New Window

Another project was building a window, paneling, and shelves in Lucy's room, which previously had no window. If I had to do it again, I would have done all the internal framing BEFORE cutting through the sheathing on the outside... just like you do on new construction. That way you can cut the hole in the exterior sheathing using your new framing as a guide.
Other than that, the process went pretty smoothly.

Shelves and Furniture in the Workshop

Another task I have finished is making new workbenches and shelves for my business, offbeatelectronics.com . I have verified that a good space to work in is very important, and easily pays for itself, so I made some good sturdy shelves for my storage area, and nice workbenches on which to repair and refurbish electronics.

This is where I store some of the items waiting to be repaired. All the shelves are made of OSB and 2x4 's.

I also added some shelves to the walls to keep the clutter off the ground.

This table is divided in the middle, I wanted it 1/2 of it to be like one of those desks they have in the study halls and school libraries.

These workbenches are 2' x 8', I made 2 of them

I left an open space and quickly used it to change the struts on the van. It is a great delight to be able to work indoors on a car!

Gates

I've built a lot of gates lately. One thing to note is that there is a nice Z shape to a properly made gate. The shape of the Z is important, with the hinges on the correct side of the z! At first I put them on backwards, but I soon noticed that every single gate that I saw had the hinges differently than mine, and I finally looked it up and it IS important to have the hinges on the correct side... so I had to switch them around.

Note where the hinges are in relation to the z.

This is actually a very large pair of gates, so we can drive a car through if necessary.

Here is the stream that runs by our house

Washer and Dryer and Furniture

We were able to buy a good used washer and dryer for 300.00 (for the pair) from a local shop. We also got a bunch of furniture from Ikea, including a huge closet, a sofa, a bed for Lucy, and many other items. Everything fit into our Dodge "cargo" Caravan, which has been an extremely useful car and saved us a lot of money on having things delivered.

First Projects: new steps

The insurance company didn't like the idea of us having doors opening up to the yard with no steps under them! For this reason, another one of the early projects was the creation of a staircase under the door from the master bedroom. Lucy enjoys the steps more than anybody, using them to practice going up and down. 

First Projects: Fence

The first few things we did to the home were accomplished in June. We had to build about 100 feet of new cedar picket fence, and 3 gates, to ensure that Lucy wouldn't wander into the stream or road when we weren't looking. There were also a number of repairs that had to be done to the existing fence, since the previous owner had lamas, which must have been very and had kicked holes right through the fence.

We put the 8 foot posts in holes that were about 32" deep, leaving about 5 1/2 feet above ground. I also put concrete in each hole.

Mike also helped with putting up the fence. Thanks!

The donkeys (belonging to the neighbors) looked forlorn that they could no longer look through into our yard

This is the yard before we put the fence up

Lucy and I standing in front of the new fence

Moving Day

On April 25th 2012, Lisa, Lucy and I moved into our new home in a rural area of Longmont. We picked this house because it is in a nice, quiet country area, but it's also close to stores and the highway. 

The house was built in 1920, and on the end of a dirt road. A stream is our eastern border. Our neighbors have many different types of animals: donkeys, horses, a mini cow, llamas, chickens and roosters, a mini horse, dogs and cats, goats...you can hear many different animal noises all day long.  Another advantage is that we can buy eggs right from the hen-house across the street.

The house a is technically a small house, just less than 1000 square feet, but since our previous home was  650 square feet it feels more than adequate. We also have a nice large barn and garage, made from railroad ties, in the back yard.

In the end of April 2012 we took up residence here. We were aided in moving by our friend and former neighbor, Mike, who is shown here on the day he helped us move our stuff in.

Here is a photo of our house from the road.

Below is the photo of the stream that runs along the eastern border of our property.

Here is our lovely barn, and Lisa's budding Hydrangeas in the foreground!