No, not a new baby. (Whew). However, we are embarking on a new project with similar levels of stress, anxiety, cost all in the name of improving our life. Yes, we are going to renovate and extend our house to better fit our family and so that people will come visit!
Here it is today - our little semi-provençal cottage at just over 900 square feet:
It's two bedrooms (one big, one smallish), one bath with an open kitchen / living which is not big at all. Good news is that we have a very large veranda which we plan to enclose.
Here is our first step - the surveyor's drawing:
Our lot of land is just over a third of an acre and we have the building right to add up to 700 square feet - almost doubling the existing house. Our plan is to add two bedrooms, a bathroom, new living space, an entryway and laundry room.
We should receive the first architect's plans at the end of this week, or, if I follow the rule in house construction timelines and budgets I need to double that so end of next week. I'll share the updates and I'll post some of our inspirations in the coming days.
I simply cannot agree that our place is fabulous but it is home and the idea of moving is unpalatable. We thought about it and decided that we'd just have to give up one or two of the major things we love about where we are (location and large garden mainly) just to be able to afford the additional square footage. Besides, we love the idea of ditching the neo-provençal look for something contemporary so it will be interesting to watch the transformation.
Posted by: Mom in France | January 27, 2010 at 02:46 PM
Love it - your place is so fabulous, I'm glad you are expanding and not moving!!
Posted by: Joy Montefusco | January 26, 2010 at 10:45 PM