Old Town Home

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Your Baby is Ugly

Posted by Wendy

Comments 5

As you may have seen in our post last Friday, I've volunteered to host a baby shower at our home this coming weekend. Well, in true Old Town Home fashion, I may have underestimated the time and detail needed to successfully pull off this project. In an effort to get back on track, the co-host and I set out this past weekend on an all-day shopping excursion to pick up the necessary party supplies and decor needed for next weekend's bash. The most surprising aspect of our trip? Discovering just how many hideous baby-themed supplies are out there for the picking, just lurking and waiting for someone with questionable taste to come along and snatch them up. We're talking armies of ugly and scary infant replicas. But let me back up to fill you in on how my guest room came to resemble a grocery and craft store explosion, along with a cat dragged in.

We started the morning with a strategy session over coffee, hashing out the final details of our menu, as well as finalizing dessert and favor options. Given we both love to cook and bake, this element of the party is really low stress and is something I'm quite looking forward to. One item in particular that I'm eagerly anticipating is a new Pinterest recipe for a hot appetizer using wonton wrappers. Wonton wrappers are a product I've always wanted to try, and this shower is the perfect excuse.

After finalizing the menu and finishing our coffee, we hopped in the car and started our long trek down Route 1 South, to a heavily congested, strip mall lined stretch that provided options for all of our shopping needs. We began the journey in the local Target, picking up various ingredients and supplies for menu items. We were hoping to strike gold in the decor department -- specifically looking for toddler sized rain boots to play off our rain shower theme -- but luck wasn't on our side. Must not be that "toddler Wellies" time of year, they're just not in season yet I guess.

Next up we hit Hancock Fabrics in search of a turquoise fabric that could work as a buffet runner. Sadly, nothing here fit the bill either. But as we paused with exasperation, I remembered that I have yards of burlap fabric in our hall closet, left over from December when our home was featured on the designer tour of homes. Perfect! Although not turquoise, the burlap, when overlayed on a crisp white tablecloth, will add a layer of texture and dimension to make the buffet more interesting.

With the fabric choices made for us, we headed over to The Party Store, and this was where the true horrors made themselves known. I suppose I went into this leg of the trip thinking we'd find cute napkins, fun accessories, or general inspiration for the party. Boy was I wrong. There was nearly an entire aisle devoted to all things baby, and what I discovered made me recoil in fear.

There they sat, shelf after shelf of them. Scary. Ugly. Babies! Not surprisingly, they were on clearance, so we bought 65 of them. I kid, I kid!

Need a closer look? Here, I will satisfy your curiosities.

That's right. Someone had clearly gotten these little monsters wet, because they were multiplying. Let's hope no one feeds them after midnight, lest we see one with a mohawk running around in the aisles of this store any day now.

We quickly moved on, only to discover additional tacky decor and questionable items. Baby-themed garters anyone? Umm, I think not.

To add insult to injury, we passed through the wedding/bachelorette party aisle on our way to the door, pausing only from shock at one item in particular. Yep, it's a bridal baseball cap, complete with double veil. I've never felt sexier than donning this bedazzled beauty, which could likely double as a beekeeper costume. My husband is a lucky man, and I'm sure he now knows it to be true. Time to move on.

I don't want to say we were feeling dejected at this point, because we were having a fair amount of fun, but our shopping list wasn't getting any shorter. We soldiered on, and our next stop landed us at Michael's craft store. It was here we hit pay dirt. Grosgrain ribbon, craft paint, floral foam, favor bags, candy sticks, and a totally unexpected find, papier-mâché toddler sized wellies! While not functional, they'll be a perfect addition to really drive our theme home.

Not only did we check most of our remaining items off the list, but we were inspired by what we found, and came up with several new ideas for party decor. My co-host said it best. "There's nothing in this shopping cart that screams baby!"

