About Fred
Hi! That’s me over on the right. I’m a 29-year-old home improvement nut living in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. I’m very happily married to Kim, and we’ve twin sons, H & J. (initials only online to protect their identity). We live in a traditional, 2-story, rectangular colonial – the kind they built by the thousands in the 1980s. We love our house, and will probably stay here for at least 10 more years (or until the projects run out, whichever comes first).
I’m really into the construction and materials side of home improvement. I get jazzed up doing projects like framing up walls, pouring self leveling mortar, or power washing a deck. Fortunately, our house needs a lot of that, and it’s where my limited home improvement talent lies. I could look at a color fan all day and all I’d see is a disorganized rainbow. Do the blue and yellow go together? I’m not sure – that’s why we’ve got Kim and Jocie.
As far as hobbies – well, there’s blogging, and working on the house, and blogging, and technology, and blogging. You get the idea. I’m a programmer by trade, so I take care of all the programming on this site. My day job can be pretty demanding, and this is a nice way to get away from it all and do something that’s pure fun. (And, I’m learning PHP and Cascading Stylesheets – you can’t go wrong with that!)
I really enjoy the community aspect of blogging. It’s great that I can meet people like Andy at Build a Better Bungalow, who at the time of my writing is working on a basement in Chicago – 1000 miles away from us – and is facing the same challenges in refinishing his basement. Jennifer, Lisa Rae, modernemama, Amalie – all people I would have never met if it weren’t for the online community we’ve got here. I love stopping by your sites – please keep them up!
You’ll see me around the house-blogosphere – always posting as Fred or Fred@OPC or something like that. I’m glad you stopped by! Come back again soon.
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12 Responses to About Fred
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April 30th, 2008 8:24 am
Nice to meet you Fred.
April 30th, 2008 9:14 am
I really appreciate the “how to” aspect of your blog. Thanks for the shout out
April 30th, 2008 9:39 am
Is it wrong to love drywall?
It is a great community– wouldn’t have been able to do this home reno without it!
Thanks for keeping up a great site.
April 30th, 2008 9:44 pm
Nice profile and picture. Good to know more about you Fred.
April 30th, 2008 10:23 pm
Gute nacht, Fred…thanks for the link and the kind words. I’ve been hiding in Germany on biz for the last week, but hope to get back into the swing of things here soon. We’ll see how long it takes for me to catch up and avoid the jetlag…those Euro-American flights are long (but not as bad as the U.S.-Australia marathon, let me tell you)…
Catch ya later…keep up the good work, of course…
April 30th, 2008 10:49 pm
Hey all, thanks so much for stopping by! We’re constantly trying to build the community and always appreciate getting to know everyone out there.
@modernemama: We dream of being one of the big home improvement sites (check out http://www.askthebuilder.com). That will probably never happen. We aren’t experts, Tim Carter is. But, there’s a whole lot of information that isn’t covered out on the net.. that’s why we do as much “how to” stuff as possible – try to make the net a better place.
If you find anything we post useful, please consider citing it on your own site!
May 1st, 2008 10:16 am
It’s good to meet you, too!
May 1st, 2008 8:14 pm
Great Job Fred!!!
Lisa
May 2nd, 2008 12:59 pm
Thanks for the blog- it’s be extremely helpful to help us plan for the next projects we’re taking on!
May 2nd, 2008 10:40 pm
Hello Fred,
ager’s wife whose blog I also have only just come across. I am on the same quilting forum as Lisa and was responding to a landscaping quilting thread/query. I don’t know anything but it sounded interesting.
I live in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia after moving from Brisbane Queensland. I have been involved in two house renovations previous to where I am now, but have yet to do anything here, even after 5 years.
It’s a good solid home about 26 years old but looks and feels tired….who wouldn’t with 5 kids, 2 dogs and 5 cats and assorted ‘ring ins’ charging around. I am toying with the idea of starting on renovations and decorating as Summer approaches here in the Southern Hemisphere….this time on my own. Everything will be self hands on and as cost effective (cheap) as possible…LOL I have learnt heaps on the renovation journey before this but am a novice still.
I look forward to popping by and reading your blog with interest.
Thanks for sharing,
Shirley
May 3rd, 2008 12:22 pm
Shirley, welcome! Your site @ live looks great. Thanks for stopping by. I’m sure after 5 years there are lots of things you can get started with in your home. Our two kids create plenty of opportunities for renovation. – Adding in cats and dogs and you’ve got a perfect storm for needing a reno.
Glad you stopped by. Hope you’ll continue to! We’re planning to be here for a while
May 5th, 2008 11:11 am
I’m just catching up on my feed reading after a busy weekend, so I’m obviously a little late to this party. Great introduction, Fred. Thanks!