Dad and DD1 back in ‘87 on the deck he made of salvaged airport landing pads from Ellington Field

My dad use to take me hunting as a kid. As far as I know, he never picked up a rifle after leaving the Marine Corp, but he loved a good bargain and rundown shacks were his specialty. After years of following him through some of the dumpiest rot-holes in East Texas, a few of the fundamentals began to sink in–

Foundation problems=bad

Water damage=even more badder

So when the mister and I are out and about, searching for our next real estate bargain, I’m checking the brick and drywall for settlement and looking for those tell-tale signs of leak-i-ness. Undaunted by such minor details, the mister has a different list: wallpaper and…

Popcorn Ceilings

(Dum dum dum-de duuuuum)

The Things We Love to Hate

I’m pretty sure this is an ingrained aversion somehow linked to the Y-chromosome. When Mr. Brz and his pals get together around the fire in the driveway, someone invariably brings up one or the other, at which point much groaning and commiserating ensues. When the decibel level reaches a certain pitch, the ladies sitting daintily in the parlor flip a coin and the winner pops a head out the door–

“HONEY? CHERYL JUST GAVE US *4* ROLLS OF WALLPAPER  FOR THE BATHROOM. ISN’T THAT GREAT?”

At which point we slam the door, giggle hysterically, and head back to the coffeepot for another round. 

As mildly amusing and relatively pointless as that may be, it brings us to the Subject at Hand quite nicely. Clifford over on Changing My Direction has a cool video he put together on removing popcorn from poor, unsuspecting ceilings. Such a nice job!

On our current rehab, Frank the Contractor, surprised us by having his crew stamp right over the old popcorn with a round brush in a crowsfoot pattern. The result was surprisingly nice, but I’m told this only worked because our popcorn was of the smaller variety and had already been sealed in the past with some sort of semi-gloss paint.

Mr. Brz says it’s marvelous, especially since he didn’t have to deal

Popularity: 20% [?]

Tags: ceiling repair, popcorn ceilings, Rehab, removing popcorn, renovation

If These Floors Could Talk

The little house we’re completing now is one of my favorites. The first time we snuck inside, tiptoed through the fallen ceiling tiles while dodging the dead wasps on the floors, I knew this ratty little shack was going to be a keeper.

Repo’s are generally a mess. Holes in the sheetrock, exposed plumbing, missing doors, drawers and hardware… anyone who’s looked at a few knows what I mean. This one was *really* something. Mr. Brz and I have poked fun at the odd construction of the house, the non-square-ness of every door, window and corner, the way the roof slants 3 inches from one side of the house to the other. We snickered, speculated, and laughed ourselves silly. What were they thinking? Just how drunk were they when they framed this window? As you can tell, we’re just a barrel of laughs.

Then we pulled up the old flooring.

Underneath we found this… do you see it?

How about now?

And now after much photoshopping?

The rope swing on the hackbark tree out front should’ve tipped us off.

Real people, real dreams, real troubles, real sad.

I’m planning to be kinder in the future to the unknown former owners of the homes we’re rehabilitating.

And I’m going to say a little prayer for Michael, LeAnn and Joshua… wherever they are.

Note: I wrote a series of articles on the Magnolia house for RenoNation at www.Atticmag.com. If you’d like a visual, start to finish, click here.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags: investment, real estate, Rehab, renovation