House Renovation 1

I'll officially call this house renovation post number one, as finally there are tangible items that look like a house renovation might actually be under way. In reality we're 18 months into it already between lawyers, architects and the city, and my family and Tori and I have already put in a lot of work. Trust me, I'm a guy who likes tangible action more than that kind of waiting around stuff.

It looks like in the next 10 days or so we'll be out of our house. A big new garage will house up to 2 cars and a workshop, but really you know this will be one car, a motorcycle, a dozen or more bicycles and various outdoor gear.

The house will be stripped down to the 2x4's. Currently its a 1952 quality of insulation, windows and wiring structure with one real bathroom, one crummy downstairs bathroom, an office, two small bedrooms, and one master bedroom. Our doors don't fit shut well anymore as the hinges are old and crooked in many places. It's cold in the winter. Our 1950's kitchen with friction sliding drawers just doesn't seem up to snuff with what's available these days.

We'll update everything to 2009 mid to upper end quality, including 3 full bathrooms, a workout room where our existing garage is, a master bedroom with attached master bathroom, and much of the original layout in similar fashion. The kitchen should end up much nicer than before, with more modern cabinetry. Insulation and windows should be much more snug during Calgary's winters. Tori definitely hopes our future roof won't leak.

We won't be going over the top, as in the end, it'll still be only about a 1,900 square foot of livable space split level versus about 1,400 now (both including downstairs) in a modest community near the university and a busy road... if we wanted to go over the top there's plenty of ritzy areas of the city to move to. That's not us, we'll focus our dollars more on future free time and adventures on two wheels. I promise.

I'm probably going to cut back on my riding for a couple of weeks, hard to fit moving in with riding and my work. I'm glad I have some stage race fitness - today was 8 hours of non-stop motion - hauling, chopping, carrying, pulling, pushing and general energy exertion in the house, moving things to the car, and in the yard. I'm bagged.

Mess waiting to be organized and moved.
Kitchen contents in the process of being organized and moved.

Living room being moved.

No more side gate (on either side, this was the easier one to move as I didn't put in the posts).

View of where the future garage will be from the roof... lots of mess right now.

No more window well bricks.

No more trees at the back wall.

Two big pine trees gone from the back, and a big mess instead.

No more patio bricks.

But here's some new landscaping on one side, a surprise after BCBR courtesy of mom and dad who bought a bunch of new plants, moved some trees and bricks in my yard, and contributed a lot of sweat to the project!

And a new hedge in the making.

The rest of the plants from the front of the house are gone too.

The bike room no longer has bikes or the rubber gym floor.