Yearly Archives: 2016

Tough times on the trail

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Does anyone watch the Amazing Race? Matt and I have watched every season. If you’ve not seen it, in every episode, as well as having to get from point A to point B, there are specific challenges the teams have to complete.

Sometimes the challenges are ridiculous. As in spend 14 hours doing the most physical, back-breaking, exhausting task possible.

Every so often, Matt and I find ourselves in a situation that could be an Amazing Race challenge.

That was the case about a month ago when Matt came up with the idea to clean up some of the deadfall on the east trail. I’ve mentioned before that our trails are a bit challenging. On the east trail, the challenge comes from downed trees, fallen branches and all kinds of brush.

Deadfall in the back woods

Matt’s done this cleanup before with his Dad. I’ve never experienced this particular version of reality TV come to life. Now that I have, I don’t think I’ll be sending in my Amazing Race audition tape any time soon. Real life is quite enough.

This particular Amazing Race challenge was to

  1. Gather the necessary equipment–trailer, chainsaw, chainsaw oil, gas, chainsaw wrench, safety equipment, wheelbarrow
  2. Take the customary local conveyance (the tractor) from point A (the house) to point B (the back field)
  3. Fill the trailer with firewood.
  4. Race to the finish line (back at the house).

The key to successfully completing an Amazing Race task is smart division of labour. So Matt went to work with his chainsaw, and I had a near death experience pushed the wheelbarrow. I don’t have a picture of this because I was busy dying. Also unlike on the Amazing Race we didn’t have a camera crew following our every move.

This hill may not look like much, but it felt incredibly steep going up (and then down the other side).

Gathering firewood in the forest

The wheelbarrow was not the ideal tool for this operation, given the rocks, mud and sticks buried in the trail. Plus we were pretty far back in the woods, so the push was loooooong. And just when you approached the end, there was the catwalk over the corduroy road at the entrance to the trail.

Pushing the wheelbarrow over the forest catwalk

Between the two of us we managed five loads of firewood and only a small section of trail. But, that worked out to a mostly full trailer, fulfilling our Amazing Race objective. Can’t you tell how thrilled I am?

Trailer loaded with firewood

At the end of an Amazing Race episode, competitors sprint to the finish mat where they are greeted by the host. If they’re first, they get a special prize.

In our case, I drove Wiley back to the house while Matt rode in the trailer. After stacking the wood, unhooking the trailer and putting the tractor away, we staggered to the house. As we were the only team on this leg, I think we came in first. However, our prize of an ATV and a small trailer that fits in the trail were missing.

So we’ll not be doing more clearing any time soon. I’m sure we’ll find another Amazing Race worthy challenge though. They seem to be fairly common around the farm.

Stay tuned for our next episode.

What’s your favourite reality TV show? Have you ever auditioned for a TV show? What Amazing Race-esque challenges do you get into at your house?

Planning a cutting garden

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Sarah in Illinois is back today, sharing how she’s coping with her winter cabin fever. Hint: warmer times plus pretty flowers figure in her plans.

One of my goals for 2016 is creating a cutting garden. Having a vase of flowers on my counter always makes me smile. Steve usually buys me flowers for special occasions and my mom gives me flowers sometimes, but the idea of walking out to the yard and creating my own bouquet just sounds perfect.

I’ve had the idea of a cutting garden for a while. We have a small ditch that is hard to keep mowed, and I considered planting wild flowers there. That is something we still might do, but I have decided to create a designated cutting garden in another spot. We have started receiving seed catalogs in the mail and email and planning a garden has been keeping my cabin fever away.

I have made up my mind to do a raised bed for my cutting garden. I will probably follow the plans that Kit shared with us over at DIYdiva. She was able to make some great looking beds that did not break the bank. And while I am making them, I will add one for asparagus and one for strawberries.

But I am going to have to talk to Steve and decide where we want to put all of these beds and plan them so that they are easiest to mow and weed around. So those ideas are still rolling around in my head.

I need to make a list of flowers that I want to include. This Old House website gave a list of fast-growing cutting flowers, and I thought that would be a great place to start.

It mentions that Black-Eyed Susans are good for deer deterrent, which I didn’t know. I occasionally see deer tracks in my yard and near the garden so it won’t hurt to plant Black-Eyed Susan. Plus they are so bright and cheerful! I know I want to plant cosmos and poppies, and I am sure I will be picking flowers by what catches my eye at the time.

