Reverb10: Make

December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

Building and creating things with my own two hands is something I love to do. (At least that's what I get out of today's prompt) It keeps me from being technology fatigued in my daily life as a graphic designer and keeps me tied to my roots growing up on the family farm. In 2008 I built a rather impressive swing/play set for my then six month old daughter using a large truck load of lumber, a circular saw and two drills. The amazing thing is that it only took me about twelve hours of my own time and some help from my next door neighbor to move the large tower in to place.

My next project -- in terms of construction -- is to reconstruct my 111 year-old home's front porch. It looks to have been added in the late 1940s or early 1950s -- around the same time as the rear addition of the house and is showing its age. I hope to make it a more livable space as it is currently only usable from late April through early October. It sat mostly unused for the first few years of owning the house but has since become my daughter's favorite place to play while still indoors. At two years old, her toys have become a fixture in the porch -- sharing space with some porch-worthy furniture.

I want this space to be an almost four-season space. New, better-insulated windows, insulation in the ceiling, walls and floor; not to mention a better, more solid foundation, inviting front steps and a period-appropriate front door. It is the one thing most lacking about the home's exterior and I can envision actually using it. Whether it's playing there more often with my daughter, working on the laptop as birds chirp just outside the windows or watching snow fall as we sit, as a family, playing some simple board game. This project will be my largest yet but I know it will happen in the next two years. That's my goal and my goals happen.