It was a dark and stormy night...

Steph and I bought this house on the hill in the woods near the lake in 2008. We thought we'd spend the first few months painting and decorating, but soon learned that such menial home improvements would repeatedly lose out to more critical repairs and upgrades. In the first 3 months I had torn up and reshaped the terrain of the east yard to alleviate a serious drainage problem and reconstructed a portion of the stone foundation that had crumbled from the water damage, along with a 25 ft section of the wooden structure that was rotten and bug ridden. Just a hint of projects to come, but what a way to jump into home ownership.

Since then I've replaced the boiler, the roof and gutters, reinsulated half the attic, built a brick sidewalk, restacked a 50 ft rock wall along the driveway, cut down some trees and split them for firewood, installed laundry cabinets, repaired two sets of washer & dryers and a dishwasher, installed shelving in 4 closets, built a custom shelving unit in the foyer, restored the cedar deck, upgraded the electrical panel, replaced the front door, constructed a home recording studio, hemmed curtains, built a bunny condo for Jimmy Durante (aka, "bunny"), etc., etc., etc. Bottom line, there's no shortage of things to fix, build, and improve around here. And, few of these things did I know how to do before I did them. Most have gone very well though and I still have all my limbs and digits.

People ask me if I'll come do these things for them at their houses. I say, no way. I couldn't handle the pressure, and I wouldn't get the same satisfaction that compells me to do these things for my own home. We can explore the psychology behind all that later perhaps.

A-n-y-w-a-y,... I've finally embarked on a project that will genuinely improve our lives in an aesthetic and functional way. I'm replacing the kitchen...soup to nuts. I guess that's what this blog is about. So, stick around for merry tales of cabinet building, wall framing, drywall, flooring, lighting, appliances, plumbing, wires, sparks, explosions, tears and mad, mad laughter.