We are home.
Two full weeks in and it is official.
We made cookies.
Click here for the awesome recipe we used and yes, I have Appletini colored countertops!
We organized the new Play Room!
STUVA system from IKEA.
We christened the new appliances! (Not like THAT! Minds out of the gutters Mamas!)
Little C has taken it upon himself to be my official laundry sorter. (I win!!) AND I may be slightly in love with both my new washer/dryer and also having my laundry room on the main floor!
We walk the dog HERE every day!
This is literally steps from our front door. Ravine living FTW!!
And we flipped the switch and had our first evening by the very modern fireplace.
THIS is our home!
Our beautiful, dream come true, Natural Urban Home!
Natasha~
This old house is on the move.
Well, it is Spring 2011 (sort of) and that means that if all is on track than we should be starting construction of our new house. We started this little family project last summer when we bought a new property not even 5 minutes from our current house. We have had five months of design work done and are almost set to 'break ground' and really get going. We are just waiting on a few more details from our architect and of course all the permits from the City.
There is some activity going on though. The house itself has been purchased by a nice family and it will be making the trip down to Calgary in the next week or so. Yes, believe it or not, it is possible to lift and move a two-storey house.
See...
My son is loving this whole process and can't wait to see the house moved onto the truck. Although I am not sure if we will be able to accommodate that. The house moving guys tell me that the actual moving itself happens late at night to avoid major traffic.
We are all pretty excited about getting this house build going and this was step one of the process!
Now, I am off to get the kids and I some hard hats later this week!
Safety first!
Natasha~
Design Update & Our New Backyard!!
Sorry it has taken me this long to get you an update on our new house. We are 2 months into the design process with our architect and it is going really well. We had our latest meeting last week and have finalized the floor plans and the roof lines/shape of the house. Here is a quick sneak preview of the house for you (this is a very rough draft, but I think you get the idea of where we are going with this!)
We have also decided to try to sell the current house that is on the lot rather than just demolish it. We think this is a good decision for a few different reasons. First, it is a much better way to recycle a whole lot more of the house (ie, the WHOLE house), than if we took bits and pieces of it and tried to sell or give it away to various organizations (Habitat for Humanity, Architectural Clearing House, etc...). And secondly, it is a way for us to make some money off the sale of the house AND save even more money on the demolitions costs (which can be upwards of $50-60,000 for a two story house). And believe it or not there are companies that exist who do just this. They come in, find buyers for your house and arrange all the moving/deconstruction of said house. The logistics of moving a two-storey house are a bit more complicated, but we are confident that we can get this done.
And the bonus of doing this (we hope) is that it puts us in the good, or at least better, graces with our new neighbors.
You all know how much I love this property (and really pushed for the deal to go through) and this point was really driven home to all of us this fall when we went to spend some family time over in our 'new' backyard. The trees are simply AMAZING at this time of the year and then the HUMONGOUS piles of leaves were so much fun for everyone! Granted, it took us three weekends to go over there and rake them all up (and there is still more to do), but I think the FUN and future family time in that yard is going to more than make up for it!! Here are just a few pictures for you to get an idea of what my fall seasons are going to be like from now on.
Natural Urban Home - Here we go....
We've done it again. I went looking on MLS one day and two months later we have bought a new house/lot. Not that we NEED a new house, I mean really, we just built the house we are in three years ago and it is a beautiful house, in a great neighborhood. But like any great life experience, you learn as you go and what we have learned is that this house is not going to grow with our family. As the kids get older (and bigger) we are all going to want our own spaces clearly defined and there are countless other little things that we would like to do better. Then there is the green aspect of things. We are a pretty eco-conscious family, my kids know that we need to turn off lights and water to 'save energy'. They know that veggies from a garden or the farmers market taste WAY better than store bought and my three year old is pretty good at knowing what goes in the blue garbage bags versus the white ones. This new house is the fulfillment of our dream to build a "green" home to match our green lifestyle.
These Natural Urban Home posts are to document the whole experience, for us and for others too. I hope to learn A LOT during this process and I plan on sharing as much as I can with YOU! We are planning to implement a fair amount of eco-friendly materials and incorporate as many energy alternatives as we can. Solar water heating, recycled glass counter tops, bamboo flooring, concrete floors, ICF walls, and the list goes on and on and on....
Here are a few pics of the new lot. It is a corner lot in a fabulous mature neighborhood, faced a ravine and is just about 13,000 square feet. It is HUGE and The Hubby is not looking forward to all the street shoveling (I think we are going to be hiring a 'guy'). I am interviewing our local green builders and architects right now and will let you know as soon as we have decided on who is going to be helping us realize our dream.
Off we go!!
Natasha~
