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About

Victoria:
Dictator. Procrastinator. Hoarder.
Loather of noise. Hater of disruption.
Adorer of the oversized and ornate.
Lover of fashion, wearer of pajama pants.

A blog about renovating and restoring our old Victorian house

Paul:
Magician.
Fixer of all things broken.
Mover of walls, slayer of lath.
Fetcher of unwieldy Craigslist treasures.

Elvis:
Swing vote, lap cat.
Leader of the revolution.
RIP sweet monkey, see you on the other side.

A blog about a husband and wife restoring an old house

The Blog, est April 2012:
Plaster. Disaster.
Marriage. Construction. Gardening.
Sinks. Paint. Demolition.
Dirt. Dust. Mess. Filth.
Sheetrock. Frustration.
Restoration. Tile. Noise.
Progress. Lack of progress.
Joy. Failure. Faucets.
Flooring. Disappointment. More noise.
Old stuff. New stuff. Budget. Over budget.
Chaos. Panic. Obsession.

Husband and wife restoring an old house. Construction, DIY home remodeling.

121 Comments

  1. Sandi
    September 17, 2012 @ 5:01 pm

    I’m loving your blog. You have a scintillating voice and vibrant way of expressing yourself.

    And I think your husband is a heckuva guy. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by my little corner of WordPress. 🙂

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      September 18, 2012 @ 8:53 am

      Thank you!!! He is definitely a heck of a guy. Renovating this house has left me astonished at his competence… Which isn’t to say we never have skirmishes over who is the Project Manager. 🙂

      Reply

      • Joyce
        June 26, 2013 @ 12:00 pm

        Where dies the name Whetstone Antiques come from?

        Reply

    • NotMadeInChinaFinds
      January 15, 2017 @ 7:36 pm

      I just found your blog via Apartment Therapy. You are funny engaging and I will be following your shenanigans closely. Thanks for brightening and otherwise dull day!

      Reply

    • Betty Coco
      October 17, 2017 @ 6:54 pm

      I love your blog. What has happened in your kitchen. I love the piano island. Please show us the end results.

      Reply

  2. Danielle
    September 18, 2012 @ 5:26 pm

    So I kinda, sorta nominated you for some bloggy awards today because I think you’re awesome. 🙂
    http://storypiece.net/2012/09/18/awards-and-pop-culture-fluff/

    Reply

  3. Jessica@CapeofDreams
    October 7, 2012 @ 9:02 am

    I am so glad I found your blog. I laughed; I cried; it was better than Cats. Cats the musical that is because nothing is better than cats the animals. Speaking of which, it looks like Elvis must have strong opinions about what you do with your house.

    Reply

  4. Tracy
    October 26, 2012 @ 1:57 pm

    I nominated you for the One Lovely Blogger Award! For more details: http://thehesoproject.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/lovely-blogger-award/

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      October 27, 2012 @ 7:09 pm

      Thank you so much! I’ll compile my list of brief but witty anecdotes… and try to come close to the humor of your literal-ness!

      Reply

  5. Backpackology.org
    November 7, 2012 @ 10:07 pm

    Love love love love your writing style! I’m sitting in Seoul. I’m supposed to be sightseeing. I’m supposed to be meeting a friend at some market, somewhere. Instead, I am sitting here, already late, reading about varnishes and home improvement and giggling endlessly to myself. I rarely, if ever, read other blogs so this says a great deal. You’ve got such a unique voice. Very funny, very engaging, very well done! Keep up the awesome work!!!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      November 9, 2012 @ 7:15 pm

      Thank you, thank you, thank you. You absolutely made my day!!

      p.s.- your blog just ate a chunk of my life. Your trip is astonishing! The things you’re doing? Are the exact opposite of anything that I would ever try. Ever.
      Ever.

