Dirty house? Clean it up!

Finally!  We've begun work on the big house!  It's been a long time coming and we're so ready to move forward with our plans.  We focused on perfecting our floor plan this fall.  Our draftsman is a friend of a friend and he has been very patient with us as we perfected every square inch of our new home. We've finalized the main floor and are currently working on putting the finishing touches on our lower level. 

Earlier this year Greg began tearing into the main house.  It wasn't much of a job for me since I was home with little Stella, so he went at it on his own with the help of friends and family.

Remember Stella?  Aw, isn't she cute? Pay no attention to the dangerously-placed saw...leave it to Daddy!  He sure knows how to make her smile.

But I digress.  Greg worked tirelessly to prep the interior of the main house for our big plans. We tore down the wall between the house and garage to add additional square footage and open up the space. The existing garage will be reinvented into our dream kitchen - a space big enough for this two-cook household to comfortably move around in: 

Good-bye, ugly ceiling fan!

The ceilings and subsequent blown insulation were the next things to go.  Greg decided to re-use the insulation from the ceilings in the house by transferring it to our pole shed ceiling. Nothing goes wasted around here!

Getting cleaned up.  Ceilings gone!

Next to do was all of the wiring.  Greg's brother is an electrician and was gracious enough to come over and get the job done.  The only space that is currently still wired in the house is the temporary laundry room/utility room downstairs.

Check out that huge pile of wiring on the left side of the garage!  Quite the job.  Greg also tore out the remaining bathroom upstairs.  Now all that remains is those two ridiculously-placed staircases.

Dinner parties.....hors d'oeuvres....Tuesday nights.....sitting fireside, glass of Cabernet in hand.....crisp, Autumn mornings.....children's laughter....Christmas mornings.....

Can you see it?  I can.

What is a Lean-To, Anyways?

For the past year or so, Greg has mentioned how nice it would be to have a "Lean-To" off of the Hut.  I have vehemently refused to allow him to build a Lean-To.  We never had the conversation regarding specifically what a Lean-To was, but here are a couple varieties of what I picture when someone talks about a Lean or a Lean-To:

"Mountain Man needs quick shelter!"
"Build lean-to out of branches I gather!"

OR

"Hoarders called and wanted me on their show, so I duct-taped some tin together to make a shelter for my fast-food wrapper collection!"

Right.  Sorry, hon.  Not happening.

Much to my dismay, one glorious summer afternoon I returned home only to find Greg building a lean-to off the Hut.

Many words were exchanged and we were not on speaking terms for about 37 seconds. We got over it pretty quickly and it was then that he explained his plans for this so-called Lean-To.

After much discussion, it hit me; "Ohhhh.  You mean a porch!"  Lean-To, Porch, whatever you consider it, we have one now!  Sure, it may have been a slight distraction to starting projects on the main house, but now that it is finished I really like it!

Greg also opted to add skylights to the porch roof to let some light in. You'd never know it, but the skylights are actually leftover patio door panels that would have otherwise been thrown away:

Adding lights underneath the overhang:

Greg also built a deck to finish it off.  He likes to brag that it's 5-square feet larger than my parents deck.  We win!  If we decide in the future that we'd rather have something other than a deck underneath the porch (ie. paver stone, etc.), the deck boards can be used as stringers on a full-size deck. In the end, the biggest expense was the use of Greg's time!  Most of the materials used can be re-used in the future should we decide to do so.

Here is an interesting vantage point of the finished product.  It's a great addition to our little home and I love that we can enjoy it day or night!

Is Anyone Still Out There?

Hello Friends!  It has been too long.  We here at the hut have been busy busy busy and haven't had a spare moment to blog.  We've got lots of updates for you, and we will be having a lot more progress and projects to report on in the coming months! 

For now I'll quickly get you all brought up to speed on the goings on at the Prokott Hut in the past year or so.

Here is the biggest and most important project we've been working on:

We had a baby!  Stella Marie was born on May 13 and has been an absolute joy in our lives.  The picture above was taken just before we hopped in the car to head to the hospital.  Here she is!

We love her incredibly. We couldn't imagine life without her!  Greg is very excited to have a little buddy to help out with the big house remodel.  Do you think they make infant tool belts?

Over the last year or so, we worked tirelessly on the yard, garden and the pole shed.  We find ourselves finally to a point now where we can sit back and enjoy our surroundings.  Our yard is great now that our trees are trimmed and the lawn is kept up on a regular basis.  Greg finished off the inside of the pole shed so it is a lot more user-friendly now. This is a good thing considering the number of projects coming up!

Now for a quick run-down on the many updates we've had in the past year.....

We're still working through what to do for siding on the Hut.  We like the rustic look of this exterior chair rail, and are still deciding on a color for the window wraps.  What do you think?

Greg working on trim for the windows - they'll eventually be wrapped once we decide on a color scheme.



Mathew came over one day last summer to help Greg put the roof on the Hut.  We decided to do a steel roof in order to match it to the pole shed as well as keep it maintenance free.

Of course our list of projects wouldn't be complete without another brush pile!  Here is Greg hauling more brush for the largest brush pile to date.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the final product, but believe me. It was huge.

We also were adopted by a kitten! You heard right - WE were adopted. 

Meet Lord Helmet. He decided to show up on our patio one day last September.  He was about 3-4 weeks old and was starving. Needless to say he opted to stick around once he realized how awesome Hut Life is.  Here he is celebrating Halloween:

Greg got a new toy!  This is one toy I am thrilled about.  We found this zero-turn mower complete with a leaf mulching/bagging system on Craigslist.  Let's just say it was a steal.  It took Greg 2-3 hours to "rake" about 3 acres of oak leaves.  That would have taken me a good couple of weeks!

