the little things...

We've been taking very small (but neccessary) steps over the past couple weeks on the condo. A host of different visitors have stayed with us over the past month (which we have loved, by the way!) so we haven't had any large chunks of time to work on things. But we have been making headway in getting some small things accomplished! Like doorknobs!

As usual I agonized over the style of doorknobs and plates to purchase from Rejuvenation. It was between a beaded metal knob design, glass or the white porcelain. We ended on the porcelain because we like how they contrast the oil rubbed bronze plates and it's also very Victorian inspired. We're also really excited that the plates have keyholes (you can't get those at home depot!)

One other small accomplishment is that we put up some curtains in our bedroom. I know everything is looking very black and white right now... in time, I promise, we will have some color in our lives. The overall plan for our bedroom is for most everything to be black and white with simple pops of color as accents (new duvet and pillow covers soon to come as well as some additional furnishing pieces).

coach house cabinet

The history of the coach house cabinet: So, when I was a kid, my parents rehabbed houses. We moved a lot and were often living in the houses they were fixing up. When we weren't rehabbing a house, we were living with my Grandmother at her old coach house in Wilmette. The house used to be a real stable to the larger house next door. The horses and coaches were kept downstairs and the upstairs was an attic apartment for the coachman. In the 70's my Grandmother bought the place and fixed it up as her little getaway... it was called 'Happy House'.

So we lived there on and off when I was a kid up in the attic apartment. It had 2 bedrooms, a living area, small kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen had the cutest vintage stove and refrigerator. There was also a small countertop for food preparation, which we are assuming the coachman built. Though currently painted with about 3 layers of various paint, the wood is a mixture of oak, birch and maybe mahogony? The back of the piece is actually wood beadboard that was used throughout the coach house itself and the top is possibly zinc - the coolest part being that it has hundreds of knife marks on the top of it from chopping assorted things over the years. We stored all our cereals, cookies, snacks, etc in the bottom roll cabinets and our silverware in the top two drawers.

Now that we have our bedroom all set-up we've decided to rehab the cabinet and turn it into a dresser of sorts, I'm thinking those old storage cabinets would be a great place for jeans and t-shirts! =) We just started the process of scrapping off some of the paint this past weekend. More progress photos to come in the following weeks!

can you tell I made him pose for this one?

bedroom!

We moved into our very own bedroom this past weekend! Horray!! We've finally moved out of the kitchen and in our very own bedroom, and it feels SO nice! =) Ok, so the photo probably doesnt do it justice but after countless hours of patching, caulking, sanding, sawing and painting... the room was in good enough shape to live in; and that's good enough for us! We still have to put on outlet faceplates, install our ceiling light/medallion, finish the door casings and purchase our closet doors. Not to mention decorating! I have plenty of ideas, now I just need to find the time to help make the room truly look finished... but in time I suppose.

The other monumential occurance is that since we moved our bed out of the kitchen, we were able to move our couch and tv in to take it's place! We haven't had a couch/tv in about 3 months, so it's very nice to have that pair back in our lives. Justin and I made a realization while living without these things just how truly lucky and blessed we are to have such luxuries in our lives. Most of the world lives with very little 'space' and very little 'things', yet we live in abundance here in America. For most people here, having a family room with a tv is just a standard way of life. This experience has once again humbled us and shown us how lucky we really are. We are so blessed to have a home of our own and the freedoms to make it exactly what we want. And for that, we are thankful to God.

historic photos

A week or two ago I downloaded the Dover Street Landmark District report and read through the entire thing over a 2-3 day period during my EL commutes to and from work. I am in love with the history of place so knowing that our street has a significance in Chicago history is just so much fun to me! The report was filled with wonderful historic photos of the street, old architects, train stations and architectural detail shots. I love seeing old photos with buildings I have begun to recognize and are still standing today. And I get the most fun out of seeing people in the pictures and thinking about what their life was like back then living on Dover Street.

Anyway, here's a short clip from the Report and some of the pictures capturing what it was like in the old days! Enjoy!

"The handsome residential buildings of the Dover Street District reflect the history and development of the Sheridan Drive Subdivision (later known as the Sheridan Park neighborhood within the larger Uptown community area) and the associated importance of middle-class housing in late 19th- and early 20th-century Chicago. Possessing a distinctly suburban character, the District is made up of single-family houses, two and three-flats, and small apartment buildings. Situated on wide lots that are generously set back from Dover and Beacon Streets, the buildings of the District exemplify the residential growth and development of this North Side neighborhood in the years after its annexation by Chicago in 1889."

This photo (above) was taken in front of our condo building looking north at our neighbors house - the one with all the children on the front stoop.

Dover Street today

doors, medallions and hardwood

After 5 weeks of waiting, our doors are finally in! We ordered them custom through Lee Lumber in Chicago. We picked them up yesterday right as the skies broke open and a thunderstorm blew through (perfect timing, right?) But, they are everything we hoped and dreampt about! =)

We debated endlessly over the paneling: 5 panel? 3 panel? 4 panel? raised panel? flat panel? jamb style? hinge style? hinge finish? There are honestly too many decisions to make when choosing doors. But we finally decided: 4 panel, flat panel, colonial jambs, square hinges, oil rubbed bronze finish.

