Now that you are a little acquainted with the back story, let’s continue on. It was the summer of 2008…
As I admitted in my previous post, instead of DIY, our studio was going to be DIYWLALOWFOWC. For those not in the know, that stands for do-it-yourself-with-lots-and-lots-of-work-for-our-wonderful-contractor. (As a side note, if you are anywhere near the Ann Arbor or Toledo areas, hire Peter J. Kane. You will not regret it.) In July of 2008 our shed came down, and the project sort of officially started.
The more we thought about what we wanted to do next, the more we realized that we wanted some professional advice to minimize those “oh I wish we thought about that” moments after the money was spent. With my husband’s work at the Ann Arbor District Library, he went to the architect who designed two of the libraries new branches, Carl Luckenbach for advice. Looking for a suggestion as to who we should go to, imagine our surprise and delight when they took the (incredibly small scale compared to their normal work) job!! Let’s see, we said we wanted a two car garage, with “geek room” in the back, with stairs to the studio above, lots of natural light, a modern look, and a site plan that would best use the land we had and tie in with our existing home. Check, check, check, check, check, and check!
And now on to the exciting part. We broke ground in the spring of 2009.



So that’s it! It’s mid summer, our hands are sore from check writing already, and we have a little more firsthand experience with the slow bureaucracy of city government than we would like, but it is more than worth it. Our dream is becoming reality, and just standing in the dirt gives us goosebumps.
Check back soon for the next installment: As the Walls Go Up.