Monthly Archives: December 2012

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,800 views in 2012. If every person who reached the … Continue reading

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Toilet specs

Part of the renovation effort for This Odd House involves remodeling the second floor bathroom.  Access to it required a traverse to the back of the kitchen and through a door into a long windowless room.  Yes, it had vaulted … Continue reading

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Rocking and taping

When my house was built, walls were constructed with “lathe and plaster”, thin rough strips of wood nailed to the studs and coated with coarse plaster, which oozed between the strips and clung to the structure.   The result was a … Continue reading

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This Odd Homeless Shelter

I enthusiastically welcome a new occupant to This Odd House!  My design consultant, collaborator in this project, and longtime renewed friend Portia, has had her house on the market for the last year and it recently sold.  The buyers insisted … Continue reading

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Construction Party

Today (Monday) was perhaps the busiest day This Odd House will have over its reconstruction.  A representative from just about every construction trade showed up this morning at 8:00 (a courtesy to the owner, who doesn’t like the 6:30am start … Continue reading

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Stud envy

One of the inspirations for me is my friend Dave who has taken on a project to build a house with a workshop in anticipation of all the free time he will have when he someday retires.  Taking on the … Continue reading

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This crooked house

The ceiling after being leveled, now matches the lines of the new window and we no longer feel off balance when walking around in this room. The plan was to unify the kitchen and dining room by making a common … Continue reading

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Urban Archaeology

When the kitchen and bathroom walls were demolished, we found artifacts of their prior remodeling periods.  The previous owners had a terrific sense of style.  Their construction skills were not as strong, but they deliberately left clues for the archeologists … Continue reading

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