As strange as that may sound, to us that means that we're throwing a chic and elegant affair, reflective of our mom-to-be. And while we're celebrating the arrival of her little one, that doesn't mean that we had to resort to scary plastic babies to pull off this party.

All in all I'd call it a successful baby shower planning day. Combined with several supplies I had already purchased, I feel like we're in really great shape for next weekend. For instance, I have most of my cupcake supplies on hand.

I have a really cute idea in mind for displaying our homemade favors. (I'll be sure to share the details as this project unfolds.)

Now I have these great decorative wellies, which are sure to be an adorable addition to the back yard buffet once I'm done with them.

And let's not forget the other assorted decorative touches we'll be sprinkling throughout the party to surely make the theme come to life.

Now's the time in the party planning process that I'm super excited. I feel like the logistics are well underway, but I know a lot of work is looming, and we don't have much time to get it all squared away.

What do you think of the ideas and supplies we've cobbled together thus far? Are we on track of has our train left the rails? Perhaps I should go back and buy up all of those horrendous plastic babies and all the baseball caps with veils I can find? If you have any ideas that are staring me right in the face but I'm not thinking of, be sure to let me know.

Categories

Baby Shower

Comments 5

Monday, May 20, 2013

Open House: Gentry Row 230 Year Old Gem

Posted by Alex

Comments 16

Oh boy, do we ever have a house for you today! This is the sort of house that Open Housing was made for, and we're really excited to share it with you!

There's a particular block in Old Town that is home to some of the most historic and beautiful old houses in the city. It's located in the 200 block of Prince Street and is called "Gentry Row." Some of Alexandria's most famous and important early residents built and owned houses in this historic block, and it seems these homes never appear on the market with any regularity. Even rarer are these homes ever held open for the home tourists (like us) to see. This weekend one of these Gentry Row homes happened to be on the open house list, and there was no way Wendy or I were going to miss it!

The house I'm gushing over was built in 1784 and boasts three bedrooms and one bathroom, spread over three floors. Houses of this age were typically built as very small homes and grew with additions over time as the inhabitants' needs required change. From the front of the house it is a modest and attractive Federal style row house that has seen its fair share of alterations. Though the facade appears largely intact, the evidence of flaking paint and a paint outline around the door and off center cement stoop point to some of the changes which were probably added and removed over the years.

Entering the front door you expect a staircase to greet you, but instead there's just an empty hallway with a door on the opposite side that exits to the back area of the house. I was surprised there weren't stairs.

The photo above is my photo of the space, but the listing's wide angle lens from the other end of the hallway gives a much different perspective.

To the right of the entry hall is the home's main living space and modest parlor. The ceilings are surprisingly high in this room, especially for the age of the house, but the room is actually much smaller than the wide angle lens leads you to believe. That being said, it's not a bad type of small, it's just more cozy than anything else. The fireplace is functional and the large front windows let ample southern light into the room.

The second room in the home, and originally the furthest back the home went, is a nice sized room with some great original details.

The floors throughout this and other rooms are absolutely beautiful antique pine of varying widths.

The home's central stair is in this second room and is a winding stair that makes somewhat efficient use of the space. This staircase is far more typical of the style of stairs you'd see in a home of this age than the grand staircases with large banister in more grand homes. This tells me that this house was probably built for someone who was working class and didn't have has much money to throw around on grand gestures. This style of stair made it much easier to heat the home, as it cost less to keep the heat on the floor you wanted it to stay on.

We also loved the fact that there seemed to be storage pretty much everywhere you turned, like this nook under the main staircase. It was like a Harry Potter door!

The listing states the home was "renovated" in 1972, but I think that renovation consisted of the addition of various dental crown moldings and the addition of the back kitchen (though the kitchen space could have been added in 1920s or 1930s).

I think you can see from the photo, the kitchen requires some updates...

Apparently the home has been used as a rental for quite some time, and up until two months ago, it had a tenant, so the lack of a nice kitchen is not incredibly surprising.

