It's official...

As I sit down to write this post I realized I never posted the finished result of our renovations from 3 season cottage to year round home.

Remember THIS post of what our 3 season cottage looked like?

I loved this place the moment we arrived... I love the trees and wooded long driveway.

Eventually we actually did finished the renovations as well! Here are some before and after shots.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen During

 The fireplace and full chimney had to come down

Cabinets, counter top and backsplash went in

 Large floor tiles were laid

Kitchen After

Dining Area Before

Dining Area After

The Kitchen and Dining area together

Living Area Before

Fortunately for us when the window installers broke the new window... it wasn't our fault. All the windows in the house were replace with new windows but due to the size of this bay window we had to just add new dual pane glass to the existing window frame. We did opt out of the slider to have a more clear view.

Living Room After

And can you believe I can't find a picture looking out the window so here is one from the listing. They came last fall to take pictures when we were considering selling but decided to stick it out another winter and see what it was like.

Main Bathroom Before

Main Bathroom finished...it has a full tub as well (you can see the surround in the mirror).

Kids Bedroom Before (This used to be the master)

Kids Bedroom now (excuse the mess)

Master Bedroom Before (was actually two smaller bedrooms)

Master bedroom After

With walk in closet 

The Basement Before was full size but not finished

Straight down the stairs was this

Both sides of the basement got  new regulation sized windows appropriate for bedrooms. Which meant the space had to be enlarged almost double size.

The whole area was properly prepared with moisture barrier, blue studs and proper insulation.

Hardwood floors were laid over top of a properly sealed floor including all the screw holes into the cement floor being sealed properly to prevent moisture in the future.

This area straight at the bottom of the stairs is now my craft room or third bedoom

This area of the basement

Became a fourth bedroom AKA Storage room (panel still needs to be covered).

Downstairs Bathroom Before

Downstairs Bathroom After

This area before was a sink area and had a hotwater tank room in the far corner.

We moved the hot water tank and replaced it with a new gas one (we put the gas in here or rather had the gas company put a line in for us). Here Ian is sitting (Below) where the old Hot Water tank room was and is finishing filing in the whole from the closing off this area. We had to close off the old well line as the city would not permit us to use it because once the house is on the grid, we aren't allowed to reinstall the well. We also plumbed and wired down here for a second kitchen if any one in the future wants to turn it into a rental area or inlaw suite.

The area looks like this now (well different as this is an old picture but it's still the kids play area).

Then the computer area watches over it. This is where the kitchen area would go hence the reason for the high plugs for microwave by window and tall one for the fridge. The sink would go directly under the window...all you need are cabinets and counter top.

The other side of the basement looked like this

We left it open to the play area so it would feel bigger then closed off rooms but it could be made into another bedroom if you added another window for it. Since it was left open we couldn't hide the support column in a wall so we made it into a pillar and this area is now a theatre room. We keep a large mattress on the floor for the girls to dance, and jump and have a wild rumpus on. We love watching netflix here and the girls love their YouTube videos on the big screen too. It was a sanity saver this past winter as we all hibernated.

We also added a laundry room to near the base of the stairs which houses the new hot water heater and the new gas furnace (oh yeah we fully ducted the house too as it was electric baseboards before). We also have a stand up washer and dryer in this room and a stand up freezer but I didn't take a picture of it.

We put in a cement pad outside for our hot tub we brought from BC as it was worth more then we could sell it for at the time so moving it was worth the cost to us.

There is outside speaker wire ready to enjoy some tunes while soaking in the tub as well (and this time the hot tub is staying).

Now that it's finished...we LoVe it! The summers here are amazing! This view is something I will never tire of. It could be cut back a bit to see the preserve across the river from us but we enjoy the view as it is.

 

Enjoying the peace, quiet and tranquillity of this property.

And we certainly enjoy sitting down at the dock in the sun

And feeding the ducks

Having Mermaid tea parties

Having campfires with friends...both day and night.

 But the winters are just too cold. It's a hard choice to make. This property is everything we wanted. The first winter here we were told was mild and it was manageable Cold for me but manageable). I even thought heck this isn't so bad. Then this winter happened. We had 5 months of snow, snow and more snow. I kept my chin up in the beginning. Through the first couple of months but the wind chill factors in Ontario are horrid. The feels like temperatures of -25 to -40 quite regularly are more then my sanity can handle.

We hibernated. We occasionally went tobogganing, and snowmobiling or enjoyed things like Sledfest and winter campfires but for the most part we hibernated. Hibernating for 5 months took it's toll on us, and on me in particular. I can survive any winter because I am strong enough to do so but why? Why hibernate and just survive and waste away 5 months of a year to have only a few great summer months?

So we have listed our little bit of heaven for sale HERE and we will see what happens... If it doesn't sell we get to enjoy another summer here. If it does sell we get to enjoy a warmer winter next year. Either way we will make the best of it knowing we are still working towards finding what makes us all as a family truly happy.

We do not know where we will go yet exactly if the house does sell. We may go back to BC where the winters are warmer. We may put stuff in storage and hit the road in the RV and travel for a couple years...only time will tell but our hearts will lead the way.