“Dear PoP,

A pomeranian was stolen from someone’s house in Anacostia by teenagers. could you help us in getting the word out? They could have taken it to any neighborhood.”

“Monday, November 7th, between the hours of 12pm and 2pm, my home was burglarized by 7 African-American teenagers, 6 males and 1 female.

Our home was burglarized of all valuable items. Among them they stole one of our three dogs. We believe we were targeted. It was the second successful attempt at stealing him. The first attempt we prevented less than a month prior.

If you see a teenaged African-American female, about 5’5 to 5’7 in height, with a miniature Pomeranian please call 202-904-0048 to collect the reward. Miniature Pomeranians are rare in Washington DC.

$1500 Reward

Description of Dog:
3.5 lb., Blonde & White, Male, Pomeranian
Please call with any pertinent info.: 202-904-0048″

Back in January Big Chair Coffee opened up in Anacostia (2122 Marthin Luther King Jr Ave SE) to much fan fare. It turns out they’d also like to add some more options and are applying for a liquor license. The application says:

“New restaurant serving American food and coffee with Sidewalk Café. Occupancy load is 52″

Restaurant hours including a sidewalk cafe will be open until 2am.

I wonder if they’ll have an easier time than another coffee shop trying to get an alcohol license?

David Garber is a DC neighborhood blogger and real estate entrepreneur. His mission: help bring back DC’s neighborhoods, one rotting house at a time. You can read David’s previous posts here.

It took seven long months to finish this place, but it’s finally done. For some
reason it’s always the last few things on the renovation checklist that end up
being the most gruelingly difficult to finish. Even though I swore this would
never happen again after it did during my own home renovation, my general
contractor ran off with a couple thousand before finishing the job, so I had to
squeeze out the final touches on my own. With each project I do, I keep
learning that you pay for what you get. If you’re pinching pennies, you have
to be extra careful about the quality of work completed and how the
contractors are managing your money. As much as I don’t enjoy
micromanaging people, it’s a total must – especially on tight-budget projects –
to take charge.

Take the interior paint, for example. Absolutely grueling. Why? Because my
contractor made the assumption that I wanted the entire house the exact same
color. When I agreed to only do one color on the walls as a way to save
money, somehow that translated to painting the ceilings and the trim the same
linen color. To be honest, after countless similar episodes throughout the
project, it was almost a relief when he left the job.

The interior of the house is totally new. Nothing original from its humble c.
1890-1905 birth year remains. So, I chose a dark stain for the red oak floors
because I wanted to give the house a rich, oozing with history feel. Not to be
fake about anything, but to restore some dignity to this home that had it all
stolen away over time. Matte black doorknobs offer a crisp contrast to the
white doors. Crown molding is made of three separate pieces of trim and
makes the transition from wall to ceiling all the more graceful.

Continues after the jump.

The 22 karat gold house numbers in a font created in the first decade of the
20th century give the house presence and legitimacy (expensive but totally
worth it. Monumental Graphics of Hyattsville did the install and this was his
first residential installation east of the Anacostia). It’s these details that really
make the house pop. Would it sell without them? Maybe, but that’s not
always the point.

I found a great mirror for the half bath on Craigslist. After searching high and
low for something in my price range that looked decent, all I was coming up
with was matchy pieces from Lowe’s and Home Depot. Ick. (allow me a gag,
I shop at those places all the time) But, happily, I found a retiree in Takoma
Village (super awesome lady who lived in the co-housing development) who
had bought this windowpane mirror at Eastern Market but was downsizing and
moving to San Francisco. Perfection, I thought, because it was what this house
is all about: old meets new.

Enter my favorite place in the house, the kitchen. Doesn’t it look great? If I
could do it all over again I’d probably make the wall cabinet doors on either
side of the solid wood. I love the glass, as well as the in-cabinet lights, but
people typically like hiding things in their cabinets more than they like
displaying them.

I found the amazing farmhouse table at Miss Pixie’s on 14th Street. I wanted to
have an island-like feature, so opted for a table with handsome pendant lights
overhead. A casual place to sit is always welcome in the kitchen.

I’ve always liked it when bathrooms have unique themes. Nothing cheesy like
Under the Sea or something … but some prefer the “all bathrooms in the house
are one style” approach and that’s just not me. For the upstairs hall bath, I
opted for a custom black and white tile design on the floor (very labor
intensive, as each black hex has to be inserted into the already glued-together
white sheets) and a classic white carrera marble countertop. The faucets,
knobs, and lights all sport white porcelain accents on shiny chrome. It’s a
clean look.

As much as I would have loved to totally stage this house, I’m not sprouting
money (yet), so you’ll have to imagine the complementary shower curtains and
freshly rolled towels. For the master bath I went with a travertine-look
porcelain tile on the floor, with a tumbled travertine accent in the shower.
Mirrors and vanity are dark cherry. I’ll be honest, I think this bathroom would
look better in a different paint color. It comes across as a calm, sort of
sophisticated look, but isn’t the most exciting of combinations. Fortunately
painting is the easiest thing (for the next owner) to do.

