Although sturdy in structure, the house needed some fixing up as not much had been done to it over its century of life. Built in 1905, my grandfather had moved into it in 1910, and following my grandmother's death in the 1960's, it became home to my parents and briefly to me. My grandparents and my parents had decorated it in their respective styles and now it was our turn.
While still living in Victoria, B.C., awaiting the sale of our house, we decided to begin renovations. Our contractor/carpenter in Victoria, Gerry, Tana and I flew back to Hamilton in September to take measurements and explore possibilities. During October, Gerry drew up alternative plans for change and the work began, in fits and starts, in November 2007.
In January 2008, Gerry had an accident and plans became delayed and confused. But in February, we found another contractor, Dave Tyrrell, who, though unmet, agreed to proceed with the next stage - renovating the awful bathroom on the second floor and adding a new ensuite for the planned bedroom addition.
In March, I went back to Hamilton, met Dave and proceeded with the bathroom work. Dave began constructing the new bath in an area of what used to be a bedroom. Meanwhile I stripped four layers of wall paper the bottom layer dating back to 1911, off of the walls of the front bedroom since we were sacrificing the clsoet in that room to make the existing bathroom larger.
As Dave and I worked, I came to appreciate his knowledge and skill as we talked about the planned addition on the back of the house. With his many connections to the subtrades and his experience with the city and the Ontario environment, Dave seemed well suited to continue the project and we worked on the plans so that he could begin excavation and construction in late spring.
May 30th, we moved from Victoria, BC to Hamilton and work began in ernest to renovate the back of the house adding a living room and bedroom to eventually look out over the garden and yard.
|
|
