There's a particular block in Old Town that is home to some of the most historic and beautiful old houses in the city. It's located in the 200 block of Prince Street and is called "Gentry Row." Some of Alexandria's most famous and important early residents built and owned houses in this historic block, and it seems these homes never appear on the market with any regularity. Even rarer are these homes ever held open for the home tourists (like us) to see. This weekend one of these Gentry Row homes happened to be on the open house list, and there was no way Wendy or I were going to miss it!

The house I'm gushing over was built in 1784 and boasts three bedrooms and one bathroom, spread over three floors. Houses of this age were typically built as very small homes and grew with additions over time as the inhabitants' needs required...

It's no secret that I love to entertain, In fact, said baby shower will be hosted at our very casa just next weekend. And while I feel like I can throw together an affair to remember without too much worry, in this case extended family will be flying in from multiple states, so the pressure to step up to the plate is really on. Although the mom-to-be wants to keep the couples shower relaxed, my worry is starting to mount given I don't have all the details firmed up at this stage, and have just a mere eight days to finalize our plans.

It helps tremendously that I'm co-hosting the event with another hostess with the most-ess, but I still need...

Baking and decorating cupcakes is a true passion of mine. In fact, I think I might enjoy making them more than I enjoy eating them! Most of the time I keep it simple, dressing up a recipe using boxed cake mixes. But boxed cake mix and canned frosting wouldn't cut it for this elegant and memorable affair for 50.

While my contribution was a relatively small part of the event, I knew I wanted to do my best to make it a real show stopper. With a theme of red and white check to follow, I took to searching Pinterest for inspiration. A few months back I pinned...

King street and the first few blocks from King are largely underground services, while the residential areas are still largely above ground. So when a transformer exploded last week on King Street it meant some serious traffic delays for a little while, but no ugly wires overhead.

A few weeks ago we started to experience rather poor performance from our Internet service, or latency as it's commonly known. It seemed that each evening at around 6:30pm-7:30pm on weekdays our network speeds would drop from the...

The weather was so perfect, crisp, and cool, the mosquitos are not mature enough to terrorize us, our puppy was tuckered out from a long day of running around, and we had just finished up a wonderful and healthy meal, prepared by the expert culinary hands of Wendy (at least expert in my eyes, no matter how modest she may be). Sometimes, even though life tends to be swirling around you, you need to take a moment and really enjoy yourself for a day, an hour, or a moment to help you get the clarity that you need.

But this begs the question, what do you do when you have a minute to relax and take it easy, especially when you and your significant other are typically total type-A "go go go" people? Well, apparently, we write blog posts! (No, I'm totally serious, that's what...

Hopefully you know the buzz I'm talking about. Whether you'be been to a far away destination, or a local favorite, it's that feeling where you wish there was just some way to grab onto the freedom and feelings associated with vacation and make it last all day every day. It might mean quitting your job, moving away, and striking it rich elsewhere to make it a reality, and as unrealistic as it may actually be, you can't help but dream.

From our vacation there was one day in particular that is more or less the epitome of enjoyment that we keep thinking back to and wishing we could be transported back to in the blink of an eye.

This day started in Carmel-by-the-Sea. That alone might have been enough to make it a nearly perfect day, but...

Our secret? We're slow at renovating. We're also terrible at estimating project timelines. So much so, that we purchased the majority of our master bathroom hardware nearly five years ago. Yes, you read that right. During the summer of 2008, spurred on by a mean deal and a healthy dose of naïveté, we bit the bullet and purchased a couple thousand dollars worth of bathroom hardware and accessories, because we were sure that we'd be renovating...and completing...our master bathroom in just a matter of a few short months. That was a long. time. ago.

Fast forward roughly 1,800 days (or 2,592,000 minutes if...

Our vacation was about a week long and we broke the trip into three parts. While we made our annual pilgrimage to wine country (this is my seventh year running and Wendy's eighth) and a day in San Francisco to visit a few friends, this year we added Carmel-by-the-Sea onto the list of our destinations.

If you've never been or haven't heard of Carmel-by-the-Sea (yes, that's the actual name of the city), you're missing out on one of the true jewels of places the United States has to offer.

Located just about two hours...

