The Project

In January 2006, on a holiday visit home, we discovered that this tiny house, just south of my hometown in small town, Arkansas and next door to my mother’s place, was for sale. Without any real fore or afterthought, we bought it and the 16 acres it sits on. Then we went back to grad school, one state away.

In December of that year, D finished his degree, got a job at the University of Arkansas, and moved back to work there and in the house, which was then outfitted with one fireplace for heat, lots of dark paneling, a cast iron wood cook stove and no refrigerator. Very posh accommodations. He installed new copper plumbing, and enough wiring for a few outlets. He found snakes inside the house at night.

In June, I moved back to Arkansas, too. We took out some walls, painted everything white, and tried to make the most of a glorified lean-to addition that became our temporary multipurpose room. We installed central heat and air. The snakes stopped showing up.

Then I got pregnant. Our DIY renovations slowed down, and dreams for more large-scale changes sped up. In April of 2008, Jack came home with us.

We hired an architect who sat cross-legged on our living room floor and said our ideas “didn’t scare” him and really got us.

We’re still working on the rest.

The short version:

January 2006 – We buy a 1930s native stone cottage in the Ozarks with about 900 livable square feet.
May 2006-July 2007 – Somewhere during visits home, plumbing and wiring becomes operable. We get air conditioning, and heat! We squeeze a bed, laundry machines, and stuff that would go in a closet into a shallow room (formerly porch).
August 2007 – After painting walls, refinishing floors, and making the kitchen big enough for both a stove AND a refrigerator, we move in. We discover I am pregnant. I lament over my recent proximity to a lot of paint and polyurethane, and I stop making home improvements and start dreaming of home construction.
November 2007 – We see first version of plans for an addition to include everything but living space in two parts – the kitchen, over a crawlspace, and the bunkhouse, on a slab.
March 2008 – We appoint ourselves contractors. We look for reliable people to hire.
May 2008 – The chainsaw massacre: We tear down the multipurpose room and move into the living room.
June 2009 – Lots and lots of rebar and concrete.
July 2009 – Framing start to finish.
August 2009 – The new roof is decked and shingled. Siding and windows go up and in.
September 2009 – Rain. New soffits on the old house. Rain, rain, rain. Window trim. Rain.