VintageAlison's Profile

A couple of days after we returned from our honeymoon, our foyer ceiling literally fell in at 10pm at night because of water damage. The emergency repair guy came out and put up plastic that night. It took 4 months before our "skylight" was repaired and that only happened after we called the city inspector, since they wouldn't return our calls.

Our current landlord is the best. We're more than willing to do simple repairs if she reimburses our expenses. She let us select the new carpet for our entire home, that she paid for. And basically, lets us do whatever we want and she'll pay for it. It could not be a better situation for us.

I'd love a new bag for commuting that's actually waterproof. It doesn't matter how big your umbrella is sometimes with the wind blowing in Chicago! Small umbrellas that fit in your commute bag and Land's End commuter boots are fantastic. I wouldn't mind a battery booster for my iphone either because I'd hate for my "book" to run out of batteries because of an hour long train delay.

We do not have children and go out of our way to do hokey Christmas card photos of ourselves! They are holiday cards, not sympathy cards, so why not have fun?

I have two of the now discontinued Macy's Corona sofas. Lots of the reviews said the fabric was great with cats for claws. My husband started laughing the second they started scratching it and destroying it. How dare the internet lie to me!

Has anyone ever tried to put Soft Paws on their cats? It's ridiculous. My cats fought and struggled and then chewed them off.

HOBO is a construction overstock store in the Chicago area, but you have to watch the prices because they aren't always cheaper than tile showrooms. I used to work in the tile industry and we found that some of those places sold for the same items for the same cost or more.

I did a subway tile for my backsplash & used a couple rows of a glass & stone mosaic for a border. Most backsplashes are about 30 sf so you would only need a couple sheets of the more expensive mosaics to use as an accent, which usually comes in much cheaper than an actual border. Generally, mosaics are going to be much more expensive than individual tiles because of the labor involved. Although, I did find some decent glass mosaics at Home Depot for $5 per sf.

I really like this idea. Did you also use the Restore on the railings as well?

I've owned duvets from Crate and Barrel before and they are nice quality- especially on sale at the outlet. My most recent one is from Urban Outfitters- not great quality but pretty enough for the guest room.

If you want to lay porcelain or ceramic and don't want to add too much height or deal w/ removing asbestos tile- Durock makes a great DIY tile membrane that runs around $1.25 per square foot. It's simple to install- just a pair of scissors and a paint roller and adds virtually no height. Then you just add about 3/8" of tile plus mortar or vinyl on top. I think that's the easiest thing you can do.

Yes, you can use a natural stone sealer to help protect the marble.

Brooklyn- we definitely would love to live in a 60s ranch. Our last apartment was a second floor flat built in 1924 and our furniture didn't quite feel at home there either. Our current home really lacks any architectural interest because it's basically a box with beige carpet all over. If we owned it, I would probably put in hardwood floors downstairs, or even stone travertine planks.