Our Story 

Jessica has been a Speech Language Pathologist for about a decade, and owns a private practice in Mesa, helping people who stutter. Christopher owns an artisanal tortilla factory, utilizing locally sourced top shelf ingredients and sells at the Gilbert Farmers Market, and a few Mom and Pop stores around the Valley. They made Elgin and Sonoita wine country their getaway from Phoenix when ever they had the chance, but had trouble finding clean and comfortable accommodations. One late night in 2022 while Christopher was snoring away, Jessica was perusing the wine country real estate listings. She found the money pit that is now The Elgin Project and grabbed onto the idea like a bulldog. As if they didn’t have enough to do already, they jumped in headfirst, no helmet, into remodeling, rehabbing, retrofitting the crazy home, so they could enjoy it when they wanted, and share with others in between. It has taken way more time, and way more money and caused way more headaches than they ever imagined, but now the home is ready to share with visitors to the loveliest high desert wine country you ever did see.

Jessica’s Journey

“We should be able to finish this in about 3-4 months, and get it rented out by the holidays!”

-Jessica, June 2022

“Holy crap, I need to get the Airbnb listing active. Only a few things left to do to be ready!”

Jessica, September 2023

Yup. It took a little longer than anticipated. When Christopher’s tortilla factory buildout ran over budget and way over schedule, it left Jessica to handle business on her own. Countless hours of YouTube videos. Late night phone tutorials on how to caulk, strip tile, catch mice, repel skunks, get rid of the mothballs that were placed to get rid of the skunk, but smelled even worse. A tight squeeze through the doggy door after she locked herself out. A month of non-stop help from her father, Gary, with a few nights of no electricity as the house was rewired to come up to code. Several weekends of amazing assistance from Andrea from Colorado. Having to run to the garage for all foodstuffs because the fridge in the house was about to blow up. (Literally- there were flame marks in the electrical wiring) Another week of help, this time from both parents. Discovering that oil-based paint doesn’t just wash off your hands. Taking the advice of her parents to use gasoline to clean the paint off your hands and face, and realizing that it is very very bad advice. Remembering, as the spray paint nozzle explodes in your eyes, that your safety glasses are still on top of your head. Literal blood, sweat, and countless tears have been shed in the execution of this little project, and we know that we aren’t done just yet. We might not let Gary on the ladder again after he fell off the top installing the big picture window.
So if you think about mentioning that the trim in the Arizona room doesn’t have a perfect miter, forgive us if we wish for you to find bird poop on your windshield.