What's your job all about?

So to this point, we've seen a lot of the different things that Greg has contributed to our project (read: everything).  You may find yourself asking, "What exactly is it that YOU do during all of the hammering, drilling and measuring?

There are all sorts of things I keep myself busy with!  My biggest job, of course, is this little bundle of joy:

Really, it's a stretch to consider hanging out with the coolest baby on the block a "job." Does this look like work to you? But, she keeps us on our toes, so someone must keep her out of harms way and stimulate that little mind of hers.

There are, of course, other things that keep me busy....

Yummy drinks for my awesome husband. Guy needs a break every once and a while!

My arch-nemesis....DISHES.  Hate them.  Sadly, we haven't been successful in teaching them to do themselves.

Motivation!  One skeleton in my closet was that I was a cheerleader for one football season. I think that gives me the street cred to keep things cheery and motivated around here.  People are getting things done!

Shopping!  .......oh, come on.  Someone's gotta do it!  It was on sale, I swear!

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!

The Hut: Revealed!

Looking back on Fall 2009, I cannot believe the progress we made in such a short amount of time.  We closed on the house on September 22nd and were moved into The Hut on December 26.  In 3-months time we turned a cramped, smelly, damp, outdated shanty into the most spacious, comfortable, quaint, warm one-bedroom Hut around.

Home.  We finally feel like we're home. 

We couldn't have done it without all of the love and support of our family and friends.  THANK YOU to everyone who came out to visit, brought food (or beer), lent a helping hand or just listened to us vent about life in a fish house.  There are too many of you to count.

Thank you to those very few of you out there that actually read my blog.  It's nice to know that someone out there finds our chaos both inspiring and entertaining.  Albeit neglected, this blog is such a perfect way for me to get my writing fix while documenting one of the most momentous times of our lives.

And finally, thank you to my most talented, loving, HILarous, creative, husband. Without your vision we wouldn't have this place. You saw the potential in something most would simply overlook. Without your talent we'd still have a shanty and I would have had to buy a crate of Febreze. Without your sense of humor and patience, I would have given up before we even started.  You are an amazing man with an amazing talent and I am so lucky to be your wife.  Thank you Greg.

Here is to the first milestone of many as we continue to make our way through this renovation!

Living Room and Kitchen:

The painting, entitled "Love," was a wedding gift given to us and painted by Elisa!

The post under the countertop is temporary.  We will be building a cabinet/bookshelf combo in the future.

Bedroom:

Bathroom:

More Kitchen:

So there you have it!  While it may be small, we made it our own and love every last inch of it. Even that crazy inch that sits behind the toilet.

I do intend to maintain this blog better from now on, but in case life gets busy again, here is what we are up to at the present time. 

Currently we're working on fixing the yard up and finishing the exterior of The Hut while the weather is warm.  We decided we'd had enough being cooped up with sheetrock and saw dust for a while and want to enjoy the great outdoors in our backyard.  Plans for the main house are put on hold until probably fall or winter, however we'll be continuously working on floorplan ideas and designs.

Somehow, the yard has become almost as big a job as The Hut. 

You probably could have guessed that would happen, right?

Big Time Update

What? Aw, c'mon it's only been 6 months. Give a girl a break! In all reality, it's been a VERY busy 6 months!

 Here is an update from where we left off!

Enjoy.

Trimwork and doors enameled. Thanks, Dad!

The cabinets were a HUGE project. We had three sets of cabinets through out the original house and guest house. Rather than build new or buy new, Greg took the three cabinet sets, cut them apart and spliced them together so they would fit in our kitchen. So, our kitchen is literally three different cabinet sets!

Progress after the first day. This was tiring stuff.

The next day, Mom, Elisa, Brianna and I meandered over to Menards to pick out everything needed to finish our hut. We brought the paint samples to match everything. That was one hefty bill. Kudos to Mom for driving Greg's truck and trailer!

While we were busy shopping, the guys were busy installing the flooring, enamelling the cabinets and prepping the living room for carpet.

Nice flood pants, Dad! :)

Greg designed the window trim himself.  We custom cut everything.  Here's what all the windows look like:

End of a long weekend. Progress: obtained.  Sleep: not so much.  A tired bunch we were. 

Greg taking a much needed nap while the enamel dries.

The final touches were taken care of the following week, which also happened to be the week of Christmas.  Enamelling was completed (thanks Dad), carpet was installed by Greg and his brother, paint touch ups, kitchen hardware, and the final cleaning (thanks Mom, Brian and Brianna!).  It all came together in the end, and we were able to move in on December 26 in the midst of a snow storm!

Stay tuned for the final product!