      Reply

  6. patinaandcompany
    November 25, 2012 @ 7:35 pm

    Always enjoying your beautiful site, and now I am letting you know that I have nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Details of this award can be viewed on my site. Thanks for all the inspiration.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      November 26, 2012 @ 5:21 pm

      Hey! Thanks for the lovely surprise!!!

      Reply

      • Patricia
        May 24, 2020 @ 7:18 pm

        I miss your posts. Will be seeing more I hope?

        Reply

  7. Gretchen @ BoxyColonial
    February 4, 2013 @ 7:26 pm

    I wandered over from Apartment Therapy, and then I had so much fun that I’m subscribing. It seems like most of the people commenting on this page have some sort of award that they’re nominating you for. I don’t have any awards to give out, unfortunately. Maybe I should invent one.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      February 5, 2013 @ 9:49 am

      Hey! Thanks!! I MUCH prefer no-pressure praise and approval— so I’m actually happier with the lack-of-award…Besides, I hate getting dressed up for stuff, and who has time to write thank-you notes?

      Your url is fantastic. Amusing, and memorable, which is something I totally flaked out on…

      Reply

  8. Tina
    February 5, 2013 @ 11:51 am

    I also just wandered over from Apartment Therapy, and I absolutely adore your writing style. Also, I now understand why my parents, who have been remodeling the houses we lived in since my sister and I were in the womb, appear at times to be insane. 😀

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      February 5, 2013 @ 1:46 pm

      Thanks for commenting… You made my day. It’s going in my folder of “nice things strangers said, that made me feel awesome.” It’s like the antidote to residual high-school anxiety…

      I came from a family where no one is handy at all… so at first, Paul’s extreme fixing-ability seemed like an amazing miracle, and I wouldn’t have believed anyone who told me it might ever make me crazy.

      Reply

  9. rich
    February 17, 2013 @ 5:34 pm

    hi. rich from the writer’s group today. i knew i had forgotten part of an answer to a question you asked, and i just remembered it now. it was about people leaving comments and you/we/us leaving comments.

    one random day i read a poem on someone’s blog, a woman from india, and i left a comment. had no idea who she was or how i happened to land on her blog, but i did. so i leave a comment, and she gives a most astonishing reply. she said something like, “thank you for leaving a comment. i have always wondered if you would ever read my writing. i have seen your comments on many other blogs and always hoped you might read something of mine. i’m glad you liked my poem.”

    i was amazed that a woman halfway around the world would have any idea who i was or what i was doing. for her to be thrilled just because i made a comment on her page was just too strange but also amazing. so – you just never know…

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      February 18, 2013 @ 9:22 am

      That’s interesting! The internet makes for a surprisingly small world…I met a woman, randomly via our blogs, who lives less than ten miles from me and is also renovating an old Victorian.

      Reply

  10. terry
    February 19, 2013 @ 10:57 am

    You are a breath of fresh air. Love your thoughts

    Reply

  11. Ileana Keltz
    April 9, 2013 @ 4:39 pm

    First of all, let me say that I laughed so hard I was crying as I read about your DIY projects. I found you through Garden Web, on the kitchen forum because I am always on there, since we are remodeling our kitchen. I so identified with you. My hubby is a very talented woodworker, who is building our cabinets as I type this. I am always showing him my Pinterest boards and we are knee deep in Better Homes Kitchen and Bath magazines. The guided tour of your kitchen had me laughing so hard, my DH wondered what I was doing. Just as you dream of the beautiful Victorian home with the cabinets and 14ft ceilings, I drool over gray shingled colonials with white kitchens, marble counters, and a view of the Atlantic(preferably in Nantucket) I will have to post pictures of my kitchen, as each phase is done(we are on phase 2) DH says it should be done in the fall(I hope he means of this year) I love your garden! I too, love to garden AND…… I love Zinnias!!

    See, we should so be BFF’s. Love your blog. Keep us all posted on your latest project.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 9, 2013 @ 5:39 pm

      Your comment absolutely made my day… you MUST post photos of your kitchen!! I too am drawn to marble, but my inner control-freak is counseling me to choose something that won’t require me to scream at people every five minutes about touching it. We’ll see how that goes.

