Sugarhouse: Turning the Neighborhood Crack House into Our Home Sweet Home

When a season of ludicrous loss tests the mettle of their marriage, Matthew Batt and his wife decide not to call it quits. They set their sights instead on the purchase of a dilapidated house in the Sugarhouse section of Salt Lake City. With no homesteading experience and a full-blown quarter-life crisis on their hands, these perpetual grad students/waiters/nonprofiteers decide to seek salvation through renovation, and do all they can to turn a former crack house into a home. Dizzy with despair, doubt, and the side effects of using the rough equivalent of napalm to detoxify their house, they enter into full-fledged adulthood with power tools in hand.

Heartfelt and joyous, Sugarhouse is the story of how one couple conquers adversity and creates an addition to their family, as well as their home.

What happens when two city-dwelling grad students try to save their marriage by renovating a former crack house?

• A Disaster of a Fixer-Upper: From detoxifying a former crack house with the equivalent of napalm to entering adulthood with power tools, this is not your average home improvement story.
• Salvation Through Renovation: When a season of ludicrous loss puts their marriage to the test, Matthew and Jenae decide to fight back by building a home—and a life—from the studs up.
• Quarter-Life Crisis: Follow two perpetual grad students with zero homesteading experience as they trade academic theory for the chaotic reality of demolition and construction.
• Raw Honesty: An improbably funny and heartfelt account of navigating grief, love, and the steep learning curve of becoming a first-time homeowner.