Back in November, I wrote about the F.O.O.L.I.S.H. Project:

F*&^%$# Obnoxious Ostentatious Luxuriously Irreverent Silly House

Mindy and I are doing something I NEVER thought I’d do; scrape a home and build a new one. Time for an update.

F.O.O.L.I.S.H. Project: Update!

This project started back in 2024. Mindy and I had purchased a decrepit home in a really great location. Our goal was to renovate it and then move into it eventually. It was about half the size of our current home, so it would be a good size space to live in post-kids. After much deliberation and planning, we scraped it and started over. Read the story here: https://www.1500days.com/the-very-big-f-o-o-l-i-s-h-project/

It’s been 140 days since I published the previous post and much has progressed. Here is what the home looked like back then:

And here is what it looks like today:

Here’s is what has happened since the last update:

Fancy Heat: To heat the home, I wanted hydronic floor heating. This is a system that uses warm water in PEX in to heat the home. The tubing is underneath the floor. However, hydronic systems are uncommon which makes it difficult to find an installer. I managed to get one quote and it was about $120,000. No thanks! I decided to take on the project myself. It took an immense amount of planning and a lot of labor, but I got it done for about $18,000.

I’m using an electric boiler which will use a TON of electricity (80 amp circuit!). But a huge photovoltaic array (24 x 450 watt panels) will more than offset my voracious electron consumption.

Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV): This home is super tight, so I need a way to bring fresh air into the envelope. An ERV does this by continually exchanging air, but capturing the heat and humidity.

Similar to the floor heating, ERVs are obscure and expensive to have installed. I had someone ballpark the system at $40,000. The materials were about $15,000, so I saved $25,000 by DIYing it:

It was a fun job. A big part of the joy of life is solving puzzles. MMM calls it voluntary hardship. It was a lot of work figuring out all of my runs, but it was also very rewarding.

Windows/sliding doors: I don’t like noise. I also don’t like drafty homes that waste energy. For windows and sliding doors, I went with fiberglass, triple-pane windows from Alpen. Alpen is a local manufacturer that has a great reputation.

Rough electric: I had contemplated doing this myself, but am really glad I outsourced it. The electricians did a great job.

Rough plumbing: I had also thought about doing this myself and am glad I didn’t. It was a lot of work and the plumber was a pleasure to work with.

Insulation: I had a layer of foam sprayed to coat the envelope of the home. Then the cavities were topped off with fiberglass. The foam will make the home tight.

Deck: The home doesn’t have much of a backyard, but compensates with an expansive deck.

Cladding: The home is mostly stucco. But I’m also adding a PVC based product that looks like wood to the front facade. Real wood gets cooked here in the Colorado sun, so I’m avoiding that.

The Big Bad Heat Pump

Not everything has been great. I wanted a heat pump to provide cool air in the summer and also provide backup heat. A floor heating system takes a long time to bring a house up to temperature, so a mini-split system would be a great way to supplement the floor heat.

The system was installed back in January and still isn’t working. I won’t go into details because I’m not sure what went wrong. It could have been a mistake from someone who worked on the system or a lemon of a unit. But it’s been over two months and the thing still isn’t working. I’m out almost $30,000. I should have gone with a simple air conditioning system or used a more experienced installer.

What’s Left

Metal roof: This is going on RIGHT NOW. I just walked past the home and saw this:

We have hail here frequently which destroys asphalt shingles. I’ll never have to replace my roof. If the roof gets dented from hail, it doesn’t matter since you can’t see it.

A metal roof makes installing solar panels much easier. Instead of prying up shingles to install mounts, I can clamp them to the standing seam.

Solar panels: This home is all-electric. Because I’m DIYing solar, it will cost around $8,000 for the system. $8,000 is a small price to pay for a tiny utility bill ($20 monthly service charge) and free EV charging (we have a Chevy Bolt and a Tesla Model Y) forever.

Interior Painting: The home will be mostly white. Easy and simple.

Flooring: The home will be all tile. This is slightly weird for a Colorado home, but:

• I don’t like carpet! Yech! We’ll have rugs to make the home cozier and quieter.
• The tile will act as a big heat sink for the heated floors.

Trim: Simple design, painted white.

Kitchen and vanities: I would have been fine with IKEA, but Mindy wanted to go a little bigger. The home will have a mid-century feel, so the kitchen will look something like this:

Concrete: Driveways and a walkway.

Landscaping: Xeriscaping with some raised beds.

Big Money

We have spent about $685,000 so far. That’s a lot of money. However, Mindy and I will get a lot of joy living in this home for decades. I believe that in a couple of years when we reflect on the project, we will consider it money well spent. The home:

Has a floorplan that is efficient and pleasing. The kitchen, dining room and family room are one big flowing area. I don’t need a living room to put random souvenirs on display. The bedrooms aren’t small, but aren’t large either. You’re unconscious most of the time in a bedroom, so they are as big as they need to be and no bigger.

