Erica & John's Fishtown Vision House Call

Name: Erica & John
Location: Fishtown — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I'm submitting our house as a final homage to it (the house itself). We've just put it on the market because both my husband and I are tiring of our long commutes, but we love the house, and our neighborhood. we'll be sad to leave when the fateful day comes. When we bought the house in 2003, the entire third floor was gutted, and everything was painted white. We've managed to make our major renovations on a shoe-string budget, and are pretty happy with what we've done.

We put a lot of love into our kitchen, especially. We enjoy cooking and entertaining, and we do most of that in the kitchen. I made the backsplash tiles by hand and installed them myself (same with the fireplace tiles).

We don't have any particular style (and we disagree often about what should stay and go - e.g. I hate our coffee table, but my husband loves it because it houses the projector, so it stays), but I suppose if I had to apply one word, it would be 'eclectic.' Overused, perhaps, but to-the-point.

The biggest obstacle we faced in the remodeling and customizing has been our lack of time and sometimes disparate visions (thank goodness for love!).

Thanks Erica & John!

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Comments (18)

Especially considering your shoe-string budget, you two have created a lovely, colorful home.

I particularly liked the yellow room with rusty orange and red accents. The tiles over the stove and fireplace are unbelievable! Kudos Erica! Hopefully you'll both fall in love with the next place and do some equally wonderful things there. Best of luck, and to many short commutes to work!

Made the tiles, then installed them. wow, beautiful job.

Beautiful! The tiles are gorgeous and they really dress up the kitchen. The paint colors are beautiful as well. Lovely job.

I love that you did your own tiles!! Can you please tell me how you did them or where you learned to do them? Thanks so much! Such a shame you have to move the house it just wonderful!

LOL... she *hates* the coffee table. Mine is just like it!

oh what a love hate relationship i have developed with this house. love so many things. i guess my taste needs to catch up!

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments. And Whitepeacock, no offense about the coffee table - honestly : )

I made the tiles using a high fire (cone 10) stoneware clay body. They're extruded through a die cut from plywood, then sliced. I know it's a weird process, but it worked well for me. I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who makes amazing pottery (www.lizkinder.com), and she lets me use her glazes and kiln (well, she fired the tiles for me). In return, I made her bathroom tiles (walls and floor), but I have the better end of the deal!

jackied302, we often have a love-hate relationship with the house too, ha!

Thanks again, Erica

You did an incredible job with a shoestring budget. Very lovely and vibrant. You did an excellent job with the tile work....truly amazing!

What is that amazing green paint color?

I love all the colors in this house... Me and my husband recently moved out of Manayunk because of the long work commute (I'm a designer and mainly do workin Montgomery county and from home and he works in West Chester)
We just bought a great place in West Chester and I cant wait to start decorating!

This looks like a super fun house to be a kid in!

I love your home... beautiful. Philadelphia is full of surprises. I wish you would consider selling that antique chair in your "yellow" room.... I like you live in Philly (Germantown). Best of luck selling! Let me know about the chair :)

The colors are too bright for me, but I love a lot of the furnishings. My favorite is your light blue living room with the leather couch. The furnishings really stand out with the more toned down color. I especially like all of the gorgeous Persian rugs. The quilts on the beds are pretty, too.

I love the bay windows. Hope you do well on your sale.

I really like your house a lot! It feels very homey, and the older appliances in the kitchen are cute too. Best wishes to you.

Beautirful home! Where did you get the green rug that is in the turquoise bedroom??

I LOVE this home! This might be my favorite AT house call of all!

Can you please tell me the name of the red colour of the walls in your kitchen?