The staircase back in the middle of the home is tight and winding, and the second floor "landing" leads you forward to a very large main bedroom.

The ceiling height in this room is surprising, and equal to the room on the first floor (if not higher). Where the first floor has the entry hall to eat into the front room, this bedroom is the full width of the house.

The room's fireplace is also functional, and the fireplace wall houses some great original details.

The rear of the second floor is the home's only bathroom, which looks to have been added out of necessity. Obviously the house didn't have a bathroom when it was built, so this does look a bit like it's out of place.

The third floor is by far the most interesting aspect of this house's layout, or perhaps it's a 2nd and 1/2 floor. Mid way up the stairs to the third floor the stairway branches off to the back of the house with a rather large step up (as Wendy demonstrates).

This leads to a second bedroom that would be pretty amazing as a home office or kids play room. It's funny, this room's door is far shorter than Wendy, but the room is plenty tall for full size adult people.

There's even a closet off of the room towards the front of the house, and this really cool window looking out over the back of the house and neighboring roofs.

Back out of the hobbit like door, you continue up the stairs toward the true third floor (or is it now a 4th floor?). When we reached the front third floor bedroom we were shocked at how much space there was. The room was equal size to that of the second floor's main bedroom, which is a complete surprise.

Looking back form this room I saw that detail that I absolutely LOVE in Old Town homes, the odd angled and interesting staircase. That's the hobbit door straight ahead and the tiny window to the left looks into the hobbit room's closet. This leads me to believe that the tiny room built as the 2nd and 1/2 floor was added on after the home was originally built, but from the look of the interior of the room, it is still probably early 1800s.

The architectural items throughout the house are a mishmash of hardware and doors from different periods. It's interesting to see 18th century doors with early 19th century locks and late 19th century or early 20th century knobs.

You might think this is the end of our tour, and if it were, this is already a spectacular house, but there's one more thing I want to show you. Though you can't access it from the interior of the house, there's a large iron bulkhead door you can open to descend into the basement, down the wooden ladder that happens to be missing its second rung (so be careful). And when you're down into the dark basement with the stone foundation, this is what you see.

Amazing!

Disgusting!

Perfect!

I almost don't have words.

The uneven floor, clutter, utilities, handing wiring, random piping, doors, oil drum, all this stuff.

It was literally unbelievable. I can't believe places like this still exist in Old Town. Part of me just assumes everything has been renovated, but this gem still exists!

As you can see, this home is a special place that is very much in need of an owner that has the time, money, and desire to do this renovation the right way. If a flipper or developer buys this place and does a quick update it will be a true modern tragedy. This needs extensive planning, methodical research, full restoration, and a dedicated soul.

While writing this blog post I've been brain storming what I'd probably do if we somehow owned this house and were planning on spending the next several years decades working on it. After much thought and deliberation, I think I know how I might handle the renovation. Here's my shot at it.

One of the major drawbacks of this home is the last of backyard/outdoor space. It's surrounded on all sides by other houses and properties, and the backyard is limited to just a few feet of narrow storage space. This may be shocking, but I think I'd remove the kitchen addition from the rear of the house to reclaim just a little bit of outdoor space.

However, with the kitchen removed, you have no kitchen in the house. This is where the large and decidedly unfinished basement comes into play. The basement offers a tremendous amount of potential. It spans the whole footprint of the house, and with the odd entry hall, you could add a stair of some sort just beyond the front door. It might be a little unorthodox, but it would turn the basement into an indoor space rather than simply being accessible from outside.

With access to the basement, and quite a bit of work, you could turn the basement into either a full living area with half bath, or a half bath and kitchen. I actually think I'd take the living space and keep the kitchen on the first floor, placing it in the second room with the stairs.

I would keep the room layout of the second floor intact, and do some major upgrades to the second floor bathroom, and I would turn that 2nd and 1/2 floor room into a great home office.

The third floor main bedroom could then be divided a bit and a full bathroom added to that room. It wouldn't be quite as spacious, but it would work beautifully as a guest room (or even master).

