Our Happy Place
Where it all began….with a thought, with a dream.
We loved our patio, enjoying quiet evenings after a long day, entertaining friends and family, but we knew and wished for something more….a screened-in-porch. For years we sat out there thinking and wondering if it would be possible to turn our patio into a screened-in-porch. Enter Tom Malone with TM Construction Services. I stopped by his business and asked him if they did screened-in-porches and he said they did. Then the scary question, Can you do it with roof lines going in two different directions? He said he wanted to come by and take a look so we set it up to meet a couple of days later at the house. He told us he could do it using lots of construction words and terms that we had heard of but didn’t really understand. He took measurements and asked us a lot of questions about what we thought we wanted. He left and said he’d send us a quote soon. Days went by then here it came…an email from Tom Malone. I told Lynn it was here and nervously I opened the email and proposal. Relief, excitement and apprehension set in as we looked over the proposal. We can really do this we thought, BUT do we want to spend the money and if we do, can we decide what to do without? We called Tom and he came over once again see what in the world we wanted. We asked questions, added some things, deleted some things and sent him away to update the proposal. After the third tweaked proposal, we had a deal! The excitement set in when he told us he could start in 3 weeks. Demolition of our existing patio was in the proposal…to be done by the owner.
Materials started arriving right on time, March 23, 2021.
The crews came out, began their work and the anticipation and excitement reached a fever pitch. We thought we could just sit back and enjoy the process – little did we know the questions needing decisions just kept coming…what color shaker shingles, clear or tinted screens, which stone for the fireplace wall, which firebox, mantle or not, hearth or not, swing or no swing, which fans, etc. Tom was probably laughing at us to keep from crying. One by one we nervously made decisions. Tom and his crews were so helpful in telling us what would and would not work and advising us on our best options. We asked our Designer friend Linda things that we had no clue about – shaker shingles and colors. In a little over a month, were down to the punch list items AND trying to figure out how to hang the swing. The swing itself is a topic of it’s own that we will save for another time.
One of the extras that we were considering was a fireplace. We had asked friends opinions about which kind – real wood burning or gas. Again we turned to our new friend Tom and asked . He said gas and explained why. Then he closed the deal when he mentioned that he had a big piece of barn wood that he would cut for us and make a mantle. “Sold” Lynn said. It was almost like Tom knew my wife and knew exactly what to say and offer. With the mantle installed, the swing and the ceiling fans hung, we knew we were getting close. The long awaited screened-in-porch was getting finished and Tom was relieved…and happy to see us so excited. It was more than we could have ever imagined and it is truly our Happy Place. Our sincere thanks go out to Tom Malone and all of his guys and crews from TM Construction Services Inc.
