#99: The Latest (And Grossest) Home Experiment

When you put a lot of time or money into a project, you will go to strong, weird, and sometimes gross lengths to protect it. we have all the details in this week’s episode, along with a story that shows why renovating a house that is over two hours away is not consistently a smooth process. Plus, we gathered some strong advice on building a new home from scratch (or tackling a major renovation with a group of pros), including how to find the right team and avoid common pitfalls… and why you should keep your expectations in check.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you are reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What is New

• Above you can see how the deer shredded about two thirds of our gingko tree while we were gone for a long weekend – and below you can see how they even stripped the new growth off of our holly trees. See where the foliage changes from a lighter green to dark green? Yep, that is the “deer line” where they can reach. So they ate all the other bright green growth off the rest of the tree.

• And if you did not believe it when you heard it (I hardly did) – there are plenty of options for buying animal urine on Amazon.
• Also, given our “personal experiment,” I got a large laugh out of this question posted in the review section of one of the products:

• Here is the side staircase at the beach house that we were attempting to stain over the last few weekends. There is another one simply like it at the back door. But this one gets better sun, hence Burger parking his buns there.

• This photo above was taken after we had already cleaned and prepped it for staining (we used this All-In-One Wood Cleaner after doing a light pass with our pressure washer).
• The original product we tried was Thompson’s Waterseal in Acorn Brown. This is a photo I took the next morning, which admittedly does not look nearly as purple as it looked in the evening light. But it still had more coverage than we had hoped (we chose a semi-transparent stain because we hoped the woodgrain to come through) and it simply did not look anything like the cool brown tester they said it matched.

• Fast forward a couple more weekends and this is what it is looking like now. This time we went with a clear sealer (Behr DeckPlus Transparent Waterproofing Wood Finish). It still needs another coat, but it certainly brings out the tone of the wood without dramatically altering the color (simply looks a little deeper and richer). Looks even better in real life – and a lot more wrapped up than it did before we stained it.

Building A New Construction Home

• First, a big thanks to everyone who weighed in on this topic for us (both publically and privately). We mentioned Dusty from the journal All Things G&D in particular, and you can see some of her posts about building her “dream home” here.

• And again, if you’d like more info about our process of working with a custom builder on a showhouse, you can tour the wrapped up home or read about the process of designing it.

• And if you missed the story of sourcing our own secondhand diamond-paned door for the duplex, you can see some of it in this Instagram post, along with this follow-up photo with The Remarkable Amy who brought it to us from Philly since she happened to be passing through for a soccer tournament with her daughter. It was door fate!

• And if you have any pointers for people considering building a new construction home, please let us know on Facebook or Instagram!

We are Digging

• The shorts I am loving are the $19 Goodfellow & Co Linden shorts from Target. I have already had trouble finding the standard colors in my size in store, so online may be your best bet. Simply be aware that Plenty of their shorts share the “Linden” name, even some in distinct materials or waistbands (one is in fact drawstring). I ordered the 9″ inseam versions in Slate Blue and Williamsburg Navy (shown at right above). I thought the latter was gray, but it was in fact a seersucker fabric and NOT made from a stretch material, so I am returning it. But I truly like the slate blue ones – and as predicted, I picked up a second pair.
• If you want to get in on Sherry’s Instagram obsession, be sure to follow @CheapOldHouses

If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to You Need A Budget (YNAB) for sponsoring this episode. Sign up at YNAB.com/YHL to get your first three months free!

Thanks for listening, folks!

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