El Paso Foursquare

pic of the day

Authors: Omar

it's a snow day in EP.. :)
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window insulation upgrade pt2

Authors: Omar

So from a previous post about my window insulation adventures, the obvious question would be "are you satisfied with the performance"? Well, it's complicated. On the one hand, yes I've cut down the draftiness in these windows bigtime. By insulating the sash pockets, I no longer have to worry about cold air seeping through the sash...

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don't you love fall?

Authors: Omar

Meet "oakie" my prized Shumard oak tree, living up to its Southern red oak lineage.. When I first bought this tree it looked like a two foot stick with a couple small branches. Every year it gets progressively bigger and fluffier. The fall colors keep getting more spectacular too. I can't imagine when this thing is 60+ feet tall,...

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window insulation upgrade pt1

Authors: Omar

Once upon a time I dreamed of improving the windows in my daughter's room. No better room in the house to improve first. I actually started this project about a year ago. To make these windows worthy of what I had in mind the window sash themselves would have to be completely restored. They were removed one by one and each got the...

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new roof

Authors: Omar

Who knew insurance companies don't like to insure homes with a pathetic excuse for a roof? Last month we had the rental house undergo a flurry of work to put on a new roof and I think it looks better than ever. We also had the chimney rebuilt as it was partially falling over. Next up is some landscape lovin'..
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I'm still here

Authors: Omar

Wow, it's been a while hasn't it? I'm still drowning in half-finished projects, but I managed to finally cross two off my to-do list. For some reason I only get my butt in gear when we're going to host a party or something, but I'm happy nonetheless. The desert garden is complete. Well the hard part anyway. The massive piles of rock...

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rental house before after

Authors: Omar

Finally, some before and after photos of our project (rental) house. It's been a couple of months from start to finish, but we've finally completed it. A while back I was concerned about taking on another project like this, but it's grown on me. I really like this house and am proud of the work we've done.

A lot of the work was...

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another one bites the dust

Authors: Omar

A while back I daydreamed about expanding the historic district my house sits in to help protect old buildings like these. These buildings lie just outside the district lines and while most are in decent condition (despite 90% having already met their demise), there are a few that could use a lot of love. The building above was one of...

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3rd Annual Bungalow Blog Tour

Authors: Omar

Where to begin? The past five and a half years have been an experience I don't think I'll soon forget. Back in january 2006 we finally closed on an American Foursquare house in the Sunset Heights neighborhood of El Paso, TX. We were young and naive, but knew we loved old houses. We had recently moved from Chicago, IL and had grand

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nursery windows or die

Authors: Omar

I've been working on these two windows in my daughter's room for the past six months or so. It's been on and off with these and I'm anxious to just finish them already. I take pride in that the windows in this bedroom will have been fully restored. The exterior framing has been repaired, caulked, and painted. The sash has been scraped...

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