Thursday, January 29, 2015

Renovation Update

The process of a renovation on this scale is proving to be moving slower than either of us had anticipated. Holleman Heritage Woodworkers are on deck to begin the interior barn demolition as soon as we give them the go-ahead but, apparently, we have more design and financing work to do first. We had some engineers in to look at the barn and determine what was going to be needed to bring it up to snuff to accommodate cars instead of horses. The required enhancements, along with a budget projection of our anticipated solarium and new entrance forced us back to the drawing board. If you look at the video that was published in my last post you'll have seen the new entrance, the solarium, the studio, the laundry room and a washroom that were all incorporated into the existing barn and carriage house. In the new design we removed the new entrance, the solarium and the washroom. The studio has simply become studio space in the garage. The laundry room and a dog washing station have been moved into the carriage house area. That area, instead of being an entrance from outside, will be an entrance from the garage and will be more of a utility space (I've included some SketchUp screenshots below). The kitchen, den area, new patio doors and first floor washroom renovation remain unchanged, the garage is actually larger now and the courtyard is also a little larger since the entrance portion has been removed.

As of today, we're waiting on the bank for their final approval of the financing. They sent an appraiser a week ago to inspect the property as it currently is and to look at the plans for the renovation. Once we get the green light from them we'll tell the Holleman crew they can begin. Hopefully the next post will be soon and will include some pictures of the demolition as we begin.
This shot of the garage shows the Costco Room (a storage area for bulk goods and small appliances that aren't used that often) in the upper left and my pottery wheel and studio space just to the right of that. Our intention is that there will be space for wood, garden equipment and four cars in the finished area. The stairs to the right are the access to the loft above which is unfinished. That will be another renovation in the distant future perhaps.

Here you can see the entrance from the garage (via the Costco Room in the upper right) which includes the laundry area and dog washing station. The only change to the courtyard is the removal of the entrance. The kitchen and den, not seen here, remain unchanged.