Nestled in the Northwest corner of the state of Iowa is a small chain of lakes known as the Iowa Great Lakes. Our family had a little cottage on West Lake Okoboji for about 15 years. Recently we purchased the house next door to raze, and we started to do our own.

The original part of this cabin, on the lake side, was built in the 1900s, and was deteriorating pretty rapidly. The newer part of the cabin, was added on in 1950. Due to the incline of the land, we were unable to have very good water pressure, and proper drainage for the sewer. The original cabin was two stories with a little over 1000 sq feet. The new place, will be a two story walkout, with 4000 sq feet.

Here are some of the photos of the demo:






Should be interesting building over the winter, as Iowa does not have the greatest weather.

 

Goodluck, looks like that will be lots of fun, nothing is more satisfying than building something like that from scratch with your own 2 hands and a little know how. I'm a little jealous, I've been looking for some building property up here in Canada but it's starting to get really expensive for anything within a decent drive time. I'd like to see some sketches of the new design!

 

sweet!

<- big fan of Boji (though not too impressed with a little place called "Boji Nights".

Good luck and keep us updated.

 

I plan on keeping a little postblog going of all the updates in building.

I have never actually been to Boji Nights, I have just heard bad things about it from everyone around there. They just opened a new strip joint South of town too, it is suppose to be amazing, as they fly girls in from all over to dance. I will have to investigate further.

I can't believe the real estate market there. Our real estate guy told us people are paying upwards of $75,000 per foot for shoreline property. Insane!

 

In IOWA!?

 

That is what we said. Luckily we were able to purchase our neighbors place and didn't need to find property anywhere else to build. Some places sell for alot, http://www.homes.com/Content/Listing...ropId=57232867, but they are pretty nice too.

 

^ - Holy crap. Didn't expect to see a house that much in Iowa.

 

And that is small town Iowa.

http://data.dmregister.com/milliondollarhomes/index.php

 

Damn, nice lake property! Lucky bastard.


Update with pics or die...

 

sweet. I did that a few years ago for my parents. Though we werent really able to increase the size of the building much due to high water marks and setbacks. We did add a nice loft though.

Keep us updated

 

I have a friend who bought a place on Okoboji for 500k+, and it was a dump. I'm not sure how much he put into it during the renovation, but he loves it there.


That rebuild is an excellent investment.

 

4 million dollars get you a huge fucking house

 

Getting the foundation ready to pour:

 

All poured:





Starting to frame the basement:

 

lookin good

 

damn, moving fast!

 

hot!

 

Trying to beat the weather to get it all framed so that they builders are able to work inside when it is coldest.

 

 

Those contractors aren't f'ing around. Looking good.

 

Damn, that place is looking good. Way bigger than I thought now that it's framed.


I guess the next step is plumbing and electric?

 

How's it coming?


I got invited out to Okoboji this summer. Wouldn't mind going, but that is a long haul with the boat and all.

 

Here are some updates from the weekend:

Lakeside:


Front entry:


Greatroom and 4 seasons porch:



Split entry:


Baxter check out the new kitchen:

 

lookin really good zero, cant wait to see it completed.

 

In time for summer?

 

End of March is the scheduled finish date. They may even finish before that as long as there are no hold-up with any of the remaining items being delivered (carpet, countertops, tile, appliances. etc.).

 

Some updates from today. We decided to go check on this for Easter weekend.

 

Looking really nice!

 

Wow, that looks really really nice, I'm jealous!

 

that looks really good!!

 

So when are we having a meet at this place??
j/k, looks really nice though. Crazy how fast they got that done.

 

What are the electric wires hanging down above the fireplace and in the kitchen?

 

awesome looking place!

 

beautiful! any chance we can get some pics of the view?

 

Great looking place.

 

Very nice! Love the floors!