A look back

So here's where we started back in 1995.

Lovely 1960's bungalow, 1400ish square feet main floor, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, finished basement, attached (small single) garage.

It's changed colours a few times.

The trees have been removed, and or replanted - depends where you're looking.

Here's a picture last fall:

Yeah, I know, it looks a little barren without the trees. I think so too, glad you agree!

Here's what we found inside back then:

The lovely 60's kitchen.Check out that toaster oven over the Harvest Gold range! "Here's George Jetson..."

A view down the main floor hall. Yep, that's green and then blue carpet... wowsie!

The built-in mahogany china cabinet - in the dining room which is across the hall from the kitchen. (see past said china cabinet into kitchen doorway above)

The Gorgeous pink upstairs bathroom. Note the Hospital green painted insides on the vanity cabinet...

And not to be outdone, the blue basement bathroom... (and we BOUGHT this place?)

Yes, yes we did. I'll save you the shock of seeing the basement today, you can only handle so much. The previous owners left this house in the 60's with the decorating and furnishings too - the half-moon coffee table and purple sofa greeted us when we toured the open house.

Yes we got the place for a steal.

We saw the bones of the house and its potential. It was well built, all Douglas Fir framing, and straight and square, so we knew we could start over and have the house grow with us as we went. So we tackled the obvious issues; carpet, paint, added some built-ins and then lived in the house for a few years and figured out where we'd go from there.

Sure, well meaning family members told us to paint the kitchen cabinets for the time being, but we knew better, we knew we'd be tackling that room soon. Soon, as in this lifetime, it turns out, and not 'soon' as in the next year or so, but our intentions were good. We bought new appliances for the kitchen and adjusted our expectations once Riley arrived. But we kept fine tuning things, like paint colours (I think we're on the 4th or 5th colour in the master bedroom and at least that in the living room, dining room and main hall) and home office vs master bed room vs nursery locations - for awhile there each of the three main floor bedrooms got a crack at being one or the other.

Finally we stuck with the current arrangement, Riley's room at the end of the hall (blue carpet above) Master BR left hand side of end of hall beside that, with the 3rd BR becoming the office, across the hall from the former pink bathroom. We gutted that bathroom and redid it about 5 years ago. Good bye pink, hello earthy greys and greens and maple cabinetry and in-floor heated tile. I'll try and find a picture for you. But don't ask about the lack of doors on the medicine cabinets. They didn't get built. And then after a few years of living with the sans door concept, we tore out that set and recessed new units into the wall and ordered mirrors custom cut to fit into the solid maple doors I was making.

Anyone remember what happened with that project last year? High 4 1/2 if you do!

Next time, more pictures of the current main floor, and maybe a quick look at the basement before and after.

But first, lets hold hands and sing songs. I've got the electrician in tomorrow to replace the existing electrical service panel and sub panel in the basement, so we'll have a fresh new start for the new wiring that's coming in the expanded kitchen space. That's the first real step in this project.

It looks like we're serious about this!