I am surprised at how much planning there will be in this garden. Should I plant in rows like a traditional garden or in a more free-form design? I want to plant close together to keep weeds down and use as little chemical weed treatment as possible. I want to have a mix of colors, a mix of annual and perennials, and I will probably plant seeds along with plants. Since this is my first time with a cutting garden, it is really going to be an experiment, and I plan to take notes so that I can improve on it each year.

Have any of you created a cutting garden? Do you have any suggestions for me? Any flowers that you would be sure to add?

I plan to keep you updated through the year on how it is going.

Ahhh… beautiful flowers spread around your home. That sounds lovely. I’m never good at picking flowers to bring them inside, but I admit I’ve considered having my own cutting garden. And poppies are definitely on my list too. I’m really interested to learn from Sarah’s experience this year.

Halfway to a hospitable guest room

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This house is the first time we’ve had an honest to goodness spare bedroom. We like it when people come to stay with us. However it doesn’t happen that often. Perhaps because the room has never been very welcoming.

You saw last week that making over the guest room is one of my home goals for 2016. Today I’m ready for the first progress report.

Here’s a really bad photo to show roughly where we started. (We usually put sheets on the bed when we have guests).

Guestroom before

The specialest features of this room were the stippled ceiling, ugly ceiling fan and pseudo wood paneling. And everything was dirty. Incredibly dirty, as is the norm for any untouched space in this house.

I’m almost ashamed to remember that we used this room as our bedroom up until about a year ago. When we scraped the ceilings after Christmas, the water running down the walls left brown and grey dirt tracks. So gross.

Despite its… specialness… this room is not going to be a hard fix. Here’s the to-do list:

  • Scrape the stippled ceiling
  • Paint the ceiling, walls and trim
  • Replace the light fixture
  • Make window treatments
  • Refinish the desk chair
  • Strip the paint off the metal bedframe (and maybe repaint)
  • Decorate and personalize

And here’s where we are so far.

Guest room makeover progress

Better, right? Even that paneling looks okay now that all of the holes are patched and it’s painted a pretty blue-green (Wythe Blue from Benjamin Moore).

We’ve obviously made really good progress, but despite appearances I feel like I’m only halfway. If I’m being completely honest, I’ve moved onto decorating (hanging pictures, adding the flowers) as a way to avoid starting on the curtains.

The finishing touches are usually the hardest part of any makeover, right? But if we truly want a hospitable room, we should give our guests the option of sleeping past dawn. Sigh. Curtains here I come.

Do you have fake wood paneling at your house? How about a guest room? What must-haves should I include in our guest room?

Floorplan #3 – Master suite on the edge of the forest

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This month, I’m sharing some of the floorplans I’ve worked through in the four years since we’ve owned the farm.

Just a reminder, here is our current layout.

Current floorplan

Last week you saw my second idea–adding a garage off the living room and turning the pool room into our master bedroom–which has been the plan for most of the time we’ve lived here. But all the way along, I struggled with losing the lawn on the south side of the house to the garage.

Matt has advocated pretty much since day 1 for the pool room becoming the garage. I could stomach the south lawn being a driveway better than I could handle it being garage. So that became the basis for floorplan #3.

Floorplan #3

Highlights:

  • The pool room becomes the garage. I’m pretty sure we’re going to need a mini-extension on the garage in order to fit two cars. Basically, the width of the mudroom gets tacked on the end.
  • Like in all of my plans, the current mudroom comes off and the front entrance shifts so that my office becomes the front foyer. Again, I think I can deal with the first view as you come into the house being the bathroom.
  • The back door in the kitchen is closed in, the window is expanded, and the wall pushes out about 5 feet.
  • The hallway is extended through the closets in the two bedrooms and the master suite (along with new closets) is added on the north side of the house. (And as I look at this, I realize it may make sense to switch the bathroom and closet… although I think this very not-to-scale floorplan is skewing the proportions).
  • The new mudroom and back door are still about 6 steps down from the kitchen.
  • We would still upgrade all of the doors and trim and add a metal roof.

Pros:

  • This reno could likely be done in phases.
  • The kitchen expansion gives us a bit more counter space, room for bigger appliances, more natural light and my coveted view down to the pond.
  • There is direct access from the mudroom to the outside, so we don’t have to walk through the garage.
  • Bedrooms 1 and 2 still have good closets, added along with the master.
  • The bedrooms are all together at the end of the house. The master bedroom is nestled up to the forest and still has a pretty good view of the pond.
  • We keep the lawn on the south side of the house.

