Molly80's Profile

You should read William Pene DuBois's children's novel, Thel Twenty-One Balloons. One of my favorite books ever.

I always fall for places with tons of character and lots of problems. I just sold my first house, a 1943 fixer-upper. I fell in love with its potential (big mistake) and totally renovated the exterior and lived with a really awful ca. 1960 kitchen for six years, and when I moved for a job, I thought, I'll finally get a kitchen with decent counter space and a dishwasher. And I'll only get a place with two bathrooms!

Yeah, we'll, I'm like one of those women who has bad taste in men and never learns from her mistakes. I had two rental options when I moved: a brand new condo, three stories with hardwood floors and two bathrooms, gorgeous, but, like most condos, surrounded by parking lots, in an ugly neighborhood with no charm, and an absolutely charming, tiny 1920s cottage complete with sunroom, fireplace, and original french doors on a leafy street. Of course, I picked the charmer, which has no dishwasher, less counter space than my old house, and one tiny bathroom with no storage. I couldn't resist, and every day I curse my taste in old charmers. I think I'm an incurable house romantic. I don't believe I'll ever have a dishwasher or two bathrooms...

I think the orange peel and similar texturing is done so they can be lazy with the Sheetrock floating--it covers up all the imperfections. Bummer, but not the end of the world. I love your honesty in this post--any project like this will have its mixups, mess ups, and somecawful variation on the huge piles of flooring you have to carry yourself. Good job keeping a sense of humor about it!

To those who assume you should just keep vases: I don't for two reasons. First, I never buy flowers myself because my cars eat them or knock over vases, ruining the furniture. And my house is so small I don't have room to store an extra bulky object that I may only possibly have a use for in future...

I lived in a rental with fake (plastic) wood paneling and after three years of trying, finally convinced my landlady to let me paint it. It became the most charming beachy little cottage after that!

I now live in a town with lots of 1940s houses with a paneled room--I love white painted wood panelling for the same reason i love beadboard-there's something lovely about the texture of a wood wall. I see wood panelling as a plus when I look at real estate-but only as something I would paint white!

This is all so helpful! I just sold my house and moved into a rental this week and I am totally inspired now. There are some things about it that are just awful, like a disgusting bathroom vanity and hideous bathroom paint and terrible lighting. I am totally inspired to ask my landlord if I can replace the vanity. I'm allowed to paint if I want. I've only had evil management companies in the past, so i think i am chary of asking for anything because of that, but my new landlord seems really nice and responsive. Other things about the place are so wonderful that it already feels a bit like home...

Cold is relative. I used to live in Massachusetts and Colorado, and now that I live in Texas I find 40 to be pretty darned cold. We had 90 days of temps over 100 this past summer in Austin...so acclimating to 40 can be tough!

Rim UP. I live in Texas and roaches get in the house sometimes no matter how clean you are. Once I watched one run into the kitchen cabinet among the glasses. I managed to get it out and squash it. But really, how gross to think of it running its little legs against the rim of a glass as it scurries about. I'll take dust over that any day.

This is the best set of comments ever. I have always dreamed of having a sunken living room...

This would be great crocheted, and you could do it in Caron Simpoy Soft for very little money.