Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Gettin' Sketchy

So, this past month saw my birthday and the inevitable end of my twenties.



*tear* 

Okay,I wasn't really as broken up about that as this picture may lead you to believe. 

When my wife started planning the party, she decided to invite my rather enigmatic friend Mike Q who, I should mention, lives in New York. He was the only out of state guest she invited, mostly because she figured if anyone would respond to a random birthday party invite from a friend several states away it would be him.

As is to be expected for Facebook events, he never sent an RSVP confirming whether or not he would be there. However, in texting back and forth about some unrelated topic he led me to believe that he would not be coming. Bummer, but I figured it was a long shot.

The day of the party arrived and a short while into the party itself I heard someone say, "Is that Mike?"

Skip past the "squeeing", the running outside, the hugs...

While Mike was there we talked about the house a bit and the various things we could do to it. His dad is a contractor and he has quite a bit of insight into that kind of thing (or at least more than I have). Most notably, we discussed the possibility of putting stairs in and finishing the attic.

A couple days later, I get a text message from Mike asking me for my house measurements. No explanation. Once I sent them (which took me way too long because I am a procrastinator and also who knew it took so long to measure a house filled with stuff and kids?) I got an e-mail back with this super cool video:




Obviously there have been some major "tweaks". Some of these we had talked about and some of these were fun additions Mike threw on (like that second peak and the full porch). The stairs were the part that I was excited about. They fit! It can be done! So, whatever we end up doing at least I know that it's an option.

I'm also excited because he included the file so I can play around with it myself. I've downloaded Sketchup (which is what he used to make it) but I haven't had a chance to really mess around yet. Once I get a chance maybe I'll share my experience.

Has anyone else used sketchup? What did you think about it? Or have you ever put in stairs? Want to help?

2 comments:

  1. This is such a cool idea! Oh, the ways to expand a small house! :D

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    1. Yeah, I was pretty excited when I saw it. We've talked about various ways to expand it and this seems the most budget friendly since there's no need to add to the foundation.

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