About

Hello!

Welcome to 1004 Central, the home of Luke and Whitney’s newest project.

The purpose of this site is twofold:

To keep our friends, family and other curious onlookers apprised of what’s going on with the project, and
To document how we are doing it, in our attempt to make the project as eco-friendly as possible within budget. In other words, it’s the “green” remodel for [semi] normal people.

The blog entries will be organized according to the phase of construction:

Demolition
Site selection
Planning
Design and Engineering
Building Envelope
Exterior Finishes
Interior Finishes
Landscaping

Why 1004 Central?

Located just two blocks from our current place, 1004 Central is a house have passed by and commented on many, many times. Luke in particular has always liked it, noting that is just needs “a little work.” The house has been notably vacant for some time (11 years, according to one neighbor) and in the past Luke has actually investigated whether the owner would be willing to sell. They haven’t been.

In April 2009 the house suddenly went on the market. It peaked our interest but were were in the midst of planning a major remodel to our current home. Still curious after a couple of weeks we contacted our realtor, Sue Wise, to ask about taking a peak at the house – just for kicks. She informed us that the house was still available and the price was about to be dropped (after only a couple of weeks on the market). We jumped on it and made an offer with only Luke having done a quick walk through, and with no discussion of what we would do with the house. I was operating under assumption the that the land alone (about 1/3 of an acre) was worth the price, while Luke was already mentally remodeling the house for us to live in.

The evening after we put in our offer we were sitting at the dining table looking at the photos Luke had taken on his walk through with Sue (I still hadn’t seen the inside). Looking at the old farmhouse, sitting on a beautiful big lot, I said to Luke “you know, maybe we should live in it.” It was abundantly clear this is what he had been thinking all along.

And so it begins. We have nixed our remodel plans for 1222 9th (our current home) and shifted our efforts to 1004 Central. We are rebuilding and will eventually move to 1004 Central. We expect to put 1222 9th on the market in Winter/Spring 2010.

1004 Central, in all its original glory.