Momplex

Coulda shoulda woulda.  I only think it's fair to share with you our mistakes - and not just our successes - as we build the Momplex.  We are, after all, not perfect ... not even professionals.  We are just people, with a dream and a determination to take on the ulitmate of DIY projects.  And of course, along the way, we will have coulda shoulda woulda moments.  Remember when we put the foam up to cover the concrete to allow the concrete to cure?  If we had to do it

We are inside the Momplex. I cannot believe I just typed that! Nearly a year and a half since we started with a raw piece of Alaska land, we are finally working on the interior of the Momplex! Now we won't be getting to the really fun stuff - furnishing the Momplex! - for a little while - we've still got utilities to run in the walls, insulating, drywall and flooring ... but a girl can daydream about media walls and beds and bathroom vanites with hutches, right? Oh the things to keep

This is the story of how we stuck two pipes in the ground. For the bargain price of $5000 (with the bonus of having Snort back on the hill to also dig the foundation).  Up here in Alaska, at least where we live 100 miles from a stoplight, when it comes to things like water and sewage, you are on your own.  The Momplex would need it's own utility company of sorts.Back when I was potty training Gracie, I kept telling her, we go in the potty, and we flush, and it's all gone . . . and

Planned OutageBefore we get to this post, there will be a planned site outage tonight at 10PM CST, lasting approximately 1 hour.  During this time, the site will not be available due to scheduled maintenance.  If you are in the middle of a project, please print out or make sure you can access the plan through a cached version (search for the plan with Google and select "cached version") prior to the planned downtime.Wall Framing!We are finally building walls! Framing is

The weather has certainly warmed up here, but with this storm of warm weather has come lots of white fluffy snow. We've been struggling just to keep the upstairs of the Momplex shoveled and ice free to get to the point of work, so things have not been moving along as fast as we'd all like. But one thing we were able to get done was building the upstairs interior walls.

Mom to Mom, I just want to say thank you for all the positive comments to the girls on their Momplex Video Tour! You totally made their day! The girls were jumping up and down squealing "they like our video, they like our video!" as I read your comments to them, and are busy planning more videos! 

 Did you notice inside the Momplex that we actually are closer than you'd think? Alot of this has to do with building with ARXX blocks - we skipped five steps in one! But there's sti

You know how you sometimes get that super annoying feeling that you are forgetting something? Well, it's been nagging on us for a while now. What have we forgotten? There's something that's been put on the back burner and forgotten about, and it's about to boil over.

Paint all of the trim in the house. Every single piece. Every single doorway. Every single closet opening. Every single piece of base moulding. Every single window sill. That's what we've been up to.

This is almost as bad as the time that I admitted that I secretly like minivans ... (shh, don't tell, but seriously, automatic sliding doors, easy to put car seats in, plenty of room for friends ... you had me at hello low lift gate!). 

I'm admitting, straight up, that I like laminate countertops. As an owner of a granite countertop, and a busy mom, here's why: 

- Laminate is softer and more forgiving. The granite (and I imagine marble or tile or other hard surfaces) is so unfo

It just started snowing. These past few weeks, it's been all hands on deck to get the Momplex as far along as possible before winter sets in, so I haven't had as much time to post plans and answer comments, and I do apologize. Thank you so much to everyone helping out - I am so thankful that our community of builders is not only very smart and innovative, but generous and helpful. Thank you thank you!But we have been making steady progress on the Momplex, and I'm excited to share with you

I've been dreading writing this post. This is not easy.I hope you understand that we are real people, working with real limitations on a budget, and there is no midnight crew making things happen magically. It's just us, one family, trying to build two houses in one for our Moms. We have been waiting and waiting for a break in the weather to put the roof on the Momplex. The trusses are sitting there, ready to shed snow, if we could just get a week of no snow, no wind, and decent temperatu

This project ... building these little roofs over the Momplex front doors ... it only took a day or so. But I think I'm dragging it out into three posts because I loved working on it so much. Wood is definitely my favorite material to work with, and I love revisiting this building project.

Are you having Momplex withdrawals?

Guess what?

We are too!

Winter is here to stay this year in Alaska, and we are so thankful that all of our outside work has been completed for the year.  We did not get the decks on, but we did pour the deck footings, so decks can go up before the ground thaws in June.  

Inside, we did not get to where we wanted to be by winter.  We were hoping to have the ceiling drywalled and insulated, but with a little thing like oh a fir

After spending a couple of days covering the upstairs subfloor in strips of plywood with 3/4" spacing grooves in between, we are really eager to move on to the next step.

Well, it might have taken us a few months longer than we'd have liked (decks, flooring, and trim got in the way), but we are finally taking you up on your suggestion to focus first on finishing out this room,