Momplex

The hill has a big hole in it. On Saturday morning, the big boss showed up at the top of the hill. And for the next two days, it pulsed a tiny red laser light around and around, watching what we were doing.The laser level has a buddy, called a detector, that you attach to a big measuring stick.  He's kind of the inside guy, with the inside scoop.  When the detector is level with the flashing red light, it beeps, and you know how deep to dig. But before we get to digging, w

You know all to well, DIY saves money. And on this most monster of DIY projects - a duplex for our mothers fondly referred to as the Momplex - not hiring contractors has saved us quite a bit of money. But it's the little things, the small decisions over time, that really add up. It's using materials smartly to minimize waste and reusing scraps that are the silver lining. And when you are the one writing the check, you really take a minute to consider what you are buying, and how you ca

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

Do you remember last year when we poured the slab for the Momplex, that we used up the extra concrete to fill up these sonotubes?  (UPDATE: Thanks to all of you, I now know those are not spelled saunatubes!  hehe!)

Well, today, they are going to become more than just an obstacle to avoid in front of the Momplex.

Those posts are the foundations for the little roofs!

And today we are going anchor beams into those concrete fil

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

You know how when you buy a new phone or a new tv, or any electronic for the matter, you have this nagging feeling that whatever it is, it's already outdated and there's something new coming along that's faster, easier, cheaper, better? After we finished up the water supply lines, there's just a few things left before we can start putting drywall up. We've got to get the small electrical stuff run in the walls, things like thermostats and phone lines and networking cables and tv jacks.

With the doors painted, it's time to take this -

And turn it into this -

Pretty crazy how just installing doors over cabinets can do that, isn't it?

The doors we ordered are measured for full overlay, and will require a Euro Style Concealed Hinge, 1-1/4" (sometimes referred to as Full Overlay), Face Frame.  

Full Overlay means the doors pretty much cover the entire cabinet - there's a 1/2" gap between all doors and

Grandma-who-likes-to-sew got home from her trip at 1:00 AM ... and just six hours later, she was spoiling the kids with hugs, kisses and gifts .... and gushing about her new mudroom!

(For those of you who missed a post this past week, Grandma's been traveling, so we decided surprise her with a mudroom makeover in her side of the Momplex.)

Just to refresh, here's what the space looked like before we started working on the mudroom projects ...

And here's w

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.

I have to say, we are so glad we built the Momplex with ICFs. It's very comforting to know that we could put the doors in and insulate the upstairs ceiling and be able to turn heat on.  Not to mention the walls are 2 to 3 times more insulated than most stick frame walls.

But as happy as we are with our decision to use ARXX blocks for the exterior of the Momplex, I do miss stick framing.  I do miss building with wood.

So this project, framing these little roofs abo

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.