The use of salvaged stone and salvaged building materials is becoming a great way to be green and save money on your renovation and landscape projects while adding tons of character. Our office is known with the local quarries and stone yards for scouring the back of their lots for salvaged, special order materials that have been returned, or what they would consider left over scraps and incorporating these one of kind materials in our design process early on. [Read more →]

After taking out the chimney and old furnace room we found the floor, bashed up a bit, with holes as well as not-so-flat. The original furnace must have been put in before the concrete floor, as there was a pad that had clearly been wet when the furnace was dropped in and the floor sloped away from this in all directions. [Read more →]

Once again Phillip, the architect from Architron, saves the day. I needed to figure out what I want to do in a few months time with some windows. In a few short minutes he was able to advise me on my options and give me renewed insight into the lay of the land and how I want to use the space. A good architect is Cyrano Debergarac whispering in your ear. Well, maybe not that, but I guess my point is that a great architect helps you find the solutions that are already in yourself, that reflect your vision, likes and lifestyle needs. They do this through working with you, working with your ideas and helping you visualize your options. It’s hard to explain, but it is something that is pretty amazing. Something that I could never do without the right help. Thanks, Phillip!

I had a great meeting today with Jesse Korsban from Stafford Home Services’ low voltage and audio/video department. We discussed the location of TV screens (can we even call them that anymore? I guess I should have said, Flat Panels), the speakers and the consolidation of the hardware. Stafford will be consolidating all of my equipment (receiver, Cable box, Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, OPPO DVD player, DVD recorder, iPod station, and Mac Mini) to a single location under the basement stair. [Read more →]

The Stafford team descended on Desonyer this week like an parachute brigade. A particularly effective and talented brigade at that. The week started with George from Stafford HVAC laying out the ducts and discussing placement of ducts as well as the placement of the new furnace and AC unit. He was very patient and helpful, offering many options and their benefits. These guys don’t just know how to do things one way, they are full of ideas and are flexible as heck. That’s a good thing in my book. [Read more →]

We dug up a 49′ x 2′ trench along two walls last weekend for the plumber. This weekend we patched it. It was way more work then I thought it would be. Here’s what I learned: [Read more →]

Stafford Home Services has come in and torn out the old HVAC system. They will be installing a new, 95% energy efficient Bryant furnace and AC unit as well as new ducts. Dan, a partner at Stafford, will be focusing on energy savings and as well as space saving designs. Stay tuned as he has some interesting ideas.

OK, so I recently bought this house. It’s a small 1955 rambler on the border of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in Desnoyer Park (a very unknown gem in the Twin Cities.) I purchased it with some significant renovation work in mind. I have a limited budget and I would like to go “Green” as well. Through this renovation blog you can learn the process I went through, learn from my mistakes and successes (mistakes can be successes too!) and hopefully have a good time doing it. Wish me luck.

[Read more →]

When I began the process of finding a new home I was fortunate enough to start on the right track by using Charlie Neimeyer as my Realtor. “Start things on the right foot” they say, and I certainly did. Charlie not only helped me find a great house but also a great contractor. Jason Stinson, of Minneapolis-based Stinson Builders Inc., built Charlie’s house from the ground up, so he was certainly familiar with Jason’s formidable talents. [Read more →]