Flower, Sour, Sweat, Wet and Weird Smells Bring the House Down
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
The group of real estate agents finished the tour of a house that was about to come on the market and fled, holding their noses.
"It smelled like urine," sniffed one of the agents, who spoke anonymously because she wants to remain in the business. "I don't know what . . . they were doing in there. Some of these houses I don't think they ever opened a door or window. It's a big petri dish."
Read more:
Showing posts with label On Cleaning and Waxing and Fixing Up the House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On Cleaning and Waxing and Fixing Up the House. Show all posts
Hardwood, Not Hard Work
Take a Shine to Your Floor without Getting on Hands and Knees
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
Maudline Cajou is at the helm of an alarmingly loud, ancient, dusty-pink Hoover buffer, pushing, pulling, carefully skirting the edges of the Oriental rug on the living room floor in Margot Kelly's Capitol Hill house.
For 14 years, the routine has never varied: One week Kelly's house cleaner waxes the 200-year-old floors and then buffs; the next week she only buffs.
Read more:
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
Maudline Cajou is at the helm of an alarmingly loud, ancient, dusty-pink Hoover buffer, pushing, pulling, carefully skirting the edges of the Oriental rug on the living room floor in Margot Kelly's Capitol Hill house.
For 14 years, the routine has never varied: One week Kelly's house cleaner waxes the 200-year-old floors and then buffs; the next week she only buffs.
Read more:
Hocus- Smokeless
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
When it comes to romance there's little that compares to the allure of fireplaces. Whether they actually provide heat is pretty much irrelevant; it's the fantasy that counts.
Where else can you make like Katharine Hepburn, bony elbow poised on the mantel as you toss back a cognac and exchange witty repartee with your Cary Grant-equivalent.
Where better to read Poe on a frosty evening when the gnarled branches of the old oak tree scrape against the windowpanes like devilish claws?
How else would Santa arrive?
Read More:
Special to The Washington Post
When it comes to romance there's little that compares to the allure of fireplaces. Whether they actually provide heat is pretty much irrelevant; it's the fantasy that counts.
Where else can you make like Katharine Hepburn, bony elbow poised on the mantel as you toss back a cognac and exchange witty repartee with your Cary Grant-equivalent.
Where better to read Poe on a frosty evening when the gnarled branches of the old oak tree scrape against the windowpanes like devilish claws?
How else would Santa arrive?
Read More:
The Squeegee Dividend
Dingy Windows Don't Sell Houses, So We Share Squeaky-Clean Tips From the Pros
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
As you're preparing to sell your house, don't overlook the windows.
"When you're marketing a house, clean windows are like clean teeth," said Phyllis Jane Young, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in the District. "They're the first thing people see on the outside and the first thing they see through on the inside."
Read On:
Don't Despair, Just Repair
It's True. They Don't Make Appliances Like They Used to.By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post
Judith Capen's rattletrap dishwasher recently went into death throes. Two repairmen fiddled with it, then stomped off, saying she could buy a new one for less than it would cost to fix the 18-year-old machine.
Read More:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)