Way back, many moons ago, we teamed up with John Solomito, and through lots of discussion and dreaming, he designed our new house for us. Bill has worked with John in the past and they have similar aesthetics when it comes to building houses, so it made sense to go to him for the original design. Even though our project was put on hold for several years, we never lost the affinity we feel for his design. He will be side by side with us through this project and celebrate when his design finally stands before us. Exciting!
Posted by Annette Boyer and Bill Rankin at 12:08 PM No comments: Meet our building brigade

Every remodeling project needs a team. We have been lucky enough to locate our team right on site. On the roof, in the gutters, under the house, all over really. Meet the team. Shortly after we moved in, we found our friend Spawn in the front juniper bush. Even new, we think that this action figure was scary. But after too much time in the sun and occasional sessions between the jaws of various dogs, our Spawn is even scarier looking. But, he's still special to us, even if he regularly gets slips under a compactor or gets stuck in concrete. That Spawn, always in some kind of trouble.

Our second team member is the Red Power Ranger, who is now pink due to sun damage. He (she?) was found in the gutter and is the loyal sidekick to Spawn. These two have been helping us since we bought the house in 1999. Speaking of sidekicks, how could there be a more classic pairing than Batman and Superman? Apparently the kid who lived at our house thought so, and left these action figures to be added to our team. Their muscle tone is somewhat grotesque, and Superman's boots seem to be on backwards. Good thing he can fly instead of walk. Since the testosterone levels are pretty high among these four, we were happy to have some balance with our next team member, who has not been named yet. He was found underneath the house as we worked to remove the old foundation. What a cutie. The next two crew members are honored war heroes. The first is wearing a World War I-style hat and is permanently installed in a trench, as he has no body below the waist. And, uh, could be made of lead. The other one is a more modern green plastic Army man and is perpetually ready for action.

We love our team and appreciate their help, both day and night, to keep the project moving and the humans amused. Good job, building brigade!

Posted by Annette Boyer and Bill Rankin at 12:03 PM No comments: Off we go!

So, off on our big adventure we go!

We bought our house in 1999 and have been planning to remodel ever since. Lots of stuff happened between then and now, and we are just now getting into the big project.

The house has been, well, serviceable but hardly beautiful or warm. Literally. On winter mornings, it was often colder inside the house than outside. We assumed that there was not a stitch of insulation in the house, so the demolition became a fascinating process. More on that later.

One sad thing was losing our sweet Nikki shortly before the demo started. She was ailing terribly and in hindsight, she would not have handled all of the disruption very well. So, we said goodbye to our sweet girl, the original job dog, right before a lot of the craziness started.  This photo is how we would like to remember her, young, energetic, and loving her life with us. Woof!
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