Is quiet. I don’t like noise. The triple pane windows will minimize noise from the outside. In the inside, many of the walls have mineral wool in the walls and a layer of sound absorbing material:

Is in a location that we love. We have a great community in Longmont. We also have a great group of friends in our little neighborhood. I’ve always thought that living in a great neighborhood is more important than the house itself. Here, we have both.

Has low maintenance systems. I’ll never have to paint the exterior or replace the roof. The boiler is a big resistor; much simpler than a modern, multi-stage furnace. I don’t want construction and home repairs to consume my life anymore.

Has one floor living. I love stairs now. Free exercise! In two decades, my knees may not feel the same.

Will be great for hosting people. We designed the basement to be a great guest area. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a dedicated entrance. Good friends and interesting new people are frequently passing through town and we look forward to hosting them.

Will be great for travel. We will xeriscape the yard and have no grass. This will allow us to be away for long periods of time.

Big Joy.

I’ve always been fascinated about how things get made. Even as a kid, I loved walking through structures as they were being built. I paid no attention to Keep Out signs and explored freely. This was one of my favorite books as a kid and I still have it:

Designing and working on this project has been a joy and very fulfilling. It’s also really nice to work with skilled tradesmen who really care about their craft. I haven’t been so fortunate in the past.

I had deep reservations about building a home. But now that the finish line is in sight, it has been one of most fun projects I’ve ever worked on. I expect that when I’m old and decrepit, I’ll look back on this time with fond memories.

Amsterdam!

Mindy and I are taking a brief break from home construction and heading over to Amsterdam for a river cruise in early April. Let me know if you’re in the area or have any suggestions for us!

Life is good.

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

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Mindy and I just got back from an adventure that took us to New Jersey, Amsterdam and Belgium. The Amsterdam and Belgium part was a river cruise we booked with FI Friends Travel, run by my friend, Kristen. Here was the itineray:

New Jersey Beach (3/26-3/29): First, we stopped to visit my good friend, Bob. Four other friends joined joined us at the Airbnb. The weather was cold, but the beaches were amazing.

Urecht (3/30-4/2): This was a pre-cruise adventure planned by my friends, Jolene and Darren from Dare to Draw Down.

FI Friends Travel River Cruise (4/2-4/9): And finally, the main event.

Random Thoughts: River Cruising, Netherlands, And Friendly Travel

River Cruise

A river cruise is much different from the big ship version. On a big ship, much of the experience is the boat itself; pools, waterslides, go-carts, zip lines, musicals, restaurants, on and on. A river cruise is much more sedate. The attractions are the cities that it stops in. The experience onboard was still fun, but on a much smaller scale with less options.

Watching the world go by from the ship was really good. On a big ship, you’re either docked or in the middle of the sea. On a river cruise, you can always see land. Watching the world go by as the sun goes down was very nice.

This cruise company (Avalon) fit my style. I overheard another passenger lamenting that one of the other river cruise lines had better food and passengers who dressed up. The food was good and the last thing I want to do on a vacation (or pretty much ever) is wear fancy clothes. Taco Bell*/Costco Casual for the win!

*The food was better than Taco Bell.

The guided tours were great. Avalon offered excursions, many of which were free. The free excursions were usually guided tours around the city. These were staffed by locals who did a great job.

Boat Versus Ship. When talking to the crew, I learned NOT to call the big floating thing a boat. Workers on the SHIP get angry if you call it a “boat.”

Netherlands and Belgium

The cities have an eclectic mix of old and new architecture, sometimes simultaneously.

Stunning cathedrals built 500 years ago.

Structures hundreds of years old with modern addtions.

A home in Utrecht that was built in 1924, but looks like it could have been built this year.

This one in Rotterdam reminded me of one of the spaceships from the Dune movies.

And whomever designed this one may have been under the influence of one of substances that Amsterdam is famous for legalizing!

The public transportation was spectacular. Even small towns had modern trains. Seeing this one in Ghent roll up in front of a castle amused me.

The Dutch are industrious people. I admit that prior to this trip, my knowledge of the Netherlands didn’t go much beyond dykes, windmills, and stroopwafels. Reclaiming 2,700+ square miles of land by use of windmills, canals, and dykes would be a monumental engineering achievement today. The Dutch did much of it in the 1600s! I’m not surprised that they build miraculous machines today.

Bike culture. It’s pretty great that so many use bicycles as a primary source of transportation. I saw:

• Children being transported in various ways; in seats mounted behind the handlebars, in a basket on the handlebars, and in a variety of cargo eBikes.
• One adult transporting another adult in a cargo bike. The guy being transported may or may not have been drunk.
• Families biking to school.

For the pedestrian, Amsterdam was slightly treacherous. Bikes have precedence over all other forms of transportation. And probably pretty much everything and anything else. Cyclists stop for no one. DO NOT STAND IN THE BIKE LANE!

The cars amused me. I knew I’d see a lot of electric vehicles (EVs) in the Netherlands. I didn’t expect to see all of the miniature EVs. I especially liked the 3 wheeled Carver that leans like a motorcycle when turning (bottom left below).