Take the Bad with the Good

We're married, and married people argue. Over the past two years we've shared a few of our disagreements, "enthusiastic discussions," and pet peeves we have with our significant other. We call B.S. with the blogs that pretend that life, especially one involving a significant amount of renovation, is all sunshine and rainbows 100% of the time. Renovating is H-A-R-D, especially when fitting it in between life's other demands, including those pesky things called day jobs. After all, communication is the key to a strong and lasting relationship and healthy marriage, and what better way to communicate than by airing your dirty laundry for all the world to see? Here's the list of some of our most honest posts, ranging from spousal...

Most notably, our efforts to add a wall to wall closet on a previously unused and empty wall in our bedroom doubled or tripled the amount of storage we had for our clothes. I now have space for long hanging, short hanging, off season tubs in the storage above, and fully adjustable shelves for my shoes, t-shirts, and purses.

While this closet space is a dream come true in our bedroom, the space it starting to feel a bit pinched, even after I purge items for donations with the changing seasons. You...

Given that we've picked up a few new periodic and daily readers in the past year that I'm confident haven't gone back through each and every post we've ever written, we feel like it might be fun to compile a few of our favorite and most popular posts from the last two years. Hopefully this collection will give you a glimpse at some of the things you may have missed since you started reading. Extra credit to everyone that looks through our list and think to themselves, "I remember when they wrote about that. Next!"

Renovation

Old Town Home wouldn't be the blog that it is without all of the projects that take up our lives. Whether we're...

The point of this project was two fold. Primarily, I wanted to make sure the joints on this interior chimney section were in good shape before we cover them permanently, since we plan to eventually upgrade the fireplace it supports to make it functional. Secondarily, I wanted to take an opportunity to learn the skills I'd need for repointing, so I'd be able to put them to use when we perform the same process while exposing the brick in our guest bedroom.

After our last post on this subject, detailing the bulk of the work as well as my much awaited success, I had finished up repointing with the first bag of mortar. It was looking good from a technique and finished result standpoint, but the color was too gray, and wasn't a match to our...

As has been the annual pattern, while the weather has warmed and cherry blossoms are blooming, the housing market in Old Town has really started popping again, and a few gems have been showing up on the list in recent weeks.

We recently toured a great house that Wendy and I have walked past time and again, but have never seen inside. Today, we're excited to share it with you, and of course play the "would you trade?" game.

Located along Lee Street just a few blocks from the Potomac River, this adorable wood frame clapboard sided house was built at the turn of the 18th to 19th century.

From the exterior this...

When we decided to start our blog back in 2011, we weren't really sure what to expect. We knew we had some decent projects we could cover, as well as a few tips and how tos we could share, but we didn't have much of a grasp on what blogging entailed beyond writing our first few posts. We didn't exactly realize the time commitment each post would require, how it would impact our home project schedule, or the work required outside of just writing blog posts. To put it mildly, the last two years of consistent blogging have been quite the...

The decorations I'm referring to were the beautifully made calligraphy Christmas carol verses, created by our friend Sarah Bohl. 

We hung these unique works of art  for the Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend last year, when we were lucky enough to have our humble abode featured on the home tour. And although we managed to take down the live tree back in January, the four frames remained as is, wishing guests tidings of comfort and joy...well after Santa had come and gone.

It's not that I haven't given these frames any thought. In fact, it's quite the contrary. I've debated long and hard over what makes a suitable, year-round...

In the five days leading up to our neighborhood shindig, we identified several a boat load of must-do items that needed to be completed before 40 or so people descended upon our home. The list of tasks/chores included: 

• Trim the topiaries and plant flowers in the front urns
• Plant flowers in the front bed, and mulch the area
• Clean the front steps and vestibule
• Rake up the sticks and debris along the side of the house
• Clean out the beds in the back yard
• Plants herbs
• Plant the vegetable garden
• Clean and oil the outdoor furniture
...

Mostly, we take these all in stride. You learn to ignore the noise, you deal with the closeness and build a new sense of boundary respect, you work to clean up your messes as well as the messes of others, and you figure out ways to periodically eliminate the pests.

Since we purchased our home we've had intermittent unwanted and uninvited house guests. No, I'm not talking about human ones, I'm referring more to the scurrying and four legged type. I tend to deal with them in a less emotional and slightly more effective manner than Wendy, though I like them no more than she does.

When we mention a mouse or (gasp) rat that we've seen around or in our house, people who live in the city get it and can relate, and people who live in the country see it as a way of life and almost pay it no attention. But people that live in the suburbs are...

