. I seem to recall that the Dupont line is a) awesome and b) on sale right now. 

A Tale of One Kitchen

Kitchen before and kitchen after. 

Sweating the Small Stuff

We do a lot of little stuff.  I promise to upload some commentary on the big stuff, but really the majority of work that we do is small stuff.  

Specifically, we've only done a few things that cost more than $2,000.  Specifically, we did the drywall and plaster work that we had to do to get into the house, and that was about $3,000.  We bought all new appliances for the rental-side kitchen and that was about $2,500.  But the majority of stuff has been small, very small.  In fact, we've really spent nothing but our time in a lot of cases.  

We have now spent weeks stripping wallpaper, a task made worse and more complicated by the fact that the victorians wallpapered everything, and they generally wallpapered over old wallpaper.  So we have wallpaper on the walls and ceiling up to six layers deep.  Many implements are sold to make this better, and we tried using dissolving solution.  But we finally just bought a steamer.  It made the process both faster and less dusty, but still very slow.  

Another thing we did was use orange oil on most of the wood.  I know most people would call this "cleaning," but I don't think anyone had done any such things in our house in over a decade and what should be beautiful wood was looking pretty dry and awful.  A few liberal slatherings with oil and we had lustrous, gorgeous wood.  Of course, given how dry it is and the length of time before we did this, we'll be doing it again.  A lot.  

My dad also managed to break a few windows open -- some had been painted shut.  He and Chris also installed the original shutters, which are blackout shutters and were mercifully left in the attic by whatever idiot thought it was a good idea to take them down.

Chris did a ton of small electrical work -- which, of course, is why I married him.  (not really, honey)

And we installed a lot of lights, since the prevailing fixtures were decidedly 70s trailer park.  In the parlor, the light cost a mere $42. Crucial difference between Lowe's and Home Depot, as far as I can tell: Home Depot really sells the hell out of clearance items. We got two and the other will go in our bedroom. 

Economics

A lot of people look at our house and assume that it is bleeding us dry.  And that could be true, and sometimes seems like it is with the much higher utility bills that we're enjoying in Pennsylvania.  However, a lot of incentives and particularities are making our situation pretty economically feasible.  

First, while I wasn't thrilled that we had to delay our closing initially, I was thrilled to discover that between our original closing date and our actual closing date we became eligible for these lovely Homeowner's Tax Credits from the U.S. Government.  Thanks, Preznit!

Second, our house is a duplex, as well as has a detached carriage house, and that creates a lot of advantages.  We can, of course, rent out one side, and we will be doing so as of April 1th.  We also get to depreciate not only improvements to that side of the house, but utilities and other things relating to the administration and improvement of the shared environment. If both units are rented at market rent, we actually will cover our mortgage entirely.  So, not too shabby.

Third, we are eligible for a wider variety of incentives than we would be eligible for either as owners of single-family property or as owners of commercial property, allowing us to potentially take advantage of both.  More on this later, as we attempt to balance our desire to restore our historic home with our desire to be as environmentally responsible as possible.  

Catching Up...

Boy, have we been busy.  In fact, we've been so busy that I haven't posted anything to this blog in forever.  I actually got my tags today, which I suppose makes me an actual Pennsylvanian.  And I will set immediately to bringing everybody up to date on what we've achieved 'round these parts.  

Personally, I celebrated a birthday, started and am settling into my new job, and the family has been settling into what I suspect is harsher than average weather.  

As to the house, we have been gratified to discover that things are neither better nor worse than they initially appeared.  On the one hand, we could have a house where we don't really have any work to do, which wouldn't have been our goal, and on the other we might not have any money left.  So...I suppose everything's good.  Just wait for updates.

Kitchen and Bath

At this very moment, we are awaiting the arrival of the wrecking crew to get started on the bathroom tear down and renovation, so we can rent unit one and move into unit two. I am full of trepidation. 

So...what we're doing. We originally had a tiny, tiny "bedroom" (not legal -- it's roughly 9.5' X 12') adjacent to aclosetlike hovel of a bathroom (12' x 5', with the bath tub, sink, and toilet in line -- the sink is garbage and tiny, and the tub has a weird offset. but we might be able to reuse the plain jane toilet) with a dropped ceiling. We're now turning these two into a) a second-floor laundry which opens off the hallway by means of bifold doors and b) an L-shaped bathroom in which the original bathroom now only contains a vanity and toilet and the prior bedroom includes only the tub/shower combo and a closet. 

Complicating matters are issues like having to work around a dropped ceiling and sheetrock sheathing. Oh, and the fate of the kitchen hangs in the balance, as well. Well, sorta. If we do well, budgetwise, then I can really do a lot to the second-unit kitchen. If not, I'll be repainting and replacing the floor and sticking appliances in it and moving on. 

So, um, wish us luck! And does anyone have suggestions for places to buy fixtures? 

Happy New Year!

Happy New year, everyone. Thanks to my awesome family, we are watching football and hockey while simultaneously working on a million home improvement projects. We just finished, substantially, plunking down the new kitchen floor on the rental side -- it's made of this stuff, which was really not too bad to install, even over non-square floors. I repainted the rental side bathroom, we demoed the permanent side bathroom, and we're working on painting the middle rental-side bedroom after a monster wallaper-stripping project. Whee. 

On the flooring stuff, a surprise to us was that the stuff I installed actually ended up being MUCH cheaper than just replacing the cheap crap that was there previously and damaged. We went into El Home Depot with the goal of pricing flooring, both for the living room and kitchen. We originally planned to basically replace cheap crap with equivalent cheap crap. But the cheap crap we had was going to be VERY expensive to replace once we got past installation and related supplies (installation being a necessity for garbage you can't really install yourself unless you're very, very patient). So I think the estimate for replacing cheap, glue-backed vinyl in sheets with the same stuff was about $580. Replacing with cut-your-own heavy vinyl tile was only $350. So the flooring guy at Home Depot saved us some buckage and we ended up with a much nicer end result. 

I still haven't decided what to do with the entryway/living room, though. 

Today we'll finish the painting, I'll replace the 80s faux oak cabinet in the rental side bathroom with a sleek new mirror, we'll think about adding lighting on that side, hope to make a dent in painting the middle bedroom on that side (it's now primed), and we'll possible install shutters and replace kitchen trim and install shutters in the bathroom in place of the hideous 90s forest-green mini-blinds.