Day: May 16, 2005

In a comment posted by a reader:

A Question, to hostess MM and other readers, about partywalls: Do you have them? They seem kinda scarce on my block and recent bathroom work made it obvious we don’t have any. We are new, infill development built in the early 90’s… and I’m suddenly deciding to fret that this will cause many hassles in the future. Any insight from other Shaw owners?

Talk about your party wall.
I have party walls, on the side that separates me from the Ethiopians, it is crap. The side that separates me from B&IT, it is okay, depends on what floor I’m on. I know there is only one layer of crappy brick between me and the Ethiopians, which is why I smell it when they burn toast. Every odd moment I might hear B&IT move things around, but they have wood floors and that may play a part.

…the grass is sort of greener.
I spent some time in Georgetown yesterday. First doing the usual church thing, later returning to Eveningsong and them going to a resident’s house for dinner.
Overheard in the pre-dinner conservation, because I was part of a totally different conversation, was the phrase “all the problems are in the walls where we can’t get to them.” The house where we were having dinner was a recent rehab job where the previous owners fixed up houses and moved on to other live-in projects. Wow, this sound familiar, like conversations I have heard about rehab work done in Shaw and other gentrifying neighborhoods. Except there was no mention of crackheads and the people working on their house sorta did get permits. But were they all the right permits and was the work done well? That’s another thing.
It looked nice. It was an excellent example of small space design with an open floorplan and small spacesaving fixtures and appliances. I loved their half bath where there was a very tiny sink. Just big enough to wash your hands. And the stairs to the basement was open with the door that separates the basement from the living space at the bottom of the stairs, so that the first floor was just open. I want to steal that idea.
Anyway, after dinner we all wandered out for dessert. The good thing about Georgetown is that there are tons of restaurants and about 3 ice cream shops. Our host mentioned that despite all the other businesses in Georgetown there wasn’t a hardware store there. Restoration Hardware doesn’t count. It isn’t a REAL hardware store. I can say proudly that Shaw has 2 hardware stores! We have Logan Hardware, and BHP Hardware on Florida Ave between 7th and 6th. There might be another hardware store in Shaw but I don’t know about it. If you’re in Georgetown and you need a thingamajig for your toilet, you have to go to Dupont Circle True Value hardware store, or up to a hardware store in Glover Park. See Shaw, we’ve got it good here.