HI HI HI! Anyone there? I’ve decided to kick off 2018 with a First World bitchfest. Where to start? So many choices! Last spring I started making plans to build the Peter H. Freeman Memorial Shed. Just an 8′ by 10′ studio to store my projects and do all my sanding and nasty chemical work […]

Happy sloppy, schweaty July! I just want to say to the friends/fam who’ve been enthusiastic about my blog that I love you dearly. It’s fun to write about and have a receptacle for my projects, but it’s a really nice feeling to know that it brings some levity to people’s days. First: A photo I […]

Maybe I’m sick in the head these days (Pete’s death, end of winter, Trump), or maybe I just no longer fear the mortal wrath of my dear stepdad for admitting this, but I’m really into seventies decor. GOOD seventies decor (wuh?). More and more I find myself gravitating toward warm spaces, wood paneling, bigass plants, hot tubs, mustard yellow […]

It’s with much sadness that I dedicate this post to my weird and wonderful stepdad, Peter Freeman, who died on February 8. I’m struggling with where to start, because the things I have to say about Pete could fill a book; his life could fill a series. He was scarily intelligent, and could debate any seasoned academic on politics, history, or art. He was loud, hilarious, naughty, campy, and irreverent—I […]

Breakfast nook, eating area…whatever you call it, this is what our house came with. At first the lack of a proper dining room didn’t bother me, but that quickly changed. Our previous house, a 1920 Colonial in the Bronx, had a lovely formal dining room, with 6-foot windows, oak parquet floors, a 9-foot-high beamed ceiling, plate moldings, and a brass […]

As this new and terrifying era unfolds, it seems like the perfect time to bring one of my favorite words into the vernacular. GRUMPH is one of those made-up terms my parents terrorized me and my brothers with when we were little. It refers to caca, and it was often shouted at us in public places: “ARE YOU GRUMPHING?” and “DO YOU […]

Duuuuuuuudes. The backlog of projects is daunting, but I’m gonna try to start chipping away, because (my) life otherwise is colorless. So git ready! First off: THE JUNGLE ROOM. It’s done! And I luv it so. Since it’s been a few decades, here’s a reminder of what it was before: *Yawn.* Now look: HA-CHA-CHA! It’s a […]

Foul summer heat and a serious influx of work have conspired to keep me from my projects! It’s made me so sad, and my soul has died a little. Meanwhile, it all piles up around the house: lamps to rewire and tables to refinish and chairs to upholster and fabrics to sew, all taunting me, calling to me […]

One of the first things I attacked when we bought our house was the fireplace. Since it was my first, I wanted it to be pretty. And this one wasn’t: Bleh! I couldn’t begin to comprehend the sick, vile mind that painted that black section. It’s like a procenimum arch for a baby crematorium. Even more egregious was the brown concrete hearth with scored lines to make it […]

The estate sale scene where I live sucks the big one sometimes. Not because there aren’t a dozen sales going on at any given time, but because the big shot dealers often kill all the fun: A. They line up first thing to gobble up whatever good stuff they can wipe down and resell for ten times as much in […]