Tag Archives: The Project

The Project: How It Started, How It’s Going

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My last post was the first part of a personal application to the concept of place attachment.

It’s all about loving where you live…

…starting with your home.

That post provided the context and brief story of why Anita and I made the decision 3+ years ago to stay put in our home of 28+ years, embarking on a renovation process which was recently completed.

In the spirit of the How It Started and How It’s Going craze of the past few years, I present to you a pictorial rendition of “The Project” with minimal comments. Be sure to look at the acknowledgments at the end for the great people who envisioned and pulled it off!

MASTER BATH

Almost ashamedly, the master bath had stayed the same since a few years after we moved in – in 1995!

Is there a better definition of How It Started and How It’s Going or what?

In addition to providing a walk-in shower with bench, there is much more storage space, brighter lighting, a heated floor, and a tankless water heater for the whole house.

DISNEY ROOM

Our three original kids’ bedrooms became multifunctional, while still keeping the ability to provide beds. Here’s our daughter Amy’s bedroom – pretty much the same through high school, college, and graduate school.

Now, it’s the “Disney Room” for our grandchildren’s enjoyment, completed with a LEGO Disney castle, two bookshelves, a reading nook, an enchanted rose, and even a “magic mirror.”

MY OFFICE

The upstairs bedroom suite, originally home to two of our boys, began to transition into my office in 2007. Needless to say, over the next few years, things got a little out of hand. Anita says the only way to truly appreciate the chaos of my office back then is via a panoramic image.

Yeah… As the picture indicates, I’m a horizontal organizer. Anyway, after over ten years of growing more chaotic, I saw the light, and agreed with Anita’s idea of the perfect office for me.

Not pictured is a futon that can sleep two. Also not pictured – the several thousand books relocated to my “library annex” for eventual disposition.

FAMILY ROOM

Not a lot to say here; while the kids were home, most evenings everyone who was home ended up here watching TV, reading, or something similar. We’ve hosted birthday parties, small groups, family gatherings of all types, and many other events here.

All of that still happens, but as you get a hint of above, and will see more clearly below, the location of many of those events has shifted. The biggest change here was the design and installation of the feature wall around and above the fireplace.

KITCHEN

Our kitchen has always played an important role beyond the preparation of food. From various tables at the rear window to hanging around the island, our family has spent many hours prepping meals, talking, laughing, occasionally crying, but always enjoying our connections.

Again, this is a great demonstration of How It Started and How It’s Going…

As you can tell, this is the heart of our renovation project. For over a year, Anita and I couldn’t figure out how to lay out what we were thinking of. We were comfortable designing the fireplace feature, and Anita did an amazing job on the design of the Master Bath and my office, but when it came to the kitchen, we were stumped. Through the connection of a neighbor, we met Tiffany Bray, an interior designer, and after initially spending a few hours with her, the result was the design you see above. With input from our two chef sons, she truly captured – and our contractor Todd Haudek delivered – what we were trying to come up with: a family gathering space, centered around food preparation, but with lots of space to involve as many people as possible. The island is massive – at least in our experience – but also seems quite comfy when family or friends are gathered around it to help with final food prep or circling around the buffet line. Built around a 36″ dual fuel range that Anita and I are still getting used to, the island is truly the center of the gathering space. Storage is located mostly along one wall, extending all the way to the top of 9′ ceilings and anchored on one end by an enlarged walk-in pantry and the other by a unique feature Anita came up with: a floor to ceiling storage cabinet that opens up to the hall, but is easily accessible to the kitchen. The rear wall has a long counter with seating, with a sliding window opening to the deck with a counter on the exterior. The coffee station – a must for all of our kids – has proven to be a natural go-to spot in the mornings. And finally – and most notably – removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room really opened up the space. It’s not so much a kitchen and open dining room as it is a true gathering space.

DINING ROOM

The space you see below has had multiple functions over the years – built and used as a dining room, it has also been a music room, an office for me, and work space for numerous school projects over the years.

That changed! In addition to removing the wall as noted above, we pushed the rear wall back 5 feet, aligning it with the rest of the house. It was only a few dozen square feet of new space, but combined with the wall removal, created a whole different feel. Additionally, we replaced the window with an 8′ door with sidelights – not only providing plenty of natural light but drawing the eye upward.

DECK

As you see below, the original rear of the house had a small concrete patio extending under the overhang. There was an exterior paver patio at the other end of the house, but it wasn’t used much.

We wanted to create an outdoor space with lots of gathering options, and once again, Tiffany came up with a great design.

The result? A deck extending 12 feet out, the length of our house. On the dining room end, it extends 15 feet, with a covered porch above it. For safety, railings extend all around, with an opening onto steps leading to the backyard. In the middle of this very hot summer, the shade of the trees, the porch, and a fan make it bearable. In the evenings, it’s downright delightful! Even with the great gathering space inside, in just a few weeks, we’ve found that our guests naturally migrate to the deck, enjoying the outside views of our own 100 Acre Wood.

