In last week’s post about managing multiple houses, I mentioned that we bought a new home!  We had been thinking about it for a few months, and took possession less than two weeks ago.  Before we move any big things in – I figured it was a great...

This is probably a bad time to be buying a new house/moving… We haven’t listed our house yet, and I’m not looking forward to selling during this world crisis.  But that’s a problem for another day – so let’s just enjoy what we have now :) 



Yes, I did say we got possession less than two weeks ago, and yes, these photos are from that weekend.  Remember, we live in Northern Ontario – so there is still lots of snow!



Our raised ranch house is on a corner lot and it’s one of the biggest in the area/town.  We weren’t looking for a house so big, but a good yard for the kids/dog was one of our main requirements.  The backyard is only a few feet deep (maybe 10?) but it should be the perfect size to let them play semi-supervised.  

We do have a big side yard, and it’s mostly fenced, we think… (You can sort of see it peeking out through the snow in the middle photo).  Most of the yard is a mystery until spring comes. 



The layout of the house is super similar to our main house.  The entry is a bit bigger and you either go up or down.  The main/top floor is close to the same size as our house now, but the basement is completely open so is much larger. (Whereas now we have a crawlspace that takes up half the space).  

It’s a 5 bedroom (3 upstairs and 2 downstairs), but we’ll have everyone on the main level for the next few years at least.
New House Basement Tour
Starting in the basement, I’ll go over the different rooms.  The video is linked at the bottom of this post – so check it out if you want to see how it all flows.



Coming down the staircase, glass french doors lead to the backyard (pretty much the feature that sold us on this house!).  There’s a bathroom, and a large living area to the right, and the bedrooms/laundry down the hall to the left.



The living room has a gas fireplace, lots of natural light and a big built-in storage cabinet.  I’m already looking forward to organizing all my things, and told the kids they can use the bottom area for their stuff.



The bathroom is your standard toilet, vanity, shower – and it will be convenient to have when we have guests that come over.



Speaking of guests, there is a DESIGNATED GUEST BEDROOM and I am so excited!  It has retro carpet, but will be perfect for everyone who comes to visit :)  Eventually, we might take this bedroom or ship one of the kiddos down here – but that’s in many years from now.



The laundry/utility room is at the end of the hall, and it’s the biggest laundry room I’ve ever owned :)  I’m hoping that means it will stay clean and organized.  I’m planning on storing our tools in this room (we don’t have a garage yet) so it will be hard-working for a while.



Finally, there’s another bedroom in the basement – this one with concrete floors.  The Husband has claimed this as his workout room (or “pain cave” and I’m also really looking forward to having a room to throw all his junk stuff. 
New House Upstairs Tour
I didn’t share the entry in the video – but it’s essentially just a staircase and landing area. 



I have a lot of plans to open up this space, but for now, some good mudroom storage hooks will go a long way.  Oh, there’s also a little storage area under the staircase – and I think it would make a fun kids playroom.



The living room has cool wood-panelled accent walls, and I dig the cottage retro vibe.  I know Tootsie is going to love this window, and we’re planning on making this space the hub of our home (aka where the TV is going).



Like our house now, the dining room is just past the living room.  The kitchen is also mostly closed off from the space, and I think it will be fun to come up with a new design.  (Can you say – “take all the walls down!”). 



When I originally saw the listing for this house, I hoped the kitchen had nice wood cabinets.  Unfortunately, it’s just a cheap veneer – so I have no issues with taking them all out for a future renovation.  We’ll probably live with this space for a while before we do anything, but I can say that we’ll be adding more drawers in the future.

Yes, there are only 4 in the entire kitchen (and I counted ours now and we have 13!!!).  But, super good news – gas stove :)



There’s a big storage closet off the kitchen (half shelves, half rod/clothes storage) and a nice sized linen closet at the end of the hall. 

You may have noticed that the floors are just painted subfloors (they recently removed all the carpets before listing).  Our first plan is to add all new floors throughout this level.  



The main bathroom is a good size, and I’m loving that old/low vanity.  It will be perfect for our littles!



The bedroom directly across from the bathroom will be the nursery for little Félix.  It’s a similar layout to his room now and will stay looking like this for a long time.



The older two will share the bedroom next to the bathroom, and it’s a bit smaller than their space now.  (All the bedrooms are a bit teenier).  We’ll just do a dresser and rug swap, and it will be perfect for them. 



The master bedroom is the final room in the upstairs, and all three look alike.  I’m loving the to-the-ceiling-open-closets, and I can’t wait to maximize the usable storage. 

We already took out all the laminate floors from the bedrooms, and so the closet doors have been removed too.  I’m hoping we can reuse the ones that work – because closet doors are surprisingly expensive. 
New House Video Tour
Feel free to watch the video below to get a sense of how all the rooms flow together.



You get to see a little view of Zachary and Félix in the video – as well as my excellent commentary on the rooms.  (ha!). 

Right now, we’re waiting for the new floors to be installed before we start moving our stuff in.  I’m also planning on moving everything over slowly and getting rid of a bunch of things.  Like, we won’t have anything to sit on for a while!

Oh, and we’re also diving into renovating one of the spaces right away!  I’m joining the One Room Challenge again this Spring and it was supposed to start this week.  (But they’ve delayed the start because of everything that’s been happening lately).  



Can you guess what we’ll be tackling first?!  It’s a room I’ve been planning a few months (before we even started looking at houses!).  Let me know your guesses and I hope you liked this video/post introducing our new house!  

There is no garage or carport, and that was supposed to be our big project this year.  We were hoping to get that going after we sold our main house (aka got some extra cash), but with all the uncertainty – everything is up in the air.

Obviously, there are more important things going on than me worrying about having covered parking.  But either way, I love the potential that this house brings, and it’s giving me something to look forward to :) 





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#Renovations #Video #Homeownership