Cons:

  • This is a bigger renovation with three separate additions: the garage, the kitchen and the master suite.
  • Running plumbing, electrical and HVAC to the master bedroom addition is a long way from the utility room under the living room fireplace.
  • This reno disrupts pretty much every room in the house.
  • Bedrooms 1 and 2 lose the windows they currently have on the north wall.
  • The pool room–one of the best rooms in the house in terms of size and windows–becomes the garage. Not a room you typically visit to enjoy the view.
  • We’ll lose a few trees, and we might have to fill in part of the small ravine on the edge of the north lawn.

Here’s the view of the north lawn. Pretty much this whole lawn would be taken over by the addition. The ground drops off right at the tree line on the right side of the picture. To be able to walk around the extended house on this side, we’d have to take out a few trees and level the ground a bit.

North lawn

Right now, this plan is the front-runner for me. I’m willing to sacrifice the north lawn as opposed to the south. I still get everything I want–better kitchen, front porch, master suite, attached garage, farmy-country appearance. Plus I get to keep the quality of the property around the house.

This is the last plan that I have to share. Going back to the home goals that I shared at the start of the week, my next step is to meet with a contractor or two and start to get some idea of costs of plans #2 and #3. The contractor I have in mind has experience with big renovations like this, and I think he might have some good suggestions for the best layout too.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your suggestions.

What do you think about this plan? Do you like all the bedrooms to be together? What adjustments would you make?

Home Goals 2016

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I really enjoy the process every January of setting my home goals for the coming year. (If I’m being honest, I start thinking about them in December or even earlier). I’m not big on resolutions on the personal front, but on the home front my annual plan helps me stay focused.

This year, I’m going to try to continue last year’s plan of striking a balance between productivity and a bit of relaxation. There’s still lots to do, of course. But it’s been four years since we bought the farm. Obviously, our renovation pace is not even close to breakneck.

We are approaching the point where we have either really big projects (kitchen, bathroom, garage, master suite) or small stuff (paint the guest room, dining room, my office). For now, I’m keeping the focus on the small stuff.

Which will help me to continue another theme from last year: frugality. We did pretty well on that front in 2015. You’ve seen some of my long-term renovation plans already, so continuing to save money in 2016 will be helpful.

And that’s the first goal on the list: get an idea of how much the Big Reno is going to cost.

Beyond that, the focus is going to be on small, frugal things.

Guest room

Matt and I got a start on this at the tail end of last year by scraping the stippled ceiling. We have more to go to make it match the picture in my mind.

  • Paint the walls and trim
  • Replace the light fixture
  • Make window treatments (ugh… I really don’t want to sew curtains again)
  • Refinish the desk chair
  • Strip the paint off the metal bedframe (and maybe repaint)
  • Decorate and personalize

Finish the basement

Scrabble art for the basement

Source: insideways

The basement was our very first project when we moved to the farm. But the nit-picky finishing bits are still hanging around. I just need to get my butt in gear and get it done.

  • Trim around the cold cellar doorway
  • Finish the built-in storage area in Matt’s bathroom
  • Make/buy art to finish off the space (this one’s a carry-over from the 2015 home goals)
  • Build shelving in the closet under the stairs

Furniture

My list of wanted furniture is getting shorter and shorter.

  • China cabinet for my office
  • Coffee table for the living room
  • Reupholster slipper chair for my office (in the same beautiful Brissac Jewel by P Kaufmann that I used for my bulletin board)

Vegetable garden

Last year’s top home goal returns. There’s still more to do to make my dream vegetable garden.

  • Hang the gate
  • Edge the garden
  • Build raised beds around the perimeter
  • Build trellises for the raspberries, tomatoes and squashes (we can’t have the squashes running rampant again this year)
  • Plant perennials: grapes, asparagus, rhubarb, more raspberries
  • Run a waterline out to the garden

Outdoor clean-up

Manicured meadow

Source: LandVest

I’m going to be a bit ambitious this year and add a second outdoor task to the list. The task of cleaning up this property could be a full year project for a full team of people. It’s a job of picking up rocks, extracting weeds (fire worked well last year), grading (and maybe adding a bit more topsoil), seeding grass, mowing. And it’s a matter of picking my spot… and being satisfied with a spot, not all of them. Here are my options:

  • North side of the house
  • West side of the house
  • On the edge of the woods at the north side of the house
  • Around the barn (all points of the compass)
  • Behind the driveshed and around the garden
  • At the foot of the driveway
  • Along the shore of the pond (oh how I want to clear the shore so that I can get close to my pond)

Six goals for 2016. I feel like there’s a bit of symmetry in that. Most important I feel like these goals should be relatively achievable.