Bathrooms are difficult, but now you can tap-to-pee. It’s hard to find a place to go pee. It felt equivalent to NYC. Toilets are few and far between.

But one really neat thing is that public toilets now take credit cards. A quick tap and you’re *in*. This was a vast improvement over my last visit to Europe when I often found myself with a full bladder and an empty wallet. No Euro, no pee! Tap-to-pee makes it easy!

<TMI Alert!> There are some really cool bathrooms. One of them had a sound system and a screen in the stalls. When doing my, ahem business, I listened to soothing music and inspirational messages while watching deer run in slow motion. I could have stayed there all day.

I was particularly impressed with another bathroom that had a pee waterfall about 20′ long and 8′ high. It worked like this: You stand on a little ledge in front of the waterfall and then the water would start flowing faster. Picture a miniature Victoria Falls. And then you pee into the waterfall. It was stunning. I wish the ladies could experience something like this, but alas, anatomy.

I would have taken a photo, but doing so in the bathroom would have been super creepy. So here is a crappy picture:

</TMI Alert!>

The No Bullshit Attitude Is Good. There are semi-dangerous things all over Amsterdam and the Netherlands:

• There are canals everywhere and most don’t have guard rails of any kind. More than one drunk person must fall in every year.
• Small electric cars and mopeds are allowed in the bike lanes. And don’t forget that bikes DO NOT slow down for pedestrians. Or anything.
• Here is working windmill where the blade comes very close to the ground. It was also a house at one time. If you were the windmill caretaker and got too close, this thing could take you out! BONK!!! (I seriously wonder how many people got whacked by a windmill back in the old days when there were 1000s of them?!??)

One of the tour guides mentioned that it’s very difficult to sue in the Netherlands. If you do something stupid and injure yourself, like challenging the Windmill of Death in a Don Quixote-esque drunken stupor, it’s on you. This is much better than the I-got-rear-ended-at-2-mph-and-now-I’m-hiring-a-lawyer attitude in America.

Invader. The street artist Invader hangs 8-bit mosaics in random public places. Mindy happened to spot this one in Antwerp and it made my day (I’m easily amused. You should know this now from the Pee Waterfall).

Traveling With Friends

FI folks. It was really neat traveling with a large group of friends. Two of them, Randy and Laura from Laundromats101, are people that Mindy and I met way back in 2014. We don’t get together often, but when we do, it’s a great time. (Sorry Laura and Randy for this ridiculous photo.)

FI Friends Travel. Kristen did a spectacular job organizing this trip and taking care of us. While I didn’t expect it, she was constantly looking out for our group, always on top of everything. Sometimes I needed to be herded like a wayward, low-IQ sheep and Kristen always led me back to the flock. If the TV weather thing (her normal job) doesn’t work out, she could do this for a living. Thank you Kristen for a great trip!!

Planning for more planned travel. I’m a hopeless planner. I can easily fall down a mile deep rabbit hole on something as trivial as researching airport hotels. Going on organized trips minimizes my OCD because someone else has done all of the work. An organized trip is something I had never considered until fairly recently. Now, I’m certain I’ll be taking more including Kristen’s trip to Japan next year.

Note: Kristen, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry if I wasn’t supposed to let the neko out of the baggu.

Random stats:

• There were 38 people in the FI Friends Travel group. The ship had 160 passengers, so we were about 25% of the guests.
• I had crossed paths with about half of them at various FI gatherings prior to the cruise.
• There were 7 people from Longmont aboard.

Life Is Good

Reflecting back on the trip, I’m a fortunate human:

• Damn, I got to see a windmill! I even went inside a working one! As a kid, I dreamed of seeing the windmills of the Netherlands. Seeing them in person was really cool! 10/10!
• Security was my goal. Trips like this are icing on the cake. I didn’t save for FIRE, at least not the retire early part of it. I saved to create security and peace. Trips like this are just little bonuses. My life has somehow turned into a fairy tale that I never saw coming and still have a difficult time processing.
• I have a lot of good people in my life. I feel awkward around most humans. I’m bad at making small talk about sports, weather, TV shows, fashion, politics, or celebrity bullshit. The What do you do? question leads to severe awkwardness 99% of the time. But I’m almost instantly comfortable with people who I’ve met through the FI community. While we don’t actually talk about money that much, having FI as a core principle is a strong filter that results in a lot of other commonalities.
• We flew fancy this time. Before this trip, I had never flown anything but coach. I logged into the United app and saw that I could bid on a first class seat for $400 and points. I have no status with the airline, so our chances of getting the upgrade were remote. But we got it anyway. I’ve heard people talk up the fancy seats like they’re the best thing ever. I don’t quite agree with that, but it was a fun experiment and I’d consider it again for an international trip.
• Mega Mindy! On the trip, I learned that there is a superhero in the Netherlands named Mega Mindy. Now I have something fun to needle Real Mindy about.

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

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