One of the keys to this year's garden is the understanding and experience of previous years to know what likely will and will not work when planted in the space. Unfortunately, our location, space, and surrounding vegetation place limitations on what we can plant. For example, regardless of how much Alex may want honeydew melon, there's no reasonable way it's going to grow in our garden. Instead it will likely wilt and die when the temperature gets hot.

The main bummer about these limitations is the fact that lettuce just doesn't seem to grow for us. I think it's a combination of lack of sunlight, as well as the roots of the tree and ivy restricting the lettuce from really taking hold. The past two years the lettuce in the garden has started to grow early, then wilts and disappears as we head towards June. I know the lettuce also doesn't like the heat, so that compounds...

It was by no means a difficult project, and we had rather high hopes for the bounty of veggies this urban plot of land could yield, but we were somewhat disappointed. The sunlight for the yard is largely obscured by our large tree for the first half of the day, then the house blocks the sun in the early evening, which leaves us with just about four hours of direct sun for the area. Additionally, the soil seems to be somewhat overtaken by the tree and ivy roots from the surrounding growth, which limits the plants' ability to really thrive.

Both the first and second year we had some veggies that we were able to pick and eat (or feed to Lulu), but the yield was significantly lower than we had hoped...

It's hard to concentrate on other things right now, so we hope our blog post might provide a moment or two of a departure from the events in Boston.

Man oh man, do we have a crazy long to do list in front of us this week. If you read yesterday's post about our recent curb appeal efforts, you know that we realized we had signed up to host a neighborhood party this month. With little time to spare, we took stock of what we needed to accomplish this week before 40 or so people descend...

After arriving home last week from an international business trip, I had the cruel realization that Alex and I had volunteered to throw the April neighborhood party. These "TGIF" parties are held by neighbors in and around our block every other month on a Friday. They're a great way to meet new neighbors, and of course we love them because we enjoy the glimpse inside other old homes in our area. Knowing we already have a commitment on the last Friday of April, a quick glance at the calendar indicated that we had less than ten days to create invitations, shop for party essentials, and get our...

I know, I said it was an exercise in futility, doubted the beauty of our initial attempts, and potentially even swore under my breath a few times when I was somewhat frustrated during my initial batch of mortar, but I think I've got the hang of it. The secret seems to be in using the right tools for the job, and in having some experience under my belt to get the hang of things. Go figure.

After my first go-round of chiseling and repointing, I identified some things that helped me be far more effective in the second phase of my project. These were simple adjustments that resulted in a far better end result.

The first thing I decided was no more start and stop. I had wanted to try my hand at the actual repointing part of the project so badly that I only cleared away a small amount of mortar before moving forward with the first mix batch. (How incredibly lame does that sentence make me sound? Good thing I'm not single. "Hey ladies, I can't wait to try my hand at mortaring a brick joint.")

As I learned, this is a...

This is what Peak Bloom looks like!

How beautiful it is!

Almost each and every year of the 12 springs we've lived in DC, I am completely floored by the wonders that are the Cherry Blossom blooms in and around the DC metro area.

I try to make time every year to venture down around the tidal basin, along the National Mall, and towards Haines Point to take in the spectacle and tradition of this wonderful gift from the Japanese some 100 plus years ago.

Last year I shared some of my favorite photos from my walk around the tidal basin, and this year I'd like to do the same, with a little twist.

The first many years of being a tourist in my own area I enjoyed what all of the tourists enjoy -- the cotton ball- and cotton candy-like...

Despite not actually starting the master bathroom renovation project four years ago, we slowly stopped using our 1980s monstrosity due to a faulty tub stop, leaking shower due to improper installation, and finicky toilet. It had come to serve as a large, ugly storage room, which doubles as a space to brush our teeth.

In the time since my last real bath, we’ve done so much while feeling as if we've achieved so little. In addition to actual progress we've researched, dreamed about, planned, and saved for the day that we could complete a transformation of the space into a room of my dreams. Heck, nearly ten years ago we started buying for...

For a very long time, I used a set of Irwin "Speedbor" flat bits when I needed to cut holes larger than the typical 1/2" or 5/8" that my standard drill bits cover. 

These simple and no nonsense bits worked well for my needs over the years, but their use wasn't without some level of effort and patience. I'd chuck them up in my old low powered drill and work my way through the material where I needed a hole, exercising some level of patience, especially when I hit a knot or otherwise dense area in the wood. Eventually, I'd end up with the hole I needed, and a bead of sweat or two on...