Iowa Winter Fun & Life in 2021

Hello 2021!

Iowa started off the new year with nearly a foot of snow. Exciting for those who like to play in the snow, but also challenging for those who remove the snow. Our household experienced both sides of this dilemma.

I am grateful we took some time to slow down and recharge over the holidays, we certainly needed that. If I could just have one week every quarter to sit at the beach and refill my cup, I think I could go on at this intense pace of life indefinitely! Not too much to ask, right? Ha!

In all seriousness, we are using the beginning of this year to organize our business to the highest level. I am a big advocate for efficiency, and gathering receipts for taxes has shown this is an area that is lacking (does anyone else have a large plastic tub full of paper to sort through?).

We have a couple large projects that will begin once the ground is un-frozen, until then its clean and purge time at home. Each year I feel the need to really minimalize my house around January/February. Maybe it stems from trying to get every last piece of glitter left over from Christmas, or just that I’m over the clutter of the holidays. Either way, it’s time for it to all leave my house and as a bonus I am reminded of what my kitchen counters look like. I consider it my yearly surprise. Here are a few photos!

Also, we will be selling our house soon to move to the farm, so I guess the clean and purge is currently serving two purposes! We don’t quite have our house plans finalized yet at the farm, and thus no start date, but there is not much that can be done right now in the frozen tundra of Iowa in January.

Speaking of that, it is supposed to snow again tonight so I had better tidy up some things outside. I hope this post finds you safe and healthy!

Talk soon!
-Rachael

Farewell 2019!

It’s mind boggling to think back to all that has happened this past year at APS Design/Construction.  We completed some huge projects for clients (hello boathouse!), traveled to Alaska, and even snatched up an original 1900’s Iowa farmhouse for renovation.

The Boathouse!

Boathouse side view

Since we are on the topic, I will share that I routinely am asked how we do so much.  ‘Do you guys ever sleep?’ is a very common question, and the answer is yes!  Every day!  I will admit we have a lot on our plate, but time management and remaining flexible from one minute to the next is how we get it all done.  We are also blessed with a small army of people that are willing to watch our daughter at a moment’s notice. 

Alaska 2019

Glacier Bay National Park

Ketchikan, Alaska

Looking ahead, 2020 is shaping up to have some big changes in store for us.  Obviously we have the farmhouse to finish, which should be fully completed in early spring.  Then there is Adam’s life-long dream of owning a big piece of land…which we might try to tackle this year.  There are a couple other things in the mix that I will have to update on later, once plans are finalized. 

At this time last year, I had no idea that we would take part in everything that we did in 2019, and you all were a big part in making that happen.  Thank you for continuing to visit our website and engaging on our social media posts, as well as sharing/recommending us for projects. 

Thank you for your continued support while we navigate this journey and strive to attain our goals. We have always been big dreamers, and 2020 will be no different!

Happy New Year Friends!

-Adam and Rachael

Bring it, 2019!

I have never been a person who makes resolutions for the new year, but recently I have caught on to the idea of having a ‘word’ for a focal point behind fresh ideas and goals.

This year, i’m going with the word ‘visibility’.

For those of you who may be new to our community, 2018 was a big year for APS as we branched out into the tech world and constructed this fancy website that you are currently viewing. While APS Construction and APS Design are not new businesses, the idea of documenting and publishing content to a website was (and still is) very new to us.

The suggestion to create a website came up about a year ago, and to be honest I tried to ignore it for as long as I could, as the thought of taking the time to learn the behind-the-scenes technical details seemed daunting. But the need for a way to organize and showcase our work to better serve our clients was not going to go away, so in August I tackled this project head on. And while this website is still a work in progress and receives almost daily updates and tweaks, it certainly is nice to be able to send a client here to view past projects instead of trying to scroll through thousands of photos on a phone.

We have some big plans in store for the coming year, and increasing our visibility will be in the background of all of them. Soon you will be able to find APS Design’s ‘blog’ portion on Apple News, I will share the official link for anyone interested when everything is done being approved by Apple.

I can also share that I am in the final stages of developing a ‘commerce’ portion of this site, where customers can easily purchase the personalized book sets that you might have seen on our Instagram or Pinterest accounts. This should hopefully streamline the process and make things easier on both ends, but first I have to get through the legal side of things and draft ‘terms of service’ and register to collect state sales tax and all of that fun stuff.

As other activities become more finalized I will be sharing them, and as always I will be posting our current client and DIY projects to give you some inspiration for your own farmhouse. We don’t know all that 2019 has in store for us, but we are ready to work hard and see where this journey takes us.