In fact, the year is already off to a pretty good start.

The guest room is well underway, and I’ve started a few projects for the basement too.

You’ll see some of those soon.

Are you setting goals for 2016? What projects do you hope to complete this year?

Floorplan #2 – Private master suite overlooking the pond

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This month, I’m sharing some of the floorplans I’ve worked through in the four years since we’ve owned the farm.

Last week you saw my first idea, which I eventually realized was more house than we needed.

The second floorplan is the one that’s been in my head the longest. Really, this floorplan preceded my decision not to add a second storey. I realized I could get pretty much everything I wanted almost within the bounds of the current house.

And just a reminder, here’s the plan for the current house.

Current floorplan

Plan #2 was about the master suite, the attached garage and the front porch. So there are some similarities and some differences between this plan and the one you saw last week.

Floorplan #2

Highlights:

  • Like in the last plan, the current mudroom comes off and the front entrance shifts so that my office becomes the front foyer. Yes, this means the view as you come in is of the bathroom, but I think I can deal with that.
  • The back door in the kitchen is closed in, the window is expanded and the wall pushes out about 5 feet, just to give us a wee bit more space.
  • The mudroom and garage follow the same layout as Plan #1 on the south side of the house.
  • The bulk of the indoor pool area becomes the master suite.
  • A modest addition behind the garage houses our walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom.
  • The mudroom and master bedroom are still about 6 steps down from the kitchen.
  • We would still upgrade all of the doors and trim and add a metal roof.

Pros:

  • Most of the renovation is confined to one area of the house. The two bedrooms on the north side of the house are pretty much undisturbed.
  • The utility room is under the fireplace, making running HVAC, electrical and plumbing to the master bedroom easier–and likely less expensive.
  • The kitchen expansion gives us a bigger window for more natural light, a better view of the pond (I’m all about my view), a bit more counter space and room for bigger appliances.
  • We get our garage and the little nook I love at the person entrance (as opposed to the car entrance). It may sound silly, but the space behind the garage would also be good for the firewood pile, and I even love how the back door of the garage would be a convenient path to the (future) chicken coop.
  • I get my mudroom and the long uninterrupted wall up against the master bedroom gives lots of space for benches, cubbies and hooks.
  • The master bedroom would be a beautiful room with lots of windows and my favourite view down to the pond. The steps down to the doorway could be cute.

Cons:

  • The steps down to the master bedroom could be weird.
  • The master bedroom is separated from the other bedrooms, which I don’t love.
  • Like in plan #1, the garage would take over the lawn south of the house, one of the best lawn areas we have.

Losing the south lawn was a sticking point for me. With the way our property is configured, the garage would stretch nearly to the bank of the barn. Our largest southern exposure would be blocked by garage–not the best way to increase the sunlight that comes into our house. And our best lawn would be taken over.

Here’s a photo of the south side of the house taken last summer. The garage would extend from the same area as the sunroom. It would stretch to the tree that overhangs the left side of the picture. The driveway would be where the clump of bushes is in the middle ground. The weedy patio to the left of the sunroom would be the closet and bathroom.

South lawn

Here’s the view of what would be the back of the garage to give you an idea of how much space there is between the house and the barn. (The barn’s at the right edge of the photo. The driveshed is in the middle. The tree would have to come out as it’s inside the future garage.)

South lawn

I really didn’t like the idea of losing the lawn. So I continued to work on floorplans to come up with an option that preserved the lawn.

All along, Matt has advocated for the pool room becoming the garage. I could stomach the south lawn being a driveway better than I could handle it being garage. So that became the basis for floorplan #3, which is coming up next.

In the meantime, what do you think about plan #2? What would be your priority if the house was yours? Are you all about the garage, the master suite, the porch or something else entirely?

Focusing on the New Year

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Sarah in Illinois is back with her first post of the year. Like me, Sarah was busy making presents before Christmas and she has big plans for 2016.

Hello again from Illinois! It is finally winter-like here. As I am writing this this high today was 16F (-9C for us Canadians). That is the coldest we have had yet this year.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. I went to my final holiday party this past Friday. My girlfriends and I decided to draw names to exchange gifts with the one rule that the gifts had to be homemade.