A renovation like this would leave you with four full finished floors with three bedrooms and two and a half baths with a modern kitchen and separate living area in the basement. It would still be quite a strange floor plan, but this is quintessential Old Town in an almost 250 year old house. To be totally honest, I'd love every moment of working on the house (even the ones I would truly hate).

Now for our game...

Would You Trade?

Alex: Hardest decision I've ever had to make on a "Would you trade?" I'm going to have to say "No." GAH, Wait, did I just say that? What's my problem? It's over 200 years old, most ideal location in all of Old Town, beautiful, historic, intact, not ruined, so much potential! Why wouldn't I trade? What's my deal?

I want to say yes, I really do. But the layout just isn't as functional as our house, there's no yard to speak of, and no parking. BUT I LOVE THIS HOUSE! I want this house. I wish we were somehow being forced to trade our house for this house, and I'd just willingly go along with the trade, but it can't be a permanent house, it just isn't practical enough. Okay, so I guess my answer is "maybe if I were being forced I'd be okay with it." I just wish we he enough funds to buy this house and work on it for a while. I want to become an Old Town house collector so I can buy this house and love it and restore it and make it wonderful!

Wendy: Well, although this house has amazing potential, gorgeous curb appeal, and a location to die for, no, I wouldn't trade. Our floor plan is much more conducive to everyday living, I've come to love our (modest) outdoor space, and I wouldn't give up parking. I've also been living in a renovation for the last decade, and really love living in a comfortable home that has a lot of projects, rather than living amongst a lot of projects in an effort to make it a comfortable home. Fingers crossed that someone with a passion for restoration is the next owner. We'd love to see what they come up with!

If you'd like to see additional details, they are available on the home's official listing page.

Interested in reading about other interesting homes for sale? Want to offer your take on "would you trade"? Check out the Open Housing section of Old Town Home.

Photo Credits: Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and listing agent, Donnan Wintermute, where MRIS is noted in watermark.

Categories

Open Housing

Comments 16

Friday, May 17, 2013

Babies on the Brain

Posted by Wendy

Comments 14

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me back up a minute before I tee up all kind of rumors that will make our parents' pulses quicken. I'm not talking about us...I'm talking about throwing a baby shower for one of my best friends. My rounder figure can be solely attributed to an injured hip and the indulgence in too many glasses of Napa Valley wine. But I digress.

It's no secret that I love to entertain, In fact, said baby shower will be hosted at our very casa just next weekend. And while I feel like I can throw together an affair to remember without too much worry, in this case extended family will be flying in from multiple states, so the pressure to step up to the plate is really on. Although the mom-to-be wants to keep the couples shower relaxed, my worry is starting to mount given I don't have all the details firmed up at this stage, and have just a mere eight days to finalize our plans.

It helps tremendously that I'm co-hosting the event with another hostess with the most-ess, but I still need to get my rear in gear. My mind is buzzing with a list a mile long of recipes to try, groceries to buy, décor arrangement, and more.

What have we done so far?

Guest list finalized
Invitations designed, printed, and mailed
Theme of party has been established, playing off of the turquoise umbrella used in the invitations
Rough menu sketched out

What's left to do in advance? Uhhh, for starters:

Purchase décor
Make décor
Plant new flowers and mulch beds
Clean backyard
Clean and oil outdoor furniture
Trim ivy
Clean house
Finalize menu
Make playlist
Purchase beverages
Shop for/make food
Finalize favor idea and implement
Somehow figure out how the mom-to-be, a graphic designer by trade, could design various party accoutrements (favor labels, menu cards, etc.) without spoiling any surprises
Set up

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us. But as you might know about us, all it really takes to get our butts in gear is a nice little deadline. A few weeks ago I started a Pinterest board for myself to inspire me in the way of baby shower celebration ideas. Here are few of my front runner ideas for food, fun, and favors.

