I normally work on small to medium sized projects, but I worked full time for the first nine months of 2026 on a much, much bigger project – a single family home on Lake Neshonoc that we remodeled completely and will operate as a short term rental (LakeHouseWestSalem.com). I thought a fun way to share about the project would be to show some before and after photos because the contrast is so remarkable. I also included a few snapshots during demo and construction. I think the three season room to covered deck transformation was the most interesting so I included a few more of that sequence.

The home we bought was a single wide mobile home set on a cinderblock foundation with an addition on the front for a garage, bathroom/laundry, and shop on a slab. The back addition included a three season room and an extension of the living room/dining room. A trussed roof spanned all the way from front to back.

People sometimes say, “we took it down to studs.” Well in this case, we took it down to studs, then took out most of the studs. We reframed every wall in the whole house piece by piece with the exception of the west garage wall and the north wall. Although, we actually reframed part of the north wall when we moved the location of the front door and reframed the guest bedroom window. The only thing left of the original mobile home is the floor joists. Every other bit of it is gone.

The “we” on this project were me, Karyn, Shane, Brian, Jesse, Justin, Elijah, Landen, Dani, Sydney, Sadie, Hunter, Ethan, Evan, Doug, Mitch, and a few others, as well as Bahr Electric, Berger Plumbing, JC Drywall, Goodbye Trees, Weiser Concrete, J&J Concrete Professionals, Advanced Seamless Gutters, G&T Heating and Cooling, Overhead Door of the 7 Rivers Region, Johanningmeier Stone, Shafer’s Marine Service, Elite Insulation, and Union State Bank. The professional photos were taken by Red Canvas Photography. I appreciate everyone who contributed. It was definitely a team effort.

[Click on a photo to open in Lightbox mode. On a phone you may have to click the circled “i” to see the captions where I’ve provided some descriptions.]