It was so fun to see the creativity that everyone came up with. There were homemade lotions, shave cream and such, a pumpkin roll and necklaces, a burlap wreath, a knitting needle holder.

The gift I received was from my personal trainer cousin. She made me a plyo box and workouts to go with it. We discuss working out quite often and she is always on hand to give me advice and a plyo box gives me new workouts, with more interest than just running up and down my road. A plyo box can be used to jump on, sit on and do workouts off of and I am sure many more things that I haven’t learned yet.

The gift that I gave was for my tea-drinking cousin. I found a few ideas on Pinterest of a tea bag dispensing house.

Tea dispensing house

I didn’t follow any directions and I didn’t take step-by-step pictures, but basically I made a house like you would for a bird house. I made the roof removable so that it could be refilled. The doorway is where you can see and remove the tea bags. I used a sample tea bag to make sure the opening was wide enough for a bag to slide through. Then Steve had the idea to notch out an area for your finger to fit and pull out the bag.

Tea bag dispensing house
That was a great idea and I am so glad that he thought of that. After gluing the walls together and nailing the base on, I sanded and filled in the cracks with wood filler. After a final sand, I gave the whole thing a base coat of acrylic craft paint. Then I hand painted on the windows and greenery. I finished with a coat of clear matte spray paint to seal in the craft paint. I think the receiver was happy with the gift!

The hostess made us a table full of appetizers and also had a hot chocolate bar and a Bellini toast at the end. It was such a great time to visit and such a fun way to end the holidays!

Now that I am really thinking about the New Year, I am of course thinking of resolutions.

I like to have some direction to start the New Year. But this year I am doing something different. Instead of coming up with a list of resolutions I have come up with a word as a theme for this year. It took me a few days to come up with one and I used this website: myoneword.org to help me narrow one down.

The word that I am using for 2016 is “FOCUS.”

I think that is a word that can be used in so many areas for me. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them. Focus can be used to remind me to stay with the project I started. I also let technology distract me. Whether it is Facebook or Instagram or one of the many gaming apps on my phone, I seem to find things to do other than what I should be doing. So focus is going to be the word to try to get me on track!

I can’t wait to get some projects started to share with you. We are definitely adding on to our house this year, so that will be something that I will be sharing throughout the year. We already have received our first seed catalog so that means garden planning is not too far away. I think this is going to be a busy year at our house.

I hope you all have a healthy and happy 2016!

I love the idea of all those handmade gifts. Sounds like you have big plans for the year ahead, Sarah. I’m looking forward to seeing them unfold under your laser focus!

Looking back at Home Goals 2015

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There are all kinds of retrospectives and reflections happening in the blogosphere right now. My look back will not be nearly as emotional or deep as some of the ones going around.

I feel like 2015 was a pretty good year for this blog and our projects at the farm. Last January, I said I wanted to be flexible and not knock myself out renovating all the time. I definitely feel like I managed that. I also had a few more personal posts mixed in over the course of the year, and I’ve made some progress on that front too.

For now, it’s time for the annual report on how we did on Home Goals 2015.

1. Master bedroom Check!

Thanks to the One Room Challenge, we have a beautiful master bedroom. I love having another room completely done.

Dropcloth curtains in a navy master bedroom

2. Basement art No check.

The smallest task on the list–and the one I was most enthused about at the start of last year–was the one where I made no progress. This one will carry over to 2016.

3. Furniture Partial check.

Looking back over the year, I was a bit surprised at how much furniture we bought, made or made-over. We did better than I thought. However, there’s always more on the list, hence the partial check.

  • Found 2 bookcases that I’m going to make into a china cabinet for the dining room. They still need their makeover, but they’re working okay for now.
  • Found a set of 8 dining room chairs that match our table nearly perfectly. They’ll need to be reupholstered and refinished someday, but once again, they’ll do for now.
  • Found a ladder/step-stool/chair that reminded me of my grandmother–and a lot of you of yours.
  • Made a headboard and painted a dresser as part of the master bedroom makeover.

Dining chairs and table

4. Vegetable garden Big fat check.

My one and only outdoor goal for the year was a huge success. It started when I decided to build the garden in Matt’s “goat ring.” To get rid of the weeds, our nephew and I lit it on fire, I spread out the world’s biggest tarp, and then Matt rototilled the whole thing. We planted and watered and then we harvested… and harvested… and harvested. Along the way, I built a gate, and Matt and I put up chainlink all the way around. And then at the end of the season, I spread manure over the whole thing.

