Whatsup! My name is Jeff Havixbeck and I am a full-time contractor and part-time writer.
You are probably wondering who is this guy and how did I get here?
So that’s where I’ll start. I grew up around parents who were the ultimate DIYers. They took a small dated home, renovated, and added an addition. This became their home, and our familys’ home for the next 44 years. Over that time they continued to renovate, update rooms, or, at a minimum, re-arrange furniture every few months. It wasn’t long before I was hanging around Dad’s shop wielding a hammer or learning how to use one of the various saws, and tagging along with Mom to the local paint store to check out paint chips. Needless to say, the DIY life was engrained in me from day 1!
Check out this awesome video of their home when it was listed for sale.
Fast forward many years later and I’ll be the first to tell you that I did not take the most traditional route to my current career as a contractor and entrepreneur. I have always been fascinated with science and medicine, which led me to university where I completed an undergrad in microbiology. I moved cities and continued on to graduate school, where I studied immunology, eventually earning my PhD. During this time my (now) fiancee and I bought our first house- a fixer upper, of course. We have spent the last several years remodelling and sculpting the near 100 year old house into our current home. The reno bug was back, and this time here to stay.
There were many events that ultimately led to where and who I am today. Maybe, none more so than the passing of the person I looked up to most in this world, my Dad. He was diagnosed with cancer in early 2017 and passed away a few months later, at the young age of 67. As the shockwave settled, it led me to question what I truly wanted out of life.
I swapped my lab bench for a work bench and my pipettes for a hammer. One thing that remained consistent during this transition was my love of writing. Much like publishing a scientific paper to share your findings with the academic community, I needed a creative outlet to share and discuss the current projects that fill my plate. Cue this blog. I love to discuss building, design, real estate, DIY projects, pretty much anything to do with the home, and that is what you will find here. The first half of the fun involves doing the work, and the second half comes when I get to share my experiences with you. In turn, hopefully, I can learn a thing or two about your current projects, weekend makeovers, or massive renovations.
If you have come upon The Homestud, I know you are just like me- creative, hardworking, a brain moving at a mile a minute, and more projects than you can count. Maybe you too get frustrated when you look at new housing developments and long for the time when every house of the street didn’t look identical. So please comment, share your stories, and join this growing community of like-minded home reno-ers!
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