Blog Entries Tagged House

Here's a list of all 13 blog entries tagged House here at derek.broox.com. I've also got 149 other things related to House.

  • How I do home automation posted

    After 20 years of tinkering with home automation, I thought it'd be fun to blog about how I've come to approach things. First, the background My entry into home automation was tinkering with old school, X10 powerline/RF lamp and outlet modules that were paired with remotes, motion sensors, and a "smart" module that you could program via a PC to begin adding automation. Since then, I've played with tons of brands and ecosystems, but I've primarily used Zigbee, Zwave, wifi/mesh, and PoE devices. I've gone pretty deep with Hue, Lutron, Arlo, Ring, Nest, NuHeat, Sonos, Amazon, Google, Apple, Liftmaster, Bond, and other random generic smart devices. To tie the ecosystems together, I've mostly used SmartThings and HomeAssistant, but have researched and played with many others... read more

  • Our Master Bathroom Remodel posted

    So, after having every single room in our house anywhere from 25-95% done for several months, I finally decided to buck up and finish a room... The master bathroom/closet... and I'm gonna tell you all about it. Our goals were pretty simple. Make it bigger, more modern, more accommodating, and more "spa like" - a phrase thrown around wayyyyy too often during the entire process... read more

  • Leaving Southeast Rio Drive posted

    Seriously, who in the hell puts an offer on a house when they're 22 years old? ... and then stays in that house for the next 11-12 years? Me, apparently. It was a house on Southeast Rio Drive in Suburban, Ankeny, Iowa, that... read more

  • Brooks' Dead End Ranch posted - 3 comments

    After 6+ years of wanting to move out of the suburban house that I bought when I was 24 years old, Kari and I finally found a new home to move into. We must've looked at/walked through 100 potential houses or lots (no exaggeration) over the years, but our picky asses could never find one we liked. Our top 3 priorities were pretty simple: a ranch home, within 5 miles of downtown, and garage space for 3+ cars and a workshop. Our other top priorities were: an open floor plan for entertaining, walk out basement, back yard privacy, an office near main living areas, 3 bedrooms, full master bath, full guest bath, a powder room, and to be near bike trails. Our "nice-to-haves" were: something unique and awesome with garage/shed space in the back yard for hanging out, yard space and windows on the south side for gardens, hops, and herbs, a back yard/porch on the north east side for shady afternoons, and a front yard on south west side to melt the driveway in the winter... read more

  • Optiplex'd! posted - 3 comments

    Oh man, so I got a new computer at work. Dell Optiplex GX620 -P4 HT 3ghz -2gb RAM -150gb HD -DVD ROM/CD-RW -And a ball mouse, wtf? I need an optical mouse in this piece. Combined with my new dual LCD monitors, I'm loving life at work. I haven't even had it setup for a full day yet and I already want to get a new setup for home... read more

  • 82 Degrees in This Piece posted - 6 comments

    This weekend was pretty laid back, we had people and dogs visit Friday and Saturday night. I worked on the Rebel's Advocate video a bit. I started organizing some storage and found GOLD. I will soon scan what I found and post it. We also grilled out at Doug's, hung out with Nick and Nicole, etc... read more

  • House Warming Party, ICP, and the Ring posted - 13 comments

    So this weekend was awesome. Rich, Ben, Kevi, Lindsey, and Steph all came up to stay with us. We had a house warming party Friday night, which was really fun. We had about 30 people show up and almost everyone brought beer, wine, or alcohol... so my refrigerator is insane... read more

  • Homeownership is Weird posted - 11 comments

    I just wrote this big long article about how owning a house is weird and when I hit submit my session timed out and I lost the article. I really hate web sites. Anyway... I've lived in my house for about 3 weeks now. So far it's been really cool... read more

  • I Do Not Live in an Apartment posted - 6 comments

    Well, I moved into my house. Friday I took off work at noon to start moving, then my parents showed up around 8ish to help out for the weekend. We moved a lot of stuff. It was lame. I'm so tired and sore... read more

  • Update? Packing and Moving posted - 8 comments

    Yeah it's been a while since I've updated, which doesn't happen to often on this site. I've basically spent most of my time packing for the big move. Actually I can't really think of anything cool that I've done recently... except get more poor. Anyway, today I got the keys to my house... read more

  • domicile'd posted - 8 comments

    Yesterday I put an offer on this house... and they accepted. I move in at the end of September. -2,000 sqft total --1,300 sqft main level --700 finished sqft walkout basement -loft office -fenced back yard -only 5 years old -wood floors -etc Guess I have to film a new cribs episode soon. read more

  • Father Skirts posted - 2 comments

    Hmmm, the weekend.Friday, Kari and I saw dodgeball. funny movie. Kevi also finished editing the third nutpunt video, which is sort of a continuation of the characters and ideas of our "I against I" video. Today he got it all converted to flash and uploaded to the site: www.nutpunt.com. Too bad the flash is a little choppier than the actual video (especially the first time you watch it)... read more

  • House, money, skating, business, success, happiness posted - 10 comments

    Man... Due to this lame cold weather I've been getting really bored which has caused me to do a ton of thinking lately (and way too many updates on this site). Watching Jason move into a 4 bedroom brick house in a nice neighborhood is really starting to take a toll on me. I have no freedom in this apartment. The lame brass door handles, and dining room light are really bothering me... read more