A blog dedicated to chronicling the successes and failures of an Historic Old Town Alexandria couple as they completely renovate and appropriately restore an 1880s Victorian row house...almost entirely on their own.
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There's a very special house that sits on the north-west corner of Duke Street and St. Asaph Street. It occupies a large lot and maintains much of the character and original detail that adorned the home at the time of it's construction in 1784. Richard Pratt in A Treasury of Early American Homes (New York: Whittlesley House, 1949) referred to the house as "one of the choice examples of early American elegance in the United States." Beyond the large and impressive masonry residence the home also retains its original brick coach house. This home has quite a bit of historical significance and is recognized in the National Register Historic Places...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 1 day 5 hours ago.
As you may have seen in our post last Friday, I've volunteered to host a baby shower at our home this coming weekend. Well, in true Old Town Home fashion, I may have underestimated the time and detail needed to successfully pull off this project. In an effort to get back on track, the co-host and I set out this past weekend on an all-day shopping excursion to pick up the necessary party supplies and decor needed for next weekend's bash. The most surprising aspect of our trip? Discovering just how many hideous baby-themed supplies are out there for the picking, just lurking and waiting for someone with questionable taste to come along and snatch them up. We're talking armies of ugly and scary infant replicas...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 1 day 5 hours ago.
As you may have seen in our post last Friday, I've volunteered to host a baby shower at our home this coming weekend. Well, in true Old Town Home fashion, I may have underestimated the time and detail needed to successfully pull off this project. In an effort to get back on track, the co-host and I set out this past weekend on an all-day shopping excursion to pick up the necessary party supplies and decor needed for next weekend's bash. The most surprising aspect of our trip? Discovering just how many hideous baby-themed supplies are out there for the picking, just lurking and waiting for someone with questionable taste to come along and snatch them up. We're talking armies of ugly and scary infant replicas...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 2 days 5 hours ago.
Oh boy, do we ever have a house for you today! This is the sort of house that Open Housing was made for, and we're really excited to share it with you! 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...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 3 days 4 hours ago.
Oh boy, do we ever have a house for you today! This is the sort of house that Open Housing was made for, and we're really excited to share it with you! 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...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 3 days 4 hours ago.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me back up a minute before I tee up all kind of rumors that will make our parents' pulses quicken. I'm not talking about us...I'm talking about throwing a baby shower for one of my best friends. My rounder figure can be solely attributed to an injured hip and the indulgence in too many glasses of Napa Valley wine. But I digress. 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...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 6 days 4 hours ago.
Last weekend a good friend of ours was celebrating a big birthday and in order to help her ring in the occasion a few of her close friends, lead by her boyfriend, teamed up to plan the details for a memorable bash. The efforts to plan the event began back in February and left no stone unturned to ensure a memorable event. When asked how I would like to participate in my own meaningful way, I immediately knew the perfect way to celebrate the birthday girl's event -- I'll bring the cupcakes! 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...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 1 week 1 day ago.
The title of this post is how I'm feeling at this point. Not surprisingly, the wiring infrastructure of Old Town is not the organized and simplified structure you'd probably find in most planned communities. Over the years the electric, phone, cable, and fiber optic services for Old Town have grown somewhat organically as the technologies have improved. While the city has kept up with things for the most part, this has left a bit of a hodge podge of above ground/underground services throughout the city. 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...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 1 week 2 days ago.
So here we sat Sunday night, a project list a mile long, but rather than working on anything serious, we were actually lounging on our urban hammock. 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)...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 1 week 3 days ago.
Earlier this week we filled you in on some of the details of our weeklong trip out to California in celebration of Wendy's birthday. Now that we're back on the east coast, we're still trying to get caught up with the work, projects, and other chores we missed while away. But like any extremely fun vacation, we can't seem to shake that vacation buzz. 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...
read more at Old Town Home Posted 2 weeks 5 hours ago.