More Exterior Color Options

After my last post, I went through the Benjamin Moore historic color palette and then drove through town looking at other historic houses from the same era to make sure I hadn't missed any potential color combinations for our exterior. These are the results of that exercise.Caldwell GreenCoventry GrayNewburg GreenKnoxville GrayJamestown BlueHale NavyThere are colors we are certainly leaning toward,...

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Exterior Paint Color Options

We're in the process of getting a new roof put on the house, and in the course of the work, we've discovered there was a lot more rot to the maroon fascia and trim on our house than we knew about, which resulted in the crew needing to replace much of it around the roof line. We've also noticed several boards rotted beyond repair on the yellow portion of the house. I'm a great believer in restoration...

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Update on the master bathroom

Back in January, I posted about our master bathroom renovation. Since then, things have come a really long way. We've painted almost all of the trim (still have to do the windows), installed our bidet toilet seat (which, as it turns out, looks really funny on our slimline Kohler Valiant toilet, but I'm not about to get a new toilet so ...), and added the shaker pegs to hold our towels. We had to call...

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On Food Tours While Traveling

Michael Ruhlman is one of our nation's great food writers. I also enjoyed reading his memoir HOUSE, about he and his wife's house in Cleveland Heights. I've always found him down to earth and relatable -- despite the fact that he's written some of the most iconic cookbooks you'll find on shelves and has worked with several of the world's best chefs. I probably wouldn't have called him a snob, but...

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Rethinking our range alcove design

Our hearth skeleton was erected just before we went on vacation, and then COVID came and we became pros at self-quarantining—including putting this project on hold. Initially I was upset because it was another delay, but it’s actually proven to be a blessing in disguise since it turns out that while we *loved* our hearth in Dublin, we aren’t loving it now. I think it’s because in that house...

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#CoronaCooking: Beef Koftka and Hummus with Tzatziki and Pita

Generally speaking, we are homebodies. We don't really go out all that much, and when we do, it's usually for lunch or a weeknight dinner maybe once every couple of weeks. Cooking at home is my jam, and at first I was undaunted by this quarantine. Cooking at home every night would be easy, I thought. Bring it on, I crowed. Well, here we are on day who-knows-what, and I was finally running out of inspiration....

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