Welcome to One Project Closer

If you’ve been reading this blog for some time, you’ve probably already figured out what OPC is all about. If this is your first or second time around, welcome! We love having new visitors! Either way, this post will get you caught up to speed on who we are and what we’re doing.

(By the way, OPC stands for One Project Closer, (not Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as one commenter suggested). Since the acronym is easier to say and type, we’ve basically adopted it for use throughout the site).

What’s With the Name?

Each of us has a home. Whether we rent, own, or live with other family members, we get up and go to bed in the same place (most of the time). Most of us are working to make our home and community better, either through remodeling, community involvement, or simply painting a room in the house a more cheerful color. Each of us envisions the perfect home and community for our family and our neighbors. And we work to get there - one project or cause at a time.

Anyone who’s owned a home for more than a few years knows that the list of house and community projects never ends. But that doesn’t stop us from tackling them, because every project moves us One Project Closer to the perfect home, or community, or life. So that’s what the site is about: tips, advice, experiences, products, reviews, giveaways, finances, how-tos, tools, and more that help us build better homes, communities, and lives. Whether we get to the perfect end, well, that’s not really that important, is it?

So Who’s Writing Here?

In short: Fred, Kim, Ethan, and Jocie. We’re four best friends living in the same community in the suburbs of Baltimore County, Maryland. We’re married (Fred to Kim, Ethan to Jocie), and have three homes between us. Fred & Kim live in a four bedroom traditional colonial in the back of a cul-de-sac. Ethan & Jocie live in an end unit townhome that backs to the woods on another court. Fred and Kim own another townhome in a nearby community that they rent out.

Our community has about 450 homes on 130 acres, and is governed by an active (but not too intrusive) Homeowners’ Association. We’ve a nearby community pool, and are blessed to have a number of other friends living close by.

Are You Professionals?

This question makes us laugh. The answer is no, we aren’t. All of us have day jobs that we love. We’re two families who work on our homes at night and on weekends. You should treat the information provided on this site just like a friend telling you about their own home and experiences. Sometimes we write instructions, reviews, or answers in an authoritative style because that’s what’s worked for us. That doesn’t necessarily mean we know what we’re doing (and doesn’t mean what we did was safe).

Please realize that some types of home improvement can be very dangerous. You should always consult a professional before undertaking a job you aren’t qualified to perform. Read our disclaimer for more information on this.

How Can I Contact You?

You can always e-mail us at oneprojectcloser@gmail.com. We check that address regularly. If you’ve a question/comment about a particular article on the site, you can just leave a comment on that article. We read all of the comments on the site (even if the article is old) and respond either with a follow-on comment or by replying directly via e-mail. If you have our personal e-mail addresses already, feel free to use them. We generally like people; we just don’t put our addresses out in the public.

Do You Do Product / Service Reviews?

OPC receives thousands of hits per month and is an excellent venue to get your product/service recognized. We’re happy to review any product, but realize that our reviews are always honest, objective, and fair (even if you give us the product for free). So before you ask for a review, make sure your product lives up to your claims.

Can We Send You Money?

Yes, you can. But you probably aren’t likely to, so how about doing the next best thing. If you see something on this site that’s helped you out, there are two ways to help us out in return:

1. Cite the article on your own blog / website. This lets others know about OPC and it tells the search engines that people think our content is valuable, which in turn lets more people find our site. When possible, cite content with anchor text from the name of the article.
2. Consider social bookmarking the page. Services like Technorati, Digg, Reddit, and others let you bookmark and share sites. You can find an Add This button at the bottom of every post that’ll let you bookmark the page.

Of course, we also enjoy when people comment on posts just to tell us they like the content. Everyone needs a little encouragement once in a while, and the conversation keeps us interested.

Do Your Readers Visit Every Day?

Our guess is no. Most regular readers subcribe to our feed with an RSS news reader. You can subscribe in a number of other ways as well, just follow this link to see your subscription options. The four of us each subscribe to blogs that we connect with the most. Sometimes those overlap. We apologize for writing too many comments on your sites

If you’re unfamiliar with how to get started in an RSS reader, just send us an e-mail at oneprojectcloser@gmail.com. We’ll help you out.

Do You Recommend Any Other Sites?

We’re huge fans of the entire houseblogs.net community. In general, we visit sites of the folks who read and comment here frequently. You can check out the blogs list on the left for places we frequent.