We’ve had a holiday hiatus, and then some. And, while we’re back, we are going to shift away from the SoMoToHo for this post and talk about a new project, one I’m calling LOAP Alpha. The picture above is a charming colonial building in Alexandria, Virginia that is showing a bit of wear. It’s a […]
How lucky we are to live in an age – and a country – with indoor plumbing. This picture was taken a couple of years ago in Bruges, Belgium. The well didn’t have any dating information on it, but the surrounding buildings had date plates from the mid-1600s. The SoMoToHo has plenty of bathrooms, all […]
Demolishing existing structures is a necessary step in remodeling. It can be kind of fun and cathartic but after a couple of days, you begin to feel as if you’re living in ruins – and not lovely and romantic ruins like the old Holyrood Castle Abbey in Edinburgh, shown above. The only way the SoMoToHo […]
Historically, fire considerations dictated that the kitchen be separated from living quarters. The picture above shows cooking facilities in the Valley of the Kings, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey. Here is another shot: Primitive though these facilities may be, the food that came out of them was fantastic, proving that cosmetics is not everything. For the SoMoToHo, […]
The kitchen is the heart of almost any modern American home – and by “modern,” I mean built since the dawn of the 20th century. Even in those houses where it is tucked off to the side, out of the way and seemingly disconnected from the intended living spaces, the kitchen is where folks tend […]
The first transformation we’ll walk through was a kind of tired, low-roofed ranch built in the mid 50s . The house had seen lots of wear and tear but we felt from the minute we walked in the front door that it had also been the site of good times – laughter, love, and happy […]