      Zinnias are the ONLY annual I’m doing this year… anything else in comparison is totally unsatisfying. I need to stake them this year, though… last summer, by August they were out of control and falling over… and probably made the mildew issue worse than it needed to be.

      So nice to “meet” you!! Thanks for commenting!!! I needed a new BFF!!

      Reply

      • Ileana Keltz
        April 9, 2013 @ 8:57 pm

        Just curious, where do you get your zinnia seeds from? I am going to do state fair zinnias this year.

        Reply

  12. Burns the Fire
    June 19, 2013 @ 4:44 pm

    Got here via the Bloggess and now I don’t want to go! Your blog is pure delight.

    Reply

  13. Vicki Palmer
    June 25, 2013 @ 8:24 am

    I just wanted to tell you how much I love your blog. I too love old mirrors and have a large one (my favorite) that came out of a Victorian home in Philly. I have mirrors all over my home and everytime I find another hubby looks at me like do we need another mirror. When I showed him pictures of your mirrors found on Craigslist I think he was thankful I hadn’t found one as large as some of those you have found. lol Anyway I will be following the progress on your Victorian renovation and enjoying your posts. Best wishes.
    Vicki

    Reply

  14. Ross
    June 25, 2013 @ 5:58 pm

    I just discovered your blog today and absolutely LOVE it! Just wanted you to know 🙂

    Reply

  15. David
    June 25, 2013 @ 11:31 pm

    I never, ever score on CL like that. Never. I’m mad at you…

    Reply

  16. Wendy
    June 26, 2013 @ 4:33 pm

    I just discovered your blog/Facebook page, and I’m still cracking up over your story of finding the gigantic mirror on CL! My fondest desire in life is to have a Victorian home to restore, but since it’s never going to happen, I can now live vicariously through your remodel! Your blog is awesome & you are hilarious! Looking forward to your posts, so happy I found you! (Ok, that sounded kinda creepy, but I hope you understand what I mean! Lol) Btw, you should Google Portownsend, WA. It’s a lovely little town in Washington (State) & is full of beautiful Victorian homes. Check out the Sterett House….amazing!

    Reply

  17. Aimee Schmitt
    June 26, 2013 @ 4:57 pm

    VB–you don’t know it yet….but I believe you are my new best friend. You express in words what I only thought I felt or believed! {and you have a cat!} oh what blog-land has provided for this new entrant into blogger-ville. Your newest follower and fan…{and friend}. -Queen Aimee

    Reply

  18. Charlotte Pilling
    June 26, 2013 @ 10:09 pm

    love the mirror, and the house, think you are my long lost twin or something like that, I even have a black cat, his name is icky, yes icky, short for Icarus. I convinced my husband to buy me a 1894 queen ann victorian house (sight un-seen by him) simply for the fact that it had a tower and my nickname used to be rapunzel, its falling apart… we are putting it back together… actually right now we are ripping it apart more. Anyways I have become your 4th like. Keep up the good work

    Reply

  19. Lenora Raines
    June 28, 2013 @ 11:21 pm

    I absolutely love your literary style and I rarely take the time to read blogs! Cathe Holden shared your craigslist kingdom mirror story on Facebook. I giggled till my sides ACHED and then passed it on! I am hooked now and will definitely follow your blog.
    Oh yes…we are kindred spirits in our “adventures in treasure hunting” on Craigslist. Your husbands’ responses are priceless and all too familiar. Thanks for the clever way you navigate the real communication that happens between couples! Lenora
    P.S. I have a lovely Maine coon cat named Sister..she rules the roost.

    Reply

  20. Molly
    June 29, 2013 @ 7:46 am

    OMG. Absolutely love your blog! In the middle of room renovations for our 1950’s home & this was an inspiration! Your writing style is awesome. Can’t wait to read more! Thank you!

    Reply

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