robotropolis's Profile

We use Kijiji mostly here and I like it a lot. Yes, I've been flaked on many a time, and often miss good deals (dealers here snap up a lot of the vintage furniture right away, so I often see a piece I coveted in a shop with a big markup on it), but the absolute WIN feeling of a great find more than makes up for it. Including the two fiberglass egg armshells I literally bought out of the trunk of a dude's car last year! I do less well selling, pretty unmotivated, and tend to let my stuff go at yard sales unless it's really nice.

There's a nice example of a stuccoed fireplace here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0813295813493.html

Better the oven than me!

This post brought to you by the state the last owners left my oven in. Never doing w/o self clean again.

Home Depot has a "cottage" vanity from Foremost with shuttered doors, but painted an off white.

I saw a good point in a discussion about infill in my town, which is both historic and run down (a lot of supposedly temporary post war and post Halifax explosion story-and-a-half bungalows went up hastily which have just stuck around). The poster pointed out that people who build ugly vinyl-sided big houses in charming city streets are profiting from the charm of the neighboring houses while not adding anything to the streetscape. I actually LIVE in a big house which was well-redone on the inside but the previous owners couldn't have made the outside more bland if they tried. It's not quite in the budget to reside (plus it seems a shame to landfill perfectly fine siding) so we're trying to add charm in other ways.

I do think the answer is to designate historic districts for special neighborhoods that at least have some kind of standards .... e.g. height and lot coverage.

That said, historic district regulations can be very frustrating when you're on the wrong side of them. A friend of mine just renovated his Montreal bungalow, which has about 6.5 foot ceilings on the second floor, and he was limited to adding a shed dormer because they wouldn't let him raise the roof. Despite the fact that many of his neighbors had already raised theirs before the designation. If he had known just how strict the designation was he probably would have bought elsewhere.

Just wanted to point something else out that I didn't realize until I started planning my and other family members' weddings. If the couple are paying for their own wedding and are providing a meal and drinks, no way are they 'breaking even' on the accumulated gifts, unless their friends and family are wealthy or are coming from an some alternate traditions (e.g. Italian, Indian, Israeli weddings where everyone brings an envelope and richer/older people bring fat envelopes).

They're paying a big chunk of change out of their pocket to host you. They're doing it because they want to, because of family obligation, because so-and-so's feelings will be hurt unless they're invited, because if you invite some friend you've known for ten years it's only polite to invite their partner that you've only met once so that your friend can have a good time and know someone there, etc., etc, etc. There are many, many people at the average wedding who have been invited out of politeness or obligation. I have attended many weddings where I knew the bride and groom only slightly, because they're my partner's or family's connections. That's just how it is.

All this to say, don't worry, buying them a couple of crystal glasses off a Sears registry isn't going to fill up the huge hole THEY are putting in THEIR bank account to try and ensure YOU have an okay time.

I totally respect couples who run away and get married with a couple of other people present. Looking back, like I say, I wish I had done the same. I sort of got trapped in "should dos" based on family ties.

I think the whole Western wedding thing is kind of running up against different traditions which make no sense in today's world, but which still run kind of deep. One is the tradition of hosting, where you don't ask anything of your guests. Cash bar as tacky -- depends on the region (where I am, cash bars are most common, not surprising as we come from an economically depressed area). The other is the tradition of the bride's parents paying for the whole thing, which used to be laid in stone but now totally isn't. The idea that it's two families coming together (whether romantically or in the business sense). The idea that extended family expect to come, as if the parents were still paying, because that's how it's always been. The idea parents have that they should be able to invite people, because that's the way it's always been. The whole thing needs to get redefined very quickly and it takes a bit of courage to break those bonds.

I think the whole idea of a young couple hosting a wedding for their families and friends is just kind of weird. Why do two young, brokeish people, feel compelled to wine and dine a bunch of older and comparatively richer people? I much prefer the way other cultures do it, where the point is that the friends and families chip in to help the young couple get started. It's pretty much understood--and often stated outright--that gifts should be of the envelope variety.

I do think registries are practical. Having just funded a wedding for myself, which I totally shopped around for and did on the cheap, it was still super expensive. I now will never give anything but cash. It's honestly, truly, what 99% of bridal couples want most.

If I could do it over, I think I would have eloped. But when you both come from large, close knit families, and you start inviting them, then your friends, and people are coming from out of town so you want to feed them, but it's rude to feed just some and not others, and everyone in your families talks so you can't invite some without the rest, and it's too many people to fit in your house, and you both work full time so your chances of catering for 150 are slim to none...costs add up very fast. Even with a cheap cocktail dress, no flowers, no decorations, and the cheapest caterer in town.

I was a johnny come lately extrovert. Spent most of my early life so nerdy as to be without friends, so now treasure friendships and cultivate a lot of them. I love making a new friend, it's almost like a crush. Friends provide novelty - they suggest activities that I might not think of myself, but enjoy. They provide conversation and intellectual stimulation. They cook you nice food and make you laugh. Nothing wrong with alone time, nothing wrong with friendships shallow or deep.

As a new extrovert and someone who's moved a ton, my recipe for making new friends is activities and hobbies. It's also so useful to find a connector person - that easygoing and open person in your ceramics class who maybe won't be YOUR best friend, but who has a large circle in which you may find someone who you WILL click with. They act as friend matchmakers, consciously or unconsciously (I do so consciously - I love introducing new friends!)

I do think it's also about making yourself an attractive friend. Establishing a friendship in the beginning is like starting to date someone: it's about highlighting what's interesting and fun about you, not bringing all your insecurities and baggage right to the table from the get-go. Trying to get someone to accept you warts n' all is for people of long acquaintance where your mutual dependence has been established.

Bathroom number 1 I have no idea.

Bathroom number 2 -- looks almost tropical to me! The wood looks nicer than bathroom 1 too and I would be tempted to keep it. Could you do something with ivory walls, maybe a better (more restoration hardwarey) light fixture, frame out the mirror, take off the counter backsplash (dated anyway) and put in your own light colored tiles, put some horizontal wood blinds on the window (ivory perhaps), and a plant or 2? http://www.emulty.com/wp-content/uploads/tropical-bathroom-designs-1.jpg