Attention bungalow restorers! Craigslist Minneapolis has a listing for an oak mantel and bookcase pair from a 1921 bungalow for $600. Other than some minor trim differences, this looks exactly like what I’ve got in my living room. The listing says the item has been removed from the house, so I assume the picture on [...]
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For the last few years, Ms. Bungalow and I have bought a shared gift to ourselves at Christmas. Last year it was a refurbished old piano, a couple years before that it was a DVD player. This year, we’re thinking of something to help our home improvement work. Given the great results of my paint [...]
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My Christmas wish for all of you: A cozy fire, A delicious meal, and joyful moments with the people you love. Merry Christmas!
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I was cruising through Uptown the other day and noticed a couple antique shops I’d never visited. I had a couple minutes to spare, so I decided to check out their wares. Whenever I visit a local antique dealer, I look for a cool old map of our neighborhood from around the time the house [...]
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At holiday time, I’m more of an admirer of lighting displays on houses than a participant. My wife and I have never put lights outside any house we’ve owned, but this year we decided to try something small and tasteful. We put some spruce tips in our front window box and added a string of [...]
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With just a couple finishing details left to complete, I lit the first fire in the paint-free fireplace last Friday, December 8. Since then, I’ve wrapped up all the finishing. The brick is real and it’s spectacular! Here’s how I handled the last stripping and finishing details: Last Thursday night I removed the last of [...]
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This could be the day I announce victory over the fireplace. Things are very close now. If I hadn’t run out of clean rags last night, I could herald the end of this project with certainty. Yesterday I returned from four days away on business to find the replacement fireplace screen waiting on the front [...]
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At this point, I’m getting down to the little details in the fireplace paint stripping project. For me, this is the time when the temptation to cut corners is greatest because the project’s conclusion is so tantalizingly close and deadlines loom so large. So far I am holding firm to my commitment to get all [...]
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Last night I passed a major milestone in the fireplace paint stripping project. I cleaned face of the last brick in my 112 brick hearth. It is looking really good, but I can’t rest yet. I still need to strip the inside edge of the hearth opening. I applied the Peel Away paint stripper to [...]
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Although the blog has been a little quiet following Thanksgiving, activity at the house continues full speed. In fact, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’ve even shared some of my home improvement labor with family. On “Black Friday,” bloated with too much pie and stuffing from the previous day’s feasting, I helped my Dad blow [...]
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I'm Josh and since 2005 I have shared home improvement stories and ideas from my family's Arts & Crafts bungalow in Minneapolis, MN. I'm trying to combine the best of 1923 with the best of the 21st century-- and I hope it won't take another 88 years to do it.