Source: anikadesigns.blogspot.com.au via Old Town Home on Pinterest

I pinned this to get my "outdoor decor" creative juices flowing. While we won't have nearly this many people all seated in our tiny backyard, I'm more looking at the umbrellas and simulated jewel rain effect. Though this spread is pink, we don't know the sex of the baby, so we really don't have many limitations in color.

Source: imprintables.blogspot.com via Old Town Home on Pinterest

There's not much that gets my fancy going more than color coordinated and perfectly lined up party items. I really like the tiered approach to dessert presentation in this photo, as well as the glass bottles for drinks. It's unique and quite fun.

Source: google.com via Old Town Home on Pinterest

You know me and my love for baked desserts of the cake variety. This spread would obviously be incredibly involved if I were making it all myself, but I think there are some really great ideas tucked in here that will give me a good start.

Source: ontobaby.com via Old Town Home on Pinterest

Honestly, who can't get behind a champagne bar for a baby shower (other than the mother to be)? This look is so bright and clean, and if there's ever a time to start poppin' corks, it's when you're celebrating the impending arrival of a little one.

We're looking to keep the menu "utensil-less" for a more relaxed, casual approach. (And also because we can't provide seating for the number of people in attendance.) Finger food will allow guests to easily mill around. And as you can see from these photos, I'm a bit obsessed lately with cute, individual serving presentation when entertaining, including these chic miniature seven layer dips.

Photo credit: The Girl Who Ate Everything

So now I turn to you, oh reliable, insightful, and wonderful blog friends. What do you think we should throw into the mix? Keep in mind we want this to be more of your atypical baby showers. No games guessing the circumference of a belly. There will be both women and men in attendance, and it will hopefully be both inside and outside depending on the weather.

With that information in hand, what shall we do? How should we celebrate? Do you have any favor ideas? As a mother of only four-legged kids, I would absolutely LOVE to hear some of your sage advice. I can think of one mother-to-be that would be oh so appreciative of any input.

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Projects

Recipes Cocktails Entertaining

Entertaining

Entertaining

Comments 14

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

With a Cherry on Top: Cherry Almond Vanilla Cupcakes

Posted by Wendy

Comments 1

Last weekend a good friend of ours was celebrating a big birthday and in order to help her ring in the occasion a few of her close friends, lead by her boyfriend, teamed up to plan the details for a memorable bash. The efforts to plan the event began back in February and left no stone unturned to ensure a memorable event. When asked how I would like to participate in my own meaningful way, I immediately knew the perfect way to celebrate the birthday girl's event -- I'll bring the cupcakes!

Baking and decorating cupcakes is a true passion of mine. In fact, I think I might enjoy making them more than I enjoy eating them! Most of the time I keep it simple, dressing up a recipe using boxed cake mixes. But boxed cake mix and canned frosting wouldn't cut it for this elegant and memorable affair for 50.

While my contribution was a relatively small part of the event, I knew I wanted to do my best to make it a real show stopper. With a theme of red and white check to follow, I took to searching Pinterest for inspiration. A few months back I pinned a recipe for beautiful vanilla cupcakes, made more special with a vanilla and cherry twist. Not only did they sound delicious, but the look and flavor would work well with the red and white theme that had been selected.

With the recipe in hand, as well as several borrowed cupcake tins from very accommodating neighbors (50 is a lot of cupcakes!), I got to work for a whole lot of baking on the morning of the party. If you'd like to give this a whirl, here's a step by step on making your own pink and delicious cupcakes.

Cake Ingredients

1 stick butter, room temperature
4 egg whites, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup maraschino cherry juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
24 maraschino cherries with stems

Frosting Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

I kicked off the baking event as it seems most good baking recipes tend to start out and I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

Next, in a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Once the dry ingredients were adequately combined, I was able to get to the good stuff.

