This has been one of the busiest summers for my family in years: weddings, births, camping trips, family get-togethers, birthdays. From mid-May through September, we spent nearly 12 weekends away from home. I hadn’t touched the Art House for more than four months. With winter just around the corner, the first priority was to provide […]
By the end of March, an inspector from my insurance company had submitted his report: FAIL. Unless I fixed a long list of “hazards” at the property, my insurance would be cancelled. I had two months to comply. Until then, I was on probation. Among other things, I was required to repair or replace all broken/unsecured windows […]
The Washington State flower is the rododendron. It should be moss. It grows on everything: on cars, sidewalks, fences, everywhere. In the Northwest, if it ain’t moving, it’s got moss growing on it. It was no different for the Art House, which had a thick carpet of green moss covering the entire western exposure of the […]
I picked up the keys in Centralia and then headed over to the Art House – entering into hostile territory. I had to tackle the first (and worst) project before I could do anything else. Mold. The previous owner purchased the home as an investment about a year ago, intending to remodel and flip the […]
Project 5: Repairing Piers and Posts
When you stepped into the Art House through the front door, you walked over a “buckle” in the floor and started heading downhill. There was a 2″ drop as you crossed from the living room into the kitchen. It was so pronounced that I was able to place a marble at the top of the “hill” and […]