We finally completed on our house at the end of last month. A little 3 bedroom 1000 ft2 bungalow with a nice sized garden. It's half renovated but still needs a lot of work. I'll hopefully get most of the important stuff done in the first two-three months of living there, which will be the middle of September.
Front
Back
Detached Garage
Basement
Upstairs
As you may be able to tell, we're not in Kansas any more. It's actually in Calgary, Canada, which is making the planning a bit more interesting - lots of new code, permitting and general cultural differences. All part of the challenge...
The previous owner was a builder who moved away with work so couldn't finish the work. He built the new garage and sorted most of the main floor out before getting rid, along with gutting the basement, which means we have an almost clean slate downstairs.
Current plans are:
Priority
Reshingle Roof
New Windows and External Doors
Enlarge basement windows (cut out concrete and dig large holes on the outside)
Rebuild basement
Lift and relay Drive
Secondary
Reside house
Re landscape front and rear of house (Decks, patios, trees, garden)
Replace attached garage with an extension to the house
Possibly remove tree (due to two of the limbs being held together by a bolt)
Electrify and finish detached garage
Bury power cable to house and move electricity meter to detached garage
The secondary plans will be waiting until next year or two when it's warmer and will be partially money dependent. We are also planning on adding a couple more plug outlets and redoing the kitchen and bathroom floors/work surfaces.
Approx. upstairs floorplan
(using floorplanner.com)
The current plan for the basement - enlarged windows on the left
The basement is the most fun part, it's basically a blank slate, although there are several supports, ducts and the furnace and hot water heater (forced air, rather than radiators) that have to be built round. Most important features for me are a large as possible main room, nice bathroom and a spare bedroom (for guests).
I'm also going to install wired networking throughout and put in some home automation (mostly lights but also door locks and a few water/temp sensors).
It's going to be a big, but fun project, with most of the work not affecting us as it will mostly be downstairs or outside (hopefully!)
Front
Back
Detached Garage
Basement
Upstairs
As you may be able to tell, we're not in Kansas any more. It's actually in Calgary, Canada, which is making the planning a bit more interesting - lots of new code, permitting and general cultural differences. All part of the challenge...
The previous owner was a builder who moved away with work so couldn't finish the work. He built the new garage and sorted most of the main floor out before getting rid, along with gutting the basement, which means we have an almost clean slate downstairs.
Current plans are:
Priority
Reshingle Roof
New Windows and External Doors
Enlarge basement windows (cut out concrete and dig large holes on the outside)
Rebuild basement
Lift and relay Drive
Secondary
Reside house
Re landscape front and rear of house (Decks, patios, trees, garden)
Replace attached garage with an extension to the house
Possibly remove tree (due to two of the limbs being held together by a bolt)
Electrify and finish detached garage
Bury power cable to house and move electricity meter to detached garage
The secondary plans will be waiting until next year or two when it's warmer and will be partially money dependent. We are also planning on adding a couple more plug outlets and redoing the kitchen and bathroom floors/work surfaces.
Approx. upstairs floorplan
(using floorplanner.com)
The current plan for the basement - enlarged windows on the left
The basement is the most fun part, it's basically a blank slate, although there are several supports, ducts and the furnace and hot water heater (forced air, rather than radiators) that have to be built round. Most important features for me are a large as possible main room, nice bathroom and a spare bedroom (for guests).
I'm also going to install wired networking throughout and put in some home automation (mostly lights but also door locks and a few water/temp sensors).
It's going to be a big, but fun project, with most of the work not affecting us as it will mostly be downstairs or outside (hopefully!)