Evan Agee: Live from Richmond Indiana

As those who visit my Flickr account on a regular basis probably know, Kristen and I are in the process of trying to buy a new house. The search is primarily motivated by our need for more office space and something that will serve as a more professional environment for Agee Design. We’re also looking to get back to our hometown of Centerville.

We’ve looked a lot of houses and we’re currently waiting to hear back on an offer we made on a house right at the edge of Centerville. If this offer doesn’t get accepted we’ll likely put our search off for a few months or so.

We bought our current home almost exactly two years ago and it was a much easier process. The biggest hurtle in those days going through the process of getting financing. Today we have a much different set of challenges, not the least of which is selling our house.

Hopefully I’ll post news of the offer being accepted soon. We should hear back either way today. If you’d like to see more than a few photos of the house, I’ve got a few online.

Hello everyone! Been quite some time since I wrote last and there’s been a lot going on the last month. All of our projects around the house from my last post have been completed other than the privacy fence and the floor in the kitchen.

The kitchen remodel was a huge success, I’ll be getting some final photos here soon but we’re so excited with the change. Our entire house is now remodeled and every room is exactly the way we want it. The office is by far my favorite improvement. As you can see from the photo on the right it’s a wonderfully warm and inviting yet contemporary room. I haven’t worked in the living room with my notebook once since the room has been finished, I love being in here. The new office was even featured on Unplggd.com!

Work has been fantastic. I had a staggeringly huge first quarter and I’m amazed that I even made it through. Agee Design has been a huge adventure and I’ve grown so much through the experience. I’m so thankful to have a career that I love so much and to be able to work with so many wonderful people. I’m hoping to take a couple of big steps in the next year or so, but I’ll wait and see how things go. More on that later.

Kristen and I are planning a vacation to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan in early June and I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be another road trip like our trip last summer to Niagara Falls and Alenxandria Bay New York. I’m really looking forward to getting away for a bit and recouping a little.

It has been a very busy and eventful year so far. Not only have things been very busy with work but Kristen and I have also been taking this opportunity to get many things done around the house that we’ve been planning for the last few years.

Office Remodel
Not long ago I built a closet in our office to add some storage space. We went ahead and slapped some paint up as well even though there was a little bit of cosmetic cleanup that needed to be done to the walls. We’ve also noticed a place on the wall that was very weak appeared to be slightly damaged from water, so we decided to have ProSource Construction come in and take a look. As it turns out we had water coming in from the bottom left side of the window frame. We decided to take all of the drywall off of that particular wall so we could make sure there wasn’t any major damage that might need repair. Thankfully it wasn’t damaged that badly at all, we sealed up the area that was leaking, re-insulated the entire wall and we now have new drywall over that wall as well. We’re also having Rick fix some cosmetic blemishes in the room before repainting the entire room. Once all of that is done we’re having light maple colored laminate flooring installed in the room and probably a ceiling fan put up. Then that room is finished!

Dead Tree Removal
In our back yard were 3 very large, old trees. They were one of the things that I loved most about this house when we bought it. They were incredibly tall and big around and the provided great shade to the patio throughout the summer. Sadly 2 of the 3 were in really bad shape and were showing signs of significant decay, so we decided to have a local reputable tree service come and take a look. I wasn’t interested in having the trees removed unless they really needed to be and after they showed us a few tell-tale signs I was convinced that it was necessary. Both trees were removed completely and the stumps ground down. It’s very sad to have them gone, the yard has really suffered aesthetically because of it but I guess it’s worth it to not have to worry about an 80-foot Silver Maple limb crashing on your house one day… We planted a small Bing Cherry tree yesterday in the back yard, but it’s going to be a while before it gives us much shade.

Some New Carpet
We finally got around to replacing the unpleasant (and stained) carpet in 2 of the 3 bedrooms. We were able to get remnants for both rooms so it was very inexpensive and really made a big difference in those rooms.

Minor Kitchen Improvements
We’ve held off on doing any work on the kitchen thinking that it would end up being the largest and most expensive renovation we’d be doing to the house. However, after our bathroom project we felt ready to take it on and confident that it would be an easy project in comparison. For now we’re doing pretty basic improvements, painting, bead board, chair rail and probably painting the cabinets. We looked into getting new cabinets and totally redoing the room but it was just too expensive. The minor improvements we’re making will make a big difference on their own.

Privacy Fence
One of the improvements I’m most excited about is our decision to build a privacy fence around our back yard. Our back yard faces an alley and a several other houses which leaves the back yard feeling a little too exposed. We’d also like to be able to let Pepper be outside more so she can run around and get some exercise. Hopefully we’ll be starting that project in the next month or so.

We’ve got some other small improvements planned as well, all of which will bring us to a finish line in our home improvement marathon. I’m sure I’ll have photos and other blog posts as the projects go forward.

A friend recently sent me a link to the video file below. It’s called the Melodyne Plugin and it’s from a company called Celemony and it’s amazing. Tuning enhancement is something that’s been around for some time, but this is something I never thought would be possible.

I purchased the current version of their plugin for my Logic Express setup and I plan on upgrading to 2.0 (the first version to include their Direct Note Access technology) when it’s released this fall.

Celemony Melodyne Direct Note Access

Enjoy!

I play guitar and sing background vocals for a group called Unseen. The other members of the group include Jason Allen on bass, Jeremy Hendricks on drums and Mitchell Agee on vocals. We just had our 3rd practice this last Sunday and things are starting to come together very nicely. So far we’ve been learning some songs I’ve written over the last few years, which is very humbling. Here is a video from our last practice playing a song called “The One”. It’s a little heard to hear some of the parts but oh well. I’d love your comments and feedback! I’ve also included the lyrics below.

The One

Words and music by Evan Agee

I see you as the night turns to day
The sun begins to shine, forgetting all the troubles of yesterday
I see you and the clouds roll away
The sky bares its blue, for you

You’re nothing like my mother and you’re nothing like my friends
and you’re nothing like the woman like the woman I thought I would be with
and you’re nothing like the girls that I’m always chasing after
oh you’re nothing, nothing but the one.

I had heard when I found the girl for me
love would take control and guide us to our destiny
I had heard everyone has someone
one that’s meant to be for you

You’re nothing like my mother and you’re nothing like my friends
and you’re nothing like the woman like the woman I thought I would be with
and you’re nothing like the girls that I’m always chasing after
oh you’re nothing, nothing but the one.