A Celebration of Before/After Shots!

Here are some before/after shots from our old house.

The sale went through and we are just wading through a few bits before we hand over the keys on Friday.

In the spirit of change. Here are some super changes.

We replaced the window in the kitchen with a sliding door that gave us direct access to the back deck. This turned out to be a pretty simple demolition project and for some reason the door we scored fit perfectly in the the hole we cut out. EVERYONE stepped back and gave a little 'huh?' because we are all really used to having things go a little sideways. 

TIP: This window size fit our new door perfectly so we did not need a permit for the work (therefore no inspection). If your door is even 1 inch bigger than the original opening you will need to seek out a permit and follow all building code requirements to ensure structural safety. You can make the door smaller than the original opening without needing to jump through those permit hoops. At least this is the story in AB. 

COST of project: 

F&F discount labour. 0$

Saws All Blades 20.00

Special Masonry Blade for Saw: 50.00

Weatherproofing: Used left-overs from garage

Door: Re-used. 

Total: >100.00

TIME for project:

2 days for the initial demo/build. 

4 months to eventual finish up the casing on the outside. 

1 year to eventually re-do the deck to make this a finished project. 

We spent nothing on this one. I know right? This one project made the biggest difference in my life as it gave me and the kids easy access to outside. The price-tag is so low because we used friends and family to help with the demo and install, we had the tools that we needed already (we just needed the specialized blades) and because we recovered the 1500 door from our neighbours who were putting in a sunroom. Recycling works! The door is a little worn in but my kids would have made short work of the new door anyway. 

If you ignore my test swatches this looks a million times better and is super functional. My favourite project. 

 

We are officially there! Right in the middle of a tidal chaos that will pull back revealing that everything has changed. I'm dreading the end result and sitting on the edge of the bed hugging my knees and biting my nails.

This is not the first time in my life that I have said "If I knew what was coming, like really knew, I would not have signed up." However! I am so glad I went for it. My husband and I have really done something amazing for our lifestyle and our family's existence. I can't wait to share it with you.

So to get started, I should explain a few things. 7 years ago we bought a house will a plan of renovating it within 5 years and moving on to a new 'flip'. As anyone who decides to have children will tell you, stuff changes. It changes in ways you don't anticipate, can't prepare for and have absolutely no idea about in your life as an individual person. We have spent the last 4 year years in an unhappy state of things, due to the economic shifts, my son's health concerns and a few changes in our financial ability to continue work on the home.

The cruel, wonderful thing about this world is that necessity really is the mother of invention and until we were pushed to the absolute crazy limits we had no idea what we were capable of doing. There have been some times where we were close to collapse and surrender but there was a few points where we just had to make some risky choices to get ourselves into a better situation.

I would like to share some of the journey we have been on and document the path we have currently decided to take. It's pretty exciting and I want everyone to know, it's super hard but totally worth it.