Our House

For those of you who aren't familiar with our home, it has come a long way. 3 years ago in June 2003 we purchased our little bungalow in McKenzie Lake at the South end of Calgary. It was a 1023 square foot bungalow with no garage and a very rough exterior. A true diamond in the rough. We started our project by building a garage, replacing the rotten wood deck with a stone patio and replaced the fence. We also removed a giant tractor tire that was lying on the corner of the front yard. It was used as a planter at one time. You wouldn't believe how many people would thank us for the stuff we were doing to improve the appearance of this former eyesore.

Once the winter hit, we moved our work inside.

I thought that I would give you all a little peek into our home and show you all the work that Gerald and I have put into it. Actually, it was mostly Gerald since the major stuff began while I was pregnant with Canyon.

We started with our basement.... we still need to finish mudding and taping the ceilings and then add a fresh layer of paint to everything. He also built an office / spare room (too messy to post) a full basement bath and a laundry room.

Since we were then expecting Canyon, we decided to move our focus to the main floor so that it would be done before he arrived.


We ripped out the walls between the kitchen and front entrance and the kitchen and dining room to open it all up. Gerald then had to build a new addition so we would have a new front entrance. All because I wanted an island in my kitchen.




Before:

We had a single door at the back and very few cabinets. As you can see we only had a wire shelf for our food. Where the stove is sitting is where our front door used to be.




After:

We put in new Alder Cinnamon cabinets on the main area with a tumbled marble tiled backsplash and granite countertops. The island cabinets are maple in an Espresso stain with a 3 inch butcher block island countertops. We did natural maple floors throughout the main floor. Gerald also installed garden doors to the back yard for additional lighting.

We put in all new windows, painted and added new baseboards and casings. We even had the popcorn ceiling scraped off and replaced with knockdown finish. Basically, every single thing in our house has been redone.



Finally, Gerald is back focusing on the outside of the house. He has spent the summer putting siding around the house and garage. Now this last week he has been installing the stone facade on the front of the house and around the addition. It has made a dramatic impact. We will continue with the stone around the front door and we are planning on finishing the front of the house by the main window and the sides of the addition with siding. The peaks will all be finished in cedar.

We will continue to plug along a little bit at a time. Hopefully, the house itself will be done this year and the landscaping next year. Until then, we will enjoy our little house.