Taking back the porch ...

Originally the front of our house was a screened in porch with an upper balcony. At some point the structure was closed in, the old exterior wall removed and the area made part of the interior space of the cottage. While it adds to the square footage and allows for year round enjoyment of the beautiful view it was an awkward addition. The area wasn't really part of the livingroom, but it also wasn't defined as it's own separate area.

For a while Mike and I considered returning the structure back to a porch. Fortunately sanity prevailed and we came up with a solution that will allow us to enjoy the view, separate the space from the livingroom and utilize the area twelve months of the year ... the indoor porch ...

Pre-move-in (ie. previous owner's layout & stuff)

In keeping with our "recycled" home theme for the crooked cottage, the windows across the top of the interior porch wall were purchased for $25 from an architectural salvage yard. Some more pieces of finish trim need to be added and the whole unit painted. In the spring the front of the house will be reframed to accommodate a full wall of narrower, side-by-side windows, similar to the look of a screened in porch. Oh, and flooring. We need new flooring. That is the last hold out patch of the nasty, dirty old carpet and it has.to.go!!

When's a door not a door?

... when it's a wall.

Up until this week our house had three doors (not counting the patio door). Besides not being very energy efficient it was confusing. On more than one occasion we had visitors knocking at the back door - which wasn't completely their fault since the "back" door was at the end of the driveway, facing the road. Our "front" door is closer to the front of the house, but on the side ...

Well there is door confusion no more. This week Mike closed in the back door. Once we build the garage this part of the house will become the end of a hallway anyways, so we aren't really losing anything, except an extra draft.

In the spring the front door will be moving around to the actual front of the house. What a crazy concept!

Pictures as promised ...

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the bathroom. While there is still a lot of work to do (and I forgot to mention new faucets & fixtures in my last post - that 80's vanilla toilet and tub have.to.go!) it is a big improvement over what we started with ...

We are going for a whimsical, cottage-chique look in here, combining the original cabinetry with the bling of the cut-glass on the drawer pulls and light fixture. When we eventually have an ensuite this will be the girls'/guest bathroom, so we want to keep it a little more fun and less formal.

a little update ...

It's been a while since we've updated with pictures. Quite honestly nothing very exciting has been going on. There's a lot of activity under the house, but it's not the type of stuff you are anxious to share with your friends and neighbours.

Mike has been insulating the foundation and shoring up floor joists. All fantastic things for the integrity of our home, but not very glamourous. He's also been tackling the rot that he found in the sill plates. Old rotten wood has been cut out and replaced with fresh, new pressure treated framing.

Probably the most exciting picture that we have right now is of our beautiful new foundation wall. Remember this mess?

This is how it looks now ... so beautiful and clean and, well, there. We still marvel at the thought that that much of our foundation was missing. You will also notice that the mess of plumbing has been cleaned up. Now we just have one drain leaving the house instead of several running on the exterior.

In the mean time, while Mike works under the house I've been doing a bit of work in the house. My bathroom update is almost complete. The cabinetry and trim has been painted white. The walls are a pretty shade of light aqua-blue and there is new hardware and a pretty light fixture. The only thing left is window blinds. The big ticket items (flooring, tub, counter & sink) will probably not be done for a couple of years. We would like to have another bathroom with at least a shower before tearing this one apart. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet. Hopefully I'll get around to it in the next week or so.

In the mean time we will share these ...

Moon setting over the lake (at about 7:30 am).

Daddy's little helper.

Winter briefly arrives in our cove.