Posts tagged curbly-house

The Curbly House: Ayla's Cozy Room Reveal

By: Alicia Feb 22, 2013

Ayla's bedroom reveal
Last year was full of changes for our family, and in particular for my daughter. A new house, a new brother, and a new pre-school. That's why, when I started thinking about how to design her new room in the Curbly House, I wanted it to be perfect, inspiring, cozy, and hers. The day we moved in, Ayla's room was the most done room in the house, and to date, it's the only done room in the house. This room was my baby, and it's for my baby, so today I'm going to show you more pictures than a proud grandma stores in her wallet. Let's go!

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The Curbly House: Where Are They Now?

By: Alicia Feb 12, 2013

Curbly House status update!
The Curbly House has been on a blogging hiatus, because, well... we had a baby and moved into an "under construction" house two weeks later. Then, we proceeded to lose our minds.

But as the baby grew bigger and we finally started being able to distinguish between night and day, things started to happen around the house. So here's a long-overdue update on where things stand with the Curbly House, and what's coming up next. Here we… Continue Reading

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The Curbly House Gets a Window Dressing Makeover: The Reveal

By: Alicia Jan 09, 2013


A few months ago we moved into a tree house. Well, not exactly. It's a real house, but it has more windows than a zebra has stripes. We love them (windows, and zebras), but grew tired of accidentally showing off for the neighbors at night. We needed a barrier between our house and the 'hood. Read on to find out what we ended up with ...

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The Curbly House Gets a Window Dressing Makeover: The Inspiration

By: Alicia Jan 08, 2013


The windows are the best thing about our new house. They are old and many need some repair, but they're full of character and they bathe us in natural light all day long. I can't tell you how many people have told us the place feels like a tree house, with all the natural light. We totally agree.

But after we lived here for a few days, we realized there's one problem with tree house living ... there's no privacy. So after a few nights… Continue Reading

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DIY Lessons Learned: Testing for Lead

By: Bruno Oct 18, 2012

Lessons Learned: Lead Testing
The Project: Finishing up some leftover painting jobs in the Curbly House. After two months living in the house, we decided it was finally time to get the fireplace and stairs painted.

The Story: While the Curbly house was under construction, we had free reign to make a mess, paint whatever and whenever we wanted, and generally run wild. That's because no one was living in the house, and we knew we'd be doing a thorough (i.e. obsessive… Continue Reading

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DIY Lessons Learned: Hearing Protection

By: Bruno Oct 03, 2012

created at: 10/03/2012The Project: Anything LOUD! In my case, that includes using a table saw, using a miter saw, mowing the lawn, changing a dirty diaper, etc. etc. 

The Story: Hearing protection is just one of those things people like to ignore. Most folks will throw on some eye goggles or a face mask in the appropriate circumstances, but for some reason prolonged exposure to really loud noises doesn't seem to bother us. Why is that?

Think about it: those… Continue Reading

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Week 13 Journal: Pack 'em Up, Move 'em In

By: Bruno Sep 14, 2012

Moving in day at the Curbly HouseNine months ago, Alicia and I walked into a house with lights that wouldn't light, windows that wouldn't close, and a stale pall of neglect that was evident in every corner. And for some reason, we both decided we liked it. Not as it was then, of course, but as we pictured it could become.

After many months of hard work, bits of good and bad luck, and sleepless nights (thanks, Baby Z), we're finally living in the place, and we couldn't be happier. Read on to watch our video journal, and find out how we made the final push to get into the Curbly… Continue Reading

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DIY Lessons Learned: Protecting Your Volunteers

By: Bruno Sep 12, 2012

created at: 09/11/2012
The Project: Enlisting the help of friends and family to clean up the Curbly House after months of messy construction. 

The Story: At some point in the course of any big DIY project, you're bound to need some help from family and friends. That moment came for us when it was time to get the house ready for move-in. Think: months of demolition debris, drywall dust, paint spills, and general construction garbage. It was pretty nasty.

A ton… Continue Reading

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Week 12 Journal: Let There Be Light

By: Bruno Sep 07, 2012

The Curbly House Week 12 Journal: Turning on the lightsAhhh ... It seems like just yesterday we walked through the Curbly House and decided to take a chance on it. But, in reality, it was waaaay back in January!
And this week, we put the finishing touches on the inside: light fixtures and switches. Read on to watch our weekly video update and find out how we chose lighting fixtures for each room.

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Week 11 Journal: Painting the Curbly House (Finally!)

By: Bruno Sep 04, 2012

The Curbly House: Week 11 Journal(Note: this post was supposed to go up last week, but I just couldn't get it out the door in time. Sorry!)

This week has been pretty crazy: a new baby boy at home, Alicia's starting to pack up in preparation for the move, and I've been working on transforming the Curbly House from a dark, messy construction zone into a freshly-painted, light-filled, livable space. Read on to watch our video journal, and get a first look at the (almost) finished interior. 

