Home Improvement Projects at a Country Home in Verona, WI
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
I’ve lived in Wisconsin for 33 years, and somehow had avoided a rite of passage that most Wisconsinites have to go through at some point in their lives: hitting a deer. I was driving to work in the Bentley at highway speed, on a conference call when suddenly two deer jumped into the road. I … Continue reading Post-Deer Collision Bentley Repair
After some severe weather this spring, I noticed that a couple of shingles had blown off of the roof. Thinking that some quick repair work would be all that was needed, I had the crew from Sunset Ridge Exteriors come out and take a look, since they did such a good job on the lake … Continue reading New Roof
The last in a long line of projects to improve the waterfront at the lake house was to bring in a barge service to remove rocks, wood, and tree debris from both the beach and the water, to reshape the sand to be more usable, and to install more concrete steps to make it easier … Continue reading Beach Clean Up and Resurfacing
Over the past several years I’ve done numerous repair jobs on the last flight of stairs leading down towards the water, and I’ve also done a lot of work to keep the beach in good shape. It’s difficult work to do by myself though, especially without a barge to haul equipment and materials down to … Continue reading Stair Reconstruction
Along with my usual spring landscaping tasks, another thing I have to do every spring is open up the lake house, put the boat in the water, and set up the slip. This year was no different; I’d already done a lot of prep work at the lake house earlier in the year to remove … Continue reading Lake House Spring 2024
As is the case every spring, once the snow melts and the ground thaws there is a lot to do to get the house ready for spring and summer. Here was my initial list at the start of spring: Those tasks kept me busy for quite a few weekend! I was very happy with how … Continue reading Spring Landscaping + Pool 2024
