Alex - Old Town Home's Profile

Living in the US but having an obsession with the UK, I always love seeing the interiors of UK homes that are older, not part of a movie set, and not completely staged for a magazine shoot. I really enjoy this home tour. The house looks very comfortable and lived in, like it's truly been an evolution of style and decor.

As a fellow Victorian townhouse owner, and an AT home tour participant from last year, we know what goes into making the most efficient use of space, and also making sure the space reflects who you are. It looks like you've done a wonderful job of both. Thanks for opening your home for us to view.

I would love to be this put together, but in reality I'm usually...

1. Manically vacuuming
2. Trying to cram extra stuff into hidden spaces
3. Washing dishes from things I tried to cook too close to the party
4. Getting yelled at for doing everything last minute
5. Showering

We did a plate wall in a much smaller area above our living room mantle as something just a little more unexpected. You can see photos on our blog mid way down in the 6th row of before and afters (http://www.oldtownhome.com/2012/1/17/Nine-Years-and-Counting-Happy-House-iversary/) or on this photo from our AT home tour (http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/wendy-and-alex/item/302107).

There was a ton of eBaying, measuring, swearing, and sweating involved in getting them just right, but I think it worked out nicely. We also have a small urn and a few egg cups that match sitting on the mantle.

It's also worth noting that you can use CAT6 or CAT5e with an HDMI converter/extender to get much longer runs. I've done this several times in >40 runs and it works quite well and at 1080p.

So honored to be nominated and voted for. We really put our heart and soul into our DIY home projects and our blog, and it feels so good to know that people are enjoying it enough to vote. Thanks for selecting Old Town Home! I see a few of our blogger friends who also have some great DIY blogs (blood, sweat, and tears included), so we'll surely be voting for them.

Love this stencil design! I wish we would have had a stencil when we created the harlequin pattern http://www.oldtownhome.com/2011/6/10/How-To-Create-a-Harlequin-Paint-Treatment-Diamonds-are-a-Girls-Best-Friend/index.aspx on the walls of our downstairs hallway. I'm guessing it might have been easier than the measuring and taping method we used!

Just the essentials. Monitor, mouse, mouse pad, keyboard, phone, speakers, pencil cup, one upright paper holder for misc in progress things, various baseballs on display :-)

http://www.oldtownhome.com/2012/1/20/For-Our-Cherry-Desk-Not-Just-Any-Shelves-Would-Do/index.aspx

Hah, just got done watching Love Actually and then saw this post. Yep, The Holiday was last weekend.

I love "spite" houses. The 7' wide Alexandria, VA Queen Street spite house is right around the corner from us. They all have so many stories associated with them, some true, some false. We wrote about how the one near us came to be. http://www.oldtownhome.com/2011/9/29/In-Spite-of-its-Size-the-Queen-Street-Spite-House-Impresses/

IKEA!!! This is the best tip for sure. But I totally understand the frustration with storage (our house is tight with limited storage). We bust out all IKEA stemware for our annual Halloween Party http://www.oldtownhome.com/2011/10/12/Its-a-Halloween-Par-tay/

The way we've gotten around the storage issue is simple. We purchased the champagne flutes, another friend bought the red wine glasses, and another the white wine glasses. We then coordinate with each other for parties. That way you not only spend 1/3 of the total, but you only have to store 1/3 of the glasses too.