All posts by Jon Hardin

Just like in previous years, an important part of my spring is opening up the lake house, getting the boat lift in the water and the boat on the lift, restocking the bar, and getting the lake house yard in gear for summer. The first thing I did was work on clearing the yard of weeds, and clearing bramble from the path down to the water.

I then shoveled sand and dirt that accumulated over the winter down around the dock deck and stairs, and made sure the dock was good to go for summer.

After that, I did some painting touch ups on the outside of the house, most notably the window frame from the window that was broken when the new roof was put on last fall.

After that, I restocked bar and tidied up the interior of the house.

Once the house was all set, I got the boat in the water and onto the boat lift, and with some help from my friend Bret got the lift awning in place.

After that, it was time to hit the tiki bar and party cove, and enjoy the summer on the water!

Once my spring landscaping tasks were done, there was a final bit of work I needed to do outside at the Verona house. Over time, a section of the wall had sagged a little bit, and needed to be fixed. To address this, I dug holes around the concrete footings for the posts, and then was able to tilt the posts forward back to a straight position. After this, I poured additional concrete around the footings to lock them into place.

It was a relatively simple fix, but it worked very well and, along with replacing a few post caps, brought the wall back into tip-top shape.

After finishing my spring cleaning tasks in March and early April, I returned from the Masters ready to start landscaping and getting the lawn back in shape. As usual, the first thing I did was haul several palettes of mulch, and replace all of the old mulch from last year in the various beds around the house.

After the mulch, I tore out the overgrown shrubs and bushes near the gate, since they had reached a point where they were becoming an eyesore. Eventually, I’ll replace them with new bushes, but for now it is nice just to have the gate and wall more visible.

Next, I installed a panel with my address number on one of the posts, which had been needed for years to help delivery and Uber drivers figure out which house was which on the private drive.

As the weather warmed up and felt more like spring, I planted new arbor vidae to replace a couple that had died over the winter, and I planted flowers in the platers on the front porch.

All that was left was the lawn, which proved relatively easy this year since there hadn’t been any major construction projects that tore it apart last year. I fertilized and mowed, and with a little bit of watering and a lot of spring rain, it came to life very nicely!

One of the first tasks I did this spring as the weather started to warm up was to pull all of the cars out of the garage and vacuum and sweep the floors. It’s something I do every spring, and I’m usually able to keep the garage floors clean enough through the fall that I only have to do it once a year.

After the garages were clean, and before it was warm enough to really start doing any landscaping work, I took out the ATV and did some cleanup work across the my land. Given how large my property is, it’s inevitable that trash will accumulate, either along the side of the road or in more remote corners where I suspect the local teenagers sometimes sneak in for a clandestine place to party. Something about finding 29 vape cartridges and a bunch of empty bottles of cheap liquor makes me thing that my suspicious were correct:

I’m also still, after nine years of owning the house, finding golf balls that the previous owner chipped into the woods. Every year I think I’ve found them all, and every year more turn up.

In any case, it felt good to get everything cleaned up and ready for spring before the undergrowth and leaves came in, which make it much more difficult to find and retrieve the trash.

As part of my ongoing quest to build display and storage for my sports card collection, I purchased a vintage card catalog from the library at Iowa Wesleyan University. It turned out to be a fun day trip to drive to Mount Pleasant, with stops in Dubuque, Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids to check out bars, restaurants, and local card shops.

Once I got there, I thankfully had help to load the extremely heavy card catalog into the trailer, but also to load all of the individual drawers separately.

Once I made it back to Wisconsin, I unloaded the card catalog and moved it into the guest house. I had to remove the metal legs to reduce the height, and then I added a new wood veneer on the sides to cover over some scratches and other damage that it had taken over the years. It fits the space really well, and the drawers are the perfect size for sports cards!

Here are a few more photos of my overall card storage and display areas, split between the card catalog plus other shelves in the guest house, and part of the library:

After the deck, three season room, and hot tub projects last summer, the next step in outdoor construction at the Verona house is going to be an in-ground pool. There will be concrete steps to walk up to where the pool will be from the hot tub area:

I’m working with Patio Pleasures, the same company that did the hot tub, and the pool itself is being built by Optimum Pools. It will be a 32×19 “free-form” pool (meaning kidney shaped), and will have a large concrete deck and fence around it. Here is a rendering of the structure:

And here are some photos of a (much smaller) version of the free-form pool from Optimum:

Construction is scheduled to start in June 2022! In the meantime, it’s still winter in Wisconsin so I’ll have to settle for enjoying the new hot tub.

During the pandemic, I got back into a hobby I’d really enjoyed as a kid, collecting sports cards. The hobby has changed a lot since then, with much higher prices for cards and many more high end autographed and memorabilia cards to chase. I wanted to make a space to display the cards, and the library seemed like a natural fit. Here are some initial photos of what will likely evolve into a much larger project as my collection expands.

One of the main uses I’d envisioned for the new three season room was watching sports with all of the windows open, so we could have fresh air and the feeling of being outside will being shielded from the sun and the rain. The challenge to this is that all of the walls for fully windowed, and I didn’t want to block any views with a TV (at least when not in use). My solution was to install a motorized TV mount, that would lift the TV out of a cabinet when needed, while allowing it to sit below the window frames when not in use.

After the TV and the motorized mount were installed, I had to figure out a cabinet setup. I ended up buying a bookcase from Wayfair that was the right size, with the intention of modifying it to fit my needs. I first assembled the bookcase frame, leaving out the shelves and the back. By leaving out the back, the TV could still be used while in its lowered position, which is great if you just want to have it on in the background while people are hanging out in the room.

This just left the question of how to allow the TV to lift up out of the cabinet. Instead of going with a complicated hinge system, I decided to simply cut the top of the shelf, and then anchor the back of the shelf into the wall to make up for the lost structural integrity.

After some additional work to conceal cables and wire all of the accessories in neatly, the end result worked really well!

My wife and I have used the new setup a lot in the past few weeks, especially as fall weather arrives. The cats are big fans of relaxing with us while watching TV too.

After a short delay, the remaining finishing touches have been put on the three season room. The baseboard trim is done, as are the window and door casings. The last little bit of siding work is done, and the gutters and downspouts are in place along with the remaining fascia boards. With this final polish, the project is done, and I’m very proud of how it turned out!

In addition to the three season room itself, the grill and patio furniture are also in place.

There are a few remaining ancillary tasks to take care of (installing the hot tub and TVs, for example), but for now we’re enjoying spending time in the three season room and on the deck, as are the cats.

Now that the main construction is done, I’ve been able to reclaim the guest house garage for the truck and the Range Rover, and I’ve also been able to fully whip the lawn into shape.

Here’s to a great rest of the summer!

While the deck and three season room project isn’t completely done, it’s definitely getting close. Over the past couple of weeks, the three season room has turned into an actual building, complete with windows, doors, siding, and a (mostly) done interior.

While the interior still needs trim, window casings, and some other minor touches, having the shiplap painted and the furniture plus other decor in place makes it feel like a pretty complete room.

I’ve also got the railing done, and the deck furniture set up.

We had a party last weekend, and our guests were able to use the space and enjoy it. The cats have also really enjoyed sitting out there and looking out the windows.

In August, I’ll wrap up the project with the new hot tub, new TV’s, the remaining trim work, and the outdoor kitchen. It will be a lot of fun to see the vision I had for this project during the winter fully realized!