In Shaw (an historically gentrified blog)

Not so lazy Saturday

I took a nap and ate something so I'm not as grumpy as I was Friday. Anyway here's how today went.
Florida Avenue Market
Maybe it was because I went earlier than usual time. Maybe it was because the market has been receiving extra attention. I don't know, but the people who work there seemed.... friendlier. I was greeted, there was smiling. What's up with that?

Tile Shopping
Well my tile shopping has been more complicated than it really needs to be. I have gotten tile for the upstairs bathroom and the foyer, from two different places. The tile place I went to today, I should have gone to before and saved myself the headache. Morris Tile is in PG County and requires 3 buses to get to from the TC. I thought I would stay 20-30 minutes, but it was over an hour. My contractor said (more like suggested) the 1/2 bath tile should match the kitchen tile. Problem is I like my kitchen tile for the kitchen. The bathroom? Not so much. I found a 12x12 match for my 6x6 sample. But looking at it, I honestly wasn't too keen on it. If the kitchen tile wasn't an issue I'd pick small 4x4 or 2x2 mosaic and go for the subway tile look. The other problem was I haven't given any thought to the 1/2 bathroom's colors. I don't know what color I'm painting the wall. I haven't decided if I'm tiling the wall (more tile shopping, whoo-hoo!) or what color tile I'd use if I did.
After hemming and hawing for a while I picked a small 3x3 tile that matched and had a really cool pattern. When I went to ask how much it was $18 per sq foot. Yeah, a little rich for my blood. I need 47 sq feet plus 15-20% more to cover mistakes, waste, whatever reason my contractor gave me. The same color, but regular 12x12 size, just $3 per sq ft. I just didn't feel good about ordering a tile that did not make me happy. So after all the time I spent at the tile place, I left. The $3 tile is in stock, so if worse comes to worse, I'll have the contractor pick up that and suck it up.

Mt. Rainier
After one bus back, on my three bus trip back home, I got off in Mt. Rainier, MD. I didn't see a bus to take me to Rhode Island Avenue so I wandered over to The Glut, a funky little all-natural co-op, round the corner and up the hill a ways from the Mt. Rainier Route 1 Circle of Doom. The Glut is one of those things that makes Mt. Rainier, funky. Just on the Route 1 Circle of Doom is a new (within the last year) coffee shop that opened up, the Artmosphere Cafe. And dangit, it's artsy. There was the prerequisite "local artist" type art on the walls and in the windows, announcements music lessons and other local arts activities, as well as the usual looking for roommates flyer on the bulletin board. Playing to an audience you could count on both hands, was a jazz guitarist. It had a nice laid back vibe, but not lazy 'laid back' as I've encountered in other places. I had lunch there, and it was quite good. I would go there again, and I did suggest to a friend about stopping by there for a bite the next time we go by.

Jimbo moves close to the TC
Well after two bus rides back to the TC and taking a nap, I ventured over to the new Jimbo digs. Lucky him, he's not next to the, um, how should I say it?... gathering of fellows that haunt the block. However he is close enough to the TC to hear the mosque's call to prayer. It will be interesting to see how Jim makes the place look once everything is tidied up.

I was wrong
I'm wrong about a number of things, but anyway. I had announced that there wasn't going to be a BACA garden walk, aka Flower Power. I was mistaken. According to Jim Berry's meeting announcement (this Monday, 7 or 7:30pm basement of Mt. Sinai Baptist on 3rd & Q), one of the topics will be Flower Power, so I guess it is on. My bad.

Labels: BACA, renovation

posted by Mari @ 2.6.07