Our first “home” after graduating from college was a small townhouse in Boca Raton, Florida. Sam was a newly anointed professor at a university and I was the stay-at-home mom of two little girls. And we had a little patch of lawn and a tiny garden space just off our front entrance patio. After years [...]
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When the winter weather starts getting to me, I start fantasizing about spring. High on my list is being able to enjoy my family in the backyard, with a beautiful landscape and play area for the kids — and the entire neighborhood. Planning a fun backyard always includes thinking about what outdoor patio furniture will [...]
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With the basement poured we’re waiting on the concrete panels. They should arrive next Wednesday. In the meantime, we’re on the lookout for honest, quality subcontractors and suppliers in the Utah County area, who would like to bid for remaining work on the house. We’ll be making a short list of a few we’d like to [...]
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My first reaction when I think of wind chimes is to plug my ears. They have always seemed loud, irritating, and annoying, nothing but a distraction. Much to my chagrin, when we moved to the rental house, we found a set of aluminum wind chimes permanently affixed to the eves — right outside the french [...]
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Today we got about six inches of snow in the yard. Summer is months away. But this might be the best time to start thinking about how you’re going to outfit your yard for those backyard barbecues and family games. You can find some great deals and soon backyard essentials will be fully stocked. One [...]
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With the temperature hovering in the teens on the building site, it seems on odd time to talk about barbecuing. Most people are hunkered down in front of the fire with a steaming mug of cocoa. But in our house, Christmas is the perfect time to break out the barbecue grill and get cooking. When [...]
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You may remember that we were originally planning to include a wood-burning fireplace our custom home. We love the ambience a real fire creates and the fun-factor is high. Over time, however, the logistics (and mess) overcame our sensibilities and we gave in to the gas fireplace craze. But we found a perfect solution: we [...]
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Our builder is involved in a swimming pool project somewhere in the valley. We are the proud beneficiaries of the topsoil that was removed to make way for the watering hole. Looks like good, dark dirt. Which, of course, doesn’t really mean it’s great soil, but it was under the former owner’s lawn, so it’s [...]
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It’s that time of year again. Time to comply with city code and clear our lot of the wild grass before it engulfs our soon-to-be neighbor’s home. While we’re at it, we’ve decided to take out the two junk trees that are growing on our lot. Neither is in good shape and both pose a [...]
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For the first many months of planning, we had determined that our new, custom home would have a real, wood-burning fireplace in the family room. We’d still use a gas fireplace for our master bedroom, but not in the main living area. Neither of us is terribly enamored with gas fireplaces. We have found four [...]
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The conventional wisdom about building a home seems to be to choose your house plans and then find a lot that fits. Even though I’m far from a building expert, I’m going to completely disagree. I say find your perfect piece of land for your custom home, then choose a plan that fits your lot. [...]
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Went to the lot today to take my dad to see it. Between last week and this, some landscaper came by with two truckloads of garbage and just dumped them on our lot. Mostly it was sod scraps. Also included a number of broken pallettes and some trash. Lovely. I suppose saving a trip to the [...]
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Looking for someone to remove the 20ish foot tree on our lot, stump and all. We also have a bit of old barbed wire fence and a sewer pipe that we need hauled away. Made some inquiries. Not much pressure to get it done yet, but at least it’s something I can actually do. While [...]
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