DC Rowhouse wraparound porch
Alex Hastings
9 years ago
Wraparound porch - brick supports, concrete deck, wood rail and roof. Built summer 2012.
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9 years ago
PROKemora Landscapes
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All-out japanese beetle war
Comments (43)PLEASE let me know if that hot peper spray works!! I have JB's, Orientals and Asiatic beetles in my yard. I just moved into this house in January and dug up lots of lawn to put in garden beds. I amended all the beds with 3 inches of organic matter. Upon digging up the lawn I did find some grubs, but was advised that I should see at least 10 per sq ft, before it's considered a problem. I was finding about 3 per sq ft. The previous owners did not do anything for the yard. The other neighbors told me they never mowed. There were more weeds than lawn! Considering this, I have a lot of beetles in my yard. They are eating the cherry tree I planted, along with everything in the mint family. Including monarda, basil, black and blue salvia, the red annual salvia. Now that they've practically wiped those out they are onto other things such as spicebush, phlox maculata, seedlings of purple coneflower, dianthus, sunflower and zinnia. This morning I found a JB hanging out on my aster. I have to disagree that they only eat stressed plants because they don't seem to be picky in my yard. The cherry tree I planted was literally a stick when I got it. It branched and leafed out very well, this is not a sign of a stressed plant. My monarda was just gorgeous, until something started eating it. I wish there were something that could be put on the plants to help the adult infestations. Even if I do the grub control, I will probably have a problem with adults. Like so may others have said, the whole neighborhood would have to do it. It is making me feel like, being an organic gardener, means not being a gardener at all. What is the point of all the work? When the damn beetles are just going to come eat everything, before the butterflies hummingbirds and myself can enjoy the flowers! I think from now on I will just not plant things they seem to like, which is no fun, because they seem to like half the stuff I have! Oh and I have to say, to the people who have no beetles because they're yard is so healthy. You are probably just lucky enough, to not have high amounts of these pests in your area. Or, you may have lots of neighbors faithfully doing grub control....See MoreHelp w/ Budget Conscious Layout
Comments (17)So, this is a brick rowhouse, but without a dogleg? And you are going to enclose and winterize a porch that runs across the back of your house? If you are going to enclose the full width of the porch, the space might also accommodate some storage for the kitchen, buying you some additional space in the kitchen proper. You might want to consider allocating your budget first to the structural changes you know you want, with the idea that you might be able to save money by finding good quality used cabinets and/or using Ikea butcher block for the countertop until are ready to upgrade. A lot of people on this thread actually also swear by Ikea cabinets, so much so that if Ikea doesn't sell the door style they like they buy Ikea "boxes" and fittings and order the doors separately. In your current photos, I am confused by the one that shows the fridge and then the back door. It looks as though the wall the fridge is on corners off to the right rather than going straight to the back wall. Is the room really the rectangle you are showing? If so, I wonder if you might consider keeping the back door where it is and building a U-shaped kitchen. With the money you save there, you could have your sink window widened and deepened, which requires taking out bricks and maybe installing an iron beam in the brick. It would probably be cheaper than moving the door. Also, I don't actually see how a centered door would be great unless it is french doors through which light comes and one can see directly out to the garden or yard. This is a very rough idea of how such a layout might work. I am showing an oval table against the right wall it could be a shallow counter-height table and a couple of stools. Of course, this arrangement would be most pleasant if there is light coming through the back door. Anyway, I made the sink too big, but you get the idea. The base cabinets in the corners would work because vendors now have these swingout peanut shaped lazy susan things that allow full use of the space. I noticed that one set of cabinets you like have stacked uppers. As someone who also has a small tall kitchen -- very like yours, actually, but 11 x 11 with 10 foot ceilings, a window about where yours is, the a glazed door where yours now is, and another window on the back wall -- I am a big fan of taking advantage of the vertical space, for drama as well as storage. Anyway, I live in a 1901 rowhouse on Capitol Hill. My kitchen badly needs redoing, so I am facing many of the issues your are. The one thing I am for sure going to spring for is a Liebherr fridge. They are genuinely counter-depth, providing space by being 80 inches tall, which is great for small tall rooms. So these are just some other ways to think about things. You will get other from other forum members as well. I strongly urge you to look on craigslist and redfin for photos of renovated city rowhouses for ideas. It is also worth while to make the rounds of like houses open on Sundays. You would be amazed at how innovative people can be in addressing the spacial limits of these houses. Finally, I don't know what neighborhood you live in, but I assume security will be a factor how you arrange your porch enclosure. I will be curious to see how you deal with it. Be of stout heart, and cheers. hbk...See MoreTell us about your favorite apartment!