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The Curbly House: Painting Like a Pro

By: Bruno Aug 30, 2012

It's just like the children's book says: "Everybody Paints".
Wait...is that what it says? Whatever ... it's true.

Painting is the one DIY project almost everybody has tried. And most people would feel comfortable trying it again. But it's not until you start a truly big painting project that you appreciate the value of having the right tools and high quality supplies, and that's just what I learned when we started painting The Curbly House. Don't believe me? Read on to see why starting off with the right tools from the getgo saved us countless headaches throughout our… Continue Reading

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Lessons Learned the Hard Way: Keep Your Safety Glasses On!

By: Bruno Aug 29, 2012


...Or, why Murphy's Law also applies to your peepers, people.

The Project: Cutting out old gas lines in the Curbly House, to make way for new electrical wiring and structural reinforcements (yes, these old houses were lit gas lamps!).

The Story: It was late in the day, almost time to wrap things up, but there was one lingering steel pipe up in the ceiling that I wanted to cut out. "Five minutes," I thought, then I'll go home. So I… Continue Reading

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Week 10 Journal: Finishing the Bathroom (and A Surprise!)

By: Bruno Aug 24, 2012

Curbly House Journal: Week 10 - finishing the bathroom

Start Wizard of Oz Voice:

People. The Curbly House now has a functioning toilet! 

End Wizard of Oz Voice.

Yeah, I bet you were wondering how we were getting along all this time in house with no bathroom. Fact is, the bathroom has been gutted for weeks, and those of us working on the project have been making runs (hah) to the nearby gas station for nature's calls. No longer! Read on to watch my video journal, find out how our new bathroom started coming together, and see if you can spot a special surprise that we've been expecting...

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How to: Cut Tile at Home...and Not Seriously Injure Yourself

By: Bruno Aug 21, 2012

3M DIY safe prep tips
The Curbly House is moving into the 'finishing-up' phase, now that the walls are all closed up, taped, mudded, and sanded. Better yet, the bathroom walls and floor are ready for tile! I'll do a post later this week about our tile-laying adventures (don't worry, there's no tile inspection to fail), but today I wanted point out some important safety tips. Read on to find out how I'm make cutting and setting tile an injury-free process.

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How to: Choosing Wall Art with Meaning

By: Alicia Aug 20, 2012

Finding Art with meaning on Art.com

Last month I explored ways to add color and pattern to the Curbly House (check here if you missed it). But sometimes color and pattern aren't enough; art should also have meaning. You want to look at your walls and see a story in every picture. So today, I'm going to show you some tricks I've used to help inspire my search for art that's beautiful and personally significant. Read on to see what I mean (get… Continue Reading

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The Curbly House Quest for Color Continues

By: Alicia Aug 16, 2012

Our Quest for Color Inspiration Continues
In my first post about choosing colors for the Curbly House, I found all kinds of beautiful color inspiration using the Sherwin-Williams' Chip It! tool. This little button led me to some great color combos and palettes, and helped me select wall and trim colors for nearly every room in the house! But the ChipIt! tool also helped us think about how to bring accent colors into each room through paint and decor. Read on to find out what I'm thinking, and to give me your feedback!

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Week 9 Journal: Entering the Home Stretch

By: Bruno Aug 10, 2012

Curbly House: Week 9 Journal

Wooo! After almost of a month of trying to get our stupid bathroom plumbing approved, we finally passed our rough-in inspection! That was a huge deal, because it meant we had the green light to start closing up interior walls. And that's one big step closer to completing the project! Read on to watch my weekly video journal and see what other big steps we took this… Continue Reading

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Week 8 Journal: Grrrr. Plumbing, Take Two.

By: Bruno Aug 02, 2012


Last week, we failed our first plumbing inspection. Horribly. This week, the inspector came back and kindly failed us again. Read on to watch my weekly video update, and find out why I have $300 worth of PVC fittings in the back of my car.… Continue Reading

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Week 7 Journal: Plumbing Down the Tubes

By: Bruno Jul 26, 2012

Curbly House Week 7 Video Journal - plumbing and sheetrock!
Weelllll poop. After spending the better part of a week completely revamping the bathroom plumbing, we failed our inspection (spectacularly). Read on to watch my weekly video journal and see why I have no love lost for Mr. Plumbing Inspector.

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Week 6 Journal: Finally Making Some Progress

By: Bruno Jul 19, 2012

Making progress on framing in the Curbly HouseIt finally feels like we're making some real progress on the Curbly House. After weeks of demolition (and basically just making the house worse than it already was), this was the first week where we actually started improving things. Read on to watch my weekly video journal and read about all of our framing adventures.… Continue Reading

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