an unconventional home
Say hello to our lovely new bedroom. She’s such a beaut.
We have officially been using our new master bedroom addition since February. (Check out my last bedroom addition updates here.) I like to make sure this blog is updated in a timely manner, obviously. I took these photos in February but never got around to sharing them here.
We have a big project we have been working on at home for a few months, and I haven’t posted about it here. But with the start of a new year, I wanted to share the entire project here as well to have it in one place. Buckle up, this will be a long one.
In short, we are in the process of adding a bedroom on the first floor of our home.
When we built our own house, we chose to invest in energy efficient choices whenever we could – we installed geothermal, upgraded windows and doors, and hired someone to insulate with spray foam. All of these upgrades up-front have helped to keep our energy bills relatively low.
But over the past year, we began to research and take steps to reduce our power bills even more – by installing solar panels on our property.
While some people can make these decisions quickly, Ryan undertook our solar experiment as he undertakes every decision – as a challenge to learn every single thing there is to know, weigh every last option, and take a year to finalize a decision.
He’s very thorough. (It took the man 9 months to find a minivan. And, dude, there are thousands of minivans for sale at any given moment.)
Ryan originally wanted to DIY the solar panels. The Internet told him he could do it, and the Internet is never wrong. And in total fairness to him, he can do anything and built our entire house. But, after finding out more about the rebates and financial incentives, he learned that we had to bring in a professional to get the max incentives – which is what we did.
Ryan interviewed 8-10 companies before committing to a installer. Of course he did. And after lots of research and planning, our household has officially gone solar!
Like much of the world, we have been spending a lot of time at home in 2020. It’s taking homebodies to a whole new level. (Pssst: We are so thankful that we’ve been able to stay home and stay healthy. Hope that the same goes for you.)
Our calendars are clear, our fridge is full, and we are even checking some projects off the list – like adding porch skirting to the front of the house.
Guys. I have wanted this project done for YEARS. But for some reason (like so many other projects), it kept getting pushed to the back burner.
Ryan wants to blame the hundreds of OTHER projects I have wanted done for years. Eye roll. That doesn’t seem right.
In the end, Ryan purchased all the lumber and installed it all in one day! On what was likely the hottest day of the year in the full sun. That’s true love right there.
The basement project continues. Maybe it never ends. I don’t know.
But the most recent completed project makes a huge impact – we finally have carpeting on the stairs going to the basement! With two kiddos (one who’s still a little shaky), having safe stairs is pretty important. And we have found that just having the stairs completed makes us even more likely to go to the basement to play. (And as the temperatures rise, the cool basement will be a wonderful respite.)
We didn’t have a huge budget to finish the basement, and stairs are a fairly straightforward DIY job if you have the right tools. We did have the main stairs in our home professionally installed, but these are used much less and were a great way to save some money. (Ryan has installed carpeting in our rental homes, so it’s not a new skill for him.)
Are you building a home? Or maybe dreaming about building a home?
In my opinion, building a home should be a multi-year planning process. Even if you have a wonderful builder and general contractor, it’s still your responsibility to make sure the home fits your family’s needs and checks all the boxes. Because while some things can easily be changed, other things are pretty permanent.
