You gotta scramble a few eggs to make an omelette ....

We're busily tearing apart the house across the street .... There are currently four rooms on the main floor - we'll be creating one big kitchen/dining/family room - and adding a powder room. We're also creating an old fashioned "coat room" off the front entrance. (Remember those from school?) We are big believers in the importance of transition spaces. 

SO many clients tell us a mudroom - a spacious, organized space for coming and going ... is high on their wish lists. Who wants to live like this?

Unfortunately for present day families who love older homes .... they weren't so big on transition spaces in the good old days. We always have to move things around to make it happen.

Here's a glimpse of the main floor now as it is with some demo underway. We've had to peel back the lathe and plaster (and layers of pink paint) to reveal the stare of the structure beneath. We'll need to be able to show our engineer what's holding up the few walls we are leaving in place. (With the help of a beam or two)

We also made a bit of a discovery- this fireplace, hidden behind a closet on the main floor. Surprise!  We're going to try to tweak the kitchen design to see if we can do a bit of a work around. (I am not so sure ..)

And this is the third floor. Formerly a one bedroom apartment, soon to be a lovely luxury master suite, complete with huge closet, giant bathroom with soaker tub, shower ... and an office/study/yoga space/sitting room/nursery attached to the main space. 

It's got such lovely high ceilings. Once we've doubled the window sizes and put in our skylights - the master suite will be flooded with light. I am thrilled with our plans for this area. You can see a bit of the light coming through the existing window here....

A diamond in the rough, for sure. But just wait - a few months = transformation! 

Another ReNew Homes Overhaul

After a long time... we are back to blogging again. (The blogger half of our team - that's me - was on a bit of a hiatus doing some consulting work, which didn't allow for much blogging!)

It's been a busy time. We completed four projects in the past year - including refreshing a charming older home in Rockliffe, a first and third-floor addition and renovation in Westboro and a complete "stud gut" and addition in the Glebe, which we have just finished. More on our Glebe reno in another post, along with some awesome photos.

For now, I am pleased to announce we are back with another overhaul project.

We couldn't get much closer to home with this one.  The long-time owner of the house across the street from ours passed away, which was a sad event for all on our street. Our lovely neighbour, Daisy, was a real treasure to all of us and was always ready with a smile and a wave.  We miss Daisy and her warm family, who we got to know well over the past year. Daisy proudly owned her own home for many, many years, and we can't wait to restore it to its former glory and create a wonderful space for a new family.

The house is not without its' challenges. It still has knob and tube wiring, and because it's an older home, the layout needs to be  refreshed to better suit the needs of a modern family.

Here's the house now ....  with tons of junk sitting outside.

We are currently emptying the house ... (Ok, not "we" but it's getting emptied thanks to Warren, Steve and the goods folks who respond to Kijiji ads).

Bin #1 has already been carried away.

We've found some cool old stuff like this old bottle of "Bay Rum" Mentholated ... good for" insect bites, headaches, face wash and shampoo".

We have some wonderful plans for this home - I think it's going to be beautiful!