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Current Projects

New Decks

My main household project right now are a couple of decks I am working on.  They are being built out of Ipe which is a Brazilian hardwood.  While it is somewhat difficult to work with the payoff is a beautiful and durable deck that should last a long time before needing to be replace.

The first deck is a walkway that goes from our garage to the back patio.  The built-in planter isn't finished yet but the plan is to side it with Ipe so it will match the deck.  The plants in the planter are black bamboo, Nirihara bamboo and a Japanese maple (which might not survive the transplant).  Although I am happy with the outcome of the deck I am a little concerned with it being so close to the ground without much space for ventilation.

The second deck is located next to the hot tub and off of the back patio area.  The finishing touch is going to be a built-in fire pit where the opening is which will be able to burn either wood or propane.  I am very happy with how the deck turned out but am a little bummed that I got it done right before the rainy season starts.  I have read and heard that water does not harm ipe but it is still discouraging to see all this rain getting on my brand new deck.

Pergola

As soon as I get these stinkin' decks finished I am going to start on the project I have been planning on since last year.  In order to protect the outdoor kitchen not to mention to facilitate year-round grilling I am going to build a pergola over the outdoor kitchen.  It is going to have Plexiglas panels that fit between each rafter to block the rain and snow while still letting in some light.  I am going to get custom brackets made to fasten the rafters to a beam that supports the roof over the outdoor patio but other than that it should be a fairly straight forward project.  I will post pictures as soon as I get started.

Addition

Soon after finding out that there is going to be a new addition to our family our thoughts turned to where we are going to put her.  When we built our house we were planning on only two children so we therefore only built two bedrooms and the master.  While putting more than one kid in a bedroom is not a bad thing at all we are looking at upcoming addition to the family as an opportunity to make an addition to our house.  While still in the planning stages, our intent is to add a ~24'x28' two story addition in back of the garage.  The lower level will be completely detached from the house and serve as a recreation/family room while the upper level will have two bedrooms - one for the new family member and an additional guest bedroom.  The upper level will be connected to the existing house by a suspended hallway that will dissect the current guest bathroom.  If all goes as planned we will start the addition this October and have it pretty much completed by the time the baby is due in early March.  Stay tuned for progress pics.

Update: As of 10/7/07 we are having some difficulty getting the county planning department to approve our application to build an addition to our house.  They claim it will make the house too big to be compatible with the surrounding area.  We have defended our case and given examples of comparably large homes in the community and are waiting for a response.  We still hope to get started on it soon but are currently in a holding pattern.