So that’s it, folks. Crossing my fingers the right buyer comes along shortly. It’s
been fun meeting the visitors: young couple from Adams Morgan, home-
schooling mom from Woodley Park, young family from Hillcrest, and even a
government contracting firm looking to locate near St. Elizabeths.

This has been one heck of a project but a really rewarding one. Here’s the
Redfin listing.

Thanks so much for reading! Ciao!

Well this is totally wild. Thanks to Carly & Art for uploading this shot to the PoPville flickr pool. They write:

“One of at least three we were able to see. Poplar point, Anacostia River, SE Washington, DC”

I think this tops the hawk.

U Street in January. Hint: stucco is best applied in the warmer months.

As much as I like to keep up the appearance as someone who 100% knows what he’s doing in all renovation matters and has done this and that with houses a thousand times before – this is actually one of the very first times I’ve done this scale of project. Over the past 5 months I’ve been managing about five renovations, and every day at each job I learn about two or three new lessons about who to hire, how to communicate, and which steps to follow to make sure that the final outcome comes fastest and with the most satisfying result. Might sound easy, but the learning part is typically paired with the worst kind of president-going-gray-in-his-first-year frustration. And yet somehow I still love my job.

the Big Blue Bubble, which gave the exterior work some much-needed momentum

Over the past four months the U Street House has evolved into something a lot more livable and likeable than the mess it began as. The snowstorms contributed about a month of downtime due to our forced timeline: the exterior had to be sealed and stuccoed before most of the interior work could begin, and the exterior could only be worked on in temperatures above 40 degrees. Enter the big blue bubble, above, which added a touch of whimsy, but also enough warmth to allow the stucco to dry in sub-par conditions. Post continues after the jump.

annnd stucco and windows done … but still unpainted.

As you can see above, the stucco is complete and the windows are all in. The windows really add to the façade and almost immediately transformed it from something very forlorn to a house that is beginning to look welcoming. Although the specs called for simple one-over-one windows (without any divided windowpanes), I decided to go with a more “historically appropriate” two-over-two. It’s typically more expensive to add divided windowpanes (about $50 per muntin/bar), but I’m a big believer in windowpanes on older houses because, simply, they another level of detail and (warning, opinion to follow) charm.

Another big time-drain for this project was waiting for my third-party inspector to get re-licensed so that I could be approved to close in the walls and really get moving on the interior. At the beginning of the project, there were a few complications with the design that made it necessary to hire a non-DCRA inspector, and after shelling out $400 for the initial inspection felt confident that things would run smoothly. Then he lost his license in DC. After about three weeks of broken promises that the license was “coming in the next few days”, I tweeted a plea for help to @DCRA who, as usual, came through with amazing help almost immediately. Again, lesson learned, and the bright green approval sticker (above) was a sigh of relief. Drywall installation commenced.

Oak floors installed throughout that will eventually be given a medium dark stain

Last week, interior trim (two-piece crown molding on the first floor, window trim) and hardwood floors (everywhere but the upstairs bathrooms, which are tiled) were installed. I think it’s safe to say that the house will be done in the next three weeks.

the first floor, from the kitchen: floors in, trim up, and starting to look snaz.

Interested in purchasing the house? Check out the listing HERE.

[questions or comments – email David at FliptDC@gmail.com]

photos by David Garber

I thought this was a great shot from DG-rad of a vacant house in Anacostia on W St., SE.

Submit your photos via email or to the PoPville flickr pool here.

3662972633_12ae62f92c_b, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Thanks to a reader for sending:

“This is the corner of Maple View and High in Anacostia. Don’t know the name of the abandoned public housing complex, but the neighborhood has been trying for years to get the city to demolish this junk. The guerilla art tactic is new. I guess that’s a reference to Jacob’s Ladder? My theology is a little thin.”

Well this certainly seems like a good Horse’s Ass Award nominee. I can’t say I dig the art too much but I respect the effort. Think it’s a Jacob’s Ladder reference? What’s it gonna take to get this run down complex demolished?

The reader says:

It is a “painted sign for a farm and garden supply store”.

The reader then wrote back that my man from And Now, Anacostia found the same sign. Scroll to the bottom and he’s got some better angles. It is a beaut.

On Saturday I went to Anacostia (about 10 minute walk from the Anacostia metro) to take a tour of St. Elizabeth’s campus sponsored by the DC Preservation League. As many know, St. Elizabeth’s is slated to become the new DHS headquarters so it’s not clear how long these tours will be available. I believe the next one is scheduled for May but you can check the DC Preservation League’s calendar here.

The campus itself is huge. There are lots of cool buildings similar to the one above all with red boarded windows. We had two very knowledgeable guides but I most enjoyed wandering the grounds. You can read about the history of St. Elizabeth’s here. For those that follow this issue, are there any supporters of turning this property into DHS headquarters or do you think it should be used for something else?

Lots of photos after the jump.

Above is the former secure part of the facility for the “criminally insane”.

Oddly there was also an exercise course:

Lots of great trees. This one reminded me of the one in Grant Circle: