This is my house. I call it the "Money Pit". To say that this house is a fixer-upper is the understatement of my lifetime. The house was built in 1971, and we purchased it in 2004. Prior to that, the house had not been taken care of or updated since at least the late 1980's or early 1990's. As we progress in updating and improving the house, I will post photos and share the successes, challenges, and pitfalls along the way.

The posts on this page are the most recent. Be sure to check previous posts via the Archives and Tags links here in the sidebar. They will help put the progress we have made to date in clearer context.



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Adult Bedroom Set


Its official…I’m an adult. Got a matching bedroom furniture set.

July 17th, 2010  •  View Comments  • 


BBQ Launch

I’m proud to announce that we opened up year two of the backyard BBQ. We again grilled up some chicken and included some world famous Stubbs BBQ sauce. I can’t wait to get to Austin soon to try some straight from the restaurant directly!

May 18th, 2010  •  View Comments  • 


Chateau Clark

Chateau Clark

My house during the recent blizzard that hit the East Coast of the US.

I also created a panoramic view of my street, taken from my front porch, during the blizzard.

February 13th, 2010  •  View Comments  • 


Barbecue For the Back Yard

The New BBQ
The First BBQ

This summer we finally purchased a new Barbecue grill for the backyard. Its a Weber and we were able to use it a few times before the weather got a bit too cool and cold. Looking forward to using in more actively next summer!

November 27th, 2009  •  View Comments  • 


Back Patio

Back Patio
Back Patio
Back Patio

I can’t believe its taken me this long to post these photos. Early in the summer, we had a patio installed in the back yard. Its a wonderful addition to the house!

November 27th, 2009  •  View Comments  • 


Updated Basement Photos

Red Sox Photos In Basement

Basement

Basement

Some updated photos of my basement, with my mini “shrine” to the Red Sox.

January 17th, 2009  •  View Comments  • 


Kitchen Painted

We painted the kitchen this week. Doing so was prompted when we purchased our new kitchen table. Here are some photos of how the kitchen looks now.

Kitchen Painted
Kitchen Painted

January 10th, 2009  •  View Comments  • 


New Kitchen Table

New Kitchen Table

This is our new kitchen table. I’m particularly proud of this acquisition to the house because we purchased the table for…wait for it…$100. You can’t get a cheezy kitchen and table set from Wal-Mart for that price. The table was damaged. Can you see the damage? Neither can I from this view. In reality, the round edge of the table is a bit loose from the main area of the table top. When we purchased the table, it had the “shabby chic” look. So a paint job, and a couple of angle irons, and we have a brand new kitchen table.

The old one is below. We really liked the old vintage table below, but unfortunately too much pressure on one of its “wings” caused it to break. Its a 65 year old table, yet 3 years in the Clark house and we manage to bring it too its knees. Makes me proud! :)

Kitchen Table

January 10th, 2009  •  View Comments  • 


Crown Moulding

I spent today attempting and failing mightily to install crown moulding in my house. Basically, it kicked my ass. There is no other way to describe it. I definitely need to get a professional in here. To think that I could install it in my dining room, living room is nothing short of hilarious. Oh well, at least I can say I tried.

September 20th, 2008  •  View Comments  • 


My House Fully Painted

House Fully Painted

House Fully Painted

House Fully Painted
So the painters finished up painting the house. And here is the big “reveal”. Its a nice grey with black shutters and a deep red door. Combine this with the grass that is growing and the house is now almost presentable :) To see a before photo, scroll down to the previous post.

July 21st, 2008  •  View Comments  • 


Paint Job

House Being Painted

House Landscaping
Here is the first view of our house getting painted. This is just the primer coat, but none the less, it loos pretty good. They worked filling in and cleaning up the trim today, and will probably paint the trim tomorrow, with the main coats going on later in the weekend. This is going to transform how the house looks!!! Just for kicks, above is a before picture of the house.

July 17th, 2008  •  View Comments  • 


Grass

House Landscaping
This is grass. This is grass on my property. I never thought I would see the day.

July 17th, 2008  •  View Comments  • 


Landscaping

During the week of July 4th, 2008, we finally bit the bullet and had our “grass” resodded. I put the word grass in quotes because to say that the stuff we had on our plot of land was grass is a big, big stretch. It was more like some form of green moss growth…it was terrible and made our property look like the Pigpen of the neighborhood.

So during the July 4th week, I stayed home and we had some landscapers come to our house, rip up the top layer of dirt across the whole property. They then dropped down a new layer of topsoil, they put down 45 lbs of grass seed, and then dropped hay all over the place.

We are now seeing real, actual grass growing on our property. Photos to be shared shortly.

July 12th, 2008  •  View Comments  • 


New Couches

New Couches
The transformation of our TV room is almost complete. Today we had some new couches from Crate & Barrel delivered to replace the old ones that we had taken away yesterday.

The next thing we need is a new coffee table to replace Lisa’s Conran’s table that has been with us since New York City and may never leave the house.

May 3rd, 2008  •  View Comments  • 


Free Sofabed Couch and Loveseat

If you live in New Jersey, I have a sofabed couch and loveseat set posted on craigslist that I need to get rid of. All details are on the craigslist posting. Respond to the email on the craigslist posting if you are interested. Need to get rid of them by next weekend (May 3, 2008)

April 25th, 2008  •  View Comments  •