The 2023 Chapter

 It has been a very long hiatus from this blog - but much progress has been made on a number of fronts.  Our interests and the complexities of life have taken us in many different directions lately, and often what we have to share and discuss don’t seem like a natural fit for this blog.  However, on deeper reflection they do align to this blog since it has always been about learning, building, transforming and simplifying.

Therefore, my goal is to take this blog in a lifestyle direction and share more about our ambitions and path.  In addition, I’ll work to increase posts about many of the topics that I love, such as woodworking, restoration, gardening, etc.

2023 was an absolutely transformative year.  When we bought the house that we are currently in we actually bought 2 houses.  The back house is a sunroom or better known as an additional dwelling unit (ADU).  The property came with a whole host of complexities that I cannot even begin to describe here in this blog post.  Nonetheless, it took us nearly four years to overcome and undo some of the misfortunes that plagued this property in the past.  Both houses had been seriously cut up, neglected and treated as flop houses drawing many characters throughout the years each leaving a deep imprint.  By the time we bought the property and stepped in the back house had suffered the most neglect and was in complete disrepair. 

Well, all that changed in 2023.  Finally, we were presented with an opportunity to shift our focus and bring this 700 square foot house back from the brink.  We set out on a huge project, one that nearly consumed us and tested all of our skills.  We hired out only the things we absolutely couldn’t do  and did all the rest of the work ourselves.  We did our best to bring back the character of the approximately 110 year old house.  The end goal was to rent out this house as it is an important piece of our overall lifestyle plan (more on that in future posts).  However, we knew that we wanted to attract the right tenant, one that has an appreciation for some of the nicer things a cared for historic home has to offer beyond the “landlord white” experience offered by most other rentals.

Here are the results -

Before:

After:

Here it is March, 2024 - and I am pleased to report that our work is paying off. The most difficult part of this project has been completing it. We are happy that it is done, but the work that went into it was so deeply satisfying that it has been difficult to move beyond it. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a big project like this through to the end. I cannot begin to describe all the skills and life lessons learned. We look forward to the next big thing!