Momplex

Grandma-who-likes-to-sew took a little trip a bit back, so we hijacked her side of the Momplex and got to work on a project we didn't quite get finished up before moving day.

Downstairs, where the stairs land, between the garage and the bonus room (which will hopefully someday become Grandma's craft and sewing room), is a little area that will make a perfect mudroom.

In Alaska, where coats and boots are used like shirts and shoes, a mudroom

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

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.

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.

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

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,

Now that the walls are all up in the Momplex, we can work on putting the upstairs floor (and downstairs ceiling!) in. I've had my doubts about how this whole thing is going to work out ... since back when we put the anchor bolts in the walls. Just to refresh ... We cut out a pattern to use to cut pieces of the foam blocks out.  We don't want any foam to be between the floor and the walls - a concrete to wood joint will have the least wiggle room.Then we made a bunch of these up - the

This I promise is the last post on these little roofs!

 

We just finished the underside of the little roofs - the part that you look up and see - with locally milled tongue and groove.  And man is she pretty!!!

But we've run into a potential problem.  Our tin screws are 1" long.  Will the screw tips show through the beautiful tongue and groove?

Thank you for your comments and advice, real ideas that have helped shape the form of our first Momplex kitchen layout.

I am so proud to tell you that we have indeeded finished putting up all the drywall in the Momplex! You know the upstairs has been done for quite a while. But then we stopped and put in an above the floor heat system in the upstairs. We kept the downstairs free of drywall to hook up all the water lines to the upstairs heat system. But that wasn't the only thing keeping us from finishing up the Momplex. Biggest hurdle? The weather. Normally, spring comes in April in Alaska for

On this day, I was very thankful to be a mom. And an Aunty. Because on this very long day, or should I say very long several days, not so much fun work happened at the Momplex. And someone had to stay home and take care of the little girls. Be comforted, honey. Most times, I'd rather be working up on the Momplex than taking on the endless cycle of dishes, dinner, loosing the desert battle, and then dishes all over again. Yes, in my house, dishes seem to come before and after cook

Man is our list ever getting short! We've just got a few things left to do before winter hits hard in Alaska. When we went on book tour, it really put a huge amount of stress on us to get as much done as possible while we can work and still feel our fingers at the same time. Numb fingers are no fun. Working at 50 degrees is a totally different story than working at -50 degrees. There was a lot of this going on as we worked late - even on school nights - trying to get as much done

So let's just say you got a team of two building a kitchen, and one hates painting and the other can't paint.

Well, it's not that I couldn't paint.  They say occassional painting in a well ventilated area is fine for pregnant women.  

But up here in Alaska, in the cold winter months, working inside a poured in place concrete building, with no ventilation, where your full time job is to build and paint or stain furniture, it's not occassional and it's not well vent

We are getting to the good part. With snow threatening to stick, and noticeably less light each day, winter is fast approaching up at the Momplex. We have been blessed with a beautiful fall (THANK YOU for your thoughts and prayers for good weather!), and are still optimistic about getting a roof on the Momplex and being able to work inside over the winter. I am so desperate to work inside the Momplex because these are the projects that I love. I already have the kitchen cabinets made i

Man are we ever getting close to that day. For those of you who are new here, that day is the day when we have the Momplex full insulated, and it doesn't matter if it's -50 degrees outside, if the wind is blowing 80 MPH, if it's snowing . . . even if it's freezing rain. That day is the day we can work without -100 below boots and three layers of down. That day is the day we can work without gloves, when batteries can charge, and tools still work. It's going to be a big day for us! Tha

Once upon a time, we bought some 2x12 boards.

And we dug a giant hole, and laid those 2x12 boards in the ground.

Those boards made up the forms for the foundation of the Momplex.

And we poured concrete inside those boards.

And let it set up.

Those same 2x12 boards were removed from the footer forms after the concrete dried.

We used a few of them to help