One Man's Trash

Sure, this isn't the most exciting picture to look at but to me it means square footage of once much needed things are leaving this house.  I've purged 3 rooms of unwanted items in the last 2 days and the pile keeps growing.  I reckon I don't want to start off on the wrong foot in our new digs so stuff be gone!  I've just the bathroom, master and sun room to do then the dreaded garage.  The garage is currently holding a Mini but surrounding that Mini is piles and piles of tools, old school stuff, two kids worth of baby items and the list goes on.  March 10th has been dedicated to get a go on clearing it out - a must do if the garage conversion happens.  One big garage sale coming our way = more money to furnish the new place!  Something to keep in mind - sure you go and build a lovely big house but you've still got to put furniture in it. 
Back to the grind to seek out another man's treasure.

The Before

Taking photos of a space or structure sure gives you a different perspective...great tip if you're redoing a room - take a photo after to get a different eye on what you've done - either you did a professional, magazine worthy job or you may see some spots that still need attention.
This is the house in question.  The front half is pretty functional so shall remain.  It's also the original 1912 portion and it's earned the right to survive a few more decades (1912 is pretty old in this neck of the woods).  The back half with the flat roof is what shall be transformed.  Please don't judge me for the state of our lawn and surrounding area as we're in seek and toss mode for all the "stuff" we no longer use as well as it's winter, it's not going to be all lovely and flowery just yet.

The rear view - master bedroom on the left, sun room on the right

Looking down the drive - the gate will be gone as it got wrecked in our last wind storm and the riding toys and garbage bins will find some sort of enclosure - no more raccoon dumping trash clean up.

A bright February afternoon - you can see why our family of 4 plus cat doesn't really function too well here.



 

Bring on the Square Footage



So picture this...the bit at the front is the kitchen so the new part will step down into an area with the new bathroom to the left and the stairs to the right, then it opens up to a massive living area that will house a 'L' shape sectional, nice sized TV,  as well as a sitting area around our piano that never gets played because it's never in a good spot. There will be French Style doors leading to a patio area that then leads to the back yard and detached garage. 

Then we head upstairs...oh stairs, how I've missed you.  You go up the stairs that are well lit thanks to a skylight, from the landing you go right to the boys shared room (one can move to a room downstairs when they tire of each other's company), next to that is our glorious master which is 70 sq ft larger than our current.  It's designed to house a king bed which we may or may not purchase.  Turn left into the walk through closet (the large one is mine), then enter into the shared bathroom, exit from there to the laundry closet and storage.  So there you go, a grand 1300 sq ft improvement!

ps...Still waiting on the estimate on how much this will all cost :/

As-Is

This is the house now - the left half is what's staying (also the original 1912 portion) and what will become the dining room, video game room, craft room and the already kitchen.  The second half will be lopped off to make room for the two story addition - it now contains a computer area, bathroom, master bedroom and sun room.  That sad bit on the corner right is our master and the tiny room to the left of it is shared by two boys - good riddance!

Paint - you are always on my mind

My thoughts are absolutely consumed by exterior paint colours.  We painted our house about 3 yrs ago a tan colour with cream trim work but it feels a little dull to me now so with the new build I've a chance to pep it up a bit. 

I think I'm sold on white trim this time around - my ultimate goal is to live in a completely white house inside and out (will never happen) but trim work gives me a little taste of it and can easily be freshened now and then.  For the body I'm thinking a greenish/gray so that our lovely flowers and shrubs can pop against it.  We're cladding the house with concrete siding as it's the most cost effective.  I'd die for a cedar shingled house but I'll settle for the siding with cedar detailing. 

Elevations

The rear of the house which will be a large living room with bedrooms above

The West side of house - looks a little like a big house eating a little house but whatever

 T=

Front of house showing original house and new addition beyond

The First

I had a moment of "this is a worth a blog" moment today so thought why not?  Fun way to share what's going on with the project with fellow demo/reno'ers and family and friends alike.

This is what we're up against...
Taking our 1200 sq ft house, tearing down 500 sq ft of it, replacing it with a two story 1300 sq ft addition making it into a whopping 2000 sq ft.  We don't have the heart or money to do a complete demolition - it's earned the right to exist after 100 yrs of life (lives).
Also hoping to convert our 500+ sq ft garage into a usable space for a play zone and for storage.   When our municipality smartens up and allows garden suites then we'll make it into a legal rental. 
In the end we'll end up with technically 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms in the main house and a one bedroom "suite" in the garage (I won't really call it that cause it's not going to be that just yet).

So where we're at right now is the house and garage plans are complete and it's gone to tender for the trades.  Here's hoping we can complete both projects for, gulp, $200000.  If we can't then the garage will be nixed for a while.  The last thing we want is to be stuck with a crippling mortgage.

I'll get some photos up when I figure out how to keep the rotation of my saved ones, argh.