Building & Renovation
The Building & Renovation section documents hands-on experience across a range of construction and renovation projects over the years.
It begins with restoring an old house, continues with interior improvements in an apartment, and extends to building a frame house from scratch. More recently, it also includes ongoing work on a manor house project.
Alongside larger builds, this section features smaller DIY projects and practical solutions — all grounded in real-world constraints, budgeting, and learning by doing.
The focus is on process, challenges, and outcomes rather than theory — capturing what it actually takes to build, renovate, and improve living spaces over time.
Ādģēri: The 30K Mistake That Turned Into a Long-Term Experiment
In 2023, we bought Ādģēri in an online auction.Price: just over €30,000.Financing: ~6% interest.Total expected payment over ~5 years: ~€40,000.Status (April 2026): more than half already paid.On…
Building a Frame House in Latvia: Kitchen Installation, Ground Tilling & IKEA Trip
As usual, we planned our spring around the school break at BIST (British International School of Tbilisi). This year we again split the time — one week in Latvia working on the frame house in the…
Frame House Upgrades: Big Windows, New Porch, and Apple Trees Planted in Latvia
In mid-April, during our kiddo’s Easter school break, we traveled to Latvia for about 10 days — a trip packed with projects, energy, and transformation. A lot of pre-planning had gone into it before…
Frame House in Latvia: Outdoor Patio, Inner Walls, and More
As June came to an end, our family embarked on a journey from Tbilisi to Latvia, skipping Renee's school year for the last week and focus on our frame house project. Here's a glimpse into our busy…
Spring Break Project: Building Progress on Our Frame House in Latvia
As the chill of winter slowly gives way to the warmth of spring, it's the perfect time to roll up our sleeves and dive back into the construction of our dream frame house in Latvia. During this…
From Online Bid to On-Site Discovery: Our Journey to Unveil the Property in Saldus
Embarking on a real estate investment journey often involves navigating through twists and turns, with each step bringing us closer to our ultimate goal. For us, the story of our property in Saldus…
A Day of Building and Recording: Installing Hardwood Floor in Latvia
As the sun rose over the picturesque landscape of Latvia, I found myself immersed in a fulfilling day of both physical labor and creative expression. With the mission of enhancing our frame house, I…
Installing Hardwood floors for our Frame House In Latvia
In October 2023, we enjoyed a week-long school break from the British International School in Tbilisi, Georgia. Seizing the opportunity, we made plans to travel back to Latvia to advance our DIY…
From Riga to Disaster: Repairing Our Wind Damaged Frame House in Latvia
Just after we finished most of the framing for our frame house in Latvia, we left for a weekend in Riga. After spending good 4 or 5 days in the nation's capital we found a huge surprise when…
DIY Frame House in Latvia: Walls and Rafters Completed
At the end of June 2023, we traveled to Latvia for about two weeks, during which I continued work with our frame house and installed both walls and rafters. In this article, I'm sharing notes and…
Summer Solstice 2023
In case you wondered how we celebrated Summer's Solstice 2023 - we celebrated it at our rural country house some 25 km from Liepåja in Latvia. Having a lot of fun. I invited my mom to join us…
Our frame house has suffered significant damage due to the strong winds
Over the past few weeks, I have been fully engrossed in the laborious task of constructing our frame house from the ground up. Unfortunately, amidst the hustle and bustle of the construction process…
The Cost-Saving Way to Build a Frame House in Latvia: Our DIY Project (Screw Foundation Piles)
Welcome to another interesting blog topic series - Frame house, where I'm going to share almost in real-time our endeavors of building a small 60m2 1-storey holiday house in Latvia. I decided…
Save thousands on Architecture costs with SketchUp 3D Modeling for your Scandi house in Latvia
This Spring we are planning another awesome DIY project - to build a Scandinavian-style house in rural Latvia. A simple, one-storey building, with a total area slightly under 60m2. The local…
Won Another Online Auction - Plot of Land in Saldus (EUR 4.82/m2)
On November 24, 2022, I helped to win an online auction for a real estate property in Saldus, Latvia This auction was held online at the E-izsoles platform. And unlike most of the other bids, this…
Stargazing in Ječi, Boat Riding in Laidi, Stock Trading in Vilgāle
Yesterday we traveled to Ječi to move the lawn, grill a fish and use it as a camp base before visiting a pebbled beach near Nida close to the Latvian/Lithuanian.Our new favorite shop - LIDL, fish is…
More Laminate flooring, Tiles for the Bathroom + some electricity works
After the tile removal in the kitchen and hallway area, it was already agreed - I will re-install laminate there. Additionally, after hydro isolation works in the bathroom I decided I will tile again…
Evening on the Vilgāle Lake
It was already past 8 PM, I was just finished tiling the bathroom at our Vilgāle apartment when my fiancee and kiddo arrived to pick me up. My best part gave me the drone and said - it's a beautiful…
Demolishing tiles, Hydroisolation for bathroom
A few weeks ago I did the tile job in the kitchen and hallway for our Vilgāle apartment. In the end, I was not happy with the result, not happy with the tile job (which could be done better), and not…
Listing Vilgāle apartment for sale
After some thinking, I decided to list for sale our Vilgāle apartment. I bought this apartment about two years ago in an online auction, paying about EUR 4,000. During the past two years, we…
Latest articles
LEGOLAND Berlin Review: A Fun Family Activity in the German Capital
When planning a family trip to Berlin with children, most travelers immediately think about the Berlin Zoo — and rightly so. But if you are spending a few days in the German capital with younger kids, another solid half-day activity is the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre BerlinWe visited it in April 2026 together with our 7-year-old daughter during our…
Ādģēri: The 30K Mistake That Turned Into a Long-Term Experiment
In 2023, we bought Ādģēri in an online auction.Price: just over €30,000.Financing: ~6% interest.Total expected payment over ~5 years: ~€40,000.Status (April 2026): more than half already paid.On paper, it was a bad deal.Realistically, we overpaid by at least 5–6× relative to what the property was objectively worth at the time. No serious buyer…