Woohoo a free domain

Well I found a site that gives you a free domain, so now people don't have to remember hanjin1.clearwire.net. Now you can go to www.restorationon7th.co.nr , hmmmm I guess that will take a bit more to remember, but at least my web address now corresponds to my blog. If anyone wants a free domain, just click the link I have and sign up (part of the agreement is to keep a link of them on your website). Anyways this beats paying money for a domain. We'll see if anyone uses this address or not.

As for the house project, or as my wife would call it DAMMITTTT!!!! , right now we are pulling up all the old glue that held down the linoleum tiles that covered my floors. It's tedious job, but it beats hanging off my roof trying to sand the last bit of clapboard siding. I guess I will have to do that this weekend, I really need to finish that siding. Oh well, more cleaning and scraping and sanding and painting, what a week!

Messy house = Small house

Well yesterday Lita and I went to our weekly animal rescue group in Springfield (SACARC) which is held at someone's house. This week we went to Anastasia's house on 9th St., first of all she had a big house (not finished yet, but whose is?). It was a really nice house and looked so open and spacious. That made me think about my house with all the boxes and crap still there (Yes we still have boxes even 1 year into moving). Anyways Lita had been saying that she wanted to rent a storage room to move everything in. Hmmm I thought "Wow maybe that would make the house look bigger!" bright idea by me of course. So it looks as if we will be renting out a room and putting our junk in there. So it is true a clean house does look bigger, who'd a thunk it?????

P.S. SACARC is trying to create a dog park in our historic area. We need 150 pledges of $25 by Thursday to get it. So far we have 85, if anyone is willing to help go to sacarc.org and click the dog park link, then download the letter of intent form and fax it to 904-241-1680. We would really appreciate any help that we can get. This is for our furry little friends, hell they need a park too!

Lita is here...

Hello. This is Lita. I am blogging here for the first time and I hope my husband Peter doesn't erase this post. I have my own blog but no I am not sharing that with anyone. Sorry. It's just too personal I think. But maybe I will create another one that is more public-friendly. I mean, not that my current blog is XXX rated or anything like that, it's just that I am not comfortable other people reading it. So just read this blog. It's more fun here anyway.

The last several weeks have been really hactic for both of us. Busy volunteering here and there and other personal activites. So in short, we haven't had that much chance getting anything done in the house. I am basically not the type of person who likes to get dirty but since we own this old house, I don't have much choice.

Today, I plan to do some cleaning in the house. It is so hard to do that since 90% of the house is filled with our stuff or should I say junk? I need to sort out the stuff we don't need and donate them to Salvation Army. Then rent a storage somewhere to store our furnitures, etc. We plan to rent the storage this weekend. I hope I can finish my living room in a month. That would be fab! Then I can start doing the dining room. Master bedroom is next. Peter can work on the outside of the house while I do the inside.

I just want a nice-clean-finished-looking house.
Ours is far from all of that.
Damn.

Did I win the lottery last week?

Donations anyone???

I saw this donate button on someone elses blog before and decided to put one on mine, (heck any money is good money). We all know the costs it takes to restore an old house, and I for one am finding out how much. The rule of thumb is estimate what you think it would cost and the time it would take and times it by 2 or 3 or 4 (depends on the person). Well it's not the easiest thing to do, but I love old homes, just like the rest of us and I am damn sure going to see this one come together, HELOC or no HELOC. So you can take that ELoans.com!!!!


Anyone looking for a part-time employee???

Frustrations in getting that darn HELOC FROM HELL!!!

Well most of you don't know, but I have been trying hard to get a HELOC for my house. You know how the story goes, buy old house use credit cards for restoration, now can't pay for everything without eating 1 every 3 days. You know how it is. Anyways I decided to try and get a HELOC, from several lenders, but when I told them my situation (especially the part where I tore out the whole kitchen and bathroom downstairs) they said that getting one may be tough. I have only lived there for almost a year, but the mounting expenses have cut down on what I can do for the house. I'm sure not having a kitchen and bathroom downstairs will only lower the cost of my house. I wonder if there is another way to at least be able to consolidate our house debt. Damn credit cards, they are the devil!!!! Well wish me luck in finding someone that will help me out.

New Banner

Since I saw a lot of people with new graphical banners, I thought I should change mine as well. So here it is, tada! Hope it is cool, tell me what you think.

Springfield Annual Home and Garden Tour!

Woohoo! It's finally time for the Springfield Home and Garden Tour. I love when home tours come around, because all of the houses give me so many ideas. The good thing about this year is that the Riverside/Avondale home tour is next week! Boy so many houses in so little time. If anyone is coming through Jacksonville, FL, you need to hit up the home tours this weekend and next. It will be a blast. I will post pics of all the houses that I attend.

Exterior colors, version 2

Well I tried another set of colors, this time with different shades of the green and cream color. The green turned out a lot better and I am way happier with the results, but the cream turned into more of a yellowy color. I didn't really want yellow, since there are a few houses around that are yellow. I guess I will have to make another trip to the paint store and try another cream color. You know, I thought that doing the prep work for the exterior was hard, but picking colors will kill your brain. Anyways here are some pics of the new colors:

Exterior colors.... decisions, decisions

Well I started priming the front of the house a few weeks ago and have done most of it. I still have some areas that I have to smooth out, but I just don't want to deal with it yet. Lita has really wanted me to finish the front, so that at least when people walk by they won't say, "Damn, look at that crack house!" Now they will say, "Damn that's a nice looking crack house." Anyways we decided on colors for our house and have gone with a cream base with a grey green trim and accentting the windows with a dark red. So far we have this:



I think the cream is a little to brown, maybe a little lighter. What do you think?

As you can see I haven't finished stripping the beadboard ceiling. That will wait for a long time as that is the hardest area to strip. Very hard trying the use a grinder facing up. I may just end up replacing it all.

Old postcards and photos of Springfield

Here are some photos and postcards I found of my neighborhood. Boy, was it beautiful then, I wish we still had the trolley going through Main St. Anyways enjoy!

Kramer's Antique Improver??

Went to the antique store yesterday and saw a booth they had, advertising Kramer's Best Antique Improver. I was wondering if anyone has ever tried this stuff on their floors? I have a room that I have sanded but have not put anything on it as of yet (yes I am that lazy). I saw this stuff and read the back and saw where it says that it's good for floors as well. I've tried searching and haven't found anyone that has actually used this stuff yet. I've seen the examples they had at the booth and they look real good. The one reason why I am thinking about doing this, is because I have many animals in the house and using poly on the floors might not be a good thing, especially without anyone there to supervise. Also boarding them for a few days would cost me a bundle, so I am looking into this natural way of doing it. I have thought about shellac too, so that may be an option as well. If anyone knows anything about this please give me a feedback. Thanks a lot