Hardin Home: Home Improvement Projects at a Country Home in Verona, WI
Home Improvement Projects at a Country Home in Verona, WI
I built a large shed behind the guest house several years ago to hold the ATV, riding mower, pool furniture, and other things that I didn’t want cluttering up any of the garages. It has served its purpose very well, and as the first full building I built from scratch, I’ve been very pleased with … Continue reading Shed Floor Rebuild
After two years of dealing with the beach restoration and stair reconstruction, the beach and the new concrete steps at the bottom of the stairwell have held up well enough that I had Deano Dock & Lift reinstall the floating dock. Now we have the best of both worlds: a clear beach for swimming and … Continue reading The Dock is Back!
Since buying it in 2017, I’ve remodeled almost every aspect of the lake house. The last major piece that needed to be done was the deck, which was clearly past the end of its life and was getting close to becoming a safety issue. This spring, I worked with the same construction company that rebuilt … Continue reading Lake House Deck
As discussed in a previous post, I’ve been hard at work getting the yard into shape for the summer. In the recent weeks, I’ve shifted from the heavy labor of clearing downed trees, pruning branches, and putting down mulch to some of the easier late-spring activities, including planting flowers, shrubs, and grass. I have it … Continue reading Spring Landscaping 2025, Part 2
Now that warm weather is once again on the horizon, I’ve started working my way through the usual spring landscaping tasks. Before things were consistently warm enough to start planting and working on the lawn, I cleaned out the ditches alongside Range Trail, which accumulate trash and other debris during the winter. I then spent … Continue reading Spring Landscaping 2025, Part 1
After finishing the flooring project in the master bedroom closet, I decided to tackle the other auxiliary room in the master suite, which was a smaller walk-in closet that my wife uses as a makeup / powder room. Last year, I added new shelving and drawers to make it easier for her to keep everything … Continue reading Powder Room Flooring
Over the past several years, I’ve redone almost all of the flooring in the house. Since it was built in the late 90’s, most of the original flooring was carpet. I’ve gradually been switching to various solid surfaces (wood on the top two floors, vinyl plank in the basement, and tile in the bathrooms). The … Continue reading Closet Flooring
While I wait for the next big lake house project (replacing the deck next spring), I’ve knocked out some smaller tasks that have been on my to-do list for awhile. First, I replaced the microwave in the upstairs kitchen, since the previous one had been destroyed by a power surge in one of the big … Continue reading Small Lake House Projects
Every year when summer ends and fall arrives, it means two things for me: football season, and a lot of maintenance tasks to make sure both houses are ready for winter. One of the first tasks is getting the boat out of the water for winter storage, along with taking the awning cover off of … Continue reading Fall and Winter Preparations
When I planted grass around the pool last summer, I obviously had to do a ton of watering in order to get it to grow, especially during a drought summer. Due to the hardness of Wisconsin well water, the sprinklers left more than their fair share of hard water deposits on the pool fence, which … Continue reading Pool Fence Clean Up
