Old Town Home

Old Town Home is a blog dedicated to chronicling the successes and failures of an Historic Old Town Alexandria couple as they live in the charming historic district while attempting to completely renovate and appropriately restore an 1880s Victorian row house...almost entirely on their own.

Master Bedroom Closet: Upper Storage to Top it All Off

Authors: Alex

Two days ago we gave you all the "grand reveal" of our DIY closet interiors. We were able to go pretty overboard on the project since the space was small and we were building everything from plain old wood and some basic supplies. Had we gone the route of a closet system we would have been stuck within the bounds of their standard...

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Toolbox Tuesday: An Adjustable Shelf Jig for Your Dancing Shoes

Authors: Alex

I mentioned a specific tool in yesterday's post about our grand closet reveal that I've also mentioned a few times before on various other projects. In fact, this particular tool has been so useful that it's been a key element in the success of our office desk, kitchen shoe storage, and bedroom closet projects. Though it's been...

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Master Bedroom Closet: The Big Reveal

Authors: Alex

We left off in our master bedroom dream closet recap with a basic closet frame in place and a whole lot of hope for what this drab space could some day become. We had already lived without functional closets for quite a while, so the anticipation of having his and her closets that could hold a decent amount of clothing could be...

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Why Do We Blog?

Authors: Alex

If you live or work in the DC area, you may have seen us in today's issue of the Washington Post Express (jump to page 38 to see the article) alongside many popular bloggers in an article on home blogging. More specifically, why crazy people like ourselves not only spend a tremendous amount of time and effort renovating our...

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Getting Carded

Authors: Wendy

Sadly, no, I haven't recently been mistaken for a younger and less gray haired version of myself. But it's bad. Really bad. I've discovered I'm not just an Internet admitted hoarder of paper and plastic bags. Nope, I've now crossed the line into full blown greeting card hoarding territory. It's a slippery slope I tell you!

The whole...

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Sweating the Small Stuff: How To Solder Copper Pipe

Authors: Alex

In 1997 as a college student with mediocre to zero skills in just about anything useful, I was looking for summer work but didn't have anything worthwhile lined up. Forget wanting a to find a job that had anything to do with life skills, I just wanted something that would give me a paycheck so that I could buy gas to drive over to...

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Master Bedroom: Building Our Dream Closet, Part 1

Authors: Alex

Last month we started to take you through our renovation of our master bedroom. Much of what we discussed involved the various elements of the work, including room demolition, discovering our closet doors at a salvage yard, and installation of our new attic stairs. But truth be told, the primary purpose behind the work we were...

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Warm Bathroom Floors = Toasty Toes

Authors: Alex

It's mind boggling just how many details and decisions must be made when taking on a big bathroom renovation. From tile and lighting to pulls and towel rods, the options seem endless, yet each selection is as important as the last in the finished project. It's actually rather easy to get caught up in the finishing touch details (ahem,...

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A Gift Basket of Thanks with a NOLA Twist

Authors: Wendy

Alex and I love to travel. Whether we're talking about a major vacation almost half way around the world or a little weekend getaway to a nearby city, I'm always looking forward to our next adventure. As much as we love our ability to jump on a plane and head out of town to a new location, we aren't quite as free and clear as most...

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A Decade of Renovating: Lessons Learned

Authors: Alex

Today is the 10 year anniversary of owning our house! I'm almost shocked writing that. I really can't believe it's already been a full decade. Lately we've both been so busy with work that the date more or less snuck up on us. I didn't even realize today marked our anniversary until yesterday evening as I left the office and started...

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