The Weather Channel published a little profile of our house last week.

"Maggie Marystone didn't set out to buy an abandoned house, but the city of Chicago had a deal that was too sweet to pass up. A citywide initiative to rehabilitate abandoned property in the Windy City gave her the opportunity of a lifetime."

I didn't even know this product existed before we got one as a gift. The Aerogarden by Miracle-Gro is an indoor hydroponic growing system with automated grow lights. The version we have came with 7 pre-seeded grow pods: Thai basil, Genovese Basil, cilantro, parsley, mint, chives, and dill.

One of the big reasons I wanted to buy a house was to have some outdoor space of our own. Not one of the five apartments I've occupied in Chicago had a yard to speak of. Here's a quick update on how our backyard makeover has come along since we moved in.

We got some really nice press from the good people at Curbed Chicago today. Forbes calls Curbed "The granddaddy of all real estate blogs," so we are really excited and grateful they highlighted This Abandoned House!

I wish I had known about Houzz when we began planning our renovation. You can create different Idea Books to keep track of ideas you have for your project. You can also browse through other people's Idea Books, save their photos to your own Idea Book, or comment on photos you like.

Like Pinterest, Houzz offers a bookmarklet to help you easily send photos you find on the web straight to your Houzz Idea Book. It's a great site for inspiration.

I've been finding some really great uses of corrugated metal siding on Pinterest lately. Check out (and follow!) my Corrugated Metal Siding board on Pinterest. Take a look below to see what I have come across. It makes me wish we had more leftover siding!

After browsing Pinterest for corrugated metal garden planters for way longer than you might think necessary, we finally made one ourselves. It seemed like it would be a small project compared to the deck, but it took longer than any other project we've embarked upon so far.

Last month, I refinanced the house to take advantage of the super-low interest rates. The application process included a termite inspection, an appraisal, and an inspection by a construction expert from my lender. All 3 inspections happened on the same day, one right after the other.

Since the house was essentially built in 2010 (major renovation), we weren’t expecting any issues, but we were definitely interested in the results of the reports. I remember the termite problem we had in the house where I grew up. It wasn’t pretty. Those little buggers can do some serious damage, and you likely won’t know it until it’s too late unless you have an inspection by a licensed, reputable pest control service.