Winter projects consisted of building additional cabinets in order to utilize as much space in the Hut as possible.  We needed to make space for the newest member of our family!

Cabinet above the fridge - Greg built pull-out drawers so everything would be accessible!



Bookshelf for all the baby books we'll be accumulating!  A much nicer look than the temporary post we had there before.



Platform frame for the bed allowed for extra drawer space for all the baby clothes/necessities we'll be getting! Greg was able to stain it to match the dresser he built several years ago, and we were even able to locate the same hardware to match!



To complete the look, Greg built two pull out drawers -- one for the garbage can and a second, smaller one for recycling.

Thanks to my dad for coming up and painting everything to match!

There you have it!  We are now just beginning to tear into the main house.  Stella has brought forth a new found motivation in both of us to get going on the big house.  Someone wants her own nursery!

Garden is Planted!

With the fence up and the dirt fertilized and tilled, it was time to plant.

An impressive list of veggies grace my first garden: tomatos, green peppers, spinach, snow peas, green beans, carrots, lettuce, zuccini, watermelon, cantelope, onions, pumpkins, sweet corn and sunflowers.

Thanks to my mom and our neighbor, Dave, who graciously helped us plant.  Dave added the sweet corn and onions to the mix!

Do you think I can actually maintain this thing?

.

Greg's Idea of Efficiency

Earlier this spring I mentioned to Greg that I wanted to attempt a small garden this season.  What better way to utilize the space we've accumulated than to attempt to grow our own organic food!  We're suckers for some good vegatables and Salad Night is our favorite night of the week (no kidding!), so why not?

We had a couple areas that could be utilized for a garden, plus plenty of acreage where we could build a new one.  I finally determined that it would probably be best to use a space that's already partitioned off as a garden, rather than starting over new.  Who knows if I'll actually enjoy gardening at all?  What if I'm no good?

So, we decide to utilize the old garden and remake it into our own.  One tiny problem - this area hasn't been touched in YEARS.  The place is sprouting volunteer trees all over the place and is filled with old plastic, rocks, weeds, leaves, you name it.  The fence is a mess to boot!

Thankfully I have a husband that can't sit still.  Sometime in May, he starts into fixing up the garden.  Gone are the old trees, fence and the majority of the plastic.  Wow!

Now, what to do about all those weeds and leaves?  Let's discuss our options....wait.  Men only have one option when it comes to this kind of thing.

BURN IT!  BURN IT ALL!

What is it about a man and his obsession with fire?  Really, was this the best way to go about it?  I suppose it was, because the next day we were putting the fence back up and tilling up the newly turned-over dirt!

Chuck Norris isn't the only one that can prevent forest fires....

With all the brush we accumulated, I compiled quite the brush pile.  I was impressed with my ability to actually organize a brush pile into branch sizes.  Organized chaos.  Some thought it was an impossible feat:

Don't let your eyes fool you.  Our brushpile is still bigger than yours, trust me.

So, we have a giant brush pile.  What next?  Well let's consider the options...wait.  Men only have one option at this point, don't they? 

BURN IT! BURN IT ALL!

Grr does a great job demonstrating fire safety.  Albeit inefficient to spray the burning brush directly, we've once again saved the neighborhood from disaster.  Take that, Chuck Norris.

Silly Husband, Climbing Trees is for Kids!

After moving into The Hut, Greg and I were sick of projects. We were sick of fish houses and saw dust, fridgeless life and sleepless nights. We were due a major break.

That first weekend home we busied ourselves with nothing. It was great. It was the first time in almost three and a half months that we didn't have a hot priority. But, you know us. Doing nothing quickly got old.

Enter nice weather. Time for more projects!!

One crisp, spring morning, Greg and I woke up early. As much as I love sleeping in, I am learning to love early weekend mornings even more. There is just something about an early morning with fresh brewed coffee, sitting in the living room with the windows cracked. Birds chirping, the early morning sun streaking in through the window panes, much of the world still asleep. Listen closely and the world is still silent. It is so peaceful and energizing.

This specific morning Greg got up bright and early to start on yard work while I made one of our many wonderful breakfasts. I learned this skill from him; he is the Breakfast Master after all. French toast, kiwi, strawberries, grapefruit, cinnamon rolls, and Eggs With Stuff In Them. Eggs With Stuff In Them is what I titled the eggs Greg makes. He never just fries an egg. It always has Stuff in it. Hence the name. Original, I know.

But I digress. While cooking, I could hear Greg hard at work with his chain saw. It seemed he was really getting into this yardwork thing. I figured he was organizing our brush pile into a wood pile. What a great husband.

Once breakfast was ready, I poked my head outside to get his attention. 'Huh. Where the heck is he?' I thought to myself. I could hear him, but he was nowhere in sight. He was busy sawing away at SOMETHING. But where? As I looked up at the blue sky, that's when I saw him. 70-feet up in one of our largest oak trees! Oh, brother.....

Once he climbed down from his tree house, I told him that this was a perfect job to HIRE OUT. Someone who owns a harness and a professional-grade chainsaw extender would be happy to pick up this job. We have 100 oak trees, after all. I knew that was going nowhere. He holds a strict policy that states, "No project shall be outsourced unless it requires twelve hands and a robot." So, I simply told him to be careful because I needed him around. What good is a half-trimmed tree without a husband to complete the job? He will carefully correct me by reminding me that I don't NEED him around, I WANT him around.

Also true.

So, I bucked up and started on my part of the project: brush-hauling.

After many a poke-in-the-eye and gash-in-the-arm, our trees look quite nice now!  Of course, we didn't attempt to tackle all 100 trees.  We'll save the others for another year.