In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, combine buttermilk and cherry juice until mixture resembles the unappetizing color of Pepto Bismal. Don't panic. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the very room temperature butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. It's very, very important that the butter and eggs have been allowed to acclimate to room temperature without the microwave. Trust me on this. Add the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract to the butter until fully mixed.

Also, be sure to take care when measuring the sugar, or your countertops could look like this.

Once the mixture is fully combined it will have achieved a sandy play-doh look to it. Again, don't worry, it's on the right track.

Next up, add the egg whites to the sandy play-doh mixture very slowly, beating well after each egg white is added.

When all of your egg whites are fully combined, slowly add flour mixture and buttermilk Pepto looking substance, alternating between each ingredient a little at a time until they're all added. Continue to mix on low speed until the mixture is combined and begins to smooth out.

After the mixture is fully mixed and looking nice and smooth, your cake batter mix is ready to go. It should be a soft pink color that is actually leaning more towards true pink. Alex also wanted me to let you all know that it tastes pretty good at this stage too.

Line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper bake cups. Tip: To ensure my decorative wrappers kept their crisp color, I baked the cupcakes in plain white cups, and just before the party I nestle the baked cakes in the decorative wrappers.

Next up spoon the pretty pink batter into muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Tip: Using an ice cream scoop makes filling the cups evenly a snap.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in your 350 degree pre-heated oven, or until top springs back when lightly touched.

When the baking is complete remove the cupcake tins and allow the muffins to cool completely. While muffins cool, start on frosting.

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter (again, very room temperature) with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 30 seconds or until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, beating well as you add. Slowly beat in the cherry juice and almond extract. While I was adding the juice it began burping a bit, so watch out for the mess that is surely lurking. Slowly continue to add in additional powdered sugar. If necessary, beat in additional cherry juice or leftover buttermilk, one teaspoon at a time, to thin the frosting to the desired consistency. You should be left with a smooth and even mixture that looks a little like taffy.

For a "store bought" look, use a pastry bag and a decorator's tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.

I like to use disposable pastry bags and Wilton tips. This is a little something I splurged on years ago, and I've never looked back. If you like to decorate cakes or cupcakes, it's definitely worth it to pick up a set.

If you don't have these supplies on hand, a great substitution is to spoon frosting into a large food storage bag. Snip one of the corners off the bag with scissors, and squeeze frosting through the hole.

As a final touch, adorn the top of each cupcake with one maraschino cherry.

All in all, the cupcakes were a huge hit. When arranged on stacked white cake pedestals, they made quite a statement.

Not only were they beautiful, but they were delicious. All in all the party was a huge success, and I'm so thrilled my small contribution could be part of a fun and memorable event for a friend.

Next up? A big baby shower celebration at our house. Does anyone have any cupcake recipes they can share, or ideas for the menu and decor? It's been years since I've thrown a baby shower, and am always looking for creative ideas to make the occasion one to remember.

Categories

Projects

Recipes Cocktails Entertaining

Entertaining

Recipes

Comments 1

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Wires, Wires, Everywhere, On the Walls and In the Air

Posted by Alex

Comments 28

The title of this post is how I'm feeling at this point. Not surprisingly, the wiring infrastructure of Old Town is not the organized and simplified structure you'd probably find in most planned communities. Over the years the electric, phone, cable, and fiber optic services for Old Town have grown somewhat organically as the technologies have improved. While the city has kept up with things for the most part, this has left a bit of a hodge podge of above ground/underground services throughout the city.

King street and the first few blocks from King are largely underground services, while the residential areas are still largely above ground. So when a transformer exploded last week on King Street it meant some serious traffic delays for a little while, but no ugly wires overhead.

A few weeks ago we started to experience rather poor performance from our Internet service, or latency as it's commonly known. It seemed that each evening at around 6:30pm-7:30pm on weekdays our network speeds would drop from the usual of 30 mbps+ (very fast) down to about 0.2 mbps (very slow). After a few tweets to Comcast about the issues, they scheduled a tech to come out and take a look.

