The Wilder Outdoor Spaces blog is a place to be inspired. We share the places we go, things that inspire us, designs we love, tricks of the trade and of course the construction projects we design and build in Tacoma, WA.
We’re definitely no authority in the Tacoma Real Estate department, but Laura Anderson is the best Tacoma real estate agent in our mind. She’s also probably the friendlies realtor in Tacoma as well! We thought we would take a minute and give her a shout out just in case any of our friends here are looking for help buying or selling their home in Tacoma.
Read MoreDespite the craziness from Covid, 2020 has been our busiest year to date. Our phone rings off the hook and our email inbox is full of requests to build cheap budget fences all around Tacoma, but that’s just not what we do. Sure, we could probably make a lot more money if we used the cheaper crappy materials, and took every job that came our way like other companies, but that’s not our style.
Read MoreAs soon as the new DADU / ADU rules were implemented in 2019 we began searching for a new property with a decent sized garage that we could design and convert into a DADU. In the summer of 2019 we found the perfect property in Tacoma’s Proctor district, and after a long and tedious sale our offer was eventually accepted. Our first step in the process was remodeling the main house, which you can see you here. Once we finished that up, we began planning, designing and permitting for the garage conversion.
Read MoreThe Neal’s custom deck project was completed in the summer of 2020 and is located right here in North Tacoma. The best part of the build is that the job was located only 10 blocks away from our shop, so the commute was pretty great! The deck itself is built with a beautiful South American hardwood called Ipe, that we treated with aptly named Ipe Oil. The decks overall footprint is 16’ x 18’, including the wrap around step. The step has 9 bronze dimmable LED step lights to help illuminate the space in the evenings and make the steps easy to see in the dark.
Read MoreWe first met Erin + Tyler a few years ago when they called us out to give them a bid on a fence project for their new home in North Tacoma. Our estimate consultation was awesome! We really connected on our love for modern design and quality materials. After the meeting we sent over our bid and Erin and Tyler decided they wanted to go ahead with the fence project. We put it on the schedule and knocked it out a couple months later.
Read MoreHere at Wilder we love everything Tacoma, so when we saw what the Buy A Home in Tacoma website was aiming to do, when wanted to support and give them a shout out here on the blog. Their Tacoma centered website was started to help people thinking about buying a home in Tacoma by showcasing everything they love about Tacoma.
Read MoreAs many of you know, the City of Tacoma adopted a new set of simplified regulations in 2019 allowing just about anyone to build a mother-in-law apartment, tiny house or ADU / DADU (detached accessory dwelling unit) right in their backyard. With the new regulations, Tacoma also made it much easier to convert an existing structure (think: garages, basements, etc) on their property without needing a zoning change, variance or any special permitting to make them legal DADU or ADU buildings. You can read more about Tacoma tiny home, ADU, DADU pricing and regulation changes in this post here.
Read MoreTowards the end of the 2019 we took on this little 770 SQ FT mid century home remodel in Tacoma’s Proctor district and gave it much needed facelift. We started out by completely gutting the kitchen and widening the entry into the living room. Then we fully redesigned the kitchen by creating a more functional layout with an updated modern look. For the living area, we wanted to make the fireplace a focal point so we started by removing the ugly fireplace insert, painted wood above the mantle and dark tile in the front. Then we installed a new horizontal modern wood built-in above the fireplace with new white tile down below. The final touches involved sanding and refinishing the original oak floors and installing updated modern trim throughout the house.
Read MoreAs a general contractor in Tacoma, we’re always looking for great companies to work with for various types of construction projects here in Tacoma, and to be honest it’s not always easy to find honest and reliable companies to work with. So when we do find an awesome local company that we enjoy working with we believe it’s super important to support and share them with our friends and family that we work with here in Tacoma. That brings us to the local Tacoma company that we’re highlighting today, The Tacoma Electrician.
Read MoreWe are pretty excited about the passing of the new rules allowing every single family home in Tacoma to be able to build an attached (ADU) or detached (DADU) additional dwelling unit without any special zoning permitting. If you haven’t read about the changes yet you can read our full blog post about the new ADU & DADU rules here. What does that mean in real life though? Well, that means Wilder can build you a tiny home, tiny house or cottage house without needing to go through the endless hoops that used to be required to build one just a few months ago.
Read MoreIf you’ve been following Wilder, then you know that we typically take a chunk of time off in the winter and leave the cold and rainy PNW. We generally close up shop for a couple months and go live somewhere a little warmer. This past winter (2019) we decided to spend our time on Maui and while we were there we picked up an exterior remodel job.
Read MoreGather Juice Co just opened a few blocks from our shop, and we wanted to take a minute and welcome them to the neighborhood. They’re currently serving cold pressed juices and smoothies made right here in Tacoma, and plan to expand the menu in coming weeks with Acai bowls, salads and lots more healthy options. If you haven’t already popped in and checked out the beautiful space, we highly recommend it!
Read MoreAt the end of the day we decided we weren’t going to play the cheap fence game. It’s more important for us to be able to stand by everything we build and know it’s constructed with some best available materials, then to chase more money building things we can’t stand behind.
Read MoreIn May of 2019 the city of Tacoma officially adopted an awesome new set of simplified regulations allowing just about anyone to build a mother-in-law apartment, tiny house or a DADU (detached accessory dwelling unit) right in their backyard.
Read MoreWe first met the Dunn’s in the summer of 2018 when we built them a new modern cedar fence to enclose their property and give some privacy to the wide open back yard. The horizontal fence project turned out great and they said they would be calling us again in the future.
Read MoreThe Caulkin’s Patio & Pergola project was completed in summer 2019 in North Tacoma. The project got its start in the spring of 2019 when the homeowner reached out to Wilder with a photo of pergola that they really liked. Additionally, they wanted to create a space below the pergola to hang out, so we decided to create a simple 10x12 patio out of Mutual Materials Vancouver Bay 2x2 pavers.
Read MoreOverall, this was a very fun and affordable project for Wilder. What started out as a dark, dingy old rental was transformed into a bright beautiful unit, and we were able to create that updated modern feel without breaking the bank on high end finishes.
Read MorePeople often ask us how we handle working in the the winter in the PNW. The answer is, we don’t! The beauty of launching our own company was that it allowed us to be able to take the winters off. So every year when the weather gets bad we go and live somewhere we’ve never experienced before. These trips have become a source of fuel for us at Wilder.
Read MoreWe love this little fence design here! It’s simple and clean. We like how they combined beautiful cedar lumber with galvanized steel conduit ran horizontally from post to post. This gives the fence a modern finished look that keeps pets and kids contained, but still allows the yard to feel open and accessible.
Read MorePeople often ask us what type of decking is best to use here in Tacoma, and it’s a tough question to answer simply. It really depends on your budget, design style and location. There are pros and cons to every material, so we thought we could spend some time and breakdown the different materials individually to help you get educated on the products we can use for your project.
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