While He Sleeps...

Max is sleeping so I thought I'd give an update. We are still waiting for permits... and we also have to apply to have a secondary suite, so yesterday I went downtown to get the last of the 5 documents I needed to apply. They told us 6 weeks to get the permits, it's been 4 and a half, so we are getting close!
We had a little (have) a little bump with our insurance, apparently they wont cover us during renovations, so we are looking into a different company.
I am now working on disconnecting everything that is connected to the house... which is a lot of things: electric, natural gas, water, air conditioner, furnace, hot water tank and of course the brick chimney! Jonas actually did the chimney yesterday and the electric was just cut. Natural gas was going to be the same day as electric, but I am pretty sure they forgot about us... so they said they would call this week. It's thursday. No call yet. I have also learned that air conditioners are SO expensive to deal with! I have gotten 3 quotes, the average is 500$ to disconnect and then reconnect it.
Other then all the secretarial work I have been pulling off trim. We are planning to reuse the oak trim, so I take it off and remove the nails. Later we will sand them down and re-stain them.
That's all for now. I will have to take some demo picture and post them. soon I promise! (famous last words)

My Son is One!

Bump Avoided!

We applied for our permits a week ago. Yesterday I got a call from the water and waste department saying we needed a lot grade survey and a service plan. These two things cost 2000$ and would halt the permit processing until we got them. I was so disappointed, but I called around getting some quotes. (2000$ was the cheapest) but when I explained what we were doing to one of the surveying companies they thought that we wouldnt really need these surveys. So I thought I would just double check based on this guy's comment. I sent an email to the permits guy... and this morning he called me and said we didnt need them! I am so happy! I told him he saved me two grand. I know there will be bumps along the way... I am just glad to have avoided this one : )

Leather and Beaded Wrap Bracelet

I am totally into bracelets this summer. I made these a few months ago and forgot to post them! All you need is leather cord, beads and thread. I made up my own way to do this craft... there might be an easier way out there, but I had two needles going at the same time and they criss-crossed each other. The last picture kind of shows this.
I need to figure out a good way to do the fastener.... and also how to become a better hand model!  I am such a dork... feel free to laugh at my "artsy" bracelet display picture : )

London Bridges

Stucco and trees are falling down, falling down, falling down.
Stucco and trees are falling down, my fair renos!

We had to take down an oak tree so we can move the house off the foundation and we are planning on doing new siding, so it made sense for us* to take the stucco down now... while we* have time and energy.

*means jonas, jonny T, nick and will.... not really me at all : )
Thanks guys! and thanks for Jesse, Mike and my dad for helping take down the tree!

We've been stamped!

Our plans have been stamped by an engineer! Now I just have to get all the paper work done and then go apply for a permit!

main floor plans

 

This is our main floor plans.  They have a changed a little since this was done... but it is pretty close. What do you think?

The front of the house is on the right, we are building a bay window in the dinning room which looks into our backyard. (It is a flipped view from the last plans I posted)

This is our plan for the basement. We are making a three bedroom secondary suite..... oh and it's going to be sweet!

Their will be a seperate enterance on the side of the house (which is the top of the picture). The tenants would then go down the stairs to their home. We will have a door on the main floor that can access these stairs too. Once you are down stairs there will be two doors, one will lead into the suite and the other into a large space. The large open space at the top of the page, in the middle, will be where the furnace and hot water tank will be. This will also be a space for my husband to screen print tshirts. (One of his hobbies)
When you enter the suite there is a closet and then you are in the livingroom, dinning room and kitchen space. The hallway has laundry and then the 4 piece bathroom. The bedrooms are all at the back of the suite.
To have a secondary suite you have to apply for a variance. A variance is something you have to get from the city if you are doing anything that is against the norm. (That's my definition anyway) We are hoping to apply for this soon. I hope this will go over smoothly.

plans

Plans, plans, plans... and planning for plans. This word "plan" has been a huge part of my vocabulary this past year while we having been planning for our upcoming renovations. I know I didn't give any heads up on my blog... so I have lots of catching up to do.
Our plan is to lift up our house, move it into the backyard, take out our old foundation, and pour a new one (adding 16 feet going into the backyard) and put the house back down. If this sounds crazy to you that's because it is! We have been thinking about this plan for a year now and it still sounds crazy to me. We are currently in the process of applying for all the permits. This week we will be getting our  plans stamped by an engineer... which is the last piece of the puzzle needed to apply for our document. Making our blue prints has been so fun. I wished I blogged about it... I'll try to find some of our older designs so you can see how they changed.
I am going to drag out releasing the blue prints throughout this week. So I will start with the basic house outline. The dotted outline is our current home, the double lined outline is our renovated home. We are moving it closer to one side of our yard so that we will have a bigger side yard.

Round Two: FIGHT!

In this corner we have the ambitious couple, equipped with experience from the first go around and excitement for this round. In the opponents corner, at 93 years and weighing in at a gazillion tons, we have the 1 and 3/4 story home. This battle will be way more intense then the first one. Let me just say our house will be lifted up and placed in the backyard at one point! Crazy.
This is going to get interesting....
Ding Ding Ding
FIGHT!