Comments (34)1. A little 1BR brownstone overlooking the Mississippi River in St Paul -- my then-partner and I had to find a place quickly, so we didn't look at a lot of places; I stumbled upon it in a Craigslist ad. I toured the place on an autumn afternoon; it was filled with golden hour light and I instantly fell under its spell. The light was delicious and inviting. West-facing windows, with the river in view. Wood floors, kitchen built-ins. The kitchen sink was quite large but exceptionally splashy, somehow. There was zero counter space, but we opened up our dining room table (which squeezed into the kitchenette extension) and used that for prep. The whole place was maybe 650' square. 700?. The maintenance lady didn't know (she was the face of the landlord, who operates out of NY). The bedroom closet was atrociously small and awkward, but we had a big walk-in hall closet and basement storage. I loved the view and the light. One of the two cats lived almost permanently in a living room window. We had a pull-out couch in the living room for a young family member to visit, and it worked perfectly (though I later had a tough time getting rid of that couch--so heavy! It sadly ended up in a dumpster bc no one wanted to buy it and no places took those couches as donation). We even hosted a Christmas (desserts and apps only) that was amazingly fun (6 adults, 2 cats, and 1 doted-upon little boy)... It's still one of my favorite memories of adult holiday gatherings. Parking was terribly limited in the area. We ended up buying a parking spot on site for $70/month, Total rent... with parking was $925 or $950, i think. A lot for us at the time (just a couple years ago... 2013-ish). We were in our early 30s... two masters students scrounging a living and trying to put our lives together... and lived there about a year and a half. I enjoyed it! I loved that warm ombré rug! It was sold after I left the apartment after this. that radiator in the window had a marble(?) cover over it that created a great kitty window perch. Though the kitchen was tiny, I made some great meals (when there was time). to be continued with the next place......See MoreSuggestions to spruce up galley kitchen for
Comments (31)Will the contractor be removing them all and painting off site and leaving them somewhere to cure or doing paiting them in place in your kitchen? What kind of FB paint will be used? (Modern or estate eggshell?) We just had new cabinets painted with FB estate eggshell. They sat to cure for 6 weeks and still the paint was soft enough that lines were made in the cabinet from moving. I've used FB throughout my home on the walls and love it. I've had painted cabinets with Benjamin Moore and loved them. I do not at all like the FB product on my kitchen cabinets. My incredibly experienced cabinet maker said it is the hardest paint to use on cabinets. (The process of painting cabinets is very different than painting walls. It needs to ideally be sprayed in a booth and cured.) If you feel comfortable, how much did they quote on painting the cabinets? Your $10k budget seems very small for getting cabinets and walls painted, new marble counters, electric work done for lighting, and potentially new flooring. Do you live in a small town? Myabe prices are better where you live. When we lived in our rowhouse, I hated the cabinets we had. (They were very much like yours but cherry colored.) I longed for a Plain English look. We couldn't make it happen all at once. Instead I did the kitchen in two phases: Removed base cabinets, removed terra cotta flooring and replaced with wood, reinstalled base cabinets that I so disliked. Got new inexpensive but nice hardware for the cabinets, painted the walls, put up some artwork that I loved, and put a new countertop on the old cabinets. Then three years later, we got new very high quality cabinets made. They were painted, look like Plain English, great hardware. Because we lived in a rowhouse, I knew that I could not change the cabinet layout that drastically and felt comfortable getting a new countertop and then new cabinets a few years later that would be the same layout as the older ones. Lastly, if you are painting your kitchen a dark color, I would invest in some very bright lighting. I would not do recessed lighting but a row of fixtures instead, and use very bright LED lights. Also add undercabinet lighting too. For paint colors, you need to think about how the paint will look next to bancha and your dining room paint because you can see all three rooms from within the space. I think painting the kitchen and dining room the same color would be a good idea. Beautiful dog!...See More
miacometlady
9 years ago
msubreeze
9 years ago
n247080
9 years ago
PROStamps Design Services
9 years agoYou have done a wonderful job with the porch, it has greatly enhanced the look of the home. I have to agree with the other who say the awnings detract from the look.... Have you ever considered using window film to control light/heat, instead of the awnings? They are not expensive and available from most home improvement stores.....
Alex Hastings thanked Stamps Design Services
bungalowmo
9 years agoDepending on which direction your porch faces, you may have some afternoon sun heat/glare. Mine faces West & half of my porch would really take a beating from the afternoon sun.
Here's what I did...
I hung curtains! Got them at Lowes. They're a cross between cheesecloth & burlap! The weave is loose enough to allow some visibility to the street, but heavy enough to block sun & give you privacy too!
I love them! 4 - 84" panels & 2 rods were about $125 total. You'd likely need half that.
Alex Hastings thanked bungalowmo
PROMARK IV Builders, Inc
9 years ago
PROOTM Designs & Remodeling Inc.
9 years agonitrolove81
8 years agomikey1964
8 years ago
Nancy
8 years ago- PRO
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8 years ago 
PROStecki Construction
8 years ago
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8 years ago
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