The Existing Space

In the attempt to save money, we (meaning Chris) is doing the demolition.

Here are some before pictures, they pretty much speak for themselves.

The Plan

OK, a brief history.

After having our daughter, we realized that living an hour from family made weekends hectic with travel. There was a piece of property that Chris had always been fond of on his family's farm, but after some research on permits, building a driveway, septic, well, hydro etc etc etc, the cost was going to be far too high. The option of using another property that already had the services and even an old house and large barn, became very appealing. Originally we thought of tearing down the old structure and starting fresh, but the old house had life in it yet and after professional inspection and contractor opinion, it was decided to salvage and completely remodel this century old home.

The footprint of this storey and a half house is 29'x30', not a huge space. The second storey has 2 decent sized bedrooms and no bathroom. The main floor had a large bathroom/laundry combo, a very small centrally located kitchen, a small dining area and a modest living space. Everything was outdated, everything needed to go. We decided to make this small space more suited for a family, we needed to add a third bedroom/office, a second bathroom and a laundry room with plenty of storage cupboards.

Having owned three homes and lived in six in the past 11 years, we have a pretty good idea of what we want. Years ago, I started a scrapbook that we would put magazine clippings or paint colours in and it has helped us with many a decision over the years. All this made our visit to the Draftswoman, a smooth process. We had ideas in hand and our plans were in motion.

The process of choosing a Mulligan Builders as our contractor was relatively easy for us. Some may critique our decision process and advise that we should have interviewed more companies than we did, but Chris feel that we made the right choice.

So, this process started in March with the beginning of our plans. The house became vacant on May 1 for Chris to start demo. The plans have been approved by Melancthon Township and are now in the hands of Dufferin County. Our contractor has given a completion date of September/October. I hope that the momentum will continue and that deadlines will be met, but naive we are not!

So here begins our journey on our own big amazing renovation.