Low ROIs

All the travel and long work hours finally caught up to me so I spent the weekend trying to take it easy and recover from a silly head cold. After a slow moving Saturday morning, I made some tea and we walked to an Iron Works company on Washington Avenue to get some ideas about banister pricing.

A very Philly Iron company

The place was tiny but they have exactly what we have been looking for at a much more reasonable price than the place we found at the Home Show (the Home Show company quoted us over $4000 for 14 feet of banisters!?).

So simple but so impossible to find

The guy even gave us a tour of his back room where he hand makes all the banisters! Now all I need to do is get Andrew to learn how to weld so we can DIY our banisters...

Looks easy, right?

We spent the rest of Saturday working on the trim in our usual fashion - loud, Skrillex Pandora playing and each of us doing our assigned chores (Andrew cutting the wood, me doing the caulk). I have been really tough on Andrew to start eating healthier food so smoothies are also my responsibility :)

Kale, spinach, banana, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, peanut butter and almond milk! Yum!

We finally got a new vent for the living room so we were able to fix up the wall and install the trim - the final trim in the downstairs! The hardest part about this trim is that it takes hours and hours to do and the return (ROI) is very small. It is giving our house that polished off look that it needs but we are definitely ready for it to be over!

Before

After

I was only home for 12 hours after our Miami trip so it was nice to come home to make progress on our own house, as well as see all the progress the houses around us have made. The houses behind us are nearly demolished... 

The house on the left is gone and the right will be gone by the end of the week

...and the house across the street is completely gone!

This house was torn down in a week!

Our neighborhood is really in a transition point as we prepare for spring so we are hoping the houses that are built are done well and bring even more good to the neighborhood. As we were walking around the neighborhood we spotted a sign for an open house for the brand new homes built on 17th Street. 

My little partner in crime

These houses were just finished and 5 of the 8 are already sold - starting at $675K. We were so excited to get an opportunity to take a tour of the houses, as they are all eco-friendly and huge! 

The front entrance

The model home we toured was 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath with a car port. Future plans for the lot include a restaurant space with 6 condos above it, coming this spring! I didn't take many pictures because I was too enthralled with the banisters! Exactly what we want in our house :)

View from the roof deck

It was a lot of house excitement this weekend so we took a break from it all to go to the Philadelphia Tattoo Convention. My sister and Cody joined us for dinner at our house and then we all walked to the convention center, where we were completely out of place. Andrew has been researching artists in Philly for awhile so our first stop was to a guy he has had his eye on for awhile.

Andrew discussing his new tattoo ideas

The guy seemed super cool so we will see what Andrew decides to do for his future tattoo. The convention was one of the most interesting things I have experienced - the room was humming from the sound of hundreds of people getting tattoos. And these weren't tiny tattoos, these were tattoos that took seven hours to complete.

Crazy big tattoo

I got in big trouble for taking pictures so that's all I can post, unfortunately. We left the convention with no new tattoos, which I am completely fine with. The weekend ended with an exciting trip to Home Depot for shades for the guest room and office.

Our selections

I have been using the guest room as a dressing room and the neighbors are probably over seeing me in my underwear so it's about time we install new shades. Just why are houses so expensive!?

The top is our final choice

The house is getting better every week! It's fun to see it all come together!