Today Justin and my Dad worked on installing two of them. Of course, in an old building like this nothing is plumb or level, so it look took them about 3 hours of shimming, nailing and sawing but they're up! And now, every time we walk down the hall we catch ourselves doing a double take because a.) we actually have doors again! and b.) they're beautiful!!!

pre-installation

post-installation

We also purchased and just recieved the ceiling medallions we're going to install above our light fixtures. Medallions compliment the victorian style and should add a little extra detail to the bedrooms. The style of the bedroom medallions is pretty simple but we will probably pick something a little more ornate for the living room (once we get to that project.)

I also got fed up with our lovely brown paper/blue tape protective flooring and took it all out in the bedrooms. In general I'm starting to get a little tired of feeling like we are living temporarily (first in my parents basement and now in our kitchen); I needed to see something pretty in my house to keep me sane and optimistic that we are still progressing - slowly but surely. We put that paper down in the bedrooms the day after the wood flooring was complete, so getting to finally see it again was a very welcome sight. Farewell brown paper! Now, I just need to get it out of the hallway...

tile accomplished!

Finally finished putting in the tile this week! Last week we laid it, Thursday we grouted it and yesterday my Mom and I spent a couple hours buffing it clean. Let me just say... tiling is not as easy as you would think or as easy as the people at the tile store like to make it sound; just dont believe them. It's a pretty stressful job because you are limited in time. From the second you mix your thinset or grout, you only have about 20 mins to use it until it dries up and becomes useless... so laying tile is kind of like running a marathon. You've gotta keep up the pace and dont stop until the job is done! Luckily, we made it through our first tiling job and are pretty happy with the results. We saved a lot of money doing it ourselves and we learned a lot along the way.

The only change I would make would be to have gone with the black grout instead of the dark grey grout. The lady at the tile store did a good job of convincing us that we would absolutely hate having dark grout and I almost believed her until I got home and remembered my true vision for the tile. And the more I walked the streets of Chicago, the more I was confirmed in my thinking that darker is better. Just about every vintage door stoop in this city has mosaic tile with dark black or dark grey grout, so I had my answer... we ended up returning the light 'wisper grey' she convinced us to buy and getting the charcoal. It's a dark grey, but not true black. I'm definitely happy with the dark grey but next time I'm going all the way with the black! =)

Lesson #37.6793: Always trust your gut when it comes to design desisions.

memorial day weekend progress

It's been a few weeks since we've posted about any progress on the condo. We've been making strides slowly but surely: cleaning windows, scrubbing down the dirty deck, finishing cleaning the cabinets, etc... My Mom and I painted all of our crown molding last weekend/this weekend, so that was a huge accomplishment. And I must say it looks absolutely lovely! Something about that glossy white just makes the room feel finished!

Justin had this past week off work (more detailed explanation on that forthcoming) and was able to work on the small projects. But today, with the help of my Dad he was finally able to mortar down the cement board for the tile in our bathroom. This is a major milestone considering the amount of groundwork that had to be laid to get to this point. A couple weekends ago Justin's Grandfather amazingly spent a whole afternoon dedicated to filling in the giant hole left behind by the last rehabbers. It not only had to be filled in but had to be level. And it not only had to be level but all the tetris-style pieces he used had to somehow fit between and over the pipes, different layers of old flooring and subflooring. We are truly blessed that he helped us with that because it was a daunting task.

And now, finally, we have cement board down!! After that task was complete, I set out to arrange the tiles and determine our simple inset flower pattern. I'm super excited about how it's looking and can't wait to lay the tile (maybe tomorrow?)

Oh, and we ordered and recieved our new mini wall sink as well! It's adorable! We went back and forth on the style of sink we wanted but I finally won out with a more victorian inspired look. Hopefully it will compliment the rest of the condo.

Anyway, here are some progress photos from the last couple weeks including today:

city screenprints

As you all know, my wonderful husband is a city planner and I'm a landscape architect and we're both pretty urban obsessed. We like public transit, bus stops, railroad tracks, old buildings, beautiful street trees and public spaces. We also really like maps... Justin especially. Sometimes I catch him staring for hours at our atlas or scanning google earth like it's his job (haha, well sometimes that is his job!) So, when it comes to fun city maps, we are always on the lookout. Tonight we stumbled across a pretty cool COLUMBUS city map and just had to share with all our ohio friends. It's designed and made locally from: these are things. It reminded us of the Chicago Ork poster we bought a couple months back... pretty cool!

wilson station

Our local red line stop will be getting some much needed attention this year! While the station has seen its share of ups and downs over the years, I would assume it's in its worst state currently, so this is great news! Check out the progression of the station over the past 80 years... I for one will not be sad to see Popeyes go!

Plants!

I've been hoping to get some color out on our deck for quite sometime now and today Justin and I finally had the chance to buy a couple things for our planters. There is a cute urban garden center just up Clark St. called Gethsemane. It was a quite a popular place this weekend but fun to browse around their gardens of shrubs, flowering trees, annuals and perennials.

Since our deck is mostly shade we decided on these white begonias with purple coleus. I'm interested to see how they handle the true lack of sun. We'll see!