Lately we’ve been tackling some serious home improvement projects. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished and believe we’re going in an awesome direction. This house that we purchased more than five years ago has turned out to be a perfect home for us and has really come a long way.
This past weekend I was working on digging a trench behind our house so I could have our sump pump and downspout both drain through a pipe under what will be our small patio. However, while attempting what should have been a very simple task I discovered a significant roadblock:
Ashley looked it up and discovered it is little more than an old cistern which was a little disappointing. I thought these Twitter conversations were much more interesting:
Monsters! Keep it shut!
“@MrKyleMaurer: Just discovered this while attempting to dig a trench behind my house. pic.twitter.com/DT2ZU5fcPo”
— Cory (@stringbox) September 20, 2014
@stringbox @MrKyleMaurer @TechVoltz if you don't lift the lid are they Schrodingers monsters?
— topher1kenobe (@topher1kenobe) September 20, 2014
We’ve also been working on an upstairs room in our house which to date has always been referred to as the “Mystery Room”. We dubbed it thus because we’ve never really understood its purpose. The room is very small and exists just off of the second floor bathroom. It has a tiled floor and originally had windows on three sides. We’ve always been perplexed at what an empty room which can only be accessed by passing through a bathroom could be used for. Theories have included:
- A green house (lots of light with all those windows)
- A convenient place for spying on all the neighbors
- A cat’s bathroom (we had our litter box there for a few years)
- A place where one can do yoga within clear view of half the neighborhood
- A place for air drying after a shower if you run out of towels
Needless to say, we never discovered the original purpose of the Mystery Room but we are in the process of finally making it useful. Our plan is to transform it into a walk in closet, lined with shelves and hangers. We’re both pretty excited about this as it will be extremely handy to have so much more space for our stuff.
My dad and brothers have been awesome; donating much of their time to help me get this project wrapped up. I’m not the handiest guy in town and struggle to get these projects done right as well as to find the time to actually do them.
Another project we were able to tackle recently was the steps behind our house. Originally there was a large wooden deck out back but it was in terrible shape so we eventually took it out. Two weeks ago we were finally able to, with the generous help of Ashley’s uncle, construct some beautiful new wooden steps. I love them and am really happy with the results.
There’s still a lot more to do around here. I’ve got to put a railing on the steps, build some more for the other back door, build a new shed door, install french doors in the sitting room, paint the small bathroom, drywall the mud room, finish the nursery, empty the garage, and about a hundred other things. Oh, well. I love owning a home and this is part of the package.