Progress

Hi Everyone,
  Sorry about my absence of late.  I know, I know... I promised I would write faithfully.  Somehow, life got in the way.  We went on a little holiday to the cottage and I just haven't been able to get back into the swing of things.  But now I'm back and boy, oh boy, you should see the changes.
  I'm going to catch you up with what has happened.  We have finalized the kitchen design.  It looks amazing and is in production right now.  The electrical, plumbing and HVAC stuff is complete - at least until the drywall is done and we can install finishes.  Everything is looking pretty good.  Our timelines are decent and we are really working our budget... squeeeeezing every last drop out.
  Last week drywalling began.  I think that creates the most dramatic change when it comes to a renovation.  Suddenly, we have rooms!  Especially since we opened up the walls on the main floor. Everything was just looking so crummy.  Dusty, dirty, messy and well, unfinished.

  This is the kitchen and main floor staircase.  Pretty gross, huh?

This is the closet and built-in area of the master bedroom.  Also, pretty nasty.  

Front porch, practically falling in.  Yuck. 

I'm heading over there to take some new shots of what it looks like with drywall.  I think you'll appreciate them much more.  And I promise... no more long absences.  

 

Main Floor Layout

    The layout plans are in!  We had the architectural design firm we usually use on our projects come in and make a set of plans showing the existing house.  This way, the four partners on the project could each take a copy and play around with different layouts.  Soon, we will be meeting and combining all the best ideas.  The firm we are using on this project is Dutot Design Services.
     First, I'll show you the existing layout of the house.  There are a bunch of small rooms and an awkward hallway towards the back of the house that causes some traffic flow problems.  The main floor has a den, office and dining room. Each of these rooms is small and inefficiently laid out. However, the worst of the problem is with the kitchen.  The kitchen is simply too small for the house.  Not enough cabinetry, counter-space, etc.  Also, we need a good flow from the attached garage at the rear of the house.  In this neighborhood, the homes are older.  It is rare to even have a garage, much less an attached garage.

So from the layout picture above, you can see  that there are too many doorways in the centre of the house and that the rooms are too choppy for good flow.  Have a look at a proposed new layout:

   You can see that opening up the wall between the kitchen and existing dining room really makes the space work more efficiently.  We have also added a garden door at the far end of the kitchen allowing for flow out to the garden for entertaining.  And finally, the powder room has been re-configured.

    The next thing I'm working on is the layout of the kitchen.  This drawing is really just a mock-up the architect did, and is probably not the way the kitchen will look down the line.  One thing I'd like to keep is the island but I am wondering about adding a window seat or additional cabinetry under the window to create a U-shaped area around the island.  The space is a little bit tricky because it is so long and narrow.  Any ideas?

Tecumseh House: Raising the Chief

So... I'd like you to meet our new house.  It's a three-bedroom, 1 and 3/4 storey home in Wortley Village in London, Ontario.  We're just in the very early stages of this project - we haven't even gotten possession of the house yet - but  we sure do have big plans.  
The house itself has been neglected.  the previous owners had it for forty years and not much has been updated.  Highlights of the property include:

The Kitchen

There really isn't much of a kitchen currently.  Our plan is to open up the space, removing several awkward doorways and hallways.  This will allow us to build a kitchen that is the centre of the home - a real family space with tons of natural light.

Behind the Scenes
I don't know about you, but when I have to throw a lot of money at a project, I like to be able to see the results.  This house needs a lot of 'behind the scenes' stuff:  heating and cooling, electrical and plumbing upgrades, etc.  Just take a look at this gravity-fed beast:

Layout

The rooms on the main floor are awkwardly laid out.  I mentioned that there are too many doorways and hallways and not enough kitchen.  The home is actually spacious with many desirable elements for an old home - but you just wouldn't know it by the floor plan.  Some structural changes will give us a main floor with a large Living Room, Dining Room, Den, Powder Room and Kitchen.  

 The Plan
  Here's where we are right now.  The house has been purchased and plans of the current layout have been drawn up.  We are designing the overall layout, and kitchen right now as we are on a tight timeline and these things have to be ordered in advance.  We actually get possession of the house on July 15th.


I hope you enjoyed meeting the house, I'll bet you're curious about who we are...