Just in case anyone out there has Comcast as their provider, if you ever have a problem, just tweet it to @ComcastCares. The service you will get via Twitter is far superior to the service you'll get by calling their 1-800-COMCAST number.

When the tech arrived and I took him into the basement to see the server rack and wiring setup he was immediately skeptical of our home's interior wiring. He said, "Who put this together?" I responded that I had done the install and he immediately assumed the entire interior wiring was amateur and the root cause of any poor performance I was experiencing.

Needless to say, after about 10 minutes of interior testing and eliminating variables, he decided the interior wiring was not to blame (yeah...no kidding, buddy!!!) and the root of the issues were in the exterior wiring. At one point, while he was on the phone testing things with a tech on the other end, I overheard him say, "I'm here at the customers...um...server rack...yeah...no, I'm serious...a full rack with patch panels...no, it's really well done, pretty sick...you should really see this...it's even got lights."

The tech determined that we have two issues. The first is the fact the wiring from the node to the house is 17 or more years old, and the second is the fact the node at the utility pole is really over crowded. Take a look at the rat's nest at the utility pole where the cable node originates.

A few days after our appointment Comcast came back out to replace the wire from the street to our house. I was happy about that, but it didn't totally take care of the issues. What it did do was to add another wire to the side of our house. Now this is what the side of our house looks like.

We now have six wires hanging on the side of our house, but we only need two (cable and electric). As you may know, I'm a total wire snob. What I mean by this is that I love wiring, like the network, cable, and speaker wiring I ran all through the house, but I absolutely HATE unnecessary wiring that hangs awkwardly, sits outside of the wall for all to see, and ultimately uglifies the area wherever it is seen. I've gone to great lengths to properly conceal any wiring inside of our house, so why not outside? I now have a goal to remove all but the necessary wiring on our home's exterior and beautify the side of our house in the process.

The secondary issue is the root cause of our slowness. We're connecting to the Comcast network via an "overcrowded node." In other words, too many people are accessing the internet at the same time in the evening and choking out our bandwidth. While the new wire they ran helps some, it's still well below what we're paying for. Is it any surprise? Just look at the mess of wires connecting near the middle of this photo.

You may have a hard time seeing it, but there are at least eight wires coming off of this one point, and this one point is shared among several other poles. The more permanent resolution to our issue is to change our network access point from this pole in front of our house, to an uncrowded pole at the back of our house. But the big problem with that, the tech wanted to run a wire over our backyard. Now, he doesn't know my wife, but I know my wife quite well, and if I ever okay someone running a wire over our backyard, she won't be a happy woman.

The technical skeptic in me doesn't totally trust this will really resolve the issues, and my concern is simply that Comcast has an under structured network infrastructure for the number of subscribers in the area. The sad news, we can't switch to FIOS (no matter how much I want to) as it isn't offered in our area. The really sad news, Comcast has a total wired monopoly in Old Town. The even sadder than sad news, there's a dark fiber line (a fiber optic line that isn't in use, but fully able to be used) sitting just outside of the front of our house. Why oh why can't I just use that for our Internet so we can have full gigabit speeds!!!!!

So now I need to come up with a plan. I need to figure out a way to run the new cable wire from the uncrowded pole to the cable box on the side of our house. I need to do it without running a wire above our backyard, without digging up the yard or alley, and without hindering the look of our backyard in any way. I have a plan that just might work. I'm going to try to hide the wire along the wall and behind the ivy. I think I can weave it into the ivy and make the ivy disguise the whole thing. We'll see how this goes, and if I can ultimately sell Wendy on the idea. The way she is, she'd prefer slow Internet access to an uglier backyard. Only time will tell.

Have you had any Internet speed nightmares? I know there are tons of stories to go around. Are you stuck as a Comcast or other cable company customer? Or are you one of the fortunate people where you have a choice of providers? Any thoughts or other ideas than running the wire behind the ivy? I'd love to hear some.

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