Hello, fine people. It’s been awhile since our last update but we have been busy, busy, busy over here at the Red Rowhouse. Mike and I went on a vacation. Then I went on a second vacation with some lady friends. And in between, here and there, we have been updating various things.
Mending Fences
When we commissioned Long Fence back in February for the patio fence, we also wanted them to fix our borky fence in the front yard. Perhaps you never noticed but one of these things is not like the others:
The previous owner had the fence replaced but for some reason, she only replaced 2 sides. So the 3rd west-facing side doesn’t match and is actually bent and leaning in a few places.
So after many months, we finally got a permit and Long Fence installed the new one!
A close up view:
Now the fence doesn’t look janky anymore! Instead your eye is drawn to other problem areas to be repaired…like all those bare spots where grass should be. Let’s not talk about it.
It’s not our problem anyway?
A couple of months ago, we had an interesting conversation with an acquaintance who is a real estate appraiser in DC. He mentioned that the fence might be taking a long time to permit (7 months!!) because we might not actually own the front yard. Turns out he was right: we own our front porch and about 3 feet of yard in front of it; the rest of the fenced in area belongs to the good ol’ DC government! And this is a pretty common state of affairs for many homeowners in DC. It’s highly unlikely that we will have to give up the land in our lifetime but it does mean that we have to jump through a few more hoops if we want to do anything with the “public” space.
If you’re interested in further history of this arrangement, check out this article.
In short, we are just “stewards” of the yard. Maybe DC gov will come and fix up this grass situation? Doubtful.
Wrestling with wallpaper
The guest room wasn’t exactly polished after the renovation. Here’s a pic from a year ago, right after we painted the ceiling. The wall color was what was there when we moved in. It pretty much looked the same after the renovation but it had writing on the wall and patches everywhere because of the hardwood floor installation and the new baseboard. So it was rather unsightly.
Over the past few weeks, we painted the new trim and door. We painted the walls a soothing gray. And then we experimented with removable wallpaper. I really wanted an accent wall given we had a large wall with no windows. It needed some visual interest! But I also didn’t want to go too crazy with pattern since this was our first time picking out wallpaper. And hanging it ourselves.
Here is a posed picture of me pushing out the air bubbles. I made Mike take this picture since he is always in the pictures as I always take them. I swear I actually did work though!
Here’s Mike in a real action shot, wiping off some excess glue:
The finished product! Don’t look too closely though. We messed up a bit in a few places. So much so that we had to ditch an installed panel and re-order another one. It was truly removable! The paper came right off and the glue was easy to clean off too.
A closer look at the pattern, which I got from Spoonflower. We went with the water-activated type instead of the peel-n-stick variety.
To finish it off, we upgraded the mattress (I hesitate to tell you all how old the previous one was, but it was ooolldddddd) and got some new gender-neutral linens for all you male-folk who may stay the night. Look how cozy the room looks in the morning light!
The mattress is from Leesa. It’s the type of mattress that comes in a small box and then expands like magic. It is really comfortable too.
We’re not quite done with the guest room. Just need to get some eye-catching wall decor, something with a bit more pop to hang over the wallpaper, and a rug.
And now…a puppy picture.
Thambi enjoying the calming palette of the office/guest bedroom:
