My husband and I have been searching for that elusive, diamond in the rough, time capsule house for roughly 6 years. I should start by saying that we moved from a tiny, brick home on a lovely street, into a brand new, built-by-us house in a new neighbourhood. And we hated it. Pretty much as soon as we moved into our "perfect" house, we knew it wasn't a good fit. There were no trees! There were construction vehicles EVERYWHERE. It was isolating. Eventually, the court we moved into filled in, the construction stopped, and we had neighbours. However, the thing with new-build homes is, they are built so that you drive into your garage, and go inside your house, and don't come out again until the next day. We made an effort to be outside; my husband put up a swing on our porch, we gardened in the front constantly, our kids played on the driveway and in the court. But it still never felt like a neighbourhood. We longed for that community feeling that comes with older neighbourhoods. We missed walking to things. There was no where to walk to in our new place.
So, we searched. And searched. And searched.
Eventually, six years later, we found our home. But we never anticipated the amount of work, and time, and sweat it would take to make it home.
This blog is our diary of renovating our dream home: a custom built, one owner (before us) 1957 house on a corner lot, across from a park. It is ideal. And a lot of work. This blog is also an encouraging arm around the shoulder to those people out there who are like us: who want to live in a walkable community, where people know their neighbours and spend time outside. It can happen! And boy, is it worth the work.
