Who's Who

I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to the "men behind the screen" - without them, we would be enjoying a regular summer, without any homework! But, what fun would that be?

Who's idea was this anyway?

Brad O'Donnell, BOA Design/Build, Arlington MA

Well, OK, so maybe it wasn't actually his idea to renovate our house. In all honesty, I don't know exactly who or when we came up with that one - I think we started out by getting quotes to repaint the exterior! But it wasn't until we met architect Brad O'Donnell that we had a real design that we loved - a plan that gives us the space we were looking for, and also totally changes the look of our house for the better. As my brother Paul said, "it's a game changer!" A transplant from California, Brad has been key to this project - and is an all-around super nice guy to boot.

So, who's building this thing?

Bob Cataldo, HG Construction, Inc., Lexington MA

Last summer, while going on my morning walks in the neighborhood, I watched a house getting renovated a few streets away from us. Every day, I'd see the guys out there at the crack of dawn. I loved how the house came out, and the construction seemed to always move along steadily. When we started our process of figuring out what we were going to do and who was going to do it, we interviewed a LOT of builders. When Bob came in to take a look at Brad's design - in fact, we all sat down together to discuss the project - we could tell it would be a great team. Bob's got years of experience and is a no-nonsense guy - easy to work with, and lets me call him "Bob the Builder." Hey, I've got two kids who grew up watching that show - how can I not call him that?! Can he build it? Yes, he can!

My husband Tim and Bob talking about the excavation