PROJECT ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS

Fireplace Wall Feature and Master Bath 

  • Contractor – Joel Presson, J-KAP Construction
  • Electric – Jeff DeMeo, JD Electric
  • Plumbing – Jeff Tadlock, Harold Ellis Plumbing

Kitchen, Dining Room, Deck 

  • Design – Tiffany Bray, TBD Tiffany Bray Designs
  • Contractor – Todd Haudek, Haudek Homes
  • Electric – Jeff DeMeo, JD Electric
  • Plumbing – Jeff Tadlock , Harold Ellis Plumbing

The individuals noted above provided excellent craftsmanship for our projects over the last few years. I wholeheartedly recommend each of them in their respective area of expertise, and would be happy to talk with anyone who wants to know more about what they do and how to contact them.

In closing, Anita and I want to again provide all the thanks to God for providing for our work, and reiterate that these spaces are not for just our enjoyment, but to extend the extraordinary hospitality God has shown us to family, neighbors, friends, and “friends we haven’t met yet”!

July 28, 2023

It’s Good to Be Home: Creating First Place Hospitality

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In what may seem to be direct opposition to my thoughts about front porches here and here, my wife and I have just completed a series of home renovations over the last three years that did not change our somewhat smallish front porch, but nevertheless, have increased our neighborhood connections.

It’s all about loving where you live!

Here’s the story…

My wife Anita and I have been married for 44+ years. We have three sons, (with three amazing daughters-in-law) and a daughter (married to a great son-in-law). These amazing kids and their spouses have been blessed with eleven children!

The image below represents the last time we were all together: Thanksgiving 2021 in Greenwich, NY. Since then we’ve added three little ones – all this year! Collectively, we are the #AdamsFamilyExperience!

About three years ago my wife and I, as empty nesters, made the decision to stay in our long-time home (29+ years) where our kids grew up – even as they moved away to establish homes of their own from one end of the country (New Mexico) to the other (New York, then Virginia), along with two who have settled in opposite ends of North Carolina. With one family in the military and moving about every three years, we decided to stay put.

With eleven grandchildren grouped into 2 ages (five age 3 and under, and six ages 10-16), we knew we needed space for lots of different activities.

What that means IRL:

  • With 11 grandchildren, our family numbers 21 when we all gather together (plus up to four dogs). We don’t get to do that as often as we would like, but we want to be prepared when we do! Thus…
  • Our renovations, although with different purposes, were all guided by the primary intention of creating more gathering space. Functionally, that meant keeping all four bedrooms useable, but with a different purpose: each of three bedrooms formerly used by our kids became (respectively) an office for my wife, an office for myself, and a Disney room for the grandchildren. Each of those rooms can sleep two or more.
  • With three bathrooms, we had no reservations about removing the garden tub in the master bath, and creating a walk-in shower. Need to bathe infants? No problem; we’ve still got two tubs.
  • In our family room, we were satisfied with the layout, but decided to mount a large screen TV on the wall to free up space below for additional seating. The fireplace, though adequate, seemed a little lonely on the tallest wall in the house, so Anita and I designed a feature wall that our contractor built to perfection.
  • Our biggest renovation, aka “The Project” was just completed and involved adding square footage to our house footprint, totally renovating the kitchen, removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room, and adding a full-width deck across the back of our house.
  • With the interior complete, up next is the final exterior project: some work on our backyard, freshening up outdoor play space for the younger four of our grandkids who are 3 and younger; correcting drainage flow due to the new roof and deck; and adding cafe lights to a portion of our deck.

Even when our family can’t visit as often as we would love to have them, our home is dedicated to hospitality for friends, neighbors, and those we haven’t met yet. In just the first month, we:

  • Kicked off the newest space with a Mexican fiesta luncheon for our church community group
  • Invited our neighbors on one side to a impromptu family dinner as a treat for all the hard work they’ve been doing on a pool install this summer
  • Hosted two of our kids’ families for the long Independence Day weekend: four extra adults, three grandchildren, and one large dog
  • Planned a neighborhood event that had to be postponed (but will be rescheduled)
  • Made our deck and kitchen available for our neighbor’s 12-year old daughter’s birthday party – even when we weren’t at home for the weekend.

In August, our NM kids and grandkids (two adults, three children) will be staying for five days as part of a two-week vacation.

…and we’ve got lots more planned for the late summer and fall!

My wife and I share a passion: creating hospitality culture lifestyles where ordinary people demonstrate extraordinary love.

In order to help make that possible in a physical space, here’s the dedication pledge my wife and I made over our renovations:

When we understand God’s welcome to us, we can better pass it on to someone else.

When we use our lives exactly as they are, desiring only to create a sacred space for our guests, we turn entertaining upside down and it becomes radical hospitality.

We don’t need to be who we used to be; God sees who we’re becoming – and we’re becoming love.

We can’t love people we don’t know. Saying we love our neighbors is simple. But guess what? Doing it is too. We think Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor” means we’re actually supposed to love our neighbors. Engage them. Delight in them. Throw a party for them.

Jesus wants us to show people who He is by what we do, not just tell them what we think.

It’s time to bring back the table to our homes.

If we really want to learn someone’s story, sitting down at the table and breaking bread together is the best way to start. The table is the place where our identity is born – the place were the story of our lives is retold, reminded, and relived.

(Special thanks to the writings of Bob Goff and Len Sweet)

The solution is to get back to the basics of what Jesus commanded:

Love God and love your neighbors.

Think of it as First Place Hospitality – building bridges to your neighbors in your “First Place,” your home.

Next Time: Images and Acknowledgments for The Project