House Tour

Stonepath – Year 2007

This home was stuck in the eighties. Everything was pink. During that time I wanted the house to be bright and light filled. Most of the home was painted White Dove by Benjamin Moore. Painting from Canadian artist.

Landscaping adds instant beauty.This house holds very special memories. Our son Ethan was born here. This was our first home. As any young couple this was our 1st attempt at “do it yourself” renovations.

What We Did

We turned popcorn ceilings into smooth ceilings
Painted the entire house
Kitchen cupboards were professionally painted in Ottawa, but we painted the gables, changed the knobs
Replaced the appliances
Landscaped the side yard
Upgraded the counter tops in the bathrooms, upgraded the light fixtures and mirrors
Painted the oak staircase spindles and railing white

What We Paid For

Tiling the kitchen floor and tiling the back splash
New carpet
Quartz counter tops
New trim

What We Learned

The obvious, paying for renovations can be expensive. Sometimes the quality can be sub par. If you have time, and can do it yourself try tackling a job.

We sold for 98% of our asking price.

Coyote Crescent – Year 2010

We landscaped and Scott installed a sprinkler system for the front yard. I chose some of my favorite plants. Hydrangeas, some grasses and cedars. The garage doors were painted Weimeraner by Benjamin Moore.

This photo was taken just after Scott tiled the back splash. The tile was bought at Costco.The quartz is Speccio White from Hanstone. Wall colour throughout is Swiss White from Dulux.

Curtains were from Ikea. My aunt sewed blackout material that I bought from Fabricland to each of the panels.

Lighting was purchased at Restoration Hardware. Dulux Swiss White.

New light fixture, faucet, mirror and counter were all bought afterwards.Our second home was short lived. We lived there for less than two years.This house was a new build from Richcraft. A builder here in Ottawa.

What We Did

Scraped and plastered some of the stippled ceilings into smooth ceilings
Installed new quartz in kitchen (Lowes) installed new sink, faucet, replaced hardware,
Scott tiled the kitchen backsplash (first time)
Painted
Landscaped most of the front yard (paid for walkway and steps)
Installed new light fixtures throughout the house.
Renovated mudroom to include a bench and hooks for easy access

What We Paid For

Upgraded the railing
Installed keyless light fixtures in all bathrooms
Upgrade to painted kitchen cupboards
Added a wall for a study
Upgraded under padding on carpet stairs

A few things that we would have done differently was to do the interlock outside ourselves and install the hardwood floors upstairs ourselves. I worked from home full time and Scott just did not have enough time.

Looking back we would have paid to install more basement windows or larger windows from Richcraft.

The design of the kitchen that I wanted was crazy expensive to have built and installed by Richcraft. We decided on a paint colour from Richcraft and paid for a basic kitchen. We then had all of our uppers and island fabricated by a professional kitchen cabinet maker close to Ottawa. This saved us a lot of money and the job turned out really well.

We sold in three weeks for 97% of our asking price.

Quartz – Year 2012

I saw this home online one day as I was online searching for bungalows. To make a long story short we ended up buying the home site unseen as we knew the neighbour. Something I would not recommend doing unless you are aware of the risk involved. We did know that the home was six years old. Although the home was only six years old it just looked completed dated. This home needed a lot of work. There were however some immediate draws. It was situated on a wider than normal crescent. It was walking distance to schools. It was located with easy access to shopping and the Queensway 417. The home itself had a beautiful stone exterior. The added bonus was that the backyard was private. This home was completely renovated and looks so much brighter and cheerful!