Back in the saddle......!

Well, it would seem that things have changed drastically here at the Blogger website.  The technical aspect seems to have been streamlined to more of a Publisher style of composing, which even though it can have it's challenges, it's much easier than the previous application (and it's more familiar to me).  So - now that that is out of the way, let me get back to the first house that really revealed our renovation "craving".  By the time we had gotten to this house, it was already our fourth one that we had renovated.  The difference here was that it was a total gut, an addition and re-do, both inside and out.  The other difference was that we weren't living in the house while the majority of the reno was happening.  This was the first and I would highly recommend this to anyone who values both their sanity and their marriage.  It was also the fastest time line ever for us.  In two years the inside was completely done and by the spring of the fourth year the outside was done (this included another building in the backyard) and by the fifth year we were on the move again.

work had already begun

 Unfortunately, I didn't have any before pictures of the smallest house we have ever owned.  This picture already shows great improvement.  We had removed lattice that had been across the top of the porch, and an entire lattice railing with a gate for the previous owner's little dog.  We also removed the pressure treated wood steps.  The lazy homeowners solution to everything is pressure treated wood.  Pressure treated wood has got to be the ugliest thing going. 

Centered & curved concrete steps create a more gracious entrance

So many people repair and replace with it.  It's certainly cost effective, but please do something with it!  If it's not a fence, then stain it, at the very least.   Actually, even if it is a fence, stain it.  It actually will extend the life of the wood and look a lot more pleasing to the eye. 

Adding elevation and texture with natural stone

 We changed out the shutters from louvered to raised panel; we changed out all the doors and windows and added screen doors.

Excavation for the master bedroom and bath

 We would have loved to have added a large centre dormer, but we didn't stay long enough to do that.  We would have also changed out the metal roof to shingled, only because of the terrible sliding snow problems.  I know that there are ice breakers to put on metal roofs to prevent that, but I'm not sure why we didn't........
Anyway, this post will deal with the outside and then the next one will deal with the inside.  

Master bedroom's private patio

Dining room adjacent to MB extension

The new workshop - a boy's gotta have a place for his toys!

 After we sold our manufacturing shop, we had to have storage and a home for Dave's tools and small machines.  It ended up looking like another small house in the backyard - but at least it wasn't ugly.  It would not have happened otherwise....:)

Dining room

The dining room was so magical at night.  We would light our candle chandelier and the wall of water would be streaming down the glass in the background, creating a soothing sound.  I loved the cocoon feeling that was created under the canopy.

A favourite photo in contrasts

Up the garden path......

 Since we were on a tight budget, we used inexpensive materials to create our pathways and back patio.  We used the top coping stone that would normally be used to top off a stacked wall, for the edging.  It was solid and wide enough to step on.  The edges were rough and stone like in appearance.  They held the mulch in nicely, as well as the 1/4" stone that we used to fill in the pathways and the back patio.  We had 25 year landscape fabric underneath and that kept the weeds from coming up through it.

Back patio - complete with a propane fire pit

 The backyard had a one foot sloped difference from back to front, so we split the difference and created an elevated back patio, which had a step down into the rest of the yard.  This necessity created a much more interesting vista and gave it just a little sumpin' sumpin'.  We spent many a day and night in our backyard retreat and really miss it.  It was just the perfect size for our busy lives.  Stay tuned for the big changes that happened on the inside of what became the original Pygmallion House............