Momplex

It took us two tries to get you all the deets on installing the Microhood ... good thing we got two moms and two Momplex units to finish up!

Microhoods to me are like toilets or power lines or my big toes....  function over form here, especially when space is at a premium.

The good news about every microhood I've been a part of installing is they come with pretty darn good instructions and hanging hardware.

The tem

If there's one thing I've learned about DIY over all the years and houses and furniture I've built, it's this: Don't give up until you get it right. So after a long, frusturating day of installing flooring, we got a good night's rest, and headed back up to the hill.

SUPRISE!!!

Remember the Momplex kitchen?

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NOTE: For our Facebook Fans, we are working hard to get our Facebook page back.  It was hacked and stolen last week.  I will update you when I have confirmed information on it's status.  Thank you for your patience.

We've been trying to work hard up at the Momplex, finishing up the other side.  It's been a struggle with a new baby. Baby usually wins, resulting in not much getting done on the second Momplex unit.

There is a lot of baby talk getting

So what's next?  Just Another Crazy IdeaIt's hard to believe that just a few months back, the Momplex was just a crazy idea, a distant dream really, full of more reasons why it wouldn't work then reasons why one family can DIY a duplex for their mothers in Alaska.Three Months AgoCan you believe that just last June, we bought this lot of trees.TodayAnd that this very same lot, in the very same spot, three months later, looks like this.One family, two houses, three months. . . Board by b

We should have plugged the lights in and just kept on working. We really should have.

Building a house is like a giant relay race. 

When you hand the baton off to the next stage, you are either giving them an advantage or a disadvantage.  But when you DIY it all yourself, you are running the entire race yourself.  And you are always thinking about the next step, and how decision you make in this step are going to affect later steps.

Let me give you an example.

Let's say we framed up the walls, and the studs are randomly placed, not 24" o

This is why I love DIY .....

You know what makes for a good friend?Someone who comes through for you.And you, my friends, came through for us last week.When I asked your opinion on how we should divide up the bonus basement space in the Momplex, over 100 of you responded.  Thank you so much.OptionsSo what option did we end up choosing?  Did we choose the too big bathroom stealing the view window?  Or the dream open space a flight of stairs from plumbing?  Was it Option #1 or Option #2?Option #3: Your Opt

Today is a great day for DIY. Today, we can proudly say, yes, a family can - and have - poured a concrete house. We are not contractors. We are not professionals. We are merely a family, just like your family, with this great dream we call the Momplex.It is this great dream, this vision of my mother cooking Thanksgiving dinner in her very own home, of my mother-in-law finally having the perfect sewing room so she can be even more amazing with her quilts, that puts me in work overalls and

Today, the Momplex is going to the salon.

This Momplex we are building ... it is a big box.

In defense of big boxes, they are the most efficient to build, the most efficient to heat and maintain.

But we don't want the Momplex to look like a big box.

No. We want the Momplex to look like this:

We want the Moms to drive up and be excited about their home because it does not look like a giant b

A little over a year ago, we got this crazy idea that we would devote the next couple of years of our lives to DIY our mother's a duplex to share up here in Alaska. So we dug a big hole in the ground and built some footers and poured concrete. This is what the Momplex looked like in August of 2011 - just one year ago. Just one year ago, a giant truck dropped off a house full of ARXX blocks And we started building. And we've been building over the last year, and wit

When we decided to build with ICF blocks, the first question we had - and many of you had - was how the heck to do run electrical in the walls?  

For those of you new to the Momplex blog, the Momplex is actually built out of foam blocks.  We used ARXX blocks, and the technical term is ICF short for Insulating Concrete Forms.

Was she really that little then?

The blocks are lightweight and hollow in the center.

You simply stack the blocks just lik

Hi everyone!

I'm really excited today to share with you how we installed crown moulding on top of the wall kitchen cabinets - finishing out the seam between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling.  

But before we get to that - don't forget - today's the day! 

The Home Depot Do-It Herself Workshop - featuring a storage trunk plan designed by me (it super simple so very beginner friendly) is happening tonight!!!

You can re

Well, the bathroom in Momplex Unit A got a change order.

When we realized there was a good chance this little guy,

Might get potty trained in this bathroom,

We decided we simply must subway tile the walls.

Because there is no other reason to add subway tile to walls, is there, than pure practicality, right???  That's what I reasoned to the Ram.  This is not a cosmetic t