Since 1987 I have had all sorts of plans, ideas, and hallucinations about how I would renovate this house when all the planets in the cosmos aligned and the time was right. That's right, I have had 26 years to think about this. I am a patient person and something tells me that this project may be the ultimate test of my patience.
In the fall of 2012 I got serious. After a three-month period of interviewing, I found my architect and my contractor. Then we went through the process of conceptualizing the plan, the scope and cost of the project. I will spare you the details of that process....for now, but reserve the right to include that in maybe a future post.
On March 28th the plans were submitted to the city for approval and permits.
On May 28th -- the anticipated day that the building permits would be issued -- I had completed moving all of my belongings (that I did not donate or throw out) into my garage as I prepared to move into one room of my house. That room is my office that is so small not even a twin size bed fits in it, but that is another story for a future post. Yes, I have decided to be an "urban backpacker" as I am planning to live within the midst of this 6- to 8-month construction project -- soon demolition will take away my kitchen, but I'll have a refrigerator in the living room (maybe a microwave) and access to a bathroom before it is redone. I am convinced that my architect and contractor made a wager to see how many days I will stick it out before moving out.
On June 9th I decided to start this blog -- as far as I know, we don't yet have the permits (I haven't been informed if they were issued on Friday). Last Wednesday, a person at the city office told the architect that they are very overworked and busy.
So, I will begin with "before" photos of the exterior of the house.
Below is the front of the house as it faces east.
Here is the side of the house that faces south. The double windows on the main level will be removed and in its place will be doors to a pergola and deck off the dining room. This side of the house faces a lovely side yard.
This is the rear of the house as it faces west (don't look at the stack of junk in the lower right-hand corner that awaits the arrival of the construction debris dumpster). The rear of the house will be redesigned with a two-story addition that will include a new rear entry into a newly designed mudroom on the main level that leads into a "gathering room" that is open to a galley kitchen; a redesigned master bedroom, master bathroom and deck are planned for the upper level.
I am not posting a photo of the side of the house that faces north, although you can see in the photo above that it is very close to the property line of the adjacent house -- there isn't much to look at except for a shed dormer on the upper level that covers the current master bathroom.
Besides the rear, two-story addition and the south-side pergola and deck, the project includes a new roof, two new high efficiency furnaces with zone heating controls (one for the addition and one for the existing structure), new windows, new kitchen, new main level laundry room adjacent to a pantry off the kitchen, new 3/4 bath off the gathering room, renovated main level guest bathroom (but keeping the original claw foot tub that will be resurfaced) connected to a guest suite (an interior wall in the dining room will be moved to enlarge the guest bedroom for a double bed), and all the original oak floors will be resurfaced at the end of the project.
Who's idea was this?
There you go. I am now in zen mode as I vow to go with the flow as the project enfolds, hoping not to lose my cool (too often) and along the way to find a balance between wild excitement and terror.
No comments:
Post a Comment