Tomatoes ripening in the garden

There’s still more work to be done. It’s a garden, which I’ve learned is synonymous with work. However, it’s established. It produced food. We’re still eating our harvest. And I’m so enthused about this year’s plans.

But that’s the stuff of home goals 2016. Those will be coming up next week.

How did you do on your goals in 2015? What was your big accomplishment?

Floorplan #1 – Go big

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This month, I’m going to be sharing some of the floorplans I’ve worked through in the four years since we’ve owned the farm.

To start, I have to share my original vision–the one that popped into my head right after we saw the farm.

My original vision was based largely on achieving the exterior that I wanted. Namely, something that looked like a farmhouse. That meant dormers. That meant wrap-around porch. That meant two stories.

Someday farmhouse

Source: FamilyHomePlans.com (I made a few edits)

Can’t you see how that country farmhouse could come from our little bungalow?

Our house

But the outside is obviously just part of the puzzle. The inside was where we would be spending at least half of our time, so it had to work too.

Let’s start with remembering the original (current) floorplan of the house.

Current floorplan

Because I was planning on adding a second storey–which would house all of the bedrooms–my plan was to blow out the main floor. There would be a huge kitchen, a dedicated library/office, a new main entrance, a large sewing/laundry/craft room, a big mudroom, my coveted attached garage, and of course the porch. (And just a reminder, this plan isn’t at all to scale).

Floorplan #1

Highlights:

  • Current unheated, flat-roofed mudroom at the front of the house comes off, improving the balance of the front facade.
  • Main entry moves to the middle of the house, and my office becomes a generous front foyer.
  • The garage is added on the south side of the house.
  • The pool room is about 6 steps lower than the rest of the house, hence the steps down into the mudroom.
  • We also upgrade the doors and trim throughout and put on a steel roof.

Pros:

  • Wrap-around porch. Do I need to say more? Alright, I will. From the porch you enter into a large front foyer. The entry we currently have at the top of the basement stairs is waaaaay too tight. And all kinds of farmy bits–pine needles, leaves, dirt–get tracked down the (carpeted) stairs.
  • Powder room right inside the side door, so if you’re outside and you have to pee, you can slip inside without tramping through the house with your boots on.
  • Main floor laundry room with plenty of space for a big sewing area. Windows on three sides and a great view to the pond would make this a beautiful bright room.
  • Big kitchen with lots of storage and prep space, plus a walk-in butler’s pantry. Oh, I really want a pantry. Plus I added a much bigger window along the back wall above the sink to improve our dim main floor.
  • Mudroom. Essential at a farm. Bonus, this one would be heated!
  • I love the little entry nook at the front of the garage. A bit of shelter as you’re coming in or going out.
  • The stairs to the second floor would be really cute with a turn and a landing at the top and a pretty railing all the way along.
  • On the second floor lots of bedrooms and a huge master suite with walk-in closet and private bathroom. (Although I never did get the layout of the second floor completely worked out in my mind).

Cons:

  • Adding a second storey would eliminate the vaulted ceiling in the living and dining rooms. At first, I didn’t see this as a big deal, but I’ve come to really like the tall angled ceilings.
  • Big kitchen means more cleaning.
  • We’d probably not use the library a whole lot… but it would sure look nice.
  • I’ve come to like my basement laundry room. We tend to watch TV downstairs, and it’s convenient to throw a load in while we’re relaxing in the evenings. Running up and down the stairs doesn’t sound like as much fun.
  • The garage would take over the lawn south of the house, which is one of the best lawn areas we have.
  • This reno would be expen$$$ive.
  • This is way more house than we need.

After living at the farm, I quickly realized that we did not need a second storey. If we ever win the lotto, this plan may come back on the table. I would not only need money to build the addition, but also to pay someone to clean it regularly.

But the reality is, our house at its current size is pretty close to enough space for us. I went back to the philosophies of the Not So Big House books and thought about what we actually need… and also what I want, ’cause I’m not pretending that’s not an important factor here. No one really needs a private master suite. But I sure want one.

So Floorplan #1 was a no-go. Onto plan B. Next week, I’ll share Floorplan #2.

For now, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Floorplan #1. What’s your favourite part? What could you live without? Are you a fan of vaulted ceilings? If you won the lotto, what would your dream house be?