Welcome! You’ve found us! We’re Chris and Melissa Metzger, a couple of chronic over-sharing, reno-obsessed, ‘semi’-professionals! Our goal is to inspire and empower you to DIY, save money, and create comfortable, designer-inspired spaces of your own. We currently live outside Athens, Georgia, and we’re working on renovating our fifth home.
Why “Semi-Pro” you ask? Well, we are not licensed contractors. However, in the 15 years since we purchased, renovated, and sold our first ‘fixer,’ we’ve learned a LOT about home DIY projects. We’ve had some missteps, but we’ve had some big wins too. In hindsight, it would have been awesome if there had been a DIY site (like this one) to inspire us way back then. This is a big part of why we created Renovation Semi-Pros….to share what has worked for us and the mistakes we made along the way (so you can avoid them). We hope you enjoy our projects and our fun take on renovation!
Hey there! I’m a designer, both by training and in my core, as well as a lover of creating bright, livable spaces. Though I’m originally from Florida, we relocated just outside Athens, GA, a few years back for a change of pace. We are loving the beautiful seasons, friendly people, and the quaint college town atmosphere. We are also hard at work renovating our fifth home, which we nicknamed the “Mid-Century House.” Chris and I create the designs for our projects, and we do the lion’s share of the work. Sometimes our two teenagers pitch in too. If not in the midst of a DIY project, we are frequently outdoors throwing frisbees with our Border Collies, tending to our gardens or chickens, visiting local farmer’s markets, or dreaming up our next big renovation.
Hi all! Originally from the midwest, I lived in Ohio until after college, when two good friends, Kaya (the dog), and I jumped in a U-Haul and moved to Boulder, CO. After a few years, my love of movies took me to film school. I worked as an Art Director on some really low-budget action films, but life in Los Angeles wasn’t a fit for me (or my asthma). When a friend landed a job in Florida, I jumped at the chance and moved there too. Running theme: so much moving!
Like my generations before me, I started a career as an educator. It was there, on my second day, that I met Melissa, the new art teacher. Within a year, we’d purchased our first home together on our meager teacher’s salary. We renovated the heck outta that cement box of a house and quickly learned how little we knew about construction, plumbing, and electrical. Since then, we’ve owned 4 other homes, all of which we’ve renovated ourselves. We currently live in house #5 just outside of Athens, GA. Together we have been slowly building our inventory of skills and raising our family.
Want to learn more about How to Start a DIY Blog or what Resources and Equipment we use to run our blog? Check out these pages!
