In a summer where I seem to be taking a break from the season of renovation, it was shocking to realize that I first saw this house 7 years ago today. The oldest few of these photos were snapped on July 24, 2003, though it took a few weeks to become the first blog post.

This big, old, barely insulated house is not so good at being heated or cooled. What it does fairly well, though, is stay somewhat comfortable downstairs no matter hot it gets outside. After living cooler last winter, I’ve gone the next step and haven’t turned on the air conditioner this particularly hot summer.

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At 315 square feet, this house at 2607 Nine Mile Road may be Richmond’s smallest house. There is another delightful little house just around the corner at 1420 North 27th Street that tops out at 842 square feet.

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This has to be Richmond’s worst renovation…

Spring Break week was put to good use surreptitiously planting trees around the area. The median by the vacant house on the corner got 2 crape myrtles and the rental across the street got a nice maple.

The spring break project this year is painting the fence out front that we put in a few years back.

Looking for a fixer-upper? Here are the 10 most distressed houses in our neighborhood…

The Brookland Park Historic District is an area a little north and west of us. The district is composed of several late-nineteenth and early-twentieth subdivisions anchored by commercial development at North Avenue and Brookland Park Boulevard.

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This has been the winter of both getting the weatherstripping in right and working to heat less of the house.

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In the years of on&off work on the house, our neighborhood has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Part of the application includes a fairly detailed history of the neighborhood…

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We learned a few years back that we have to drip the faucets when the temperature drops below 20 at night or face not having any water the next day (and the worry of frozen and burst water lines). A lesson learned was that we also have to drip when it stays below freezing for a few days, just like we’re getting into now, the first colder spell of the winter.

Happened upon another house renovation blog out of Richmond, of a wonderful house in the Byrd Park area. Read through to find out about their “half bath”…

With some carpentry work on the trim still hanging and much scraping/sanding/painting to get to on the inside of the porch, the view from the street is still a bit sharper than it was a month ago.

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In anticipation of getting to paint the porch, I scoured the neighborhood for examples to help get the design started…