With the framing wrapping up, come get a sneak peek inside!
Addition | Final Framing
Pulling Permits with the City
Finalizing Blueprints
Without blueprints, there was no real way to see if this addition would fly. We needed to take the plunge and pay for an architect and then shop our plans around. But we also needed to get the city’s sign off.
How We Became General Contractors
DIY’ing our Addition
We may not be licensed GCs, but we are, in a nutshell, in the thick of general contracting our own addition. We didn’t envision it this way, but I’ll try to bring you up to speed on how it happened.
Habitat for Humanity Project
Habitat for Humanity 2018
First off, I want to thank everyone who donated to my Habitat for Humanity birthday campaign. I’ve never dedicated a birthday to a cause before, but it was so exciting to see donations rolling in. I had a goal of $200 and I almost doubled that, reaching my goal within the first hour! I was truly astonished. No guilt, if you didn’t though. I know everyone has their own favorite causes they support. This just happens to be one of mine.
Ice Shack: Part 2
Ice Fishing House Progress
Things are nearing completion out at the ol’ ice shack. There hasn’t been much of a bite so far, but they have since moved the house to a new, secret location. Hopefully they’ll have better luck if it warms up a tad. At least they’ve been having a good time!
Ice Shack: Part 1
Ice Fishing House
There are only a few glorious weeks of good ice where we bundle up and travel into the magical no-man’s land that is a frozen lake. Drop a line down a hole and sit around with your palls in the frozen tundra. Ahh January in Minnesota: it’s officially ice fishing season.
Cedar Mailbox
It was really about time we replaced our old mailbox. Parts of our house may be falling into disrepair, but hey! check out that sexy mailbox. Abra Kadabra, Distractya! The new mailbox makes us feel a little better about the rest of our messy situation at least. And we’ve gotten a few compliments from passersby. Most improved mailbox award goes to … us!
How to Make a $75 Work Bench
If you do enough projects around the house, eventually you’ll want to invest in a workbench. It’s not only nice to have a work station, but also helps keep your tools and supplies organized so you’re always ready when a DIY project calls. If you’re caught in an old catch 22 and don’t yet have a workbench on which to build the workbench, never fear – you can probably build this thing on the floor and it shouldn’t take more than a few hours.
Tornado Update: Assessing the Damage
July and August have been a little crazy, to say the least. Here’s a little update to where we are in assessing the storm damage and moving forward with repairs.
Things might look bad, but really it’s nothing compared to the hurricane damage people in Texas are experiencing, so we’re counting our blessings. If you have the means to support them financially or give blood, just do a quick google search for the best organizations to provide relief.
July Tornado ’17
Mother nature can be twisted, indeed. This summer will definitely go down in the history books as the summer of twin tornados. It’s the talk of the town. They officially confirmed there were two F1’s that did some pretty destructive work. We suffered a tree through the roof, but fared a lot better than some. Luckily everyone was okay! Since we took a bunch of photos and videos for insurance purposes, we might as well share ’em.