"Project House #1"

We are a husband and wife duo. We really do love working together.... most days! Over the years we have had so many people tell us we need a show on HDTV! As do so many Americans, we enjoying watching the shows that focus on remodeling homes showing dramatic before and after pictures. Many of these shows provide great suggestions, creative ideas and make things look a bit more quick and simple (and less expensive) than reality. But I constantly say that if people watched what I do all day they would be bored 95% of the time. There is A LOT of office work involved and with COVID it takes twice as long to accomplish the same tasks as it did a year ago. So many materials, fixtures, appliances and the like are on backorder, have shipment delays, go missing during shipping, show up broken, etc. In thinking about how the construction industry has changed over the last year we have been thinking more about the past.

Most of our projects are client based - where we are hired by homeowners to add space to their home, remodel their existing spaces or finish their basement. But occasionally we love to work on our own "projects". Over the years we have completed several different project homes but have a few favorites. This is our first big one. I will cover more in future posts.

Project house #1: Completed in 2007 (seems like forever ago!)

This home was small, lacked curb appeal and was run down. We saw potential but knew the house needed to grow in size if the project was worth it. We "popped the top", known as a pop-top and added a 2nd floor to the home. The original foundation was modified to accommodate the 2nd story but the home stayed within the same footprint.

Building a new home from scratch allows unlimited possibilities, but remodeling a home and adding much needed additional space requires you to think of creatively and outside of the box.

We made the error of not taking tons of before pictures.... but have just a few.

There are things that I would change if we were to do this project today but for our first major undertaking as a project house over 14 years ago I am still pretty proud to look back and see where things started.

Working with homeowners on creating new spaces or reviving existing spaces can be rewarding but sometimes I love just being able to make all the decisions.