February 2009

Natura vs. Aura

February 27, 2009

I recently noticed that Benjamin Moore is introducing a new line of Zero VOC paint called Natura, and I couldn’t be more excited to try it! It’s already out in a few areas, including California and Washington, and will be released nationwide this spring. If you don’t know what VOCs are, the U.S. Environmental Protection [...]

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Not-So-Big Remodeling

February 25, 2009

Last December I pre-ordered Sarah Susanka’s latest book, Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live,and it finally arrived yesterday! According to the Editorial Review: More Big Ideas from Sarah Susanka including hundreds of Not So Big ideas that can beautifully and affordably transform any home. Sometimes small changes can [...]

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Redi to Go

February 24, 2009
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I’m working on a couple of deadlines, so just a short post. The Redi-Shades are history! The last of the paper shades, in our TV/family room, have come down. It’s the first step in getting this room in shape, finally, which makes me very happy because we spend a lot of time in this room. [...]

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Parent Scare

February 19, 2009

I had a meeting late Wednesday morning with the architect (more on that later), so around 9:15 on Tuesday night I called my mother to see if she wanted to go out for breakfast on Wednesday. No answer. A little strange that she’d be out that late on a weeknight, but she has lots of [...]

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Living Room Tour

February 17, 2009
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As promised, here is a tour of our completed-for-now living room. There are some things I want to change, but as of now, they are waaaaay down on the list. Number One, the fireplace: Overpowering, isn’t it? Even next to our large, curved sectional sofa. It’s also not a bungalow fireplace. A bungalow fireplace is [...]

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The Post V-Day Post

February 16, 2009
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Sometimes I just crave sushi. I’m not really into the fancy rolls, like caterpillar or dragon. They’re okay, but I think too many ingredients can be overpowering. That’s why my favorite sushi place is Kuni’s Japanese Restaurant on Main Street in Evanston. They only offer the classic rolls —— the fanciest maki they make is [...]

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Window Covering Sale Alert

February 15, 2009

JC Penney is having another sale on their window coverings. Although not quite as good as the last one when we bought our bedroom top-down, bottom-up cellular shades, the prices still aren’t bad. Although I initially wanted a natural, woven wood look for our TV/family room, with our plans for the attic space we don’t [...]

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Who was Thomas K. Valos?

February 13, 2009
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In the Cook County Recorder of Deeds files, one name that kept popping up with many of the houses in the neighborhood was Thomas K. Valos. In later years of the logbook I noticed a reference to Valos Realty Company. This led me to believe that he was perhaps the developer for the neighborhood. His [...]

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Piecing History Together

February 12, 2009
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As I mentioned the other day, I went downtown to the Recorder of Deeds in the Cook County building at 118 N. Clark to try and learn more about the history of our house. Down in the basement you’ll find large binders containing handwritten logs which recorded all of the transactions related to your house [...]

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Dining Room Tour

February 11, 2009
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Let’s see, according to the archives, it’s been exactly one year since we had our living room and dining room plaster walls patched and skim-coated. How time flies. I guess I should really show you the finished product —— this is a house blog, after all. We’ll start with the dining room. This is the [...]

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