our house: before & after

We've come a LONG way, baby! Our house has undergone massive renovations over the course of these past five years. You're all seen the previous posts detailing the step-by-step process that each room underwent, but as we celebrate the five year mark in our renovation journey, here is a quick look at never-before-seen BEFORE pictures, side-by-side with the AFTER photos.

Kitchen Renovations:

Living Room Renovations:

Downstairs Hallway Renovations:

Downstairs Bathroom Renovations:

Office/Den Renovations:

Staircase:

Master Bedroom Renovations:

Spare Bedroom Renovations:

Upstairs Bathroom Renovations:

Exterior Renovations:

Here's to the next five years!

garage renovation - part 2

Our garage renovation has slowly been progressing. (You can read about how it all began in part 1.)

I am learning all about fascia, soffit, j-trim, and vinyl siding. It looks really easy to install but there are a lot of little details required to get it done right.

And - oh, my...! Have you ever seen so many ladders on one jobsite?

The siding on the dormers was finally finished today!

Isn't it pretty?!

Mr. Gryce did all the electrical wiring of course. Lots of lights and outlets....just the way he likes it!

I organized everything...

...including thousands of nuts, bolts, and screws, along with all Mr. Gryce's tools.

We saved Pake Dykstra's original workbench and Mr. Gryce built the handy little kindling holder beside it.

We started our winter's wood pile, which should still leave room for us to park both cars in the garage over the winter months.

We plan to leave the loft upstairs temporarily unfinished. (Charlie and Chester will just have to share a bedroom in the meantime!)

In closing, I can't say enough good things about our contractor, Walt Schaly. After working with some average, some below average, and some down-right awful contractors in the past, we were pleasantly surprised by Walt.  Because he is also a designer, hiring him eliminated the need for us to hire a private designer to draw up the plans ($1200 savings!) 

He was very easy to work with, listening to all our ideas and understanding our vision to maintain the old style and feel of our home. 

Walt is one of the hardest working contractors we've met and is extremely knowledgeable. We had no problems with any inspections because everything was done right the first time. Not only did we find his initial estimate comparable (if not lower) than some of the other contractors, our garage came in under budget (say what??!!) so he essentially re-did the roof on our existing house for free. By having us pay most of the sub-contractors directly, he also saved us hundreds of dollars in HST. 

Our only regret is that he wasn't living in our area five years ago when we started renovating.

We are hoping he can get the whole house re-sided to match the garage before the snow flies...stay tuned!