Little did Christopher Deam know when he and fellow architect Thom Faulder designed Deam’s brother’s 675 square foot bungalow back in 1992 that his career would take him to the world of trailer parks. To appreciate the unfolding of this story, we need to start with Deam’s childhood. Born in 1962 to a naval pilot […]
Remember pomanders? You might have made one when you were ten years old or so, sticking an orange full of whole cloves. It was a tedious project for a kid. After I re-did my front closet a while back, I started thinking about these fragrant balls, as I wanted to add one as a cherry […]
In the last two years I have helped design and install a tile counter and bathroom floor that is less than traditional. It was a lot more time consuming and involved than a tile installation with only one or two types of tiles but I think the results are very rewarding. Bathroom Floor Tile Installation […]
Introduction: I am living in a small one room apartment (plus very small kitchen, corridor and bathroom) so I need to optimally use the existing space. Since I’m working from home a lot of the time one of the most important things is my working space: a desk, computer and storage for supplies and filing. […]
When we were kids, my sister Joyce and I rolled paper beads; little did we know we were doing something girls a hundred years earlier had done. Although Joyce and I made funky necklaces with our beads, our Victorian counterparts used the fruits of their labor to fashion curtains for doorways. Nowadays, I like to use paper beads to create […]
Our septic series continues. If you haven’t already, you may want to read the first part, well, first. Part 2: Snakes, worms, and severe burns. In the morning I awoke with the sudden realization that I couldn’t do the one thing I wanted to do most: use the toilet. I thought of going outside, but […]
I wrote this essay shortly after moving into my house, and I’m digging it out after being reminded by another first-time-homeowner’s post about the joys of main-line backups. Part 1: The sewer never sleeps. There was poop coming out of a hole in my basement. I came home near midnight. I had some papers I […]
The window in my bathroom is inside the shower. My rental company requires that a second shower curtain remain hung in the shower to protect the window. This second shower curtain drives me insane. You know how the curtain billows in the steam? I’ve got that on two sides. SO annoying. So I was thinking […]
This is a fun, stylish–not to mention lawful–way to use roach clips. For those of you who don’t know, roach clips can be found in the electrical department of any hardware or home improvement store. The technical name for the little pinchers are alligator clips, however, so if you have to ask a salesperson where […]
Here’s how to make vinyl record coasters from all those old LPs you have lying around (assuming, of course, that they’re not worth listening to anymore) … These are by no means an original idea. I saw them on all sorts of websites when shopping for unique Christmas gifts. However, $20-45 for six or eight […]
Raymour & Flanigan has rather handy, easy to use, and not to mention FREE, room planner on their website. You pick the dimensions of your room’s size and then start plopping down furniture, rugs, and accessories inside it. When you’ve settled on a favorite, you can print your design, or, if you sign up as a registered user, you […]
The fictional home of Mary Richards is for sale. Located at 2104 Kenwood Parkway, Minneapolis, the eight bedroom, nearly 10,000 square feet Queen Anne Victorian has undergone significant renovation over the past few years, which as culminated into a significant asking price: $3,620,000. According to the listing agents, this price is not unreasonable considering its […]
So, not exactly a major re-model, but this is how I made the windowless kitchen in our flat a bit brighter, using a can of paint, and stuff from the local Dollar Store. BEFORE AFTER Firstly I should say that I get that the baby-poop yellow cabinets have integrity and are totally in […]
“Mexican food without corn tortillas is like Chinese food without rice…The centrality of corn tortillas in Mexico may come as a surprise…, since many of us north of the border don’t choose corn tortillas with our Mexican food. The reason: We may have never eaten a good fresh one- a just-made one. Corn tortillas…are at […]
Let’s talk about cleaning. Cleaning is a drag. I hear there are people out there that actually like to clean, but I am not one of them, even though I used to work as a housecleaner. The good thing about having that job is, I learned to clean very quickly and efficiently. Now, I pass […]
Recently, a fellow Curblier posted a question about painting natural wood interior trim. With several total house remodels under our belts we’ve been faced with a lot of ugly molding. Some of it we’ve replaced, some we’ve refinished and some we’ve painted. Along the way, we’ve come up with a few rules that work for […]
We all know that paint is one of the most inexpensive ways to really change the look of a room. Knowing how much paint to buy is important. Buy too much, and you’ve spent money you didn’t need to spend. Buy too little and you have to make a frantic run to the store for […]
With very minimal woodworking know-how, I built a mid-century-ish, Isamu Noguchi-inspired “spaceship” table for under $80. The top is similar to Noguchi’s 1948 “Noguchi Table” and the legs are inspired by Noguchi’s Akari series of table and floor lamps. [When I first made the table, there was no Curbly.com, so I didn’t think to […]
Anybody that has hard water can attest that cloudy glassware can be a major pain. I’ve always used the standard advice to soak them in warm vinegar, and it works, but not for very long and it always comes back worse. Check out my funky glass: Yep, that’s pretty heinous. I was […]
There’s a company out there called WeGo, that sells facial tissues in a take-away coffee cup. In the interest of DIY-ism, I bought one of these cups of 50 sand-paper-rough tissues for 3 bucks so I could pop off the top, rip the guts out and figure out how to make them. Here’s my easy, […]
