1970 home renovation Archives | Page 3 of 17

1970 home renovation

We purchased a 1970 brick ranch house in Washington County, Maryland in September of 2022. This wasn’t the home I envisioned us purchasing, but we thought it was a little gem that needed the kind of updating we were eager to do. We have had the privilege of meeting some of the children of the original homeowners, who built this Better Homes & Garden floor plan as their dream home. Follow along as we make updates to the home, big and small, while retaining the original charm and best features of the home.

1970 home renovation

DIY custom A/C surround reveal

Jeff and I noticed a stretch of stifling days in the forecast, so that gave us the push we needed to get the DIY custom A/C surround installed and finished this weekend. I shared the progress we made on building the surround a couple of weeks ago HERE. Since I had all of the pieces painted and two of the panels of the A/C surround built, it was pretty quick and easy to install. We had a general plan of how to attach the pieces for stability and longevity, but we knew we might make some adjustments along the way since this is the first one we’ve built and installed. It’s all finished and I am so excited with how it turned out! As a reminder, here is how the store-bought one we’ve been using for a couple of years looked… THIS is the one we had. It worked pretty

June 23, 2025 12 Comments

1970 home renovation

power washing the front walk

We have done so much work on the front of our house over the last couple of years. After all of the painting, planting, and updates, there was one glaring thing that needed to be addressed. This front walk desperately needed to be cleaned. We bought a power washer a few years ago, so we just needed to get it out and put it to use! (The pressure washer we purchased is no longer available, but it’s similar to THIS ONE. We paid much less for ours, though!) I imagined doing this long sidewalk, along with the patio and pool deck, inch by inch, so I looked into power washer attachments that cover a larger area with less effort. I ended up purchasing THIS 15″ surface cleaner attachment by Karcher. Jeff was highly skeptical and really didn’t even want to get it out of the box. He kept saying things

June 10, 2025 15 Comments

1970 home renovation

progress on the custom A/C surround

When I last shared about the custom A/C screen/surround we’re building, it looked like this… My dad came over on Thursday to help me with turning those primed and painted pieces into finished panels. My dad and I are a good building team because we have a similar approach – done is better than perfect. Several times, we said something like, “We’re not sending anyone to space in this thing, so it’ll do.” Even Jeff, who usually brings more perfectionism to the table, said it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just hiding an A/C unit. No one is hanging from it or living in it. That being said, now that we’ve built two of the panels, I can see some minor flaws in my design! Perhaps they are not so much flaws as things that could be improved upon. My design allows for access to the A/C unit for

June 9, 2025 8 Comments

1970 home renovation

DIY Custom A/C Screen

After having the lumber on our garage floor to season for a few months, we are finally building the DIY custom A/C surround. I am joking about letting the wood season. I bought the material without consulting my building partners, and we were not all on the same page regarding starting this project in the fall. That meant we were stepping over it and tripping on it for a few months because I put the cart before the horse. Now, the supplies are off the garage floor and we are making the plans (sketched on a now crumpled piece of paper) come to life. You might be wondering about the A/C screen we already have… I bought it when we opened the pool a couple of years ago, and it does a pretty good job of hiding the A/C unit. THIS is the one we have. Here’s the thing: when

June 5, 2025 10 Comments

1970 home renovation

progress on the front garden bed

I’ve been chipping away at gardening projects this week and have most of the front garden bed planted. After looking at black plastic for a year, it’s nice to see plants and mulch out there. As a reminder, I laid down black plastic to smother some weeds and get a fresh start with this bed. A couple of weeks ago, I started lifting up the plastic to plant a boxwood hedge along the house. I received several comments from experienced gardeners, encouraging me to move the hedge away from the house and porch… As I started spacing out the rest of the plants, I decided it would be best to listen to seasoned advice and move the hedge. I removed the plastic section-by-section, planting, laying down cardboard as a weed barrier, and mulched. I planted a small square boxwood hedge around the birdbath and surrounded that with English lavender. I’m

May 27, 2025 21 Comments

1970 home renovation

planting the front garden bed | part one

I feel like I’m way behind with gardening chores and projects, but when I looked back at last year to see when I did most of my gardening work, I’m pretty much on schedule. I might just be a week or two behind, but not as far behind as I feel! My two biggest garden projects this year are planting the front bed and cleaning up the left garden bed. Since I want to get plants in the ground as soon as possible, I decided to start with the front. I’ve been a little bit daunted since it involves adding new soil to fix the grading and revive the soil as well as planting bushes, perennials, and annuals, but I’m just taking it one step at a time, and I’ve made some good progress this week. This is how the front garden bed looked last spring before I started working

May 13, 2025 29 Comments

1970 home renovation

dining room options & taking creative risks

Last week, I shared that I was contemplating the fate of the hand-painted dining room mural and unintentionally posted it on April 1, so a few readers thought it might be a joke! It might seem a little nutty, but it wasn’t a joke. It’s not unusual for me to look at something I painted and decide I don’t like it. I’ve thrown paintings away, repainted or stripped pieces of furniture, and goodness knows I’ve painted rooms repeatedly over the years. I used to joke with Jeff that we were losing square footage in our PA house because I repainted the walls so many times. While the dining room mural was a much bigger time investment than just rolling paint on, I’m still able to look at it the same as if I picked a paint color that isn’t playing with the light as well as I’d hoped. I can

April 7, 2025 68 Comments

1970 home renovation

2025 yard clean-up

In the final days of February, we kicked off the yard work season of 2025. We had a few warmer days and wanted to be outside, so we decided to start cleaning up the left side of the house. This is the side of the house we’ve avoided the last two Springs because it’s such a tangled mess and seemed overwhelming. Jeff has wanted to rip it all out since we bought the house, but I’ve been protective of it and insisted it would be better to trim it all back. It’s a nice hedge of beautiful bushes that would cost a lot to replace. He was willing to leave them but was itching to cut them way back, so that’s what we did. As a reminder, this is what the house looked like when we bought it… And this is what it looked like last summer while I was

March 5, 2025 16 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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